I have a PR5 site. It actually
used to be a PR6, but it
must have been a weak 6,
because a few years back it
fell to 5 and never went
back up.
If you have no idea what
that means, consider that a
large part of the web never
gets above PR1. Many
people are very happy if
they reach PR3, never mind
anything higher.
It is true that Google is not
caring as much about this
measurement as they used
to, but if you see a PR7 site,
that site is very big and very
important. It gets a lot of
traffic and has a lot of
other sites linking to it.
Even a PR5 site like mine is
still pretty big and pretty
important.
If you are a PR2 site and
hope to become a PR4, you
need links. The bigger the
site that links to you, the
more likely your rank will
increase. For example, I
have at least eight links
from Wikipedia. That's
huge, because some of the
pages that link to me are
PR6 and Wikipedia itself is
PR8.
If you are thinking I am
about to tell you how to
get Wikipedia to link to you
8 times, I am not.
Not exactly what we mean
by links
The best links come
gratis
You see, I had nothing to
do with any of those links. I
didn't ask anyone to put
them on Wikipedia, I didn't
put them there myself
(and people who try that
usually find them deleted
almost instantly).
No. I just wrote some
useful stuff that people
who wrote the Wikipedia
articles liked and decided
to link to.
That's probably the only
way you are going to get
on Wikipedia and stay
there, sorry.
But don't despair. Other
sites, maybe not quite so
big and powerful as
Wikipedia, but still bigger
than you are, might be
willing to link to you. Heck,
even I might be willing to
do that.
Don't hold your breath.
We get mail
As I said, I'm a PR5. I get
link requests almost every
single day, sometimes
multiple times a day.
Imagine how many the PR6
and PR7 sites get. I delete
almost all of them
instantly and so does
everybody else that
matters.
Why are we so mean?
Mostly because you (a
generic "you") are so
clueless.
Do you know me?
Most of the emails are
obvious form letters sent
out in a shotgun blast to
everyone under the sun. I
use some extra email
addresses that these are
often sent to; if I see it
addressed to one of those,
I know the sender never
visited my site at all.
That's instant deletion. If
you haven't visited my site,
your email gets deleted. No
response, no interest, it's
just automatic.
I don't trade
Next to go is any offer to
trade links. I don't care that
you put my site on your
useless little PR1 "link
partners" page. I don't
want it there, and it isn't
worth anything anyway.
More to the point, if you
did link to me for whatever
reason, I don't need you to
tell me and I don't WANT
you to tell me. Trading
links is against Google's
policy; I am not going to
participate.
So the reciprocal offers go
right to trash also, again
with no reply.
I don't sell
Once in a while I get
people offering to pay for
links.
You don't have enough
money.
I mean that in all
seriousness. The only way
you can buy links from me
is to buy the website itself.
The price as of August 2010
is $2.8 million. Still
interested?
I do give freely
Actually, there is a way you
can get a link, Three ways,
actually. One is to buy
advertising from me. Those
will be "no follow" links,
though. The other way is to
submit a guest post. If I
approve it, you'll get an
author link. That is IF I
approve your article, of
course. The third way is if
you provide a consulting
service and want a free
listing in my Unix/Linux
consultants directory, but
those are no follow also, so
aren't part of this
discussion..
But if you had ever visited
my website, you'd know
about all of those things,
so I'm not going to waste
my time with you.
So, how DO you get my
attention?
OK, so here we are. You
didn't send to one of my
honeypot email addresses,
you didn't send a form
letter and you didn't offer
to trade or buy links. You
are getting very close to
the point where you might
get the courtesy of a reply.
I said might. Don't count
on it just yet.
Your email needs to
immediately show me that
you know something about
my site. If you don't
instantly mention a
keyword that is relevant to
what I do there, you are in
the trash.
If you include verbiage that
explains how beneficial this
link will be to me, you are
an idiot and are going to
the trash for just that. I
don't have time for either
the hopelessly stupid or
people who think I just
rolled off a turnip truck.
Next, you have to tell me
about what I am linking to.
Don't expect me to go look
it up. Tell me. Tell me why
it is relevant and why I
should link to you.
Oh, you did all that? Good
job. You did so much
better than all the other
people.
You aren't getting a link.
Yes, I said you are not
getting a link
What? Why not?
Because I don't have a link
directory. Well, I do, but it
is ancient and hasn't been
updated in years because
nobody does link
directories anymore. I leave
what is there untouched
out of laziness and possible
historical interest, but I'm
not going to add anything
to it now.
You should know that. If
you had any concept at all
about how the web works
once we get above the
picayune sites who happily
add each other to their
meaningless PR0 or PR1
link farms, you'd know
that. Since you don't, you
don't get a link and you
don't get a response.
Is there ANY way to get a
link?
Yes, of course there is.
Would I bother to write all
this if there was not?
What MIGHT get my
attention is an honest
email from someone who
knows what my site is
about and can tell me why
I should link to theirs. That
is maybe one a year, if that.
It's usually a person who
can point to a specific
place that the link would
be useful:
"I saw that you mentioned
XYZ at your blah-blah
article and thought you
might be interested in my
detailed look at how XYZ
works in our environment".
Notice they don't even
directly ASK for a link?
They don't need to ask, but
the chances are good that
they will get one.
Why? Because that WILL get
my attention. I will go look
at my article that
mentioned XYZ and I am
very likely to go look at the
article they want linked. If I
agree that the link would
be helpful to my readers, I
will add it and he or she
will get an email thanking
them.
But what if I don't agree?
Well, all hope is not lost. I
might know a better article
where the link would make
more sense. If so, that's
what I'll do. If not, I will at
least send back an email
explaining why this just
doesn't make sense for me
to do. No hard feelings and
you are welcome to try
again.
Do you understand now?
Do you see why that is the
way to get me to link to
you? Do you see why you
don't even need to
mention the backlink? Do
you see why it is even
better that it was not
mentioned?
If you want links from
bigger sites, you need to do
your homework. You need
to present them with
something they WANT to
link to. Something that will
help them help their
readers.
And if it turns out there
they are some sleazy place
that wants to trade links,
I'm sure they'll let you
know. Not that it would be
of any lasting value to you,
of course.
How to ask for a link!
Doing it right
This week I received a link
request done right. I asked
the sender if I could use
her email of an example of
how it should be done. Her
email appears in the
picture to the right. Click
on it to make it larger.
She got the link she
wanted.
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