One of the dreaded fears of an Internet novice is to provide links to other websites. The reason is simple: they fear that they might lose their visitors as fast as they brought them in. Validating their fears are the expert advice of these so-called "gurus" that doing so will drive traffic away. 

And since bringing in viewers costs time and money, why should they share them with others for free?  As a result, they choose to isolate themselves in some teeny-weeny corner of the Internet.

On the other hand, there are some “bright” boys who actively request for their URL’s to be added to your site. Once they see their URLs in your link pages, do you think they will reciprocate? No !!!! These are the "ingrates" of the Internet world. There are also others who do have link pages, but are buried in the deepest recesses of their site. While they can pat their backs and say that they are friendly 'net citizens, hiding their link pages will prevent you from finding quick ways of leaving their site. These people want to get traffic from others but wants to keep their traffic to themselves. Pure one sided play! 

I bet that you have also seen this other variety of "self servicers." These are people who place an "Add URL" link in their sites only to find that their goal is for you to create links to their site, and not for you to place a link of your site. Their "Add URL" is an "add me! add me!" page full of attractive banners of different sizes. Nowhere in their sites can you find anything that says add your URL here. 

Establishing links with other websites is a strategy of web site promotion that must be pursued with aggressiveness. Strategically-placed links are a proven source of traffic. Referring your visitors to other resources on the Internet, particularly on related areas that you do not cover, is an effective way of enhancing the value of your site. By adding the links, you are able to expand your coverage of your topic area and provide additional information to the visitors.  A lot of people I know even returns to a particular site not for the site's content or flashy graphics, but because of its extensive listing of related sites!

Moreover, it is a gauge of your website’s popularity. Site popularity has now become an important criteria used by search engines such as Altavista in determining your site's ranking. I believe, that everyone who has a website and understands the value of links, would always try to work out a link relationship with others. 

When creating your link pages and sending out invitations to link to your site, three things can happen: (a) your link will be accepted and reciprocated; (b) your request will be ignored; or (c) they will not give you permission to link to their site. These are risks faced by every beginner! Of course, we should always keep in mind that the people on the other site will always want to link with exceptional or good content websites…a site that you yourself would like to see linked to your own.

Let me clarify one thing, though: the fear that creating links can drive your traffic away is valid - especially if your site does not offer any real value to your visitors to make them want to come back. But the solution is not to do away with links entirely; rather, you need to improve your site! This is the strategy that worked well for our site, Power HomeBiz Guides. While we feared losing our visitors to the wide array of links that we have, we've noticed that most visitors do come back because our traffic keeps on growing!

So how do we keep the visitors fenced in? 

To keep your visitors inside your website, you have to use “new” in your html code where your links are placed. Simple! With this code, a new window will open every time a visitor clicks on a link. This prevents them from leaving your site altogether. When they close that window, they will still be inside your website.

COOL!

Now, isn’t it nice to find us linked to each other? We have become the real, virtual community.