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Linking out is goodTrenton Moss Many websites I come across dont have a single link to another website. Ask the webmaster why not, and the answer you get is simple enough: "If I link to other websites people might leave my site." At this point I break the news that site visitors will leave your site. And theres nothing you can do about this. Site visitors wont leave your site because you provide links to external sites. Theyll leave for one of two reasons:
"OK, so site visitors are going to leave my site. But why should I hunt around for websites to link to" I can think of four reasons why linking out is good for you and will ultimately increase traffic to your website: Proof theres a real organisation behind the website One of the best ways to prove your organisation really exists is to link to other websites that reference you. Any website willing to mention your organisation is in effect providing a reference for you. Just 52.8% of web users believe online information to have credibility source: http://ccp.ucla.edu/pdf/UCLA-Internet-Report-Year-Three.pdf and four in five users say that being able to trust the information on a site is very important to them in deciding to visit a website source: http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/1_TOC.htm. Links about your organisation can include:
Anyone can put up a website making whatever kind of claims they want to. Have a look at the fantastic Christian womens wrestling website at http://www.jesus21.com/poppydixon/sports/cww.html. Its got quite a lot of information about them and lots of photos. And its 100% fake. Backs up your arguments Ensure that all statements about your organisation are backed up by third party websites. For example, if you sell toys its very easy to make a statement such as, "Were the number one online toy seller in the country!" Anyone can make this statement, so prove that it is true by linking to an external website showing a list of the top online toy sellers last year. Most of the time your site visitors probably wont follow these links, but that doesnt matter - the important thing is that youve shown evidence to back up the claims youre making. Benefit to your site visitors The Internet is designed for users to flow through it from one website to the next - dont make your website the last one in the flow. If you know of websites that you find really useful, and you think your site visitors might too, be sure to link to them. By offering a range of useful links you may even come across as an industry expert and someone who really knows their stuff. When providing links make sure you do so at appropriate times. Dont relegate external links to a links page - site visitors arent so likely to visit this page as a links page doesnt immediately address their needs. Instead, provide links as and when theyre appropriate to the content of each page. For example, if you run an accountancy firm you may wish to link to a website that has an up-to-date reference guide about new tax laws in the field of accounting. You dont have the time to provide that kind of regularly updated information on your website but your site visitors would find it really useful. Help out your site visitors and theyll hold your organisation in a positive light. Search engine benefits One of the ways search engines try to work out what your website is about is by analysing its inbound and outbound links. The more confidence a search engine has of what your websites about, all other things being equal, the higher search engine ranking youll achieve. By providing outbound links to related sites you actually help the search engines analyse your site and therefore help your search ranking. Jon Ricerca did a mini-analysis to see if outbound links affect search engine rankings and his results were pretty conclusive: web pages with more outbound links generally achieved higher search rankings see http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/search-engine-optimisation/number-links.shtml. Be warned though, an inbound link is worth far more than an outbound link so do not link to your competitors websites! Conclusion Dont be afraid to link out. Your site visitors will appreciate you introducing them to useful websites, you can increase your credibility and you can achieve a higher search engine ranking. So check your favourites folder and if you think your site visitors would benefit from any of the websites there be sure to include them in an appropriate place on your site.
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