Link Exchange-the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
by Kevin Henney, filed under:
Even new webmasters quickly grasp the importance of incoming links for building traffic and ranking in search results. Links are fundamental to the operation of the Web, and everyone wants more of them. However, the means you use to acquire new links can be just as important as the links themselves, and all links are not created equal.
Link exchange is one widely used method of acquiring links, wherein two web sites link to each other. It's a simple and apparently equitable transaction, but when used without caution it can be hazardous to the health of your site.
The Good
Exchanging links can have beneficial results provided you link to revelant web sites that are likely to be of interest to your readers. Your visitors benefit from access to additional resources they may not have been aware of, and you and your link exchange partner benefit from some additional traffic and new readers.
Don't try to stretch the definition of "relevant web sites". If your site is about fishing, it's fine to exchange links with other fishing sites, camping sites, etc. A link exchange with a car insurance site isn't a good fit, even if it's likely that most of your readers drive cars. Choose your links with your readers in mind.
The Bad
If your primary reason for seeking link exchanges is better rankings in the search engines, look elsewhere. The major search engines rely on sophisticated algorithms that can easily pick up on this sort of reciprocal linking behavior, and links acquired thru simple exchanges are unlikely to provide any serious benefit to your site's ranking. And if you get really excessive with your link exchanges, things can get ugly...
The Ugly
Certain types of link exchange can actually have a negative effect on your search engine ranking, and in some cases even get your site completely removed from the search results. Don't believe it? Maybe you'll believe Matt Cutts of Google, who in a May 2006 post revealed some reasons why a site may be dropped from Google's index.
Examples that might cause that include excessive reciprocal links, linking to spammy neighborhoods on the web, or link buying/selling.
From this statement it's obvious that Google can detect reciprocal links, although it's not clear just what they consider "excessive" (though I suspect it's a rather high number). Even if your link exchanges don't fit the criteria for being excessive, you may still be penalized if you link to sites that Google considers "spammy".
Whenever you link out to another site, you are (to some extent) vouching for that site by indicating that you found it worth linking to. If the sites you exchange links with fit the criteria for a "spammy" or untrustworthy site, some of that bad karma rubs off on you, and may increase the likelyhood that your site will be penalized.
Link Carefully
The promiscuous link-exchanger may find that all of those swapped links ultimately do more harm than good. Luckily, a little common sense should be enough to avoid most linking pitfalls. Keep the needs of your readers in mind and link only to valuable, relevant sites. If you wouldn't link to the site without getting a link back in return, you probably shouldn't link to it at all.
Lessons from Wal-Mart's Black Friday
by Kevin Henney, filed under:Black Friday
is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year for US retailers. This year, Black Friday was a bit blacker than usual for Wal-Mart, as their web site was crushed under the load of online shoppers trying to beat the crowds by shopping from home. The good news is that web site owners can learn a lot from Wal-Mart's mistakes, even if you're not handling millions of visitors like the retail giant.
Do your IT people know what your Marketing people are doing?
Wal-Mart's marketing department did a great job of promoting their website in their advertising efforts, including television advertising to inform shoppers that their Black Friday sale prices were also available online. They promoted an exclusive preview of several specials on the web site on Thanksgiving day, and reportedly stepped up their online advertising campaigns (at the time of this posting you can still see special "Black Friday" themed Walmart ads in rotation for certain keywords on Google Adwords).
Apparently these advertising efforts were effective, but their servers just weren't ready for it. Maybe there wasn't enough communication between the folks running the web site and the marketing staff, or maybe they just underestimated the success of their ads, but the result was the same - disappointed customers. As a business owner, it's vital to keep your web staff informed of any new marketing efforts, especially when your web site is featured prominently in your ads.
Monitor the web
As early as November 9, Wal-Mart's Black Friday sales ad was leaked onto the internet, and widely circulated on bargain-hunter and technology news sites. So widely circulated, in fact, that Wal-Mart couldn't possibly have missed it. This early look at the super-low sale prices drew even more attention to the specials, and Wal-Mart should have been able to anticipate an increased demand, especially from net-savvy computer buyers salivating over some particularly low PC and game system prices.
Smaller businesses are also susceptible to the effects of online rumors and leaks, though they may not be as widely publicized as the Wal-Mart leak. You can take steps to stay informed, though, and it's so easy that there's no excuse for letting this one slide. One of the easiest methods is with Google Alerts, which can email you whenever your company name is mentioned anywhere on the internet. In addition to keeping on top of rumors and leaks, Google Alerts can help you stay on top of reviews of your company and other mentions on external web sites. It can also come in handy for monitoring the buzz around your competitors.
Be honest with your customers
Another Wal-Mart goof that was apparent early in the day was failing to acknowledge that their web site had fallen victim to it's own success. When the web site began to falter, visitors were greeted with a page that said the site was down for "scheduled maintenance". Scheduled maintenance on the busiest shopping day of the year?
To Wal-Mart's credit, they reportedly later replaced the "scheduled maintenance" message with one that acknowledged the higher than anticipated number of visitors. If your best efforts to prepare for a surge in visitors still falls short, it's important to just be honest about it. As soon as it becomes necessary to combat the rush of traffic, make it reasons clear to your customers. People appreciate honesty, and it's better to admit that you have to many customers than to give a weak excuse that no one's going to believe anyway.
There are worse problems to have
In the end, running a advertising campaign that's too successful probably isn't the worst thing that can happen to your business. At least you know your marketing staff is doing well, and too much traffic isn't a terribly difficult problem to solve, as long as you have the time to plan for it. Still, it's even better to have a huge surge of customers and be able to handle them, so make sure your web site is up to the task before you step up your marketing efforts, and learn to anticipate traffic surges before they bring your site to it's knees.
Wasting your online ad dollars?
by Kevin Henney, filed under:A report on internet traffic released yesterday by comScore reveals that some of the top internet properties in the United States receive a majority of their visitors from overseas. During the month of September 2006, 14 of the top 25 sites had more visitors from abroad, including all of the top 5 (Yahoo, Time Warner, Microsoft, Google, and eBay).
US vs. Foreign Visitors - Top 5 Web Properties
For web site owners, this news is more than just an interesting statistic. It's a reminder of the importance of geographic targeting of our online advertising. If you're not seeking these international visitors, a large portion of your advertising spend on major web sites may be wasted on visitors that you're not looking for. But you are paying for them.
Geographic Targeting
Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft AdCenter all offer various options for targeting your online marketing to specific cities or regions. Targeting is well worth the extra effort required to set it up, since every time your ad is clicked by someone outside your target area, you're throwing money away. If you're running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, take special care to understand the tools that let you limit your campaign to the areas you really want to reach.
Advertise Locally
An alternative to geographic targeting on the major PPC networks is advertising on local web sites that specifically serve the market you want to reach This option can be especially appealing to small local businesses. When you run ads on local web sites, your audience is targeted for you, so there's no additional work required on your part. As an added benefit, spending a portion of your advertising budget with local publishers may build some goodwill within your local business community, since your ad dollars probably mean more to a small local site than they do to an internet juggernaut like Google.
Keep Your Ads on Target
To maximize the impact of your marketing dollars, some sort of geographic targeting is essential. Advertising networks such as AdWords have made it easier than ever for a small business to start advertising online, but unless you're willing to learn how to reach only audience you're seeking, you may be wasting a significant chunk of your marketing budget.
Are you turning off 25% of your customers?
by Kevin Henney, filed under:Those with speedy internet connections seem to quickly forget what it's like to experience the web through a dial-up connection. Still, millions of people continue to access the internet through the reliable old 56k modem and standard phone line, and that's not likely to change any time soon, especially not in the United States.
A recent report reveals that only 44% of US households have broadband internet access. Among those indentified as "active internet users," penetration is 73%, which leaves more than a quarter of active users stuck on dial-up.
If your web site makes extensive use of multimedia content, that means as many as one in four visitors, your potential customers, may experience unacceptably long load times. Audio, video, and Flash content, if not used wisely, can slow your site to a crawl and turn away customers on a slow connection.
But what if your target market is other companies? Surely most workplaces have broadband connectivity? While fast connections as more common in the business world, still 10% of workers connect to the internet with a regular 56k modem.
Broadband use should continue to rise in the near future, but adoption will eventually plateau as the market matures. And users in rural areas will likely remain on dial-up for years to come. Using the latest technologies and a professionally designed web site, it is possible to build a web presence that is attractive and engaging to all of your users, not just those with faster connections. Can you afford to turn away 25% of your potential customers?
