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The Missing Link of Internet Marketing
February, 2000

When most people consider how to market their website on the Internet, they think of search engines. Yahoo, Lycos, Infoseek…everyone wants to be sure that their site ranks at the top of these and many others. Although engines are a popular and simple way to navigate the world wide web, they're not always very accurate or even reliable at delivering qualified prospects to your site. An easy and effective alternate method is link recruiting.

Link recruiting is the process of identifying and negotiating links from sites that already serve your audience. The best link recruiting targets are:

• Industry associations that link to members' sites

• Industry-specific sites and directories that offer or sell linked entries

• Business networking, hobby or fan sites that increase their value as they add more links

Example: For Adler Sporting Goods (www.adlersports.com) we worked with the client to help sell Cleveland Browns merchandise by collecting the e-mail addresses and contacting the webmasters of the many Browns Backers clubs online. As an incentive for linking, Adler offered Browns products to auction off or give away as prizes.

Negotiation: For some links, a simple request by e-mail or phone is all that's required. In many cases, the site that provides a link to yours will request a link to their site in exchange. A good example of this is the Resources page of the Ohio Venture Association (www.ohioventure.org). Other sites, such as directory listings, may require an annual or one-time fee to provide a link.

Joining Web Rings is another good way to build traffic from fellow hobby or fan sites.

Achieving and Measuring Results: Dynamics Online can conduct a link recruiting campaign to greatly increase your exposure and improve the number of qualified visitors your site receives. And once the links have been recruited, it's important to test their effectiveness. The best way to do this is with periodic website activity reports, also available from Dynamics Online. To get more information, contact Dynamics Online.