| Link building is important online, especially when you consider how expensive popularity can be. In general, link building is getting more people to link to you. The more people link to you, the more you will be noticed by the search engines; the more you will be noticed by the search engines, the more popular you will be; the more popular you will be and the higher your popularity ranking (as assigned by the search engines), the easier it is for people to find you when they start using any of your keywords as their online queries in the search engines. This means that more people can visit you, and you will have more prospective customers ? not to mention profits! So how can you build your links? The old way is to engage in reciprocal linking: that is, ask someone to link to your site while you link to that person?s site. Such reciprocal linking can be easily effected when people submit the addresses of their websites to link exchange directories. This can increase search engine rankings. However, such a method can be abused: some people may ask for people to link to them, but these people often do not link back. Some people may ask for reciprocal links from smaller, less important sites, but these sites count very little toward site ranking. This has prompted people to engage in much larger web link building by joining web rings. Web rings are also referred to as three-way linking processes. In one example of three-way linking, a site on diamonds and diamond mining can link to a site on diamond jewelry. This site on diamond jewelry can then link to a site on the science of diamond formation, and how diamonds are fashioned for jewelry. This site on the science of diamond formation, and how diamonds are fashioned for jewelry, can link back to the first site on diamonds and diamond mining, thus closing the web ring. Sometimes, web rings can be larger than three members: fan sites will often have large web rings, and will have features on individual websites that allow website visitors to go from one site to the next in the web ring. The three-way linking process appears to be a more natural link exchange versus the two-way, or reciprocal linking process. In reciprocal linking, two people exchange links the way they exchange calling cards. In three-way linking, people are part of a larger community and start linking to each other ? this can be viewed as more legitimate on the part of search engines, and for the most part, search engines assign higher popularity values to sites that are part of a web ring, or that are engaged in three-way linking. This is because a three-way link can be a sign of popularity in a much bigger group, which can translate into bigger popularity than two websites linking to each other. These are only a few important aspects of the three-way linking process. To explore possibilities for three-way linking, do a search on websites that are related to your website, business, products, or services. Offer invitations for a group link or a web ring, and present your case on how you can increase your individual popularities. This web ring might even be the road to much higher, more profitable things. Offline, all three of you can engage in business, or form a conglomerate and thus earn more money. Not only will you be popular through three-way linking, but you might be richer, too, with just the right blend of diplomacy and business mettle. |