How to look for potential Link Partners

Where do you begin looking for your potential link partners?

Existing Links

The first thing you should do is to find out who is already linking to your website. You can do this in Google by typing link: www.yoursite.com into the search box or use a tool such as Back Links Analyzer. This will give you an idea about the sort of companies and websites that are linking to you already and may provide ideas about other websites that you could approach. Make notes about the results you find, and create a spreadsheet to list the relevant details.

Assessing Your Competition

If you already know who your competitors are that's straightforward enough. But make sure you also know who is competing for your main keywords. First, enter your keywords one at a time into Google and note the web sites which appear on the first page. Next, do the same for Yahoo and MSN. Some of these companies will no doubt be excellent candidates for you to approach. As they are already leading the field for your keywords, links from their site to yours would be a powerful endorsement. Make sure you add their details to your spreadsheet.

In addition to approaching your main competitors directly, think also about the sites that link to your competitors. For each website that you have listed in the example above, you can now check who is linking to them following the same method employed above to check out links to your own website.

Assessing New Link Partners

You should now have dozens if not hundreds of potential link partners, all directly related to your industry. Many of these websites will offer good potential for links, but it's important to make a proper assessment. Visit each of the websites on your list and decide whether they are relevant to your business. While you are there you should also check the site's Google Page Rank, which you can see if you have the Google toolbar installed. If sites have a very low Page Rank or even a Page Rank of 0, you may want to remove them from your list, or give them a low priority. On the other hand, sites with a high Page Rank should go to the top of your list.

Asking for Links

At this stage you are ready to make contact with the websites on your list. You can write a standard letter which is more or less the same for all sites you approach, but make sure you apply a personal touch. Try to establish in advance who is the best person to contact with in the organization, or else your correspondence may never arrive. Ensure that you are polite and professional at all times, and be positive about your own website and why you deserve a link. If you have something great to offer then don't be afraid sell yourself! While email may be the easiest way to communicate, consider the benefits of a phone call, especially for potentially important link partners. Finally, make sure you keep good records. A log detailing who you have been in touch with, including dates of any correspondence will be very useful when it comes to following up. If you haven't had any response after 3 or 4 weeks it may be worth trying again. A gentle reminder may be all that it takes to get you some important additional links.