OK, hope i’m not getting preachy about this but, you’d appreciate this tip anyway.

I’m talking about the linking exercises - we all do it - link to other sites, link exchanges, buy links etc.But what is the best for you? Which exercise will give you more benefit and which one will pull you down?

Generally, link exchanges are the best method to get linked for a starter.Unless your blog is extra ordinary, you don’t stand a chance to get linked by others, so you go by the same old practice - Ask! Many a times, you’ll find a helping friend who will in fact link to you once you link back to him.Very good. But let’s see what are the factors that you should look into before a link exchange?

1. PR of the linker/PR of your site - It’s always advice able to go for linking to a site that has higher PR or equal PR, but not lower PR as it will affect your PR.BUt this will tighten the situation, the other linker would also be aware of this fact and simply wouldn’t link to you cos your PR is lower. If you ask me, linking to a lower PR site is OK, but make the decision wisely.Think - Don’t just look at the PR of the site, but see the PR 3 months ahead - may be go for a PR prediction tool. And see if the linker will be at a better PR 3 months(or next indexing) ahead, if yes don’t bother his current PR, go ahead an do a link exchange with him. It will give you leverage in less than 3 months anyway - take it as an investment.
2. Trustworthy or not? - Check for the number of linking partners the site already has.By linking partners i mean the number of incoming links. This site might have done link exchanges with other sites and see how many incoming links they have already and whether all of them (or the blogrolled ones atleast) are reciprocated.If you find that they aren’t then there’s a good chance that your link also get buried later - keep distance from the guy.
3. Spammy content - Choose wisely between sites that offer link exchange, because the chances of getting an offer from a genuine site is lesser and it’s mostly the “link builders” who would approach you, unless you are wise you get links from “link farms” pulling down your PR, so check the content of the partner - if you find only links there, better part as good friends please.
4. Ratio - Make sure that you don’t just end up with a loooong list of links on your side panel and lesser incoming links - even f you have only a couple of valid, trustworthy,content rich links - that is enough and more to give you more leverage.Maintain a healthy ratio of incoming/outgoing links - make sure you have a higher nominator.

So check all your link partners today - If they are not linking back to you(unless you really like the blog and admire the writer), cut them off your list and let them know, keep those blogrolls pruned, all you need is quality friends not frills.

P.S - Email me for Link exchange with Dailydose.

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