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Where Should That Link Go? |
When you plan your linking strategies for your website, don't overlook one of the most important elements - where the link goes. There are two reasons that this is so important. First, because you are optimizing whatever page the link points to, meaning you make it more important and more likely to be found in the search engines. Second, because you want your visitors to "land" on the right page.
Linking Strategies - Optimization
Why should you link to pages other than your homepage? Because it makes sense. Actually, on some of my web sites, I link only to the homepage, while on others I have articles out there that link to several different pages. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
When starting a website, or when it is relatively undeveloped, you'll usually want to link to the homepage. It is important to get that homepage into the results-pages of those search engines, so you want as many incoming links as you can get. Also, the other pages on your site get increased exposure and higher search engine rankings as a result of your homepage doing better.
However, when you add a new section to a site, it can make sense to optimize the introductory page for this with incoming links. For example, I added a section on real estate investing to my site Houses Under Fifty Thousand .com. I named the introductory page investing-in-real-estate.html, and used the anchor text "Investing In Real Estate" in the links from many authors resource boxes on my articles. It was a decent keyword, so I wanted to target it directly (I linked directly to that page), rather than just promoting it and linking to it from the homepage.
Note: if it is a really good keyword, you may be better off starting a new website targeting it, and then linking to that new site from your existing one.
Linking Strategies - Monetization
The second reason it matters where the link goes, is that you want the visitor who comes in on that link to be in the right place. For this reason, you need to ask yourself where the readers should "land" on your site(s) for you to get the most value out of them. These could include:
- The website that makes you the most revenue per visitor.
- The page that makes you the most revenue per visitor.
- A page where you sell something.
- The page most directly relevant to the topic of the article the link is in.
- A page with a subscription form for your newsletter.
- A page that lists all of your other articles they may want to read.
Most of my own incoming links are from articles that I write and distribute. If I have an article on how to solve riddles for my brainpower website, it may be better to send the readers straight to the page that introduces all the other riddle and puzzle pages. If they go to the homepage, they may be less interested and therefore less likely to stick around long enough to buy something or click on an advertisement.
Consider carefully where your links will point. Many of your links, such as those in your articles and forum
Steve Gillman lost money on his websites until he discovered the power of articles. Six months later he was making a good living online. To learn how you can do the same, get your free online writing course at: http://www.999articles.com
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You may reprint the above article on your website or in your newsletter, as long as it is unchanged and the link in the author's resource box remains active.