Melvin's Cool Links Page

If only the top few general search engines (and some specialty directories) get any hits, why are there so many search engines, directories, etc out there? Why do people bother (the perennial question of the Web)? More important, how do you avoid wasting your time with crap pages?

In the early days of the Web, many people thought that a business Web site needed some gimmick to "draw traffic" - some useful feature such as a search engine. Lots of ISPs, network companies and other early Web presences set up search engines on their sites. Most abandoned them when they realized how much work they would be. If you have an old list of search engines, you may find that many links lead to some ISP's site, the search engine long gone. Why do ISP sites always have a white background, while Web design firms' sites always have a black background?

Anyway, most of the small-fry search engines are scams of either the money-wasting or time-wasting variety. The first kind offers "free" listings, but they are only a thinly-veiled excuse to try to sell you a paid listing. I place most "classified ad" sites in this category too. To get your "free" classified ad, directory listing or whatever, you'll fill out a lengthy form (the site owner has a fantasy of someday selling the "demographic" data to some spamlist broker), and your submission will be added to a sequential list of links, alongside get-rich-quick, weight-loss and the rest of the cyberflotsam. Even if anyone ever did visit this site to search for something, they would never find your link, because it's just in a random list with all the rest. You, however, will receive an email every couple of weeks for the rest of your life, asking if you wouldn't like to upgrade to a great big color listing at the top of the page for only $xx.95!

Other sites are what I call "impression mills." Naively believing that if they can just serve up lots of page impressions, they're bound to get rich, they set up search engines, awards for "cool sites," arcane link swaps, revenue-sharing deals, banner exchanges...You name it. Anything to get you to put up a link to their site, or even just to stay on their site and rack up another impression or two. Every page is studded with Link Exchange banners, Amazon, Cyberian, and any other deals they could come up with. Pass.

Not that link swaps and banner exchanges are bad - au contraire. The Internet Link Exchange is the best-known of the banner exchanges, and it's a reputable and well-run outfit. Their email newsletter is also a good resource for members and non-members alike - various site promotion issues are discussed. The Hyperbanner networks are a similar deal, except that they let you target a specific category of site. There's the Music network, the Travel network, etc.

The buying and selling of ads is another area that's replete with ripoffs and stiff with scams. This might be a worthy subject for a future article, but for now, check out Mark Welch's site. This is a complete guide to everything to do with Web advertising and banner exchange programs. For reviews of "affiliate" or "referral" programs, see Refer-It.

To Link or Not to Link?

Exchanging links individually with other related sites is one of the best things you can do to increase traffic. However, it's really only worth doing with sites that have some real affinity with yours. Human nature being what it is, the name of the game for some is getting as many links as they can, and squirreling the reciprocal links away on a "links page" where nobody ever goes. Far more useful is a short page of carefully selected links that are really of interest to your readers. For example, a company might have links to sites that published favorable reviews of its products, etc. In fact, in the crazy world o' the Web, many sites even have links to their competitors. Others shun off-site links altogether, reasoning that they induce people to leave the site, and therefore reduce page impressions. I recommend a balance - it's up to you to decide whether a particular link is good or bad for your site. Of course, if you can talk other sites into giving you a link without promising to reciprocate, then good on you!

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