Skip to main content

Linking The Web

If you have a web site, or another interest that's discussed in a web forum, occasionally you may need help. And no matter what your problem is, if you look long enough, chances are that you'll find a forum where your problem will, or has been, discussed. That's the nature of the web.

And if you find help in a web forum, it's possible that the forum posts may refer to a web site like PChuck's Network, or maybe The Real Blogger Status, for detailed instruction. And maybe you'll be so happy to have your problem solved that you'll post a link, to the web site where you found help, in your web site.

Everybody benefits, in the long term, when you add a link to a web site where you found help. The other web site benefits from the inlink. You benefit, because you have a record of where you found help, should you need it again. And your readers may benefit, should they see the link, when they need help too.

In the short term, though, the situation is different. Generally, the web site with the inlink benefits more than the one with the outlink. More traffic flows from a web site with more traffic, so the person getting the inlink will possibly benefit more.

Maybe that person will link back to your blog, in the text of the web site, or in an area for backlinks. Then there's a reciprocal link back to you. With a 2 way link, each of you benefits.

But, even with a two way link, there's another question. What is the content of the two web sites? If they are similar, then there is more benefit to each. Someone surfing through either website, and being interested in one, will most likely be interested in the other too.

On the other hand, if your web sites have different interests, how likely is it that someone who needs help provided by, or is interested in the content of, your web site, will be surfing through the other web site, before or when they are looking for help?

It's always good to be linked into the web. But it's better to be linked through web sites with a common interest. And that's another issue of relevance.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.

Embedded Comments And Main Page View

The option to display comments, embedded below the post, was made a blog option relatively recently. This was a long requested feature - and many bloggers added it to their blogs, as soon as the option was presented to us. Some blog owners like this feature so much, that they request it to be visible when the blog is opened, in main page view. I would like all comments, and the comment form, to be shown underneath the relevant post, automatically, for everyone to read without clicking on the number of comments link. And this is not how embedded comments work.

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".