Got Products? Get Links

You don't get something for nothing. We're told that on almost a daily basis by some smart alec. Yet every day without fail I get someone asking me to link to their site.

If you ask me to link to your site, you should probably offer something in return. If you're lucky and you've written me a good pitch I might find enough interest in your subject to write a blog piece or an article and include a link to your site. In that case, what you've given me is an idea and I've given you a link in return. These instances are few and far between though.

So what else can you offer me in order to get a link? How about a link back - a reciprocal link. er, nope, try again.

Money? yes, I guess money is always welcome in exchange for links but it's not the point of this article, so I'll skip past that one.

STUFF? Now you're talking. Offer someone some free stuff in exchange for a link to your site and you are laughing. People love getting packages through the post, love being able to boast "This software costs £Bucketloads but I got it for just giving the guy a link to his website" - "This T-shirt is only available if you give a link to this guy's website" - "I got free beer from this brewery just for linking to them". Get the picture?

Now here's the clincher: It doesn't even cost you that much. If you're giving someone a piece of software (downloaded from the internet) in return for a link, you've lost nothing. The person linking to you is unlikely to have ever bought the software anyway, so you've lost nothing in this case. And in fact, when he goes down the pub and tells his mates about your magic bit of software, you're getting free publicity too!

In the case of the T-shirt seller giving away an exclusive T-shirt, it's cost him maybe a total of £10 for a link from your site. The brewery sending you a token to pick up a sample at your local supermarket - similarly low costs.

Lets have a quick peek at the alternatives. Buy a link from Text Link Ads on a PR5 website and you're into £15-£20 a month. £240 per year! Yet the link you got for giving away a £10 T-shirt is probably going to last several years. It really is a no-brainer. (I'm not saying ignore TLS though, I'm a big fan of theirs, so buy some links there too! :-) )

This is a hugely powerful way to get links to your site and all it takes is some hard work and some product giveaways.