Introduction to Methods of website linking
Reciprocal link
A reciprocal link is a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites to ensure mutual traffic. Example: Alice and Bob have websites. If Bob's website links to Alice's website, and Alice's website links to Bob's website, the websites are reciprocally linked. Website owners often submit their sites to reciprocal link exchange directories, in order to achieve higher rankings in the search engines. Reciprocal linking between websites is an important part of the search engine optimization process because Google uses link popularity algorithms (defined as the number of links that led to a particular page and the anchor text of the link) to rank websites for relevancy.
Relevant linking
Relevant linking is a derivative of reciprocal linking in which a site linked to another site contains only content compatible and relevant to the linked site. Relevant linking has become increasingly important because most major search engines stress that -- in Google's words -- "quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards your rating."[1].
The engines' insistence on reciprocal links being relevant developed because many of the methods described below -- free-for-all linking, link doping, incestuous linking, overlinking, multi-way linking -- and other schemes were designed to unethically "fool" search-engines into awarding undeservedly high page ranks and/or return positions to sites engaged in search-engine spamming.
Though the engines warned site developers (again quoting from Google) to avoid "'free-for-all' links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines (because) these are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive [2]" they also took proactive steps to recognize linking schemes and downrate or de-index sites using them.
This, in turn, led to the development of search-engine compliant link-management systems enabling webmasters to benefit from the upside of reciprocal linking without putting themselves and their sites at risk from inadvertently straying over into the darkside.
Since many linking schemes -- particularly those involving some form of link farming or free-for-all linking -- were (and still are) based on variations of a 1999 patent [3]for an automated system of gathering links and adding them to a website without the possibility of editorial direction or intervention, development of a solution based on a polar opposite approach became highly desirable.
In 2006, after six years of evaluating the company's application and its underlying editor-based technology for acquiring and managing links, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Creative Net Ventures of Atlanta patent #7,082,470 [4] for its LinksManager application.
To date, the LinksManager system remains the only proprietary, patented, semi-automatic link-exchange enabler to comply with all major search-engine quality guidelines and Web best practices standards.
Three way linking
See also: Webring
Three way linking (siteA ⇒ siteB ⇒ siteC ⇒ siteA) is a special type of reciprocal linking. The attempt of this link building method is to create more "natural" links in the eyes of search engines. The value of links by three-way linking can then be better than normal reciprocal links, which are usually done between two domains.
Two-Way-Linking[Link exchange]
An alternative to the automated linking above is a link exchange forum, in which members will advertise the sites that they want to get links to, and will in turn offer reciprocal or three way links back to the sites that link to them. The links generated through such services are subject to editorial review.
One-way linking
One-way link is a term used among webmasters for link building methods. It is a hyperlink that points to a website without any reciprocal link; thus the link goes "one-way" in direction. It is suspected by many industry consultants[who?] that this type of link would be considered more natural in the eyes of search engines. One-way links are also called Incoming Links or Inbound Links.
An effective way to build this type of one-way linking is by distributing articles through content sites and article directories. These articles generally contain an About The Author box that contains a one-way link back to the author's URL. When publishers use these articles, those one-way links help authors increase their page rank.
The justification for link farm-influenced crawling diminished proportionately as the search engines expanded their capacities to index more sites. Once the 500-million listing threshold was crossed, link farms became unnecessary for helping sites stay in primary indexes. Inktomi's technology, now a part of Yahoo!, now indexes billions of Web pages and uses them to offer its search results.
Where link weighting is still believed by some Webmasters to influence search engine results with Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask (among others), link farms remain a popular tool for increasing PageRank or perceived equivalent values. PageRank-like measurements apply only to the individual pages being linked to (typically the reciprocal linking pages on member sites), so these pages must in turn link out to other pages (such as the main index pages of the member sites) in order for the link weighting to help.
The expression "link farm" has always carried with it a derogative reputation. Many reciprocal link management service operators tout the value of their resource management and direct networking relationship building. The reciprocal link management services promote their industry as an alternative to search engines for finding and attracting visitors to Web sites. Their acceptance is by no means universal but the link management services seem to have established a stable customer base.
Posted in: Webmaster-SEO| Tags: Backlinks Link Farm Links Website Linking Website quot site popularity free-for-all google relevant link search reciprocalYour Affiliate Marketing List Messages
Getting the balance right between building a trusting relationship with your list member, and pitching a product to them, can be difficult to master.
Here are steps to crafting a successful email newsletter message to help your internet marketing campaign:
1. Identify affiliate products that solve a problem or address a need that your have identified.
2. When you have decided on your affiliate product, you need to deliver a message that really focuses on the need that the product will solve. For example if your product is about a weight loss diet, you might say something like, "There's been a lot of talk about how low-carb diets can help you shed those unwanted pounds..." and then format the rest of your message like a sales pitch: identify a problem, list the obstacles to solving that problem, show how the product addresses that problem.
3. An alternative to step #2 is to do a review of the affiliate product you are promoting. The most important thing in a review is to be honest. Be sure not to cover up any flaws in the product for the sake of the sale. If you sacrifice your credibility for the sake of a few short-term sales, you lose long-term earning potential. If the people buy the product, great. If not, they will appreciate your honesty and be more likely to buy a product that you review well or that you pitch like in step #2.
4. After you've chosen between steps #2 and #3, it is time to add valuable information. In your product pitch or review, make sure that you spotlight the information or advice to be delivered. The reader of these messages should not feel like they are slogging through an extended advertisement. They should believe that you are delivering real, useful information and that the product mention is a 'by-the-way' placement.
5. When you have completed that message, consider how it can be used in the future. For example, if you wrote a message about that low-carb diet, how could that apply to any other future campaigns? Maybe you have a niche that is devoted only to cooking (not weight-loss through cooking). The message could be slightly retooled and sent out again to that different niche list.
6. Go back to step #1, and start another message!
Deployment Options (Velocity)
Security Considerations
The "Velocity" distributed cache system is designed to be operated in the corporate datacenter within the perimeter of the corporate firewall. The servers described in this topic are the server hosting the cache configuration storage location, the cache servers, the cache-enabled application servers, the development servers, and the primary data source server. All servers should be co-located on the same corporate domain.
Because cached data and the TCP/IP communications between the cache servers is not encrypted, the distributed cache system is vulnerable to malicious "sniffing" and "replay" attacks.
Note
The "Velocity" cache client is meant to reside in the application tier of your application ecosystem. End users inside or outside your corporate domain should not have direct network access to the cache servers.
When decommissioning a cache server, the "Velocity" installation program may not remove all firewall port exceptions. After "Velocity" has been uninstalled, we recommend that you reapply the corporate standard firewall configuration.
Deployment Scenarios
To simplify the discussion of deployment options, this topic will focus on three distinct examples:
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Developer deployment: A single-computer deployment used by to develop cache-enabled applications.
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Mid-sized deployment: A multi-computer installation that does not use SQL Server, with lead hosts performing the cluster management role.
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Enterprise deployment: A multi-computer installation that uses SQL Server for storing cluster configuration settings and performing the cluster management role.
Networking Firms Maneuver for Stimulus Windfall
The race is on for networking vendors to get their share of the $7 billion in broadband grants being offered through the Obama administration's massive economic stimulus bill.
At its core, the program will involve billions in new networking gear to help improve the state of broadband in the United States, and networking vendors like Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) are planning to cash in, helping their carrier customers across the United States figure out how to get a piece of the stimulus pie.
That, in turn, is likely to lead to greater sales of their own offerings, with the final outcome potentially becoming a bonanza for networking vendors. For one thing, the volume of stimulus grant applications could well exceed the dollars allocated by the government -- and that could lead to sales even beyond the $7 billion allocated in the stimulus package.
"Our customers are starting to wonder what does the broadband stimulus mean to them and whether they should take advantage of the dollars," Rich Wonders, an executive vice president at Alcatel-Lucent, told InternetNews.com. "The government has made it clear that although this is about delivering broadband to consumers in rural market, there is also a set of target institutions and audiences that they are very interested in being part of the program -- healthcare, schools and libraries are all on the targeted list."
Wonders added that Alcatel-Lucent realized that many of its smaller customers were not equipped to navigate their way through a federal program like the broadband stimulus and craft a federal grant proposal. To that end, Alcatel-Lucent is helping its customers to draft their funding applications.
It's also retained the services of Nancy Victory, the former head of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), to help with its stimulus-related efforts. The NTIA is tasked with figuring out the rules by which the broadband stimulus grants will be awarded. The agency has also launched its own informational Web site to help promote its efforts.
At Alcatel-Lucent, Wonders said the company is trying to engage its own employees as well.
"We employ over 20,000 people in the U.S.," Wonders said. "So our employees also live and work in cities -- some have broadband, some don't -- and as taxpayers and citizens, we want to make sure they have a voice.
Posted in: Internet Topic| Tags: Maneuver Networking Windfall quot administration government broadband program stimulus grant lucent ntia