Dumb question re: Link Exchange ~ interested to hear from u!

[kciprize]

I have a quick and maybe dumb question regarding link exchanges..

From a personal perspective, I think realtor websites really look "ghetto'd out" if there are a ton of worthless link on the site. By worthless, I mean links that are totally unreleated to what I, the customer (or home buyer/seller) public is looking for.

For instance, I really think including 100's or thousands of links to other realtors around the globe, mortage brokers, link farms, industry logos, etc. looks trashy, especially if it is done prominently on a realtors homepage. Sure this may result in a high page ranking (at least in the short term) however I would argue that most consumers would be annoyed with the clutter and would look elsewhere for a more 'focused' agent.

So my question is this....
Knowing how I feel about linking, is there a way to make it happen in a very 'unpublic' fashion? For instance, could I just create a page that really isn't visible (or overly visible) to site visitors? For instance creating a "www.mywebsite.com/links" page that would laundry list all of my links/reciprocal links and include a pointer back to my main site but not really be a page that a typical user to my website could navigate too without actually knowing the specific landing page for this information?

Let me know your thoughts or if you have any suggestions on how I can obtain the benefits of a linking without visibly whoring myself out!

[judyo]

On my Cook County page my Resources link is in the footer. It takes you to the main recip page showing all of the states & links to international, mortgage & other recip resources.

Every time I see an agent with so many "ugly banners" and stuff on their home page I try to encourage them to be much more selective & make sure the link is worth it, which in most cases it isn't. In fact, very few REW forum members have this junk on their home pages.

[HMiller]

I assume you've never lived in a ghetto so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you may not understand how insulting that could sound to someone who has. Now, back to the point of your post. I do agree about the sites with all of the ugly homepage banners on them. Not only are most of them of zero benefit as far as link exchange goes, but they can make a decent looking HP look plain old ugly.

You can create a link directory which is not prominently displayed to your visitors, but is still easily accessed by the SE's. You might not want to make it such an obvious recpirocal link exchange directory by not loudly proclaiming that you're looking for reciprocal links and being more discreet about it. Link exchangers will still be able to find you. Organizing by state is what many around here do. Just my opinion, but I wouldn't name it "Link Exchange Directory" or anything like that and wouldn't put the world links or exchange anywhere in the url.

[KSA]

Another way to approach links is to present it as a real estate resource and relocation directory provided as a service for your visitors. On the first page of the directory where you show how the pages are organized, you can explain that the resources are there as a reference.

I'm not sure how many people actually look at the pages. But, if they do, it is presented in a very positive way, and as an integral part of the resources your site provides.

I know people who do get visitors referred from some of their link partners' sites, so I think people do sometimes use the directories when they're looking for resources in other parts of the country.

[occastles]

Knowing how I feel about linking, is there a way to make it happen in a very 'unpublic' fashion? For instance, could I just create a page that really isn't visible (or overly visible) to site visitors? For instance creating a "www.mywebsite.com/links" page that would laundry list all of my links/reciprocal links and include a pointer back to my main site but not really be a page that a typical user to my website could navigate too without actually knowing the specific landing page for this information?

This is SPAMMING the search engines... You're trying to short cut the linking game, and search engines will find you out and kill your website. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon... You'll spend all this time trying to fool the search engines... happily enjoying good search engine traffic, happily enjoying making money, then, tomorrow, your business is GONE!

PLEASE do linking right... or you WILL pay for it later. Why spend so much time trying to SPAM (get around) the search engines when you can set up a legitimate linking strategy that will get you excellent results now, and in the future...