The page where the link to TEG
will be displayed must be one click away from the site homepage
and clearly identifiable on the homepage by a heading such as
"Links" or "Resources" displayed above the fold of the homepage.
If you're not sure what this means, use this site as a
reference. On the homepage, there is a heading at the top called
"Links" which when clicked takes you directly to the page
containing all reciprocal links.
The reason people visit The Elder
Geek on Windows XP is
because it *is* focused on Windows XP. It only makes sense they
are interested in links that focus on information, products and
services related to Windows XP. Make sure that the site you're
requesting to be linked is relevant in some way to Windows XP
and the users that visit The Elder Geek on Windows XP.
One of my pet peeves is the
number of sites that are created strictly to try and turn a
profit by listing page after page of links while providing no
original content. If this describes the site you're trying to
link, the request will be denied.
I do look at the page rank of
sites that request to be linked to The Elder Geek. While I
understand that it takes time to build a solid page rank the
proper way, I prefer to link to sites that are within +/- 2 page
ranks of the current The Elder Geek ranking. At the time of this
writing, TEG is a page rank 6 site on the Google rankings.
As much as I would like to link
to every site that wants to link to TEG, it's simply impossible
to accommodate every request. That's not to say that if your
site is currently ranked low or it's on the fringe of being
relative to TEG that it won't be approved, because I do remember
the early days of TEG when I was struggling for a decent page
ranking. Some very generous people helped me out by linking to
my site and I try to do the same in helping out fledgling sites
when possible.
Finally, if you are using a
company that specializes in search engine optimization or using
one of the software packages that generate form letters to
request links, the chances TEG will exchange links are greatly
diminished. It has been my experience that link requests
arriving from these two sources seldom have any relevance to
this site and are more interested in boosting their page rank
for profit rather than providing any meaningful content to
users.
Here's what to
do if you're requesting a link to The Elder Geek on Windows XP site.
Send a letter to the e-mail
address shown below containing a brief explanation of why you
think it would be beneficial for your site and The Elder Geek
site to share reciprocal links. Don't write a book; just provide some
brief, relevant information that lets me know you have a valid
reason for wanting to exchange links. Make sure your letter
contains a link to the page where I can verify the link you've
already placed to The Elder Geek on Windows XP. The code samples
for linking to TEG are available below. Use copy/paste to insert
the code into your site.
