Is There an Advantage in Linking My Web Site to Others?

A solid way to build site traffic -- and potential customers -- is by linking to other websites and having them link back to yours.

• By offering articles or content FROM other sites on your website, you expand the information available to your readers without spending the time to create the content yourself. You broaden your site as a resource to your readers and increase your appearance as a knowledgeable and connected player in the field.
  
• By offering articles and content TO other sites, you can expand your reader base by linking your articles back to your site. You expand your potential customer base as readers on these other sites are directed back to your site. You also expand your reputation as an expert in the field when your advice and opinions begin to appear on multiple sites.

To maximize the effectiveness of linking, when you provide a document to another website, within the document always provide several links back to your site as well as a link to your online contact form. Add the links as hyperlinks within your Word document, enabling the hyperlinks when you finalize the PDF version.

To protect your intellectual property and prevent potential copyright problems, make it clear to the posting site that you own the content and are licensing its use to them. Make certain they understand that you retain ownership and the right to use the content on your website and possibly others. Including a copyright notice at the end of each article you write is an effective way to do this. The following wording is fairly standard: "Copyright 2007 Peter Parker with permission to Daily Planet."