Overview: One way to get extra visitors to your Website is to put a ‘Link’ - this can be Text or a Banner or Button - on someone else’s site, which when clicked, opens your site. This is normally done on a reciprocal basis; therefore it does not involve any ongoing expense. The usual way to do this, is to have a Links page on your site, (this has a link within your site, just like the other pages). This Links page when opened can contain any number of links to other sites, the more synergistic these sites are the better. This Links page also has items that can be copied to put your link on their site. Linking this way is not difficult; it can be done simply by adding the other sites URL to your page. However, it is more effective to have a Banner or Button, or a basic Text link, which when clicked take you to the reciprocal site. These Banners or Buttons can be animated; therefore you get an ‘attention grabbing’ image, which can have a number of ‘changing messages’.

Have a look at http://www.x2cms.com/resources.asp ‘Exchange links with x2cms’, to see how this can be done. Here you will see examples of a Basic Text Link, a Banner Link and a Button Link. The problem is you need a basic knowledge of html to make Text Links, and an in depth knowledge of graphics and html to make Banners or buttons. But don’t worry; there are easy ways to do this, without becoming an html or graphics expert!

Offering Your Links:

On your Links Page, start off by inviting others to copy your Links to their site, (You may want to set conditions under which you will accept them as a Link Partner).

You then need to make:

A Basic Text Link

A Banner Link

A Button Link

Making a Basic Text Link :

A basic Text Link could look like this:

X2cms Website Builder – If you need an easy to use Website Builder this is for you.

The html for this would be:

<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><a href="http://www.x2cms.com">x2cms Website Builder</a> - If you want an easy to use Website Builder, this is the one for you.</font></p>

You now need to edit this html so that it refers to your message, we suggest you copy and paste the html into your Word Processor before you begin to edit it, this way you have the original intact if you make a mistake or want to use it again.

In the html after <a href=” delete the URL (http://www.x2cms.com) between the inverted commas, and insert your own URL, do not delete the inverted commas.

Delete x2cms Website Builder, between the > and <a/> and insert your own headline

Delete the text after the <a/> - and </font></p> and enter your own.

Save the edited html, we tell you how to use it in due course.

Making Banners and Buttons:

We suggest you use a Shareware programme to make your Banners and Buttons. The easiest we have found can be downloaded from: http://www.bannermakerpro.com/

You can download a trial, and if you decide to buy it, at $30 it won’t break the bank!

As you will see this lets you build your Banner or Buttons in 10 easy steps, each step has a description of how to complete that step, and you see your work as you proceed. Best of all, it makes and saves the html for you, and all you need to do once you are finished, is copy it to your Links page and invite others to copy and paste it into their website!

Making Your Links Page:

Now that you have made the Links you want to offer to others, you are ready to make your Links page. In x2cms open a New Page, which you will name and save as ‘Links’. You need to add a link to your template called ‘Links’ which when clicked will open your Links page.

You start off by inviting people to Link to your site.

We would suggest that you have another look at http://www.x2cms.com/resources.asp to see how we do this, this kind of invitation, adjusted to suit your website, is excellent.

Then you need to add your Links: (see step 1)

Basic Text Link : Type in your basic Text Link then copy/paste the html you saved previously and invite people to copy and paste this code into their website.

Banners and Buttons: Thanks to thework done by Banner Maker Pro, all you need to do, is to copy/paste the Banner and Buttons you made earlier into your page. Ask people to “right click and save the picture as” then paste it into their website. Any animation will be intact when viewed in a browser.

You can then invite them to let you have details of where the link is (see step 2), and to let you have details of what they would like to see on your page.

When you put the Link they send you on your Links page the reciprocal deal is done.

Finding Links Partners :

If all you needed to do was the foregoing, life would be easy! Now you need to start searching for Link Partners, you may already have a few targets in mind, but the more ‘partners’ you can find the better. If you are a member of an Association or club they may publish a list of members, email them and invite them to become partners. Go to Google and enter keywords which relate to your site, into the search box click the search button, you will see pages of websites in the related keywords area, email them and invite them to become partners. Finally every time you visit a website look for a Links link, click on this and you will see if they are looking for Link Partners, most of the sites with volume traffic will charge for adding your link, so choose potential partners who are in your ‘league’

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