Researching Link Partners
There are a number of different ways to find quality link partners. Most people who are new to the linking “game” ask what the best way for them to find new link partners is. Here are a few great ways:
Research Your Competition
One of the best ways to find link partners that are not only relevant to your website’s content, but also are willing to link, is to find out who links to your competition. There are a number of different ways to do this. It used to be, that Google would show you links that pointed to a particular domain with a PR of 4 or above with the link: operator. Today, it appears, they are showing you the complete opposite. Now using the link: operator, you will find links with a PR below 4 usually. To use the link: operator, simply go to google and type link:www.domain.com There should be no spaces between the colon and the first “w”. Obviously, you want to replace “domain” with whatever domain you want to see links for. So, if you want to find links for www.clicksentry.com, you would type in link:www.clicksentry.com .
Yahoo! also has a similar function, and many believe it is a better alternative to Google’s link: operator when it comes to checking the actual number of links pointing to a particular domain. To use Yahoo’s link check, type linkdomain:www.domain.com in the search box on Yahoo’s home page.
MSN also has a feature that works the same as Yahoo’s. You will need to type linkdomain:www.domain.com into the search box on the MSN search page.
Use Link Exchange Forums
Use link exchange forums like the ones found at ClickSentry, Seo Guy or Digital Point. You will find experienced webmasters (and some that are not so experienced) that are willing to “trade” relevant links for many specific industries. This is a great way to pick up some great links and also to network with like minded webmasters.
If you are involved in a large industry like real estate or software, there are specialized forums out there where you can really “hit the jackpot” and network with others in your industry. What you will find is that you can actually gain a lot more than you think by working with people who you thought were your competition.