Imagine you are at a social gathering where you have the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting executives connected to your line of business or work.

You are talking with a small group of like minded individuals and you are discussing a topic of common interest. Suddenly another guest joins the group and within seconds diverts the conversation to talking about himself, his company and why those in this group should work or do business with his company. The group soon breaks up disinterested at the aggressive individual.

The guy who selfishly butted in now looks for another little group to do the same again, with the same results - no one is interested, as he tries to dominate the conversation!

The better way for this executive would be to respect the others; by not being pushy; contribute to the conversation yet wrap his sales message within what he says. In other words, he is showing he is a good guy to get to know. This way he is building up credibility. The conversation continues and at the appropriate moment, name cards are willingly exchanged.

Requesting Link Exchanges

When you request a link exchange it is a bit like the above scenario -- most requests are similar to the aggressive guy, and just say: "link to my web site and you give me a link in return", without further explanation. That is Selfish.

Put yourself in the recipient's position as they ask themself:

* Do I know you and your site?

* Why should I exchange a link?

* Do we have common interest in our sites' subject matter so that we mutually benefit?

* Are we on equal footing - meaning, is your link page of the same Page Rank as mine? - This is important to know. Why? Because search engines (SE's) gives lesser credibility to links from a lower page rank, especially if the subject of the two pages are not related. On the other hand, SE's give greater weighting when page subjects are the same and highly focused.

All your link exchange requests should include:

- your site's main subject area

- your link page "page rank"

- be polite and cordial in your e-mail request (usually sent to the "webmaster" or as specified on their site, and

- that you have placed the reciprocal link already on your site first before making the request as a goodwill gesture (and remove it if the request is turned down.