Been getting some e-mails lately asking for link exchanges not only to this site but to our business sites as well. What is wierd is most of the time when these comes they are from outside the U.S. and wanting to do impression links etc. But, lately they have been from businesses within the U.S. wanting to do an exchange.

Now for the purposes of SEO I fully understand the importance of link exchanges, keywords, meta tags, etc. But, if you are in business and decide to go thru the Internet to find people to do exchanges with here are some pointers.

1. Do not send the same e-mail to every business. I’m sure that is the easy way to do it but the problem is if a person has more then one site and get’s your e-mail at both sites it sort of looks like a spam situation.

2. Do not send e-mail’s to other businesses if you just built your site today and tell them that it will benefit “both of us” to do this. It’s won’t benefit both of us.

3. Do not send e-mail’s to businesses telling them the benefits of linking if their site is already a PR1-PR3 and yours is a PR0. My guess is those people with a PR1-PR3 already know the benefits and how to build a proper site without your help.

4. Lastly, do not send e-mails with a link to a “links” page and show them where you will list their business only “AFTER” they list you on their main page.

Use some common sense and built your site properly and the rest will come.