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Reciprocal links have been a mainstay of link building, and we all still get emails with reciprocal link requests., but the value of this approach has degraded with the enhancement of search engine algorithms.  Google, yahoo and bing have realized that webmasters with a penchant for backlinks will trade with other website without regard to the content and context of such a trade.  Worse yet is the email requesting a link and offering directory entries in exchange.  Read the email carefully, I find more than fifty percent are a waste of a link.

Let us say you have a page rank 3, and receive a link request from a page rank 4.  Sounds like a pretty good deal.  But the offers I have seen ask us to add a link to their site, and offer two links in exchange.  On the surface it sounds like a good deal, but the fact is the two offered are directories that we can do without needing to give a link.  It is not really a trade.  They are offering no intrinsic value for a link from our website.

Furthermore, link exchange with unrelated businesses is probably a waste of a link.  An exception to this would be local links.  For example, if the dry cleaner is linking to the pet store who links to the 24 hour gym who links to the barber shop, it all seems fairly unrelated.  But if we all are trying to improve our ranking against the keywords 'flat shoals and salem road' this has value, and a lot of it.  I have worked with a client using even the broader terms of Atlanta and Chicago to build relevant links, and have seen relevant value in exchange against these terms, especially when combined with relevant anchor text.

Indeed, I can make more cases of valid link exchange.  But most link exchange does nothing to build keyword quality score and just because we can link, doesn't mean we will.

If you have heard that link exchange is the way to go, and still don't believe me, click on this, over five years old, from Matt Cutts. Matt, the most famous and outspoken google representative, files this under webmaster mistakes.

What if you don't have a website design yet?  What do I need to consider?  How much should I spend?

• Logo - Modern business graphics requires logo design in a digital format. It can then be used for business cards, email, and the website. Budget $200 to $2000 for Logo design.
• E-mail Accounts - Do you need to have email accounts set up? Will you be using Outlook or webmail. Do you need forwarders to interface with yahoo or gmail?
• Will you be need a copywriter, or do you have your text ready to go? Even if you have copy, our linguists / computer scientist will read through it and make enhancements to improve the SEO potential.
• Flash - This is embedded video. A little motion and pizazz is good to hold the visitor, but too much interferes with peoples decision making, and slows down the process, or turns people off completely. If you have existing video, we will convert it and embed it for $ 500-2000.
• Slideshow - Probably also in flash, this is often a sharper method of holding visitors that are attracted to a little sizzle.
• Content Management - Do you need to update some of your site without using the web designer? A simple Wordpress or Joomla module can be done for as little as $ 100, or much more to match style and pizazz with your home page. Logo and layout integration on this 'blog section' generally starts around $ 2,000 and can be higher, if desired.
• Online Store - We can implement Zencart, without style and analytics, for as little as $125. Style, artwork, SEO, and analytics add up around three times quicker than for a wordpress blog.
• Credit card processing - A simple payment portal starts around $ 350, integration to shopping carts or online accounts can be much higher. A third party such as authorize.net or paypal is used.
• Community Bulletin Boards - We will talk about the responsibility and overhead of moderating this sort of thing before we talk money. This could cost one of your employees hours every day to maintain.