Odd request for link

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Skamokawa

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Got this email yesterday.....anyone else?
Hello,
My name is Link Requester from The "Link Request Inn, located in NY. I came across your website at http://ourblogsite.com/ through a Google search, and would be extremely interested in achieving a text link. Please, take a moment to look over our website and consider this request, as we'd be more than willing to compensate you.
Thanks for your time in advance and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly at any time. Hopefully we can collaborate!
Kindly,
Link Guy
--
edited per Swirt's suggestion.
 
Very odd, considering your website's main page has a PR of 1 and his has a PR of 4 and you are at opposite ends of the country. Better deal for you than for him, if it's a reciprocal link.
 
I only link to what I know personally. That would get my delete key. I have had many requests to do links. I delete them all.
 
compensate you for a link? what does he mean by text link? a link to their place within the text of your website?
is there a way to tell if an email comes from the person we think is sending it and that it's not phishing? that's probably a whole 'nother topic.
 
Skamokawa you may want to delete the name and links from this post or he will show up soon to explain himself.
It's a link request ... in general unless it is of use to your potential guests it should be avoided.
 
compensate you for a link? what does he mean by text link? a link to their place within the text of your website?
is there a way to tell if an email comes from the person we think is sending it and that it's not phishing? that's probably a whole 'nother topic..
I thought about sending a copy of the email to the inn directly, thinking this was unlikely to have come from them, but thought I'd run it by you folks first, often these things seem to hit many at once.....I think I'll just delete.
Thanks for the replies!
KathleenM
 
swirt ... why would someone pay for a link? and not do reciprocal links assuming you have compatible businesses, etc.? can you explain?
 
swirt ... why would someone pay for a link? and not do reciprocal links assuming you have compatible businesses, etc.? can you explain?.
seashanty said:
swirt ... why would someone pay for a link? and not do reciprocal links assuming you have compatible businesses, etc.? can you explain?
They would pay for a link for either of two reasons:
  1. To increase the amount of clickthrough traffic to their site. (Not likely in this case because they are looking for a link from a B&B in an entirely different region).
  2. To increase their position in search engines which would increase their traffic.
My bet is that it was for reason number 2. Recipricocal links generally have much less value because
  1. The search engines can see that it is reciprocal...and if this place has a lot of reciprocal links, the search engines will spot that he is trying to game the system.
  2. They are often a wash....if I give you a dime and you give me a dime in return, we each gain nothing. There are some times when a reciprocal link is worth it, but one B&B site to another is rarely worth it
Paying might be worth it... (not sure what he is paying) but if he paid $5 per link, for $100 he could get 20 links from established sites he could quite likely improve his position in the search engines. For $400 he could likely improve his position dramatically and it would pay for itself without question. It would also be a lasting impact as it is not PayPerClick that goes away when the money runs out. It is also not a directory listing that goes away when the money runs out.
The hard part is convincing other B&B owners to create the link without sounding sleezy and having people's radar go off.
 
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