We like to say that a LinksManager account can be set up and running in ten minutes which, of course, it can. And once set up, after only ten minutes, that account can reduce the time and effort required to initiate and maintain an active, productive link-exchange program by 50, 60 or even 70 percent.

Which is, in our opinion, flat-out amazing. What you can achieve by spending a few hours more than ten minutes working with your LinksManager account, however, is downright astonishing.

What you can achieve by spending a few hours with your LinksManager account, however, is downright astonishing.

To call LinksManager robust is like saying the governor of California has a few muscles. Your LinksManager Control Panel is more than a tool for adding, declining and checking links. It is more than a way to format, store and rotate links. That lengthy list of features, options and services on the left side of your Control Panel's opening screen is a power palette that can be used to match the look of your links pages to the rest of your site's graphics, put seasonal close-out sale information on your link partners' websites, and about a zillion other things.

What follows are brief tips and tricks covering just some of the ways LinksManager can be used to supercharge your site's links and performance.

Create Link Categories For Sites Relevant To Your Website
Swapping links with quality, relevant websites -- even in small numbers -- adds value to your website and can improve your search-engine rankings. Swapping links with hundreds of irrelevant websites offers no benefit, insults the intelligence of end-users visiting your site and violates most search engine quality guidelines. Furthermore, setting up link categories and/or swapping multiple links not relevant -- i.e., directly related -- to your own website's topic, genre, or focus can result in suspension or termination of your LinksManager account without notice.

For example, if your website is focused on Travel, you should keep your categories relevant to travel. Categories such as hotels, destinations, travel insurance, etc. would be beneficial to your end-user and relevant to your industry.

Category Optimization
You can optimize your categories further by giving them custom file names and Meta tags.

• If you have a category called 'Hotels', you can optimize it in the "Add/Modify/Delete Categories" section of your LinksManager Control Panel. Replace the default file name found in the FTP Upload Controls with something descriptive such as hotel-resources.html or hotel-links.html.
  
  
• Since search engines usually display a page's Meta Description Tag in their returns, it's a good idea to personalize the Meta Name='description' tag for your category pages. For the Hotels category, for example, you might want to create a tag like "*YOUR URL*-Links To Hotels."
• The meta name='keywords' tag should contain a list of keywords found within that page. Good keywords for a Hotels category page include hotel, motel, inn, accommodations, etc.
  
  

FTP/ CNAME Solutions

Displaying your links pages under your own domain name is highly desirable because it makes them a truly seamless, integral part of your website.

Displaying your links pages under your own domain name is highly desirable because it makes them a truly seamless, integral part of your website. If your hosting company does not permit FTP uploads of your links pages, you may want to consider using the LinksManager CNAME option, which labels the pages with your URL (i.e., http://links.yourwebsitenamehere.com) while hosting them on the LinksManager server.

• You can also optimize file names to make them more search-engine friendly. The default name for your links menu pages is "links.html," but you can use the FTP Upload Settings to change them to something more descriptive such as "Travel-Resources.html."

Cosmetic Integration
One of the most important aspects of optimizing your links pages is integrating their "look" into the overall design of your website. Information on using your LinksManager Control Panel's Cosmetic Controls to format your link pages is available from the Knowledge Base

• It's also important to update your link pages' look every time you change the color scheme or layout of your site. The LinksManager Cosmetic Controls make this easy.
  
  

Anchor Text / LinkPartners.com listing
You can update your anchor text (the description which appears with your links on other sites) by selecting 'Change Account Information' from within your LinksManager Control Panel.

• You also have the option of having your anchor text update within LinkPartners.com. (Note: This change will not be reflected on existing links, but will appear on all new ones.)

Custom Email Notifications

It is highly desirable to use LinksManager's Custom Mailers feature to create personalized link requests and link-request responses.

Your LinksManager account comes with standard, optimized default link-request emails, but it is highly desirable to use LinksManager's Custom Mailers feature to create personalized link requests and link-request responses.

• Consider using a custom email to notify webmasters of things like changes in the category under which you placed their links. Other available variables can be configured to display information specific to the webmaster receiving one of your custom emails.

Deep Linking
Generally, a deep link is a link to any website page not a homepage. Deep links should point to pages containing content of special interest to end-users. LinksManager's Deep Linking feature allows you to specify what URL you want webmasters to link to based on the category the webmaster specifies when requesting a link from your add link page.

• You can setup Deep Linking under "Set Link Preferences" in your account's Control Panel. Once you've enabled Deep Linking, go to the "Add/Modify/Delete Categories Controls" to enter your Deep Linking information.
  
  
• Use this utility to create unique site names and descriptions for the different URLs for each category and set the categories to direct webmasters asking to join that category to link to your "deep-linking" URL and description instead of your homepage.
  
  

Blacklisting
If your website's focus is on children's clothing, you probably don't want to waste time opening and rejecting link requests from gambling sites. The Edit Blacklist feature, available under "Manage Links" in the Control Panel, compares keywords you specify with the contents of site name, URL, description, and email address fields. If a submitted site matches a blacklisted keyword the webmaster will receive an error message and the link will never be entered into your Approve/Delete database.

LinkPartner Swap Permissions
The LinkPartner Swap Permissions Control Panel applet allows you to set which LinkPartners.com categories you will or won't accept link swap requests from.

• Similar to the blacklist, this feature allows you to avoid manually handling irrelevant swap requests initiated from your LinkPartners.com listing.
  
  
• If you wish to avoid trading links with sites in the LinkPartner's "Adult Entertainment" category, for example, simply select "Allow Any Swap Partners Except Those From The Categories Checked Below" and select the categories you don't want to consider.

LinkBlogs

Your LinkBlog is a mini-blog displayed below your website's link information on the other webmaster's website.

With LinkBlogs, it's easy to keep information about your link fresh on your reciprocal link partners' websites. Your LinkBlog is a mini-blog displayed below your website's link information on the other webmaster's website. You can use this feature to introduce new products, promote special offers and discounts, or broadcast the latest news about your company.

• Like virtually every other LinksManager feature, LinkBlogs can only be implemented with the consent of both webmasters. After setting up your LinkBlog, you invite your link partners to subscribe to it and it will not appear on the their site until they agree. Likewise, none of your link partners can put a LinkBlog on your site without your permission.
• Here's a LinkBlogs example: Say your website's URL is KidSportUniverse.com . Without a LinkBlog, your site's anchor text and description would be listed on your link partners' page as:
  
  KidSportUniverse.com
  Selling the finest, time-tested children's sporting equipment online since 1999. All products receive detailed customer ratings and reviews. Learn more about the little league sports that your children play and the gear that makes them safe and fun. Lowest prices guaranteed. Your complete satisfaction is our goal!
  
  This does an excellent job of introducing and describing your website, but LinkBlogs takes link publishing to the next level by allowing you to publish additional, real-time content beneath a link listing. In this example, a LinkBlog is used to showcase items.
  
  KidSportUniverse.com
  Selling the finest, time-tested children's sporting equipment online since 1999. All products receive detailed customer ratings and reviews. Learn more about the little league sports that your children play and the gear that makes them safe and fun. Lowest prices guaranteed. Your complete satisfaction is our goal!
  
  Check Out These Spring Specials!
  Little League Batter's Helmet - SALE PRICE - $24.95
  SwingPro Training Tee and Ball - SALE PRICE - $19.95
  All Adidas Baseball Cleats - SALE PRICE - $39.95
  
  
• LinkBlogs add incredible power to your site's links and benefit the sites hosting your links by adding fresh, relevant content to them.

ResponseRank

Waiting for responses to link exchange requests can be frustrating and time consuming for all parties. The folks who bring you LinkPartners.com and LinksManager.com have come up with a solution: ResponseRank™.

ResponseRank has quickly become an integral and invaluable feature of LinksManager and LinkPartners.com

When your site is listed in LinkPartners.com, ResponseRank is calculated by monitoring the time between when a link exchange request is sent to you, and when you respond either by reciprocating the link, or politely declining the link request.

Websites are now listed in LinkPartners.com based on ResponseRank. Sites with the highest ResponseRank are listed first in their respective category. Sites with lower ResponseRank are listed last.

Do you want more link requests? Get a higher listing in LinkPartners.com by responding to link exchange requests promptly.

As we said at the beginning, these are just a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of your LinksManager account. To access everything LinksManager has to offer and derive maximum benefit from your account, we suggest you also check out the articles listed on the LinksManager homepage, particularly those about Linklets and the Link Exchange Toolbar.