*Automatic* link exchange system

[seb1188]

I'm in the process of making my site more search engine compatible, and started thinking about the links to my site. Obviously store owners can manually exchange links with eachother, and this may help to some degree with search engine rankings. But what about an automatic system? Does one exist? If not, I'd like to discuss it's development.

 

So has anyone seen one around that'd work on osCommerce?

 

I mean the type of thing that uses a small infobox to display links (to other osCommerce stores) that are 'grabbed' from an external server, and in exchange displays a link to your own shop on other sites. All specific to new osCommerce sites, of course.

[spooks]

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5272

 

 

:D

[seb1188]

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5272

 

 

:D

 

I don't think this is what I'm looking for. I may be wrong, but it looks like this contribution allows webmasters to submit their links to a single osCommerce website, and then the osCommerce site owner can check if the submitted website has a link back to them.

 

What I'm looking for/proposing is a system where links are submitted to an external server (not to a single osCommerce website) and links on that server are automatically exchanged/shared among osCommerce sites that have registered to use, and use, the link system. It's analogous to free web advertising, whereby your banner appears on other sites using the system, but will appear very infrequently unless you display other people's banners on your website, and will display very frequently if lots of your visitors click the banner on your website. However, it would be targetted at osCommerce websites that are fairly new (a good way to increase page ranks with links as a new website).

 

 

I can't find a contribution that does it. If someone were to make one, I'm sure it'd be extremely popular. I'm also fairly certain it'd benefit the developer, as they'd be able to give themselves slightly higher priority with links as "payment" for the use of the system.

[arietis]

What I'm looking for/proposing is a system where links are submitted to an external server

 

this sounds like a fun project and i'd be willing to work with you on it.

 

my first question is how would you consider dealing with competitors? if i sell pet products, for example. i may not want link exchanges with other pet products sites, but i might still want a link to other sites that sell pet clothes - because i don't sell pet clothes. i imagine that a set of keywords (similar to the way google uses adwords) can be used to describe competitors (to block, so i don't lose sales), as well as related products (to include, to help others). working this out is, i think, the first step. otherwise you won't have people adopting the feature and then there'd be no point in developing it.

 

the ranking mechanism could work like this: you get 'points' for the number of links shown on your site. the more points you earn, the higher the likelihood would be that your link shows up on someone else's site. points would be tracked for the last thirty days or so (just for a number). but if it's strictly points based, you'd always have someone on top. so, the points would put you in a category (high, medium, low for example) and when picking links to be displayed it would pick one or two at random from the high category and then another one from the medium and low categories. this way, everyone would get displayed eventually, but the high volume guys would get preference. there should also be something in place to keep your site from showup on as a link on your own site - what's the point, right?

 

how many links should be shown in the links box? how big is it? is it in column_left/right or in the banner area? maybe start with one style and add others later.

 

i think there should also be a mechanism for the central database to be able to 'check in' with the sites being linked to, in order to make sure the site it still in operation. you wouldn't want to be showing links to a site that has gone under. it'd be a waste of space on the screen.

 

finally, there would need to be reporting, just like with google adsense. so you can see how often your links have been shown (impressions) and how often they've been clicked (click-through rates), etc.

 

anyone else have thoughts? would there be some demand for a feature like this?

[seb1188]

anyone else have thoughts? would there be some demand for a feature like this?

 

i completely agree with you on the points system, particularly the grouping thing you mentioned. hadn't even thought about that! as for the location of the links, i'd like to see it set up so it can be placed anywhere. a separate file and a require line to be put wherever a user wants to put it. same goes for the number of links to show, with a max and a min but the user decides, and the more the merrier for their points! good point with the keywords and reporting too. would be very useful.

 

there seems to be a lot fewer people interested in this than i had anticipated. it would be nice if people would reply to this topic with their views on it, and whether or not they'd use it. no point making it if nobody uses it! especially in this case where it's value depends on the number of users.

[spooks]

It might be a good idea but its not something I would consider myself, for one I would be concerned that google may consider it to be a 'link farm' & therefore penalise it and related sites.

 

I`ve installed the link system I mentioned mainly so clients can add their own links with the added option of users submitting theirs, there were a few issues I had to fix though.

 

Have you seen something like you propose before?

 

:)

[seb1188]

Have you seen something like you propose before?

 

Yeah I've used a scheme similar to this before, but not for long enough to really test it. I just thought it'd be nice to have something specifically for osCommerce, as we'd be able to integrate it into the osCommerce "way of life" (ie, in an infobox) rather than all this "directory page" nonsense. If there isn't much interest, I'll just use one of the existing schemes.

[Jack_mcs]

I don't think this is what I'm looking for. I may be wrong, but it looks like this contribution allows webmasters to submit their links to a single osCommerce website, and then the osCommerce site owner can check if the submitted website has a link back to them.

 

What I'm looking for/proposing is a system where links are submitted to an external server (not to a single osCommerce website) and links on that server are automatically exchanged/shared among osCommerce sites that have registered to use, and use, the link system. It's analogous to free web advertising, whereby your banner appears on other sites using the system, but will appear very infrequently unless you display other people's banners on your website, and will display very frequently if lots of your visitors click the banner on your website. However, it would be targetted at osCommerce websites that are fairly new (a good way to increase page ranks with links as a new website).

 

 

I can't find a contribution that does it. If someone were to make one, I'm sure it'd be extremely popular. I'm also fairly certain it'd benefit the developer, as they'd be able to give themselves slightly higher priority with links as "payment" for the use of the system.

There are many sites around that allow this already. You register with them, some free, and place there code on your site. It really benefits their site more than yours but you will get a little boost in PR as long as the number of links added over time is not too high. You can't really have a contribution for this since it relies on some external server to store the links (otherwise they are not worth much). And if someone supplies the external server and adds the links, all that is needed on your end is a page where you can add the links, or have them added.

 

Jack