| The world wide web is called a web for a reason. The concept is simple.
Allow people to tie (link) documents together in any manner which they
see fit. This gives readers the capability to move from document to document
as needed.
For example, you might have an article about diabetes which links to
reports about drugs and blood monitors. These in turn may link to other
documents which go into greater detail on the symptoms, as well as the
results of medical studies and even FDA reports.
This is the way the web was designed to work. When a document (an HTML
page) is properly designed, it references sources all over the web as needed
for many different reasons:
-
to go into greater detail on the subject matter
-
to provide alternate viewpoints
-
to give supporting evidence
-
to provide references used in the creation of the document
-
to list additional related information
-
to define terms
Properly used and maintained, external links add incredible value to a
web site. Some webmasters do not like to include any external links (except
for those carefully segregated on a "links page") because they believe
that this causes visitors to leave their site. Their belief is they worked
very hard to get people to visit, so why encourage them to leave?
These webmasters do not really understand the web. Furthermore, they
do not comprehend the major reasons why people visit sites in the first
place, and why they return to the same site over and over.
As a rule (with some exceptions) people surf the web because they are
looking for information or entertainment. These are the primary uses of
the internet. Generally, surveys show that shopping or making any kind
of purchase is not high on the reasons people spend their time web surfing.
No indeed, what they primarily want is to find out something. In fact,
it is quite common for your average surfer to use a web site to research
their purchase, then drive down to the local store to pick it up themselves.
Thus, any web site that presents good, solid, well researched information
on a subject is generally a huge step ahead in the game of obtaining and
keeping visitors. Adding additional features such as message boards, newsfeeds,
games, puzzles and anything else adds additional ways that your visitors
can get the information that they crave .
If you site has a good, well coordinated set of external links than
you are giving your visitors access to additional information, which in
turn provides them with an excellent reason to visit your site again. Yes,
your visitor may surf elsewhere, but given that the quality of the external
links is high, he will most likely return.
I have spent much time figuring out a good ratio of external links within
a web site. I have found that a site can definitely have too many links
to other sites. Too many links produces a whole series of problems:
The internet is very active, so links
tend to become obsolete very quickly. If you have a very large number of
links in your site, you are ensuring that you will spend a great amount
of time checking for link rot. If you do not check your links often more
and more of them will produce 404 errors, which will tend to cause visitors
to NOT return to your site.
The desire is to have quality links. This
is what causes visitors to want to return. A large quantity of external
links (especially a huge number on a single page) tends to make it seem
as if the links are of lesser quality. In other words, the appearance is
that you just slapped together a bunch of links without much thought.
If a large number of your links are of
subjects unrelated to your web site, then you most definitely have degraded,
in the eyes of your visitors, your site. You see, they came to your site
because it contained information about a specific subject (or several different
subjects). Linking to unrelated sites tends to dilute your site and chase
away visitors.
Too few external links tends to make your
site look small and uninviting. People enjoy the choices associated with
the web, and a site which has no external links feels cramped and confining.
It's kind of like being in a building without any windows. I believe it
tends to create an atmosphere where people want to rush in, get what they
want and leave, never to return.
The best sites present an external link
here and another one there. Perhaps two or three well-picked references
at the end of an article are appropriate. Also, sprinkling an appropriate
link to well-written reference or two within an article is an excellent
idea. These kinds of things can strengthen your writing and make it more
powerful. For example, if you have written an article about asthma, including
a few references (within the text) to other pages which strengthen your
arguments tends to make your own arguments stronger and more believable.
Normally I do not like popup windows.
However, when linking to external sites the best way to keep visitors from
leaving is to simply pop up a new window anytime an external link is clicked.
This allows your visitors to surf the external site to their hearts contend.
When they are finished and close the window, your site is still up and
waiting for them. Thus, I've found that popup windows are fine for external
sites which present additional data - they are not okay for advertisements
or promotional materials.
One annoyance that I've found in some
sites is affiliate links which are camouflaged as links to valid external
sites. I don't mind people making money on the internet, but please don't
try and fool me into clicking on something so you can make a few pennies.
Honest businesspeople tend to produce return customers - dishonesty might
make a few pennies in the short term but will cause people to never return.
What do I mean by this? It's okay, say,
to include a link to the amazon.com page with a book related to the subject
as long as it is labeled as such. You might say, "The book 'blah blah'
helped me overcome my asthma" with "blah blah" an affiliate link to amazon.com.
From the text, people can expect that they will be presented with a way
to order the book. However, making that same link appear as a reference
in your writing ("asthma is a disease which causes shortness of breath"
with "asthma" hyperlinked with an affiliate link to a book, for example)
is being slightly dishonest with your visitors. People click on the link
expecting to get some information, and instead they find an order form
... this tends to cause them to (a) not buy the thing, and (b) surf somewhere
else. You are not delivering what you promised to deliver.
There are places on a web site in which
masses of external links are not only necessary but desired. A links page
is a perfect example of this practice. This is the concept of including
a list of several dozen related links on one or more pages. The only purpose
of the pages is to link to sites with related subjects.
Other good examples include free-for-all
links pages, link exchange pages and portal pages. As long as the links
are related in some way to the subject matter of your site, you will be
adding value for your visitors and thus encouraging them to return in the
future.
In summary, external links are very important to creating a web site
which encourages people to return again and again. However, you must be
careful to ensure your links are well chosen and of subjects related to
your site's subject - otherwise, you will be giving your visitors excuses
to leave without returning. |
