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Why should I link to other sites? People will only be persuaded to visit Scotland if the information they find fulfils all of their criteria for making a buying decision. You can’t possibly have all combinations of this information on your own web site, but the information they need is out there on the web. You can make their buying decision much easier by showing them where they can find this information - by linking to useful, good quality web sites. Who do I link to? You and your staff know the kind of information your customers seek from you. This might be transport information, local history, local activities and attractions, local businesses and services. Be inventive! Write down a list of everything you can think of. Some suggested links are: www.destination-scotland.com
- for general tourist information How do I find out the web site address to link to? If you know a business that you want to link to, then the simplest way is to phone them and ask them. You can also do a search on the Internet. Google currently gives the best and most accurate results of all of the search engines. Type in the name of a business and the town name, and the site you want should be in the top 10 results. You can also look through some guides to Scotland, such as www.destination-scotland.com to find more general information, and links that you might not have thought about. There are so many sites containing the same information, which one should I choose? If there is an official site, run by the business owner, that should be your first choice. They will probably have the most comprehensive information. If you aren’t sure if the site is an official one, there will probably be a telephone number on the site, so call them and ask them. How can I make sure I don’t lose visitors by linking out to other sites? There are 2 things you should make sure of: 1) that your link opens a new browser window and not in the same window as your site. Your webmaster should know how to do this (you can also find out more information below). Secondly you should get them to link back to your site if they can. Large companies and organisations are unlikely to link back to smaller businesses but it wont do any harm in trying. How do I link to someone and open that link in a new browser window? This should be implemented in the code of the web page and the link should have the following format: <a href="http://www.destination-scotland.com" target="_blank">Destinations in Scotland</a> This will give you: The target="_blank" opens the new browser window, leaving your website open underneath it. How do I get people to link back to me? Make sure that you speak to the owner of the web site and tell them you have linked to them. Follow up the request with an e-mail, detailing exactly where to link to. Local businesses that you have a relationship with will be easier, but the larger sites are potentially more valuable to you so are worth a bit of persistence. A few good links to your site can increase your traffic dramatically. How can I find out who links to my site? Go to Google and type into the search box: link:http://www.yourwebsite.com Where should I put links on my site? A common place to have links is grouped together on a links page. Here the links should be organised by information type to make them easier to follow. If you have a page that talks about something that you are linking to, then you should also put a link to the site here. One thing you should avoid, however, is putting link to other web sites on your home page. This may adversely affect your position in the search engines. Here are some examples of sites that have well organised links pages: www.highlandescapehotels.com Is there anyone I shouldn’t link to? If you find a site that you think might be useful, but is very hard to use, you should avoid linking to it as visitors will invariably feel the same. Sites that are very slow to load should also be avoided. You should also avoid linking to sites that use annoying advertising techniques such as pop up windows. UK Hotel Finder - Edinburgh Hotels
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