The following question was received in the PLB Group and was answered likewise. We record it here on out community website for future reference also. The answers are specially simplified, both in language and technicality, for the PLB community members.

QUESTION:

I have been getting quiet a few emails recently asking if I can add their links to my already published articles. I don’t usually mind but I was thinking if it is of any value to me?

ANSWER:

No it’s not of value to you, but will be to them. Links are expensive. Companies who want proper marketing through bloggers will go as far as to pay per link that the blogger inserts in his or her article for them.

For example, if you put one link for $10, then the blogger can charge $30 for inserting that link three times. (There are a lot of variables in pricing and that is a whole separate topic to cover.)

Secondly, if the blogger wants, he or she may decide if adding links to articles are of benefit to the blogger himself also.

Some things to consider before adding links to your blog are:

• Are the links relevant to the content of your blog or website? For example, a blog on cooking and recipes that has outbound links to a website selling gadgets and computers does not seem to make sense.
• The links should not lead to spam sites. This is a very important thing to consider. If your blog/website contains outbound links to website sending spam and/or malware to people’s devices, or simply links to a website that is already blacklisted by Google, you run a huge risk of being blacklisted yourself.
• Sometimes, after a blogger has added a third party link, that website owner may change the outlook of his website, it could become spammy or have bad content, or simply be handed over to a new owner who changes the whole idea of that website. So it’s up to the blogger to keep checking those links or to insert them after careful evaluation in the first place.

In the end, we will suggest that if you are interested inserting those links, go through them thoroughly. Make sure you trust the website and have reached a mutual agreement with that website owner regarding how genuine his work is. Always do a little homework on the links you add. You can do so by using Google and get some basic information like their ranking, reviews (if available), run an online spam and malware check on them, etc, the aim being to satisfy yourself.

You can also ask for price of inserting those link. The more traffic you have, the higher price you can quote. As mentioned earlier in this article, pricing is an altogether separate and wider topic.

Happy Blogging!