DJGold

Jon Bruce

I thought it would be useful to include a "how to and what to do" to add links back to your web page.

CJ Greiner

Hi Jon,

Great Idea!

I assume you're talking about DJ's including reciprocal links on their websites that point back to DJGold, and specifically the new sitename they've chosen for their listing (i.e. http://sitename.DJGold.com )

In fact... it's very important that DJ's do that. If a DJ has a website that's on search engines, and they put a link to their new pages at sitename.DJGold.com, then their listing on DJGold will be placed higher in the search results (link popularity).
I think that's only fair since there are direct links on the DJ's DJGold pages that point directly to the DJ's website and are giving the DJ's website a higher link popularity.

The result ==> The more ways the client has of finding YOU, the more likely they'll find you first and book you first.
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In the near future, I'd like to set up a page which will automatically display the code that a DJ could paste on their website... But that part of the programming hasn't been first on my list of things to do.

Now that you've brought it up... perhaps that will receive higher priority. (You know: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!")

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If you have suggestions about how it should work, or how it might be set-up to be the most helpful... or other things you can think of to improve the website... Please post those ideas too!

Thanks.

cnymike · Joined: September 2nd, 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Camillus, NY

CJ, are you coding this yourself? I think that PHP would be a relatively easy way to provide an interactive way to generate the appropriate code. You could also just use a HTML Form tag that could include the appropriate "hard-wired" code that could then be cut and pasted by the member into their website.

I'm just babbling here I guess.

CJ Greiner

Yes, I'm coding it myself... but that's not the question. The real question is:
How would you like to see it implemented?

Banner images?
Logos?
Text Links?

Should it be mandatory before the DJGold page provides the reciprocal link?

What do you think?

Jon Bruce

I would make it a requirement. (at some point)

and an industry standard logo would be fine.

Can link checking software determine if the logo or banner is being used?

cnymike · Joined: September 2nd, 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Camillus, NY

I am always a bit frustrated when a site that requests a reciprocal link states that it must be on my home page, or that it must be a banner. I would like to see a variety of ways to link back to DJGold. Banners in a variety of industry standard sizes, as well as simpler text-only links. that way the user can choose what is most appropriate for their website.

CJ Greiner

Jon Bruce wrote: I would make it a requirement. (at some point)
I agree -- at some point it could be a requirement.
Right now there are two links on each member site page:

The one you see and click on: That one is a tracking link so we can let the DJ know how many people have visited their website via DJGold. It's what gets you -- or the client -- to the DJ's website... but it's no good for search engines.

There's a hidden one too: This one is a direct link to the DJ's website. This link is the one that search engines will find, and thereby find the DJ's website & increase the DJ's website popularity. THIS is the one that would eventually be disabled if a DJ didn't put a reciprocal link on their website.

Jon Bruce wrote: ...and an industry standard logo would be fine... cnymike wrote: I am always a bit frustrated when a site that requests a reciprocal link states that it must be on my home page, or that it must be a banner. I would like to see a variety of ways to link back to DJGold. Banners in a variety of industry standard sizes, as well as simpler text-only links. that way the user can choose what is most appropriate for their website.
Hmmm... I guess that would mean I'd have to get creative (or hire someone that is) and create small and large banners/logos for the DJ to choose from. (Whatever fits their website the best.)

Jon Bruce wrote: Can link checking software determine if the logo or banner is being used?
Yes.
Many "link farms" and other websites require that the link be on the website's home page.
I don't think we would need to do that.
I think we could program the "link checker" program to find all the links from the home page, check those pages too... and see if the reciprocal link resides on another page that's linked from the home page.

The reason I want to do that is so that we don't "require" DJ's to put someone else's logo on their home page. :idea:

Michigan DJ

Great ideas.

Can I use the logo at the top of the page as my link?

CJ Greiner

Michigan DJ wrote: Great ideas.

Can I use the logo at the top of the page as my link?

You could... if you were putting it on a dark blue background!

It has a shadow around it that fades to dark blue, so it would look weird anywhere else. See:

I just need to take the time to make up some logos and images that will look attractive (nobody wants ugly pictures on their websites!)
I'll need to make sure that they have a clear background that will blend with any website.

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Speaking of that... I made some improvements to the "default" graphics that are on the search and member sitepages.

It used to be:

Now it's:

Click for larger image

More discussion on that here:
http://www.djgold.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=27
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I have heard from a few people about how I could set up the links page… and I’ve seen a few websites that have some good examples. If you guys know of some other links pages that would be good examples--let me know!!!

Thanks

floodstrand

I have placed a link to DJGold on my website (sans logo) let me know if you have any trouble accessing it.

DJ Teddy Bear

cnymike wrote: I am always a bit frustrated when a site that requests a reciprocal link states that it must be on my home page. I know what Mike means. Check out my site to see how I kinda get around the problem.

Scroll down on my home page and you'll see all the reciprocal links I put in. (I'm new here, so I haven't added a DJGold link on my site yet).

But click on my "Return To Home Page" and you see what looks like the same page. Now scroll down. They're all gone!

Because the average person will click on something at the top of my home page, they won't see the reciprocal links. Since those links also have links to other DJ sites, I really don't want to promote them. But the search engine's spiders see the link, which is a big reason reciprical links are requested.

Of course, as you'll notice, the exception is my link to makesparties.com, since they do not have DJ lists, and I make money off them. The other exceptions are the ADJA and NJDJA. Both of these have DJ search engines, but I'm proud to be a member of them, etc.

DJ Teddy Bear

CJ Greiner wrote: Michigan DJ wrote: Great ideas.

Can I use the logo at the top of the page as my link?

You could... if you were putting it on a dark blue background!

It has a shadow around it that fades to dark blue, so it would look weird anywhere else. See:

Actually, if you change the blue background to transparent, it will work on any web site. Note the difference here, against this different shade of blue, as well as on my own site against a pale yellow. (Yeah, I added the link)

Yeah, the edge is a little fuzzy. If those curves were 45° lines, or I had the original art, it would look better.

CJ Greiner

Hi DJ Teddy Bear,

That looks good!

I guess everyone could use that one for a while until I have the LINX page finished.

Thanks,

TheBartman47

Thanks for the fixed up icon. I'm going to use that one on my web page too.

djmc

I myself would like to see an option where you could just PAY a reasonable fee for listing, in lieu of a reciprocal link.

CJ Greiner

djmc wrote: I myself would like to see an option where you could just PAY a reasonable fee for listing, in lieu of a reciprocal link.

I'm in the process of programming the back-end services to make this happen. It's a SLOW process... but we'll get there. Once it's in some sort of working order, I'll be asking a few people to BETA test the systems -- I'll be sure to let all of you know!

8)

djmc

thanks!

Carlo

Hey fellas,
I didn't get to read all the replies but I also feel that we should have a links page with a few link buttons or small flash banners for DJ Gold. This is very important as it increases our web visibility. I used the small hyperlink image from the dj gold home page and made it a link to djgold.com . It is at the bottom of my homepage.

I'm a novice on web design but I may play with making a small flash banner. We don't have to use it, since it may not be very pretty, but at least we can build on it and get ideas..... Just a thought. I'll let you know when I have a rough draft to display it.
Peace. :P
Carlo
Extreme Party DJ

CJ Greiner · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:20 am Post subject:

You're right Carlo -- we do need a links page with a variety of choices for DJs to use. We'll definitely have one soon.
We (members) have already been working on some banners, and you can add yours to our collection here:
Banners and Links for DJGold.com

Thanks (in advance) for helping! 8)