Here’s my way of doing link exchanges. I link them first before contacting them. With this strategy, you can get blogs linking to your blog everyday. Here’s how it goes:
1. Search the blogosphere for at least 5 blogs that are related to your niche.
2. Add all of them to your blog roll or link list.
3. Contact the blogger and ask for a link exchange, telling them that you already added them to your blog roll.
4. Most of the time, the blogger will reply and tell you that they agree with your link exchange offer and already linked back.
5. Repeat on the next day.
Do this everyday and for 1 month, you’ll have at least 150 links from other blogs. If 20% did not link back, you still have 120 link exchanges, right? Then, remove those blogs that did not link back after a grace period. I think, 1 month grace period is enough. But don’t mention it when contacting them, that if they did not link back, you’ll delete them from your blog roll. You are the one asking for favor, so avoid threatening remarks, ok?
Now, how do you contact a blogger for a link exchange? Again, before contacting them, make sure that you already linked them.
1. Tagboard. Most personal blogs have tagboard. Blog owners are responsive on their tagboard. They read it everyday. So, look for it first. Link exchanging via tagboard is faster and easier. Make it short and direct to the point.
2. Instant Messenger. Some bloggers give their instant messenger ID. That means they are ok to chat with you, right? Why give it if they don’t want to be disturbed? So, talk to them. Make friends. Then, ask if you can exchange links. They will gladly link back since you already linked to them.
3. Twitter, Plurk, whatever. Microblogging is the “in” thing today. If they publish their Twitter or Plurk IDs, contact them using direct message feature. Again, they will gladly link back since you already linked to them
4. Contact Form / E-mail. If the blogger you want to exchange link with doesn’t have the first 3 options I mentioned above, this will be your last resort. Contact them thru their contact form or e-mail address and pray that they will respond. If they respond, then good. When your grace period expires and they did not link back, simply remove them fromyour blog roll and move on. There are literally millions of blogs you can still exchange links with