E-Business Link Exchanges

It is no surprise that all businesses, non-profit through huge merged conglomerate companies, are in it for the

And hey, that's just fine. Even though we can't eat money (in the direct sense), we certainly need it to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves. I know that my own accounts make it possible for me to stay on this computer for instance and blog. I even went so far as to start my own business to provide a product that wasn't really available and from my own experience was rather necessary: practical hospital gifts. I mean my flowers were nice but I could have used a puzzle book, some saline and something to clean my bloody IV line among other things. And so, I have found myself in the perilous waters of e-business. I have previously written about how tricky it can be to navigate the waters with sharks constantly circling trying to separate your company from its money. (Well, I suppose that's better than a person from their life but just barely.) Unfortunately for the uninitiated, it feels like an episode of South Park where you know what your business product is and you know you want profits and you have to be online to get them but there's a black box inbetween.

Does anyone remember the underpants gnomes. They'd steal Tweek's underpants with the idea that this would lead to "Profit". It was the How that stumped them - and tortured poor caffeine-addicted Tweek who was constantly in search of his underpants. One of the many ebusiness concepts that is deemed essential is links.

Marketing companies make out like if you have enough links customers will be pounding down your doors (or at least jamming up the server). But how true is this really? How many links are enough? It would seem you need thousands if not hundreds of thousands of links for the server-collapsing results that everyone would love to see. Back in the day, like 5 years ago, it only mattered what your website page Metas were. That was the Big Thing. Then these guys (minus bing because they weren't around 5 years ago) could find your business and make you $$$$$$$$$. With the meteoric rise of Social Networking, Metas are passe. But the problem remains, how to get to the top of a search engine? How to get your business in front of your customers when they are searching? Well, the Googles, Yahoos and Bings are not going to reveal what it takes. So what remains? Link exchanges are still up for grabs. It seems just about every week I get more requests for link exchanges. This is good of course but are the products they sell similar? To be honest most of the exchanges come from bloggers who I'm assuming sell stuff but it is not readily apparent. So is this the way to build more business and therefore more $$$$$$? I don't know. But I do know that it costs nothing but a bit of time. It does seem to garner a better placement in searches and ultimately that helps get your business more exposure not only from the search engines but also from Social Networking sites - so why not. Just beware the unscrupulous. Check out the sites they claim to be exchanging with you and make sure you approve of the content. That can be laborious. It makes me wonder if the internet marketing sharks do even a cursory glance prior to exchanges for their clients. Or do they simply make their own link hubs so that they can feel in control? Seems to me that the marketers would do better to focus on social network 'links' over virtual malls (where many of their customer's links are placed) that no one uses. I mean really, do you know anyone who has purchased off of an e-mall? Or started a product search there? Because that certainly feels like a