Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A little about Linkreferral.com

A blog for Linkreferral.com has been long overdue, I've just been so busy with everything, it's always been on the backburner, which I hope to change now. Along with what's new, and current topics regarding the site, I'll also attempt to touch on other general topics around the internet.

So a little history.... Linkreferral.com (actually the first year under a different domain name) went online originally in 2000, with the one basic component of referral traffic, and has expanded over the years to include a peer review directory, active forums and several other components. It first started when in '99, I was looking for traffic for my own little web development business, I came across a crappy little multi-level advertising page, whereby signing up and referring others would create this cascade of traffic. It didn't work of course, but it intrigued me as to the fact that I signed up for it. I figured if it were presented better, there may be promise. And so after some work, the site with the referral component was launched, with mixed success, as getting people to sign up was not an issue, but to sell a high enough percentage of them on doing the upfront work to gain referrals was a difficult proposition, although some individuals in the know do very well in this regard. Additionally, no one had a reason to come back - hard to build a following without that. And so it was necessary to add the additional component of the 'directory' to balance the referral component with something that would produce more conservative, but predictable and immediate results. In order to get people to keep coming back, it seemed to make sense to get them to earn a high ranking by visiting other sites which would in turn fuel others to do the same. It was a big success, and funny enough, although the concept of this 'directory traffic' component is similar to 'traffic exchanges' (although every will agreed it's much more targeted, transparent and user-friendly) I never knew about them until after the fact and I'm not even sure they were around when I first came up with this. later, A 'review' link was added, but there was rampant spamming abuse and little participation, and so it was revamped to be included 'for ranking credit'. This helped, although the quality of the average review was still poor and so a 'quality' grade was included as well. A similar story with the addition of the linkreferral forums a few years ago, as initially it was unmoderated and a spam haven. It was revamped to be included as 'for ranking credit', moderated, and now one of the most valuable parts of the linkreferral program.

Many pieces have been added, the latest has been the much requested 'search tool' to find sites within our database by keyphrase. If you don't know what I'm talking about, log in, hit the 'directory traffic' tab, then looking underneath the listed categories. The reason this was so long in coming was due to concern over cannibalizing the nature of how earning credit within the directory works, however the search results have been set up as such that the integrity of the credit system should be kept safe.

Linkreferral.com is a small site no longer, and now runs on two, well tuned dual xeon servers, serving over 20 million pages and 5 million visitors per month (although one of our 3rd party tracking services puts us at 4.5 million pages and 2.5 millions visitors per month) the discrepancy would make for a good separate post. Also, we see over 200 new accounts registered per day.

Linkreferral.com's Alexa rank is currently 3,655 (meaning we are the 3,655 most trafficked site in the world, out of 20+ million ) We've doubled in the past year, and 10-fold in the past 3. We're looking forward to being an established and household web presence in the next couple of years that will have an impact on how the average user finds new sites, and gets exposure for their own online endeavour.

32 comments:

SimeyC said...

It's one of the better sites I've found - especially as it gives decent feedback and therefore some quality 'clicks'.

Keep up the good work!

SHIMI said...

Linkreferral.com help me a lot. Thanks

Unknown said...

This is a very interesting story and I am impressed with your ranking. I have enjoyed much traffic to my website thanks to Link Referral.

I have also learned much about other websites and Have been able to take advantage of services I normally wouldn't find in my day to day use of the Internet.

Kyanisunrise said...

I have been on linkreffral for about 45 days. I have had over 300 hits to my ads. The great thing is that I have solid leads not just clicks. My members are growing every day.
Kyanisunrise
antioxidantpower.blogspot.com/

Cape Town Shuttles said...

Well firstly I would like to congrats you and your team for a hell of a job!

I have been using Link Referral for plus minus two weeks and my rankings and income have improved.

I always keep an eye on the new features...

Keep up the good work...

Malcolm Heyns

http://www.capetownshuttleservice.co.za

King Tut said...

Wonderful blog and great website. I wish high page rank to my blog

Dr. Annmarie Edwards said...

You have a great marketing tool for people who want to build their business. Thanks for sharing this resource.

Alvaro Clemente said...

Alvaro Clemente.....alvaro canta hace un saludo a todos los amigos, deseandoles todo lo mejor en las gestiones y proyectos que realizan

cory_crabb said...

Yes Link Referral is the best TE website world wide. Hands down.
I've been a member for many months and have nothing but GOOD things to say about this site and recommend it to all my new sign ups and contacts via.
http://www.mk2success.com

Hope this helps..
Happy surfing, take care.

Cory Crabb -

Alvaro Clemente said...

Alvaro Clemente saluda a todos los amigos que ven este blog, indicandoles que estan en buen camino, cuando pensamos y actuamos correctamente siempre en todas las gestiones que realizamos

alvaro clemente...alvaro cantaa

Mary said...

I read everything with great interest and am happy to learn some things about LR. Thanks for posting the info. Mary :-)

Singapore Short Stories said...

ya it is an exciting and good concept!

Isaac Ashe said...

...and now you have a blog, just like the rest of us.
By the way, have you listed your own blog on linkreferral.com - it gets you a few hits, y'know.

Springbrook Soap Company said...

Thank you for sharing this with us!!! I LR it's increased my traffic 10 fold. Wishing you continued success, Vicki

ZAJA Natural said...

I am definitely seeing a lot of traffic coming from Link Referral! Thanks for creating it!

Unknown said...

great marketing tool for people who want to build their business. Thanks for sharing this resource.

Keep up the good work...
http://www.blogger.com/profile/09365386664723662048
http://www.prernaschoolofinspiration.com/

Hard Money Lenders Direct in California said...

how much is to advertise with you on the home page?

Linkreferral Admin said...

our rates are found here

Sherri said...

I love link referral to test out new material and get immediate traffic.nice job

DRyan327 said...

Glad to be party of the Linkreferral website. Looking forward to seeing how it performs after a couple of bad experiences.

DRyan327 said...

Glad to be part of Linkreferral. Looking forward to seeing how it performs after a couple of bad experiences.

stanleytheking said...

i just join link referral 2 days ago and i can tell that my website visitors has been doubled wooow i really still can't believe it, well i have to say thank you link referral for the great job done for me without spending a single cent. Visit My Website

Dwight said...

I think the quality of these visitors is very high.

Avdhesh said...

I have got a lot of traffic from linkreferral and also some good advice on the design of the website.

Avdhesh
http://www.outsourcingseosolutions.com

Boson-UK said...

Link referral is good for us, we are a pos software development company www.eposretail.com although it does take some time to build up credits, we have found it very worth while.

Barman said...

Amazing site!

Unknown said...

One of the mechanism to increase the traffic to your site, you need to follow various promoting methods. One among them is link building. Linkreferral will help you a lot in this. Good post. Thanks..

quickTutes - video tutorials,
computer tutorials, internet tutorials, tutorials

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the blog. I know you're busy as am I, but it's worth your insights. I'm new to blogging, etc. and linkreferral has given me the most traffic.

duvallweb said...

Using linkreferral I have always had great traffic to my site I also recieve targeted visits based on key words on top of my normal linkrefferal traffic. Thanks linkreferral for this great service!
Jon DuVall(duvallweb)
www.squidoo.com/realmoneymaker

cory_crabb said...

Great blog. I love this type of blog site when you can read and actually get something out of it! makes you want to come back!

Efffetti - wedding planner and events said...

That is amazing I had great benefits for my wedding planner site
wedding in tuscany

Thanks

KeySir said...

I've used many many ways to dirve traffic to my websites and I have nothing but GOOD things to say about it. It's simple to use and you can earn while in the process of promoting your site. Really a win-win Situation.

http://www.keystoearn.com