To Link or Not to Link to Other Web Sites

Links hold the Internet together. They weave the Internet strands into a web. The web would be largely useless without them. So you should populate your web site with lots of links, right? It depends. (If the answer were simple, there would be nothing else to write.)

The links you should put on your web site depend on your purpose and your audience. The pitfall I often see on do-it-yourself web sites is that the links are high on the home page and they quickly send visitors to other sites. Sometimes they are very interesting and useful links. This is great if you want your site to be more like a search engine portal--a place to go to find other sites.

But if you want people to find information about your product, you shouldn't send them away so quickly, you should put the links on a separate page or exclude them completely.

Sometimes Links Lead to Your Competition

Another mistake I see is that the links give visitors a way to find a competitor. For instance, some resellers and retailers want to provide product information, and the easiest way is to include a link to the manufacturer. But many manufacturers make it easy to find other retailers. In one case, a building supply company has a link to Peach Tree Doors and Windows. And at the top of the Peach Tree home page is a link to find other dealers...the building supplier's competitors. Unless your purpose or audience dictates otherwise, you should be careful about including such links.

In the example, the building supplier's sales force maintains a relationship with large, institutional clients who already know about the competitors. So including the link would help their customers get product information. Since the building supplier doesn't sell much to consumers, they were not concerned about giving the random surfer a link to the competition. They felt the benefit to their large clients outweighed the disadvantages.

Another link to beware of is a link to a professional organization. It gives credibility to your company, but professional organization usually have listings of its members including your competition.

Should You Link? It Depends

As with every communication project, it depends on your audience and your purpose. But you should beware of the fact that links send your clients away from your site. Sometimes it can send them to your competition. My general suggestion is to put the links on a page other than your home page and make the link to the links page (say that three times...) a little inconspicuous.

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