| LED Digest 2508: Special Issue - Client Backlinks |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. October 8, 2007 Issue no. 2508 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= <Moderator Comment> --== Placing Links on Client Sites ==-- ~ Grant Crowell "I will...show why the practice of designer backlinks on client websites's home pages should end." ======== CONTINUING =============================== <Moderator Comment> A special issue today dedicated to the linking topic that's been debated here over the last week or so (specifically, designers placing their link on a client's site). This topic really has legs. I had no idea it was such a contentious issue. I'm glad Grant Crowell brought it up for LEDers to debate. Grant's post today is a very well-presented argument against the practice of adding links to the footer of your clients' sites. He gives treatment to several points one by one, and even has a PhD usability expert weigh in on the topic. It's a fantastic post and worthy of a dedicated special issue. Will this put the debate to rest? I highly doubt it, so fire back with your own thoughts and experiences. We can keep the discussion going, but I think it's a good idea to keep movin' on. So with that in mind, we'll return to the regular LED gig tomorrow. Have a productive week, Adam (PS - Happy birthday to me!) ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= Autumn Leaves Must Fall, But Not Your PR Seasons change. How about your site's copy? When was the last time you added or updated your content to make it more end-user useful and search-engine succulent? Customers and search bots want fresh meat. www.GetWebContent.com/LED, we deliver the beef. ========== End Sponsor Message ========== From: Grant Crowell Subject: Placing Links on Client Sites I'd like to first thank everyone who responded to my original post back in LED [ http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1915/190/ ], where I argued that site designers should not be including backlinks on the home page on the footer of their client's websites, saying it was not truly of benefit to the client, their customers, and the designer themselves. It wasn't surprising that a number of people here, some of them being fellow designers, strongly disagreed with my position with a variety of their own arguments, which I think have also shown why this type of link is still common with a lot of small-to-medium site client sites. However commonality in practice doesn't necessarily make for consistent arguments and correct analogies, so I will now respond to them and and show why the practice of designer backlinks on client websites's home pages should end. PEOPLE WON'T NOTICE IT ANYWAY (BUT SEARCH ENGINES WILL, RIGHT?) > I bet most users don't notice the link, and if they do, > then they aren't interested they don't follow it. If the > design intrigues them they might go and see who > did it. Stuff in footers is ignored by all but the most fastidious. - Charles Oertel, LED Digest 2505 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1917/190/ This defeats the argument of why you would put a link in there for the first place. Either you want them to pay attention, or you don't. So what you are really saying is you don't expect this link to actually be helpful to the users; your real motives is that you want the search engines to pick it up and think it will increase your online visibility in search results. > I'll hide my link behind an image, such as a transparent > image, with only text of my company's name in the alt tag. - Boris Poljuha, LED Digest 2504 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1916/190/ This is wrong on several levels. If the graphic has no relevance company, then its spam. Its more noticeable spam if you think you can hide a link in there that the search engines are expected to be smart enough to index, but you expect the same search engines to be stupid enough to not know its irrelevant? But its also very ineffective spam since alt text is very low on the list of what a search engine indexes for link popularity consideration, anyway. Simple text isn't going to make any difference, but having a graphic link back to your own company's URL would be noticeable by the search engines and likely get you a spam penalty. It's a case of very little if any benefit compared to search engine punishment. I'M INTRIGUED BY MY OWN DESIGN - OTHERS SHOULD BE, TOO! > I link because I am proud of my work and don't > mind putting my name to it. - Charles Oertel This argument makes the assumption that if a person likes the site, the designer is the one who should get the credit. But there are usually a lot of other people responsible for what goes into the design of a website, and so there are a lot of things that can intrigue the user about the website other than just the visual design. A responsible designer would keep the users on the client's website when they arrive at the home page, not try and take them elsewhere. A website is not about what the designer takes personal pride in, it's about the site owner's needs and their customer's needs, first and foremost. IT GIVES ME A SENSE OF "OWNERSHIP" > This incentive is one of the reasons open source software is > of such high quality - the programmers put their name to it. - Charles Oertel I'm sorry, are you the inventor of web design, itself? Or did you perhaps invent a new software tool that you used to build the entire website from? The comparison here of a designer using 3rd party tools to build a website, to a computer programmer who could actually create an interface in their own programming language, is incredibly off-base. Consider this - what if another design company is hired by the client after your work is done? Who's to say the client couldn't just then bump off the original designer's work with the backlink for the new designer? (I've seen this happen a number of times.) There goes your sense of "ownership!" I'M A DESIGNER, AND I LIKE DESIGNER LINKS ON OTHERS' HOME PAGES! > If I really like the way a site looks, I often look > for the designer and follow the link to see what > their other work looks like, or the level of their skills. - Eva Rosenberg, LED Digest 2505 Are you designing a site for fellow web designers only? Likely not. Now consider that the other 99.99% of the population doesn't hold the same job as you. Not to mention, there are a lot of fellow web designers whose interest in most web sites doesn't have anything to do with who designed that site. I'm both a web designer and a search marketer, and while there are times I myself may be curious as to some intricacies of the site's design or comprehension of search optimization, it doesn't guide my main interest if I'm not doing my professional line of work for myself or a client. > Putting the designer information in a one-line text link > is similar to artists signing their paintings. Art lovers always > look to see who the artist is. Why should a website be any > less a work of art? - Eva Rosenberg I myself have a degree in art, and did a great deal of work for art galleries and cartoon illustration newspapers. Anything that was considered fine art, or editorial art, had my signature. But anything that was commercial art, did not. Your web site is not your own personal "fine art." By-and-large, its commercial work done for a client, and so it falls in the category of commercial art. How many commercial works of art do you see which have the signature of the graphic artist? None, and with good reason - because it distracts from the client's message. Just the same, a designer putting their own "signature" on a client's site distracts from the client's message. You want to make art? Then design your own website for yourself as a means of personal expression, and not at the expense of your clients' business. WE GET ADDED PAGERANK FROM IT, RIGHT? Wrong. It's a big misconception that backlinks on any websites home page will increase your pagerank in Google, or ranking in the search engines. If the site bears no relevance to your own website and what you offer, it is treated as irrelevant by the search engines; and the link will not be providing you with the benefit you think. Search marketers understand that links to your site are weighed by the search engines for their relevance, and irrelevant links will at best have no benefit, and at worst they will hurt your search visibility. (Note: designers who use the term "Pagerank" as an argument shows their lack of knowledge about how Google really works. Pagerank is just one factor, as there are so many more things that are weighed by Google in following links to a site.) I GIVE A DISCOUNT TO MY CLIENTS WHO ACCEPT IT That's not a lasting benefit to the client if you can't convince them that it benefits them with their customers. Now, if you were a well-known brand name with your client's customers, then perhaps you could attempt to make that argument. Otherwise what you're really communicating to your clients is that it will cheapen the experience for their customers by you having to pay your own client for a link. (This actually would be an interesting take on Google's recent notice that they penalize sites for paid links.) MY CLIENT OFFERED THE BACKLINK TO ME. Yes, and I've had clients offer it to our company as well. It's a natural client response that can be attributed to the commonality of the practice over the years by many, many web designers. Because its not uncommon, so many companies still have the impression that its expected of them with whomever they work that designs their website. But its our job to educate clients on what's best for them, not what may be typical of our market. So with all of those arguments made here I have the one question that seems to have been entirely overlooked in this dialogue... HEY, ANYONE THINK TO TALK TO A USABILITY SPECIALIST?? I recently interviewed Dr. Susan Weinschenk, Chief of Technical Staff and Director of Training for Human Factors International (with offices 6 offices nationwide and four international offices) that also provides Usability training and certification for 25 years, including for website design and development. Dr. Weinshenk's response to the homepage backlink argument by designers was this: ------------------- "Assuming that the link is at the bottom of the page, if what the web designer is looking for is exposure, then that doesn't give them very good exposure. A link in the "About Us," or "Resources" or "About this Site" and a description of the web designer there would be much more powerful. "If web designers are wanting to do this to increase their own marketing and exposure, I think what they will say a lot of times to the site owner, is it alright if I put a link at the bottom of your home page? They owner may say 'sure' because the practice is not uncommon. But really, what designers should be asking is, 'Is there an appropriate place that you would be willing to let me advertise and market there? Better yet, but perhaps not as effective from an exposure point of view, would be for the site owners to write a testimonial and have that be at the web designer's site, where they have their own client list. Client testimonials next to a designer's client list are ideal. "I agree that [backlinks on the home page to the designer's site] doesn't serve the users (especially since the users really aren't going to see it; I don't think it's going to serve the site owner; and it doesn't site like its going to serve the website designer anyway." ------------------- And as for the argument that the designer's backlink wouldn't be seen by most people, anyway? Dr. Weinshenk added this: ------------------- "Just because user's may not see it doesn't mean you should put it on the page. If you did enough of those, then obviously somebody is going to start seeing something." ------------------- So if anyone else knows of a certified usability expert, perhaps working in an upper-management position for a multinational company, who can make a counter-argument, I'm ready to hear it. THE SOLUTION - PLACE THE LINK IN CONTEXT TO THE SITE What designers seem to forget is that there are much more viable means of having your client backlink to their own website in a truly relevant and beneficial manner. A couple of examples are: - A link in the client's Links and Resources page. This allows for every major participant involved in the site to be acknowledged, not just the outsourced web design firm. This often goes under the name, "Helpful Links." (Make sure the "Credits" links are separated from the site-related links, so there is no confusion for the end user.) - About Us' "Partners." If you happen to have played an especially major contribution to the site. This works well with a short written testimonial by the client of your company that can think link to the full testimonial copy right on the designer's own site. The key with having a client link to your site is respecting the needs of the client's customers, and showing the best relevancy for those who are truly interested in helpful links and resources. Now lets get the LED out - by that, I mean "Links from Egregious Designers" out! Grant Crowell, CEO Grantastic Designs, Inc. http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/blog (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right... We all have to take defeats in life." - Muhammad Ali |
