Green Flamingo

Here we are with another late post. I hate starting the post at 11:30 because I never get it done the way I want it. This time I watched a movie, then experience problems with Green Flamingo Designs because somehow it was taken over by Google hosting. I am like “Wtf man, why can’t we go problem free for a day?” Anyway, I am going to share my opinions on how I think you should link to someone and for what purpose.

I have seen lots of weird ways that people link to each other, and patterns, sometimes irrational, but patterns that people go through on the decision to link to another. Many people are different about how they configure the process, but there is something shared in common: a reward.

Money - many people sell their links, maybe not for money but they do trade the links in some way. These people usually never think about linking to some of their favorite sites of their own accord, though they may advertise the paid links with a branding of “sites I like” or a variation on that. These people categorized as the ones looking at the path to wealth and fame, and are not in it with the others. This does not mean that people that sell their links are bad or greedy, in fact I visit quite a few sites that do this. I think that these people are smart, and others look up to them and know what they expect.

PageRank - some people link to others hoping they might get a link back, and those people are usually looking for PR, though they could be wishing more popularity and trying to improve the visitor level. This method is not 100% certain of desired results, as I have seen. There may also be a reason to put or not to put links up for free, I think it has something to do with a Google ranking system and they do not want to upset Google for fear of a bad ranking.

Kindness - there are few people that put links up of pure kindness, but it does happen, usually on a smaller blog, linking to family and friends. You may think this does not fall into the all time category of getting a reward, but the reward in this case is maybe a “thank you” from the friend of family member that makes them feel special inside. A person might link to their favorite site of their own accord as well, though it would usually of someone they knew.

Feeling Important - there are a few of these, usually young entrepreneurs who go out asking if anyone wants a free link on their site. This may be to fit in with others that sell or trade links, and they might be stopped from selling due to lack of a payment method or trade system. They might be really nice too, and just want to please people  by offering a service that doesn’t cost ‘em a cent.

These are my impressions on what the linking incentive is, though this could be false and not be a true categorization, but I think it is, for how could my writing be wrong? If I go around seeing this with my own eyes and I have the words flow through my fingers, I think it is correct!

To bring you a better understanding of these categories and myself, I will categorize myself on these and see what you think. I have linked to people for all of these incentives, but lets’s take last week’s linking and see why I did those first few banner ads.

Feeling Important : I gave those away for I wanted to be like other people I saw, and it was right before I got my paypal account and I thought I might as well. I am glad I gave those links, though the latter ones went on a “you subscribe I link” basis. I think that it was quite successful, but it was hard to bring myself to charge people for it, like all the others were doing. I guess I just need to stay in my lane to fame, and not stop by at any restrooms for a while.

I’d love it if you’d share your categorization, I am eager to see where other people see themselves!