But didn’t think about asking. Or something like that.
Now that Linkingpress has been live for a short time and distributing backlinks to participating Wordpress blogs, I figure it is time to tell you what is going on and some observations to date.
First, a little history
Linkingpress was inspired by Linktator2 - a 3 way linking service that provides backlinks to other sites in the system using keywords you want your site to rank high in the search engines and ultimately drive visitors / customers to. You add in your domain, three keywords you are targeting, a description and optionally deep links to pages other than your home page on your site with corresponding keywords and descriptions.
Linktator2 would distribute your link(s) throughout a cluster of other sites in the system using some randomization to spread out the use of different keywords. For instance, your main keyword was shown about 70% of the time, your second keyword about 20% of the time, and your third keyword about 10% of the time. Deep links were shown about 10% of the time.
Additionally, you needed to create a corresponding partner’s page where your site displayed links to other sites. The beauty of the system is that once you have your site setup and in the system, it was hands off. Over time, links were distributed to your site and from your site.
And Now Linkingpress
The concept behind Linktator2 was applied to the Wordpress backlink plugin Linkingpress. The biggest difference is that Linkingpress does not require you to actually create the partner page using HTML code from your site. Instead, for Linkingpress, you simply provide a name for your links page. The plugin takes over and creates a page - and Wordpress does all the heavy lifting of providing the template that is your partner’s link page. If you ever change your theme, no big deal, the links page takes on that theme.
The plugin asks for you to provide three keywords you want to target. You also provide a description up to a certain length that includes your keywords <<< IMPORTANT.
If you description does not include your keywords, then no backlinks.
Why is that?
Well, before Linkingpress serves up backlinks, it first reads your keywords, url and your description. Then the plugin looks for your keywords in the description. If it finds the keyword is replaces it with a hyperlinked version of the keyword that links to your domain.
When I say keywords, I mean your exact keywords.
For instance, if you are targeting “Wordpress plugin”, “backlinks”, and “Linkingpress” and your description reads like this:
Linkingpress is a wordpress plugin that provides a backlink to your Wordpress blog
you are in luck for two out of three of your keywords (Wordpress plugin and Linkingpress) but not for “backlinks” - you used “backlink” in your description instead of the plural version, “backlinks”.
The opposite won’t work well either.
Linkingpress is a wordpress plugin that provides backlinks to your Wordpress blog
The plugin looks for an exact match. This description uses the plural version, backlinks, but your description provides the singluar version, backlink. Sorry.
Instant gratification - forget it
Once you setup your plugin, it can take up to 24 hours for your first backlink to show up. Links are distributed and cached every 24 hours and depend on your potential link partners link pages being visited. Linkingpress fires off a request to update the links page if 24 hours have passed since the last update. And even then, there is a 17% chance that no new link will be distributed (1 out of 6).
This 24 hour period applies to any changes you make to your settings. If you change your keywords or description, don’t expect your partner’s pages to reflect those changes until their pages are updated.
What is this minus minutes until the next update stuff?
If you have noticed in your options page for Linkingpress in Wordpress, there might be a message that says “next update in: -xxx minutes”. This means that you (or a visitor) needs to visit your Linkingpress links page to update what shows up both on that page and in your Wordpress dashboard.
The plugin could have just not said anything about needing to be updated. So why mention that the page needs to be updated? This gets you (if your links page is not visited frequently) to get out there and update your links page so you can show a little link love to your fellow Linkingpress users. And if everyone would do the same, then you all get your links a little faster!
This is your plugin
So get out there and spread the good word. Use a little social bookmarking or tweeting or write a review on your blog about using Linkingpress to get relevant backlinks over time to your Wordpress blog.
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FYI… this plugin violates Googles webmaster guidelines. http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769 & http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356 and any site that uses this tool could risk being penalized or banned from Google