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The other day I posted some thoughts about growing an online classified service’s utility and usefulness to its customers and users by linking to other sources of ads. (Yes, to the old way of thinking about newspapers and classifieds, that’s heresy. Now it’s becoming a necessity.)
Media consultant Steve Safran, who co-writes the Media 2.0 Intel newsletter for AR&D along with fellow media guru Terry Heaton, has written an important (but brief) piece on this topic: “Link To Other Sites, Already!.”
While Safran is generally offering advice to overall media operations (especially TV, where he and Heaton devote much of their energy), and especially editorial content, his comments can apply just as well to classifieds. Here are a few excerpts. (But read the whole thing.)
“One of the most difficult concepts to get our heads around is this: to keep people, we need to send them away. The Web is about links. We have written for years about the importance of linking to other sites. It’s good for the audience, it’s good for your Google ranking, it’s good Karma — and it’s good for your business. …
“The Web links. What makes us think we’re special? Do we really know something every other site doesn’t? No. The superstition is built upon old … notions of forbidding so much as a mention of the competition. …
“The bottom line is that, if we’re a great place to start, people will always come back. You want to be the starting point. Remember ‘The Miracle on 34th Street’: When Macy’s didn’t have it, Santa sent them to Gimbels. …
“The Web is linked and social. I didn’t see (a particular) Times article by reading the Times online. I saw it because (NYT writer Brian) Stelter is a friend of mine on Facebook, and he posted his article. Facebook works because it attracts you and it sends you elsewhere. Seems to be working OK for Facebook, doesn’t it? …
“Link out and others will link in.”
The linking ethos of the Web can apply to classifieds, too. Think different.
Tags: linking
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