Link Exchange

I receive about ten link exchange requests every week and I estimate that only 1 or 2 out of every 100 link exchange requests receives a link on my site. I will respond to your email within a week ... but only if I decide to post your link on my site. If you do not receive a response from me within one week, I will not be posting your link on my site. Sending me multiple requests will hurt your chances of receiving a link exchange from me.

Your link exchange request will be judged solely on the value of the poker content on your web site. I do not care what your Google page rank is. I do not exchange links in the hopes of improving my page rank or your page rank ... I exchange links to provide valuable information to my readers.

I will probably post your link if you are a poker chip, poker table, poker clothing, playing cards, or poker accessories vendor. In cases like this, I do not insist on a link exchange - I will probably post your link on my site even if you do not link back to me ... but I would appreciate a link back to my site.

If you are a poker product supplier, there is a good chance that I will post your link on more than one page. I might place your link on my Poker Chips page, my Playing Cards page, my Buy a Poker Table page, my Dealer Buttons page, and my Poker Clothing page.

Your link will be placed on the most relevant page (Poker Chips, Poker Cards, Buy a Poker Table, etc.) on my site and may be placed on more than one page. General-interest links that are highly related to home poker tournaments will be placed on my Poker Links page. Links that are not highly related to home poker tournaments will be placed on my More Poker Links page.

The title of your link on my site will not be some general term such as 'Poker Chips' or 'Best Made Poker Tables'. Your link on my site will be the title of your site, such as 'ABC Poker Chip Company' or 'Bill's Poker Tables'.

These things guarantee that I will probably not link to you ...

• Your home page consists of reviews of poker rooms. Please note that 50% of the link requests that I receive fall into this category ... and have absolutely no chance of getting a link on my site.
• I visit your home page and am bombarded with poker room affiliate links but almost nothing else.
• You have 5-10 pages on your site - a small page about hold'em rules, a small page about poker supplies, a small page about poker news, a small page about poker tournaments, a small page about poker books, a small page about the history of poker ... and 100 affiliate banner ads for poker rooms, with poker room reviews.
• Requesting a link on my home page. I do not place links on my home page.
• Your link to me uses a redirect.
• You have a general-interest gambling site with one or two pages about poker.
• Your site is under construction. You only get one chance with most visitors. Do not send people to your site until you are 100% ready.
• It is would be too difficult for the average user to find my link on your site. Your links are hidden or buried too deep.
• Your 'robot' sends me an email stating that you think my site is great and that you wish to exchange links!
• Your email contains one or more of the following statements ...
   
  • "Hi, I am the link manager at ..."
  • "... and adding our link would make a great addition to your site!"
  • "... would benefit both our sites."
  • "As you know, Google rewards sites that link to each other."
  • "... and we could both improve our Google page rank."
  • "Please send me a list of the pages that you have available and I will send you a list of the sites that I represent."
  • "Your link will appear on our site within 24 hours, after our next scheduled links update."
  • "I am not interested in links on inner pages, only on your home page."
  • "I expect a link back from a page without many outgoing links."
  • "I expect a link back from a page with a similar or higher page rank."
  • "We have posted your link on our site. We do not insist on a link back to our site but will have to remove your link if our link is not posted on your site within two weeks - it would be unfair to our other link partners."

How to Request a Link Exchange

A properly formatted link exchange request would include the following information ...

Link: www.your-site.com
Title: Your site's name goes here
Description: Description of your site goes here
My link to you is at: www.your-site.com/page-with-the-link-to-HPT

My e-mail address is ...

I will respond to your request within one week, but you will only receive a response if I decide that I will post your link on my site. If I do not respond, I will not be posting your link on my site.

HPT Link Information

Please link to ...
Home Poker Tourney (www.homepokertourney.org)
using this description ...
How to host and run a poker tournament in your home

or ...

Please link to ...
How To Build a Poker Table (www.homepokertourney.org/tables_build.htm)
using this description ...
How To Build a Poker Table

or ...

Please link to ...
Home Poker Tourney Forums or HPT Forums (forums.homepokertourney.org)
using this description ...
Discussion forum about how to host and run a poker tournament

or ...

Please link to ...
HPT Mobile (mobile.homepokertourney.org)
using this description ...
Mobile site about how to host and run a poker tournament

Here are some images that you may use to link back to me. To save the image to your hard disk, right-click and choose 'Save As'. Please do not hot link to these images, host them on your own site.