For some reason over the past week I have received quite a few e-mails from people offering their services for free to me. In exchange, in the end of their e-mails they mentioned that they would like me to link to their site.
I guess I must be on some kind of list all of a sudden. I personally get kind of irritated at requests like these as I like to deal with real people who I know a little bit about and not some random solicitor. From a business point of view, I suppose in theory it can be a great way to get yourself exposure if you are starting out.
These types of approach are a little too short term thinking in my opinion though. Like with this example, if people just focused more on whatever it is that they offered and then say actively participated on sites and networked with people that are related to their filed then most likely people will naturally talk about them and hence the links will come.
Like the old saying goes too, “people do business with people†right? Speaking for myself, I usually don’t mind trying to help and promote people for free as much as possible as long as I know they are genuine. In fact, I love it when I see people succeed as a result too. But when someone comes up to you in this type of cold bartering style, I can’t help but to not take it very seriously.