It some times seems to be that we are continually searching for credibility, popularity and approval. It happens in the play ground where the most popular kids get referred to copied and have other kids hanging around them, which means all the other kids want to hang around them as well, driving their popularity upwards. From the play ground to the internet, the concept is the same. When other sites hang around your site, refer to your site and talk about your site the more popular your site will be. The more other sites will want to hang around and refer to and talk about your site.

A lot of this hanging around referring to and talking about on the internet comes in the form of links. When considering how to gather popularity on the internet; fashion is probably the most important key ingredient. If the cool kids are wearing their hat on backward then it is cool to wear your hat on backward and conforming will at least keep you from being dumped by the other kids.

Linking is similar as it too has undergone fashion changes and it is very important to keep abreast of what is cool and what is not acceptable. By doing what is not acceptable and used to be fashionable a while back could quickly move your site from being popular to a site that no one wants to play with any more.

So what has been the most fashionable activities in the past.

• Reciprocal link directories
• Content – a secondary activity

What is in fashionable at the moment

• Directory listings
• Content – very good it helps in many ways (always in fashion)
• Article postings – gives more real estate
• Imbedded link exchange in your articles to a link on your home page
• Deep linking exchange surrounded by content

Because not every body knows what is cool many other sites will still try and be cool doing the same old unfashionable thing. Don’t let them do it to you. You need to only do what is cool and that means tell them and encourage them to be cool as well.

The more cool people that you hang out with the more cool and fashionable and popular you will be. It is a hard world out there but to be in with the cool kids we need to do cool things.