Comparing Reciprocal Link Software—LinkMachine, Zeus
Review compares two top reciprocal link management tools —LinkMachine and Zeus—to help you decide which one's best for you
LinkMachine and Zeus are the two top reciprocal link exchange management tools I've found. I've used both at various times and could easily recommend either one for any webmaster serious about building and managing link directories for their sites.
Both of them combine a relational database that keeps all of the information you need about your links and your link partners. Both of them automatically generate your link pages for you from that database. Both will find link partners for you and greatly streamline the work of setting up link exchanges with them.
Which one is right for you depends on what your needs are. I've found each one to be stronger in different areas.
Zeus' strength—finding link partners
 Zeus holds a big lead if you want to focus on finding link partners with whom you can build your link directory. LinkMachine has a nice feature in its InstantLinks option, where it searches among other LinkMachine owners to find sites that have the same theme as yours, but it's other link partner finding options have a long way to go to match Zeus.
Zeus contains an Internet spider like those that the search engines use. You can train that spider to go from site to site, looking for the types of sites you specify.
It can work for long periods of time when you aren't using your computer. Check its progress any time you want. You'll find all of the sites it found that match what you're looking for ready for you to view them and decide whether to include them in your directory.
Tip—be sure, though, that you carefully set the parameters of the kind of sites you want Zeus to search for. I've found that if you set Zeus loose on too broadly defined search, it can go off on tangents that don't really bring you many related sites.
LinkMachine's strength—ease of management
 I've found LinkMachine, on the other hand to be the ideal tool if you're looking mainly to manage a small-to-moderate size link directory instead of building a big one. It's a lot quicker to configure than Zeus (there's no spider to train in LinkMachine).
Also, in LinkMachine you have easy-to-follow, step-by-step setup instructions on the same page you're configuring rather than in a separate document, so you aren't going back and forth from the instructions page to the configuration page. Once you no longer need the instructions, you can hide them with a click.
The LinkMachine interface is very intuitive. Everything you need is either on the interface page or only a single click away.
Which is right for you?
Before deciding which to use, ask yourself what your future plans for it are.
Are you looking to run an agressive link recruiting campaign? If so, your best bet is Zeus. Are you looking for a quick and easy way to manage a more modest link directory? Then look at LinkMachine.
It all depends on what's more important to you. You can't go wrong with either.
Helping you become the successful business owner you want to be.
LIKE THIS PAGE? ADD TO YOUR SOCIAL BOOKMARKS: Blink Del.icio.us Digg
 Furl Google Simpy Spurl
 Technorati
 Y! MyWeb
|
