So, you’ve worked hard to get visitors to your web site. I know. (I’ve worked rather hard to get YOU to read THIS.)

And now you’re asking if you should provide outbound links. Well, should you?

What if visitors leave via those links, and then never come back? It’s a concern that many business owners and newer website administrators or writers have.

But let me tell you a secret: Visitors leave when they’ve seen enough. Period.

When they have read (or glanced at) your article or articles; whether they have read an interesting tid bit or have read every last word, they leave. Nothing you can do will stop this. Trying to box them into your site won’t stop them from leaving.

Besides, the truth is that many visitors aren’t even relevant to your objectives – as some of you reading this are undoubtedly to mine – so you might as well provide them with helpful directions or a pathway to a more appropriate web site. Who knows, maybe they WILL be quite relevant to your business later on, and will remember your usefulness?

Does this mean you link to direct competitors, or have outbound links all over the page? Certainly not. But spreading a little love by placing some outbound links makes your own site that much more relevant. If you have a good business, and you provide value on your website, you will get your fair share of customers!

A good related article, and outbound link I might add!  Don’t be a link miser.