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Engagement

A funny heading to be sure but one that says it all for this session.

What is engagement and why is it important? I admit I didn't originate the idea rather it came from Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income. His article on this topic got me to thinking about how to improve my own site and that I should get my visitors involved, to give each visitor a reason to visit me.

Now my site is different from Pat's as his is driven more towards a specific audience and style where the goal of this website is to provide a central location of valuable and useful weblinks so you don't have to travel the internet searching for that one hotel or airline you need.

That said I am working to give you, my visitor, more than just a simple website or weblinks, I'm working on not only making your visit memorial but a place you will come back to day after day. Every site, or almost every website wants you to make them your homepage, not me. I know that you have your favorite homepage and in the interest of full disclosure I have mine, and my own site is not it.

I am asking however that you do what I do, put my site on your Favorites bar for quick linking. I do this because when I need to find a link fast I can click on my own site and navigate to the link I need. If I don't have the link and I feel that it needs to be added I make a note of it and add it when I work on updating my website.

This is where the engagement part comes in. I need your help. I need your help to help me find those unique and special websites that populate the internet. There are millions of websites out here, possibly even yours, and it is impossible for me to spend time finding all those links. Hence I'm asking you to send me an email directing me to those links so I can investigate if the link meets my standards or not.

What are my standards? You can hit my Disclaimers page and I have described what I am looking for there. However for brevity and in a nutshell just to name a few items:

No porn. You can go to your favorite porn site for that, not here.
No scams or rip-offs. It's hard to tell sometimes but my bottom line is if I even suspect the site is a scam, forget it.
Solid, valuable websites. Since I investigate all my links before adding them I make sure each website provides value to the visitor.
Useful information the visitor can use or needs.
Entertainment for the masses. Good quality entertainment leads. I prefer those links for the family, however I'm not against those links designed for older individuals, provided it is quality, fun, and useful.
Unique and intriguing. I think mystery sites may fall into this category, so I'll investigate that on my own as well.

I'm not against a website making money, in fact I totally support it. But a website should provide a lot of free value as well. That's what I try to do here on this website. As of this posting you won't find a shopping cart anywhere. You will in the near future since I do want to make money from this site, but for now you won't. You will find a few free downloads, no strings attached except for copyrighted material. And while you won't find a shopping cart you will find a few affiliate links.

Ah yes, affiliate links. I am very selective about who I affiliate with. I have declined a few offers from sites that I didn't feel comfortable affiliating with. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with these sites it's just that I didn't feel comfortable affiliating with them.

So how do I determine who I affiliate with? Good question, I'm glad I ask me that. For starters I link to those sites, if accepted, that I have done business with. Barnes and Noble is an excellent example of this, so is USA Today. Yet there are other websites or companies I may have not had the pleasure of doing business with so I need to investigate them to the best of my ability. So how do I do this?

I go to the website itself and investigate it.
I do a search on complaints and reviews for the website in question.
I not only read the complaints and reviews I look at how the comments are structured. I check the comments for proper grammar and spelling.
The occasional misspelled word is something we all do but if I see a lot of poorly developed comments and if they are consistent in poor grammar and spelling I generally discard the site.
When I look at complaints I investigate to determine if the complaint is valid or just a "hacked off" individual. Being a technical writer, and having worked on numerous projects, I have learned how to spot a valid complaint and one that really has no merit.
If available I check to see how the company rates with the BBB. This is my best source but not all companies are with the BBB, but are still valuable assets to the community with both value and merit.

Depending upon what I find I may investigate further. Now full disclosure, because I have been around this block quite a few times I can generally tell within five minutes if the site is worthwhile or not. This is where age and experience pays dividends. I was invited to join an affiliate I had never heard of: World Jewels. I did my investigation and accepted their invitation and you will find their affiliate link at the top of this column, replacing my normal Barnes and Noble location (which I moved to the sidebar, and please note they are in their last two weeks for back-to-school specials so you might want to give them a visit).

Commercial over. Now to finish up on the engagement topic, I also plan to put out a newsletter, but not just a normal newsletter. Normal email newsletters are a dime a dozen and since I consider this website a one-of-a-kind website I figured my newsletter should reflect the same philosophy. It's not ready yet, and probably won't be until after the first of the year, but it's coming so stay tuned for that.

So to recap I need your assistance in finding great and unique websites that I can link to. Now you don't get anything for it, no monetary reimbursement or anything of value, just a link from this website to your suggestion. If appropriate I will give you credit for the link, I don't mind doing that at all, but don't expect anything else. And in full disclosure I don't get anything of value from these links either. If I do I will disclose it. What I am asking for is a backlink from their site to mine, but no monetary issues or arrangements. I have affiliate links for that.

In conclusion please think about it and tell your friends about this website. You never know this place may just be a website they need and can use.

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