The Power Of A Link

1K followers

5 years ago

Good afternoon/evening/morning fellow Wealthy Affiliate members worldwide,

This is a brief post on what consider to be a simple, self-evident fact which however is underrated and not given its proper significance.

For the purpose of this post, let us consider and define a hyperlink to a PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, website, page, cloud, BitLy, etc. under its most generic name as a "link".

Let us look at the "official" definition for a hyperlink:

hy·per·link/ˈhīpərˌliNGk/

COMPUTING

noun

1.a link from a hypertext file or document to another location or file, typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image on the screen.

verb

1.create a hyperlink between (documents or parts of a document)."thumbnail images that are hyperlinked to a larger image"

The focus of this post will be on the power such a link, if not most links have, in our lives and how potentially such a link can be a life changer for any online marketer.

Now, one may say that all links are equal right?

Well, I respectfully disagree.

"How can that be? A link is a link is a link" one may say.

I will get back to the answer shortly.

Based on its definition, the link itself is more like a conduit, nexus or Enter your own correction... if you will allow the sender of the link to share "access" to a variety of files, documents, software downloads, white papers downloads, webinars, etc. with the recipient of the link, sometimes in conjunction with encryption keys passwords.

"Yeah, I already know all of this stuff it is basic, so what is your point?" one may ask.

The point is that while the link is very powerful it what it delivers or conveys, however, a link is powerless if it is what we all call a broken link or if the document, file or other digital product it is supposed to link to have been deleted, password protected or otherwise disabled.

So while we focus on the link clearly we need to know, understand and fully appreciate what it links to.

In online marketing clearly links are crucial if not indispensable. Can you imagine where the digital marketing space would be in the absence of links or similar means?

Equally so, the business world at large is relying constantly on the use of links, especially for documents which tend to be subject to multiple versions. Without link there will be mass confusion with multiple copies of allegedly the same document and version floating around, should it be sent as an attachment instead, Each such "copy" of the document would become yet a new and separate version of the original document.

"Yeah, so what, again this is fundamental business 101 document management" one may say.

Bear with me for just a little longer. I promise you that when that basic self-evident fact is put into the proper context it will pay off.

So to sum it up, both the digital marketing world and the corporate world depends heavily and indispensably on the use of links, which we have just covered above.

Back to why not ALL links are equal.

Without some minor exceptions, such as perhaps proprietary trade secrets, patents or other potentially recurring high income generating products or services, I cannot see that the links, or most of the links in the corporate world can be as powerful or income generating than the links we use daily in our online marketing.

"Hmm, why is that?" one may ask.

Very simply because none of the corporate documents linked by a shared link can over time generate as much income as online marketing. This is based on a logical, non-scientific assumption, as detailed below.

Let us say that you have subscribed to the online subscription of an investment newsletter. Surely it can be very expensive at times and the content needs to constantly be updated or changed to keep up with the reality of that industry or field.

Now let us look at a digital product. Surely there may be some need to update or change certain things, however, for the most past (I am simplifying it a little for the purpose of this example) it is "wash, rinse, repeat". Prospective members will sign up, reviews then buys and uses the digital product, and in the case of an affiliate program brings in new prospective members and the process repeats itself almost on autoresponder.

The most common way by which the corporate world shares access to a document is primarily via E-mail. Of course there are a variety of "Box" services which allow access to entire libraries of documents. In certain cases, website and webpage URLs are shared via BitLy. Last but not least, some will use the "Cloud".

In the online marketing space, the means of using links to enable access to a variety of documents and services are almost infinite. We can use links in E-mail marketing campaigns, embedded in posts, chats, text messaging, blogs, buttons/widgets, etc.

So here it comes, the all links are not equal reveal.

Drum rolll!

The impact of sharing a link in the corporate world, but with limited exceptions, is rather measured, defined to specific list of recipients. By extension, with the caveats stated above, the links in the corporate world cannot generate but a limited amount of income.

By contrast, in the case of a solid digital product which almost runs on autoresponder and which doesn't require much updating or changing, the link shared by the online marketer which potentially will connect prospective buyers or members to that digital product or service has an infinite audience and an infinite income generating potential.

For once, the corporate world, with all of its might and power seems to be running a second best behind the online digital marketer, like you and I. Do you see it?

I hope that you are still present in class reading this and finding some value, however, little in it.

Thank you for taking the time to read, like, dislike and comment on my post.

It is greatly appreciated!

Blessings!