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What is Backwash?
Backwash is a directory of the best SPECIFIC content available on the Internet. Our team of columnists scour the Internet searching for the best content to share with our audience. We also receive a large number of link submissions from our audience. The best get posted to the site. Our differentiation from other directory sites is that we link to specific content (articles, mp3s, shockwaves, chats, downloads, etc.) rather than the front pages of websites. Our goal is to save people time in finding content which matches their interests.
Our links appear throughout our site and on thousands of other websites that subscribe to our services.
How do Link Submissions work?
Backwash pays its columnists to find the best content on the net. We also conduct incentive contests to encourage visitors to share their favorite links through free submissions. Finally, we accept paid submissions from webmasters, looking to get exposure for their own work.
If you are a visitor sharing your favorite links, select 'free submission' and fill out the submission form. You can track how many of your submissions have been approved by viewing your profile or by visiting http://www.backwash.com/toplinksubmitters.php The top submitters each month receive prizes. Even if you don't win, you have the option of having your userid appear with all of your submitted links, which helps you gain recognition in the Backwash community.
Free link submissions are not guaranteed anything - neither the timetable in which they will be reviewed nor whether they will be approved. Indeed, if the link is not approved, the submitter will not be notified. Sometimes a free submission can be approved in a day, other times it can take months, and other times, it is simply deleted from the database by one of our columnists.
How do Paid Submissions work?
With paid submissions, we closely track the link through the submission process. We guarantee the timetable within which it will be reviewed and if approved, you will have access to a stats page to track the number of hits your link receives.
While we cannot guarantee that your link will be approved as a 'Regular Link' (quality content that follows our strict format and that we believe our audience will enjoy), we guarantee your link will be approved in some fashion.
If your link matches our requirements (specific link to interesting content), it will be approved within the selected timeframe as a 'Regular Link' and appear throughout the entire Backwash Network. See below for an explanation.
If your link does not match our requirements (it is not specific, it is more
an advertisement than content, etc.), it will appear as a 'Sponsored Link'
in our directory under the categories/flavors sections it has been
classified under (up to five) and will be identified as a 'Sponsored Link'.
It will also appear in the search engine results when a query matching the
subject or keyword is conducted.
In rare instances, we will reject a link entirely. If this occurs, you will be allowed to resubmit a different link in its place.
For paid submissions for either Original (all audience) Backwash or Kids Backwash, the fee is $20 per link. It is guaranteed to be reviewed within 2 weeks. For $35, we guarantee review within 48 hours. For Adult Backwash, add $15 to each price.
Who should use paid submissions?
Paid submissions are ideal for people who want to drive traffic to a specific item on their site. Directories like LookSmart may drive traffic to the front page on your site, but they aren't good for a unique item you want to draw special attention to, or else a timely item such as a chat event or sale.
Some examples include:
- A record company releasing an MP3 by one of their artists.
- A writer publicizing a short story or on-line novel.
- A web magazine or news outlet publicizing an article.
- A website publicizing a chat event.
- A web broadcaster publicizing a show in streaming audio.
- A photographer publicizing their best photos.
- A webmaster publicizing a newsletter.
- A person selling a product on Ebay.
- A commerce site offering a limited-time only store discount/special.
- A commerce site having a sale on a specific item.
And anything else you can think of. As long as its specific and high quality!
Where do Approved Links appear?
If your link is approved as a 'Regular Link', it will appear throughout the Backwash Network in a variety of formats. It may appear as a recommendation in the column of one of our columnists. It may appear on the front page of Backwash as featured content. It may appear in our "Discuss This Content" section where our visitors discuss the various links appearing on our site. It may be featured in one of our special interest communities. Depending on how the link is categorized, it may appear on the personal web pages of our visitors (recommendations made to specific individuals). It may also appear in either our free web feeds or our paid web feeds, which result in the link appearing on thousands of sites across the Internet. The link may be selected by one of our Newsletter editors for inclusion in a newsletter. The link may make it into our Daily or Weekly Top 40 - both the web pages, newsletters and web feeds devoted to the top links.
The link WILL appear in our 'Surf by Subject' directory, under the categories specified on the submission form (we retain the right to recategorize the link at our discretion). The link WILL appear in our search engine, where visitors may find the link depending on their search criteria. Like our web feeds, our search engine is syndicated across the Internet as well
All Backwash 'regular links', when clicked, appear in a launch frame which allows the viewer to easily forward the link to their friends. If your link hits a nerve, it may receive significant traffic from this feature alone.
Where do Approved "Sponsored Links" appear?
If your link is approved as a 'Sponsored Link', it will only appear in the 'Surf by Subject' directory and in our search engine results (based on keyword searches). The link will appear at the top of these pages highlighted in light blue and will also be identified as a sponsored link. While a 'Sponsored Link' will not receive as wide coverage as a 'Regular Link', it WILL receive prominent placement on the pages identified above, and for this reason, some webmasters may prefer having their link appear as a 'Sponsored Link' instead of as a 'Regular Link'.
In Step 2 of the Submission Form, you may request your link be reviewed only as a 'Sponsored Link'. Links specified this way will generally be approved much more quickly, since the editorial review process simply involves approving the text in the ad, and not the content itself.
'Sponsored Links' receive 2,500 impressions included in the price of submission. If more than three 'Sponsored Links' use the same keyword or categorization, then the links displayed will randomly rotate between all sponsored links with impressions remaining in their 'bank'. You may purchase additional impressions for $8/1000. You may track the number of remaining impressions and click-through ratio on your admin screen (which becomes visible after you have made your initial purchase).
What kind of traffic can I expect?
We have absolutely no way to predict the traffic you will receive. Approved Links appear in multiple formats as detailed above. Traffic depends on dozens of factors. For example, links selected for newsletters will receive more traffic than those that are not selected. Links with appealing titles will do better than those with bland headlines. Links to broad subjects will appear in more web feeds than those more narrowly targeted. We have had links that received only a handful of clicks, and links that received over 100,000 clicks.
Keep in mind that while our system favors the freshest content, older content may continue to receive traffic and even traffic spikes (if selected for a newsletter or for a special web feed, for example.) Even if your link does not receive a lot of traffic, your link will always appear with your website title below it in the 'Content Source' line so just appearing throughout our site will help your branding efforts.
Why do you charge a flat fee instead of pay-per-click or pay-per-impression?
Because your link can appear in so many different formats, we have no way to control the amount of impressions or clicks you receive. For example, if your link appeared in our Daily Top 25, the amount of impressions you receive could go well beyond the amount you agreed to pay for. Or if your link falls in an area with a large subscriber base (newsletters, web feeds, etc), it could instantly go beyond your agreed limit.
For this reason, we decided that a flat fee was the only feasible solution. On some links, you may find you'll receive a great bang for your buck. On other links, you may be disappointed with your results. If you purchase submissions on a regular basis, it should even out in the long run. And of course, there are always things you can do to help improve your results.
How can I improve my results?
First and foremost, we cannot stress enough how important it is to have a good title. Your title should be catchy AND accurately reflect the content it is linking to. After a visitor clicks on your link, they have the ability to rate the content on a scale of 1 - 5. If a certain threshold of visitors rate your content low (something people do when they feel they've been misled into clicking), the future impressions of the link will be seriously affected. It will not appear in the top 25 and will probably not appear in any newsletters, personalized recommendations or personalized web feeds. A good title will catch the eye of not only visitors but also columnists and webmasters who use our database to select content for their newsletters and web feeds.
In some formats, only your link title will appear (separated from its accompanying description), so if your title is vague, leaving the important details in the description field instead, it is likely your link will be overlooked.
Another tip is to provide our audience with a reason to click. For example, if you are an unknown unsigned garage band with a new MP3, using a title like "New MP3 by John Smith's Band" will yield disappointing results. Using a title like "The coolest MP3 by the best new band in the world" will probably do even worse (because it is too vague and seems misleading). Instead, a better title might be "New unsigned rock band needs help selecting their best song for a demo tape. Listen to four MP3s and vote!" Remember, accurately portray your content AND give people a reason to click.
Please remember that we retain the right to edit the titles of any submissions as we feel appropriate.
Another way to improve your results is to accurately fill out the submission maintenance form. It is important you highlight the categories and flavors you feel most closely match your link. The way your link is classified directly affects which web feeds, newsletters, communities, personalized pages, etc that your link appears in. If you do not accurately categorize your link, it may appear in front of an audience not the least bit interested in it and as a result, receive little to no traffic. It is always better to get your link in front of the people who would be the most interested in seeing it.
Finally, link to SPECIFIC content and to HIGH QUALITY content. If you link to an entire website, your link will not be approved as a 'Regular Link'. People come to Backwash to find links to specific content in order to save themselves time in finding content that appeals to them. If you want to link to your entire website, submit your link as a 'Sponsored Link' instead.
How can I maximize results for my entire website?
Backwash Link Submissions can be a key part of your web marketing efforts. But driving traffic to a single page on your site should be seen as only a start, a way to get your 'foot in the door' with the viewing public, so to speak. Once you have attracted viewers to that one page, you should provide directions and incentives to get the visitor to delve deeper into your site and to convert them into a regular, rather than a one-time visitor.
Apart from creating great content that will interest the visitor, you may wish to include links to other related items on your site, and even banner ads or sales pitches. If you are linking to a page deep within your site, remember that the Backwash visitor will be bypassing your home page. If you have worked hard to ensure your home page captures someone who is just browsing by, you may wish to integrate some of that design into the page you are linking to from Backwash.
If you are a website that blocks deep links and redirects them to the home page, your submitted link will need to be to a page which has had this feature disabled. If you are a website which requires registration, you will also need to disable the requirement for the link you are submitting.
Remember, you can always create pages specifically targeted only to Backwash visitors.
What if my link is for a product?
First, if it is for a product, then it is possible that we will approve it as a "Sponsored Link" instead of as a "Regular Link". But there are ways to get around that. For example, if you are an author selling a book, then create a page on your site with a sample chapter, along with an advertisement on your page that directs visitors how to make a purchase. If you are selling a food product, link to a page with recipes containing your product, along with a way for people to make a purchase.
You can do this for any product. Provide interesting or useful related content on your site that people will want to view, and then on the same page you can advertise your product or service. In this way, we can approve your link as a "Regular Link" and then you will have the opportunity to convert the visitors to paying customers.
We do have a "Shopping/E-Commerce" section and related newsletters so if your classify your link submission strictly as 'shopping/e-commerce', it is possible we will approve the link as a "Regular Link", but just have it only appear before visitors who are interested in this section. The link will need to be to specific content or a specific item or a limited-time special event to be approved in this manner.
Can I advertise a different way with Backwash instead?
Yes. Text Ads are another way to advertise instead on Backwash. You control which audience you target and these ads do not have the restrictions the link submissions do. Text Ads are pay-per-impression and go live immediately upon payment.
They appear throughout the site, rather than just in a few sections the way "Sponsored Links" do. For details, click here.
How often should I submit links?
If your goal is to generate steady ongoing traffic to your website, we recommend you submit links on a regular basis - for example, one link a week to different content on your site, of course. If you have a number of items on your site you want to link to and you submit them all at once, the amount of traffic you receive may be less than if you gradually submitted the same links on an ongoing basis.
Is there a discount for a large number of submissions?
Yes and no. There is no discount for regular submitters. However, if you have a great website that receives significant traffic and is ranked in the top 50,000 websites according to Alexa.com, we may be interested in partnering with you. In exchange for you prominently linking to Backwash, you receive a limited number of free submissions each month, plus some great additional benefits. Visit our Partnership page for details!
What if I have additional questions?
Write us at feedback@backwash.com and we will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
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