Overview Of ARELIS
Reciprocal Linking Solution
 

Introduction
Linking101 Overview
Reciprocal Manager Overview
Zeus Overview
Feature Comparison Chart

ARELIS - Main Features

(for more detail, see chart)

  • build categorized link directory

  • link verification

  • link verification reporting

  • disable non-linking sites

  • find and disable dead links

  • filter sites before searching

  • add links manually

  • delete and edit links

  • link directory search engine

  • administrative search engine

  • full site customization

  • mine potential link sites for contact information

  • retrieve link description text from web site

  • trace the source of all incoming links

  • preview sites from within integrated browser

  • search for link partners by keywords

  • search for link partners by searching for links to competitors

  • e-mail link partners from within integrated browser

  • build e-mail templates

  • import links from other programs

  • Standard and Business editions


Pros

  • One of the areas in which Axandra, the company which developed ARELIS excels is that of the provision of information.  They bring this to the ARELIS package in the form of a comprehensive how-to-manual and an excellent PDF on the wider aspects of successful linking.  It is this type of advice that makes ARELIS such a popular product with those relatively new to selling online.

  • While not as comprehensive or intuitive as the LinksManager interface, ARELIS' link page template dialogue box offers a good range of options with which to begin the customization process.  More advanced users can fine tune the templates to their exact requirements.

  • Searching for link partners is made virtually pain-free by the Search Wizard, which importantly allows you to set options for how many searches should be undertaken on any one occasion.  Set a default of 40, this feature helps prevent your IP address being banned by the search engines for abuse of their search facility.

Once you've identified a range of potential link partners, you can view details of each site in the ARELIS browser, which also carries an image of the index page for any site which is selected.  This means that you have at your fingertips virtually all the information you need in order to arrive at a decision about a site's suitability for inclusion in your link directory.  Unfortunately though, this browser doesn't give you information about Google PageRank.


Cons

I could use the whole of this section to moan about what ARELIS doesn't offer (largely because of the limitations this type of program), but that would be unfair.  If you're looking for an all-singing, all-dancing solution that will fully automate the process building and maintaining a link directory, ARELIS is not for you.  It doesn't have a link submission script, it won't help you approve or decline submissions, and it won't send out automatic mail notifications.    Like Zeus, ARELIS is a tool whose strength lies in its ability to provide an robust interface for locating suitable link partners, requesting reciprocal links, building a link  directory and for checking incoming links.

This being the case, I'll try to limit my comments to the features that ARE available in the program.

  • ARELIS' over-emphasis on the use of e-mail to solicit links I believe does users of this type of program a dis-service.  I say this because I've experienced being both a sender and a receiver of this type of mail.

As a sender, I hated having to use some cheesy formula (including making some specific reference to a website's contents) in order to avoid charges that I was spamming by sending unsolicited e-mail.

As a receiver of written link requests, I hate having to take time out to visit sites in order to ascertain their suitability, and I hate even more having to spend time adding links manually when I have a perfectly adequate link submission facility.  If Webmaster #1 submits a link directly, my program notifies me instantly; I can open the mail, click on a link to the submission, click to check out the site, and click to approve the link in less than a minute.  I'm not going to come even close to achieving those turn-around times for a manual link request from Webmaster #2.  Chances are I might receive 3-4  written requests per day.  Chances are I'm going to put those requests aside until I have more time...later...much later.  Tell me, which webmaster would you rather be?

It seems a no-brainer to encourage users of this type of program to take time out visiting potential link partners' sites in order to find unique information to add to a link request e-mail.  This time would probably be better employed actually submitting a link to the site, because if you've found a noteworthy site, it's likely that they already have some kind of link exchange program in operation. 
 

  • Because ARELIS is operated locally from your computer, it can't integrate a link submission form into the program.  Instead, ARELIS suggest users install a form script onto their server, recommending the excellent free script FormMail . 

This is all fine and dandy if you're comfortable with configuring and installing Perl scripts (note: FormMail  now also offer a remote, no-install option), but a good proportion of users of this type of program are novice webmasters who are already being overwhelmed by the learning curve required to operate program successfully, without also having to take on the challenge of configuring a form script to their exact needs.  Most will simply not take this seemingly "optional" step. However, without an efficient submission service, a webmaster is consigned being merely a link seeker rather than a link solicitor who encourages others to link to him.

This often doesn't seem important in the early days, but as a site gains more of a web presence, the link requests start flowing in and a good submission system becomes a must. 

This being the case, at the barest minimum, ARELIS would benefit from providing a form mail script with installation and configuration instructions as part of the package.
 

  • Although it's beyond ARELIS' control, the otherwise excellent web site browser doesn't give an administrator access to information about an individual web site's PageRank.  While there are clearly other more important factors to be considered when deciding whether or not to include a site in a link directory, it's always extremely helpful to know what PageRank you're dealing with.  Unfortunately, you're going to have to temporarily  leave ARELIS if you want to find out.

 

Summary

In its class of product, ARELIS performs very well - it's jargon-free, relatively simple to use and well supported.  Use this tool responsibly, and you'll end up with a tight, well structured link directory.  However, you'll also have to put in a lot of time to achieve this - far more than if you had a script with more automated features.  

Find Out More About ARELIS


Introduction
Linking101 Overview
Reciprocal Manager Overview
Zeus Overview
Feature Comparison Chart



 

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