The benefit of a ring is that it links like-minded sites together and helps publicize your web site by encouraging more people to visit it. The only conditions of membership in one are that you add the relevant piece of code to your site and that your site contains information relevant to that ring. If you're new to this concept, it's a great way for related sites to band together and enable interested readers to easily find them. All you need to do is simply copy and paste the code given to you at the registration page into your home page HTML. The major consequence of joining is that it will provide an increase in hits to the individual web pages. What Are They
These rings are usually organized around a specific theme usually commercial, educational, or social. When used to improve search engine rankings, they can be considered a search engine optimization technique. When you join up your web site to one you will get traffic from people who did not even know you existed until they landed on the site. When you join a ring it means that, just as the name implies, there are lots of rings forming a circle like a wagon train under attack in an old fashioned western movie.
Adding A Site
Any web site can apply to join an existing one. The ringmaster will assess the suitability of the site for the ring. Before submitting your site, please read through the rules of participation in the membership section to make certain that you're willing and able to comply. Entries must include your email address and the URL of the nominated site, plus a password for for maintenance if your site is chosen. If the site is approved, you will get an email with details on how to install the navigational bar at your site. Some ringmasters will make this set up for you.
Information Privacy
Furthermore, you can be assured that the information you give (name and email address) to register your site with a one of these rings will not be shared with anyone. The code fragment should already be customized according to the information you submitted on the join form. Your web site will be checked periodically to make sure you still have the correct information on it.
How To Join
Just a few guidelines for new ring members, Please join the one that matches the topic of your site content. Once you have joined, you can use the "member admin" link to administer your site and re-access the logo and code for your page. Anyone with suitable web content is welcome to join.
Some have derived this system to create a viral marketing system. From any page in the system you can click on a "Next" button to go to the next site. Eventually you will be brought back to where you started. Basically, it is simply a list of web pages linked one to each other. Remember that you or the webmaster of your site must have knowledge of HTML or the ability to incorporate the code or navigational bar.
These are free to join. Web Ring and Online Community Directory at http://dir.webring.com/rw will help you find the right one for you or give you more information.
