First- what is a Web-ring? As they say, “founded in 1994, Web-ring is a pioneer in social networking“. Basically, it’s a piece of code that displays the name of the ring and links to other web-sites. The idea is that you’re at a site that sounded interesting, but isn’t quite what you want; or that is interesting but you’re finished with it….so this will take you to another site that is related in some way to the site you are at. It’s sort of like a ‘link page’ that you don’t have to maintain; bad links get dropped from the rotation. And you don’t have to visit every site (do check out a few to make sure they do relate) so long as the Ring Master appears to not just approve anyone to build up the # of ring sites.

A web-ring can bring potential customers in to your web-site (or on-line shop). And it’s true that some people will click on the web-ring navigation and leave. But most likely they are not lost customers; they looked and didn’t see what they wanted. Just as with a ‘brick & mortar’ (physical) store, you can’t have something for everyone.

A shopper who doesn’t see what they like might try a search engine and visit a totally unrelated web-site- or they could end up in the Marketplace. At the moment the Marketplace (or home page) of each POD site is crammed full of ’stuff’; much of it is mis-tagged. Finding what you want (’what you really, really want‘) is a horrific experience. You will make shoppers much happier about their visit to CafePress, Zazzle, etc if you can send them directly to another shop or designer. Then they are much more likely to want to come back- possibly to you.

As a bonus, if they’ve come to your shop by way of a properly-done affiliate link on your own web-site, you will get the affiliate referral fee if they buy in another shop. We have added some instructions on how to add web-ring navigation to your CafePress shop(s) for rings that allow or require that.

We created or now manage over four dozen web-rings; broadly grouped in four categories; POD sites, Pet Sites, Artists’ Site, and some other great rings. See a list of some of our relevant Web-rings.