Do you feel frustrated when you send an email request to another webmaster and it takes them more than a week to answer? Or worse, when they don’t answer at all? Now put the shoe on the other foot as guest blogger, Elizabeth Orr, discusses how simple common can benefit your online business.

The ways in which you connect with others as you build your presence on the web has a direct bearing on your reputation and your potential for success.

For example, many of us belong to services through which we connect to exchange links and hopefully, build traffic.

If contacted, it’s important to respond politely regardless of whether you intend to accept or reject the request.

You may look at the other site, and decide that you simply don’t like it. You may see a site that is full of broken links or that certain areas of the site are still under construction. Perhaps the site topic has no relevance to your own and you see absolutely no value whatsoever in exchanging links.

Don’t ignore requests and don’t reply with a blunt “no” and dismiss them. Convey rejection in the nicest possible way. The other webmaster may not be aware of a specific error on their site. Let them know. The benefit of the doubt doesn’t hurt in a sentence or two.

No-one is expecting you to become an instant mentor, but suggestions for improvement are almost always welcome. Leave the door open for a future exchange after changes have been made that makes the other site more relevant to your readers.

If you have offered the option on your site for readers to ask questions, you have the responsibility of responding in a timely manner.

Answer as completely as you can, and if you don’t know the answer, be honest enough to say so. Make an effort to find an answer or direct your reader to someone who can give them the information. Don’t leave your reader hanging, or hope that they go away. Give the courtesy of a quick response.

This holds true if you invite comments of any kind on your site.

You have to be prepared to accept criticism gracefully, or at least go in with the idea that people are entitled to their opinion.

Likewise, don’t ignore those who leave positive comments. If you were face-to-face with someone and they complimented you, would you stand there and just stare blankly at them? Most likely not. You would thank them. Although the commenter may not be looking for acknowledgement, everyone likes to get it. That is just human nature.

People won’t forget any negative response they get from you, they will also remember you for extending the courtesy of positive acknowledgement.

Positive feedback can also come back to you “in gold” as well.

A simple polite request for confirmation of information to promote an event plus the request to link (which was initially not thought possible) resulted in a prominent and important link from another well-known site. In addition, that Webmaster offered his personal assistance in website building. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Elizabeth Orr savors and shares all things rhubarb – including growing and harvesting tips, recipes, rhubarb crafts and even rhubarb festivals – at Savor-the-Rhubarb.com.

A hearty welcome to guest blogger Elizabeth Orr of Savor-the-Rhubarb.com who tells us how she not only gets free pics to use on her website from professional photographers, but also how she gets extra traffic in the deal.

Despite being a webmaster, I am not technical – at least not in the ways of website building – and one thing I am definitely not, is a photographer.

Fortunately I get tons of help. Everyday I learn something new and either try to apply it immediately or file the information for another time. I also rely heavily on those great photographers who supply their photos freely for public use.

It is very easy and convenient to visit photo sites such as Flickr.com and simply download a photo for free, copy and paste a link, and add it to your material along with proper attribution.

FreeFoto’s conditions of free use are as follows:

ANYONE, by which we mean commercial and non-commercial alike, can use FreeFoto.com images in an online setting, providing they provide attribution to the image and a link back to FreeFoto.com (either the image or the main site). This license allows blogs, social networking sites and use in emails, just to name a few, providing they provide the required attribution, this includes sites that pay people to write, carry advertising or are selling and promoting products. The only requirement the attribution and link back.

Despite those very clear licensing requirements, I almost always contact the photographer via email and say that I would like to use their photo. I tell them what my site is about but do not give them a web address. I assume if they want to know, they will eventually ask. On the other hand, providing the address can save them time, and they can peruse the site and decide if they would like the association.

It is very rare that I don’t get a response.

Of every ten emails I send to the photographers, I typically get two responses that say “sure, go ahead, just credit me properly” and some don’t even care about the credit. I still respond with a thank you and tell them that their generosity is very much appreciated.

Do you know what the other 8 responses typically are?

“Oh wow – how refreshing to be asked or informed.”

I also hear “I am so flattered you like my picture. Certainly you may use it, and please email me your link. I want to see it.”

These photographers want to see their work displayed and if I was a photographer, I would want that also. There is another advantage to making contact with the photographers. They show a friend or family members where their work is and some of those people enjoy my site content enough to become regular readers and subscribers.

It is clearly a win-win situation.

Oh, and if you should make a terrible error like I did once, and ask for a photo that was clearly not available — apologize.

In that case, I was not paying attention. I didn’t know the rules well enough, and got a very abrupt “absolutely not” as a response. However, after I said I was sorry, my apology was not only accepted but the photographer later offered me other pictures to post on my site. This is something else to remember too. Many photographers make their living with their talents. You have to respect their wishes.

By the same token, don’t be afraid to request information on where to find a specific photo based on their knowledge. Instead of chasing another prospect, you may be pleasantly surprised and offered a picture from their own collection that initially was not available to the public.

I have tremendous respect and appreciation for the generosity of these talented photographers who so graciously share their work on stock photo sites. As the old saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ , so they save me a LOT of writing. The very least we can do is thank them for their contribution to helping to beautify the web.