Poetry Link Exchange

Is it free to join The Poetry Link Exchange?

No, absolutely not. The word "Free" is far over used these days, and is often used when it does not apply. This is an "exchange" of services, between you and all of the other members of the The Poetry Link Exchange, therefore it is not "Free". In order for your website to be advertised on all the other members' websites, you must advertise their websites on yours. That, however, is the only cost that will ever be implemented for membership in our exchange.

What file format(s) must my banner be in?

Your banner must be in a GIF or JPEG format, and yes, it can be animated. There is not currently a banner size limit, but remember that the larger your banner is the longer it will take to display.

Can I display The Poetry Link Exchange code on more than one page on my site?

Sure! We'd love for you to, but if you do so there's a little trick that you may want to use. Within our exchange code there are two links to the exchange script, one for the url and one for the image. Each link looks about like this:

http://www.scribedesigns.com/banners/url.pl?SiteID=83&size=468x60&i=XXXX

with numbers in place of the Xs. If this number is the same on each instance of our code on your site, then it may not refresh, meaning that it will display the same banner over and over on every page. If you do have the code on more than one page of your site, you should change these numbers so that they are different on each page. MAKE SURE that the numbers are the same for both the img and the url call though, or it won't work right.

Can I display the code more than once on the same page?

If you do this then we'd prefer for you to use two different banner sizes, as having the same exact code twice on the same page is kinda tacky. Also note that displaying a lot of banners on the same page will NOT increase the chances of your banner showing up on other people's sites.

Where should I put the Poetry Link Exchange code?

On your website of course! If we're talking about the larger sizes, then at the top of your main page is usually a good place. If we're talking about the smaller sizes, then you may want to think of placing it at the bottom of your menu or sidebar, like where we have the 88x31 size on this page.
If you don't want to place the code on your main page, then you are free to put it on a Links page or another page which gets a lot of traffic. Just please do not place our code at the bottom of your page in the middle of all those other exchanges, because that is really tacky and is not a fair display location.

I have the code on more than one page, and it's displaying the same banner each time!!

This is because browsers usually cache images so that you don't have to wait for them to download over and over. If our code is exactly the same on each of your pages, then there is nothing telling your browser that the image would be different if it tried to call it again, so it doesn't. Please look up at the "Can I display The Poetry Link Exchange code on more than one page on my site?" question for a trick to help you solve this problem.

Do I have to display the code for each banner size that I have in the exchange?

No, you only HAVE to display the code which matches the size of your first banner. However, we would like for you to display the code for each size you have listed with us. To get the code for each size, just go to the "Join" page and choose the size and type of code you want to display, and it will appear in the text area below.

I read that the poetry banners show up in both the Poetry rotation, and the Non-Poetry rotation, is there any way I can get mine to display ONLY in the Poetry rotation?

Sure, if you really want to. Remember though, that just because your banner shows up in both rotations it doesn't mean that it will appear less often in the Poetry one. If you're determined though, just let us know and we'll make the change.

My website isn't about poetry or literature of any sort, can I get my banner in the Poetry rotation anyway?

Nope, sorry. We've made a promise to our Poetry members that ONLY Literature banners would appear on their site. We don't even place non-literature banners in that rotation to fund this exchange! While we do support Non-Poetry websites, our focus is still on helping the Poetry/Literature sites get more hits. The Poetry Link Exchange actually started out as a part of Archflambeoth, and we want to stick to our roots and keep our goals focused so that our service's quality doesn't suffer.

So what will the code actually look like on my site?

If you have a 468x60 banner, then it will look like this:

If you have a 400x40 banner, then it will look like this:

If your banner is one of the other sizes, then we do not currently have a logo graphic to go with them. The smaller sizes are usually crammed into small spaces, and don't have room for a logo graphic, so we may not ever add such a graphic.

I keep refreshing my page, and my banner never shows up!

Well, it's not supposed to. If you want your banner to appear on your own site, then you should link directly to it. The Poetry Link Exchange script is smart enough to figure out if the owner of the banner it is sending to is the same as the owner of the site it is asking for it. If it is, then it chooses another banner to send. So if you're just testing to see if your banner shows up in the rotation, then you'll have to look on someone else's site that has the exchange. To make it easier for you though, the exact same script updates our two Member pages, where you can find out if your site is in the rotation and if it is, its impression and click-thru totals. An impression is when your banner was shown on someone's site, and a click-thru is when someone clicked on your banner.
If someone goes to your site through a link in any of our member or banner lists then it does NOT count in these figures, so we may just be sending you more traffic than you think.

I have another question that isn't in this list.

Please don't hesitate to e-mail us at and we'll get back with you as soon as we can.