Polite ways to say "no" to

[pokerguy]

I'm sure we've all received offers from advertisers or webmasters who want to exchange or buy links on our websites.

How do you usually say "no" to people? I have a hard time doing this especially with link exchange requests.

There are a lot of webmasters out there starting out who want to exchange links. But often I can see the link exchange will not benefit me and might even hurt me in the long run.

I generally say something like, "No thanks, nothing personal against your site, I've visited your site and it looks great, but we do not think this exchange is beneficial for us at this time. Best of luck on your website!" Some webmasters take this well, but others take this personally.

They will reply back with stuff like "We will have PR4 for the next update" or "why not exchange links, come on it is only a link."

I always make clear to the webmasters that when I say "no" I am not saying I don't like their site. How can I word it so that people won't take offense?

[PPP]

Ask for something they won't give.
Tell them a reason for the no like "you have some link partners I don't want to be associated with".

Remember that no matter what you do or how nice you are, some people will always take offense, so don't worry about it.

[pokerguy]

Sounds like good advice as usual, PPP. Thank you.

[GregK]

I just Rclick < delete lol

no muss no fuss!

PPP's advice is solid as a rock, as usual. Best to just be direct and as diplomatic as you can be.

If you get form letters requesting link exchanges, just delete them.

If they want to argue with you after you've been kind of enough to reply to them, even though you're not doing what they want, it's often better to just delete that then get into further discussion with them.

[pokerguy]

Thanks Greg and Randy.

I will try to be more firm and selective about who I reply to in the future.

[Flopster]

I'm generally pretty nice when I turn someone down. The only time I get a bit nasty is when I know that my url was gotten by someone selling it. I used a particular email to register one domain, and don't have that email anywhere on my site. Yet every couple of days I get a link exchange request to that email! Obviously someone sold my info.

[GregK]

Unless you purchase the privacy option when registering a domain, its all public info! Doubt if it was "sold"

[Jay]

There is no reason to be rude. Some people in the domain industry are so arrogant, but things can change so quickly. People don't forget though. I know I don't forget when someone was rude to me and I won't be doing anything with them ever.

Obviously this doesn't apply to automated emails, etc. But when someone asks nicely, decline nicely and they'll remember. I like to thank someone for taking the time to contact me and to wish them good luck on their websites, and maybe in the future.., etc.