Let's go over the elements of a free site in more detail, starting with the index page. This is where the reciprocal links, adult content warning, enter/exit links and 2257 notice will go. Go to Link-o-rama or some other link list and bring up a free site for reference.

The recip table is the most important element of the index page. This is an HTML table with 9-15 reciprocal links to the link lists you'll submit your free site to - 12 is a good number. Most link lists now require category-specific recips. For example, here is the category recips page for Link-o-rama. You can copy and paste the source code for the category you will be submitting to into your recip table. Text links are also fine, but they must contain the category link, if required by the link list owner.

Most link list owners like to see their recips on the same page as other well-known link lists. Sure, every link list owner would like to see their recip next to Smut Gremlins, Greenguy, Hoes.com and Richard's Realm, but that just ain't gonna happen. Obviously, you'll want to put the big boys together - no major link list owner likes to see their recip among a bunch of nobodies. As for the rest of the link lists you're submitting to, try your best to place them together in terms of their relative popularity.

Collecting and pasting all of the recip links into your recip table is the most time-consuming part of building free sites. As a shortcut, many free site builders create recip tables for the categories and sites they most frequently submit to. For example, if you frequently build asian sites, create your recip tables with asian-specific recips and then simply reuse those tables every time you build an asian free site. Another option is to use free site builder software that will manage recips for you. See the next section for more details on that.

Next is the adult content warning. This is standard boilerplate language that is largely meaningless today, but you've gotta have it in there anyway. Anywhere above the enter link is fine. You can cobble together a warning statement using different examples from other sites. Or you could just steal it - I'm sure that's what most webmasters do anyway. It's not like anybody reads it :)

The enter link should be at the bottom of the page and clearly indicated as such. Do not use deceptive links or ambiguous language. An exit link may also be provided, although you can consider it optional. The very bottom of the index page is where you want to put the link to your 2257 notice. You can link to the sponsor's 2257 statement, or one hosted on your own site if necessary.

Now is a good time to talk about sponsor banners and links. Obviously the whole purpose of building a free site is getting surfers to click through to your sponsor and buy a membership. To this end, a free site offers you ample opportunity to sell your sponsor across 4 or more pages of content. Notice that the best free site builders use a combination of eye-catching banners and descriptive text. There should be very little free space on the page - anywhere that there isn't a picture or a link should be filled with sponsor banners or sales text.

But keep in mind one of the most important link list submission rules: No more than three outgoing links per page! You shouldn't need more than two links to your sponsor per page anyway. Many free site builders place a third link at the bottom of the page to their own hub or another sponsor such as a dating, chat or phone sex site.

Free sites have great SEO potential, so you need to write descriptive and persuasive sales text, sprinkled with relevant keywords. Be sure to fill in the title, description and keyword meta tags as well. Proper spelling, punctuation and grammar are important, as link lists owners have little tolerance for poor English. If your writing skills aren't up to par, use a word processor such as Microsoft Word or Open Office while composing your sales text, and run a spell and grammar checker on your prose.

The main page is very simple. It contains the links to your galleries (which should be clearly indicated as Gallery 1, Gallery 2 and so forth) as well as your sponsor links. You can take the opportunity to place a larger banner on this page, but no full page ads!

The gallery pages are similar to TGP galleries. At least 12 pics, laid out in an attractive manner, with sponsor links worked into the design. You can also add a link back to your main page, for the benefit of visitors who came in through search engines or a direct link.

To save time, you can build templates to help you build free sites faster. Avoid using the same design over and over again. At the very least, change the page colors, arrangement and graphics for each site you build. As long as you're not using the same design more than once every couple of weeks, chances are no one will notice.

Next, we'll look at duplicating and submitting your free site.