Web Site Taggers

Must I resort to becoming a tagger to get ahead of my competition?

Of course, I don't mean tagging walls, freeway signs and such. I mean tagging my client's web sites. You know, the fine print down at the very bottom of the page that says "web site designed by..." In other words, "Crafty Pixel was here!"

I recently compared my web site against 3 of my local competitors and they killed me in link popularity because they seem to have tagged just about every page of every web site they've ever designed and I have only tagged two (very reluctantly).

Whenever I see those little web designer links at the bottom of a web site, it whispers 'amateur.' Am I the only one who hears that? Even though some of my clients' web sites rank very well in the search engines and I could share in that search engine love with a link back to my site, I don't feel right about it. Paying for or 'discounting' for the privilege only slightly lowers the arrogance factor and doesn't lower the amateur factor at all.

Well! Just blogging this out has helped me decide. I think I'll pass on web site tagging for now and find other ways to make a name for myself. I feel so much better now.