my friend who has started a web hosting company has emailed about 100 site owners to ask if they would put a link on their website to his,and in return he will put a link on his website to theirs. So this is completely free. he is not asking for money,is this considered spam?
because alot of websites tell you to do this. and spam is only when you email someone advertising something or when you ask someone to buy something right? if the site owners report his emails as spam,will whatever spam filter they are using just block his email address or will they report it to authorities?