I'm assuming that by sitewide you are refering to a link from every page on some other site to your own. Google normally doesn't like sitewide links because it normally indicates some sort of automated process, or purchased links. I would say one link from the homepage would be better. It's also worth noting that the homepage is normally the highest PR page anyway and most internal pages are sometimes not even indexed.
Sitewide links will bring more backlinks but less value. Multiple Links from same domain are neglected to some extent. A single link from the main page is best.
Yes you may get more backlinks but you may also get penalized for them. I also think one link from a PR5 homepage is "worth more" than 100 PR0 sitewide links.
There is a difference between PR0 and PR NA. If all pages have relevant content then PR0 pages will prove useful. You never know when these pages get a PR update in future.
The most important link is the one that is natural and inserted into the content on your website. Although some links such as footer and blogrolls are ok, they are considered to be paid links and carry less weight. So, if you are looking to gain backlinks from another site, consider asking them to insert your link in the body of any relevant content. I'm not an SEO expert, but that's what I understand.
I own both sites the one is a forum and I can either put a link on the homepage or do a site wide in the footer so I was just trying to figure which one to do
Too much links from same domain not have much value.. Better is get links from home page...always home page hiving high rank while compared with internal pages
I think this answered your question the best, if you are looking for pagerank, then it is better to get linked from homepage (usually homepage got the highest pagerank). But if you are looking for good position in SERP, a link from relevant content is the best.
It doesn't make sense that you will be penalised for having a sitewide link. It also doesn't make sense to assume that a sitewide link is a paid link. There are valid reasons why you will have some links on your blogroll - it doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting paid for it. The worst thing that will happen is that only one of these links will carry real weight while the other links are devalued. It makes sense for Google to devalue the other links because they are all coming from the same domain. Since the homepage is usually the strongest page, there will be no great difference between having a sitewide link and having a homepage link. The only real difference will be where the link is placed on the actual page, with footer links carrying the least amount of value. So if you want the link juice to flow to this page you should put the link in a prominent position on the homepage.
I doubt it matters. They're both pretty natural. If you use wordpress and use the links widget then the links will be sitewide. Which a lot of bloggers do.
Bingo. Sorry I arrived late to this one, but this answer is the most correct, and it's what I would have told you. You can read more in a recent blogpost of mine here.. http://www.adhocads.com/node/890
I believe that google now a days gives weightage to the link as per location. Most sitewide links are likely to be paid links. Google gives different values to sitewide links, footer links, header links and incontent. And i feel only homepage links and incontent links are safest place to be in at the moment.
a good page rank page will good traffic and pr juice, same home page give you its juice. to me both are important, I love to get links from both.
site wide will give you more links but it doesn't help much as you get more unwanted and less valuable links.