How to explain to a client that link building doesn't get fast results?
-
I started doing link building for a client 1 month and a half ago. This includes submitting to free directories, social bookmarking sites and also writing and submitting articles to free article websites. Since I only use free and non-paid websites, it doesn't get approved instantly and many links I submitted are still pending review. Now the client is getting all nervous because he doesn't see a ROI regarding my work! I tried to explain to him that link building is just a piece of the cake and especially using non-instant approval free directories, it can take up to several months for each link to be listed (if listed), so it doesn't have instant results! I'm also trying to convince him that he needs to create more engaging content on his website, and also invest more on social media in order to get non-solicited links.
I'm really annoyed with this. Can you SEO guys help me explaining to him why he doesn't see a great ROI with just 1 month and a half of link building and why his website's Moz Rank and Moz Trust decreased and that's normal to happen!? Thanks!
-
And that brings us back full circle.
"Creating links in well-ranked directories using his specific category is still a SEO strategy even after all those penguins and pandas."
-
Why not? Creating links in well-ranked directories using his specific category is still a SEO strategy even after all those penguins and pandas. I advised him to create compelling content on his website and invest on social media and also update his blog frequently with good content. I've told him that link building is only a piece of the cake. If he continues like this maybe I'll have to stop working for him and he might find a black hat SEO professional that gets him the fast results he wants...
-
Point is, he's not going to see any results from you doing "link building" from those directories. The experienced SEO shows disapproval of such a plan by not taking on such a project.
-
Thanks for your reply. Actually, this client came to me wanting for me to especifically do link building trough using directories. I tried to advise him in to doing other things but he only wanted this work. I also advised him that he would need a long time before seeing results and he was fine with that. Now why he has this expectations after only 45 days? Well, basically because he's the type of person that wants results fast. I've told him that SEO is a patience game, unless he does black hat SEO which I don't advise.
-
Sorry about that.
While setting rock-solid client expectations may be difficult for the experienced SEO and the rookie alike, a client coming to you at just 45 days into a project looks like the expectations were more far more on the loosey-goosey side than anything close to solid. That tends to be a rookie mistake.
Also, someone holding out promise that the client is going to get any ROI whatsoever from "submitting to free directories, social bookmarking sites and also writing and submitting articles to free article websites. Since I only use free and non-paid websites" and then asking his peers to back him up on that could be seen as a rookie mistake--either that or the mistake of someone who has been away from the practice of SEO for a good many years.
-
I'm not new to SEO, can you please tell why do you think that?
-
Chris - Nicely said.
-
Sometimes, it's hard to know who may be more at fault: the client who's looking to get their SEO work done so inexpensively that they'll put faith in someone obviously new to the field to do their link building for them or the person who's new to the field that tells the client that they can accomplish the client's goals without knowing much at all about what should be getting done.
I'm with you on the getting annoyed part, blablabla, but you really have to bone up on your SEO skills before you can start dissin' the client for what they don't know. You should take a few moments to fill out your profile, as well.
-
I'd specifically look at the Link Building section of the Beginner's Guide to SEO at http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links. Submitting to directories and article websites may not be the highest quality links that your client could good, and may not do too much to help them.
-
i would cull some info from here:
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
additionally, i would explain the very basic idea of spidering, countered with the size of the job, to explain that ROI isn't going to be an overnight/1 month think.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
India link building - any good ?
Hi Everyone We have clients that have very small budgets. We thought about outsourcing our link building to India to help with costs... Can anyone recommend any good Indian Link building companies that are well priced and that you have seen good results from ?? Any help would be much appreciated Thanks Guys Gareth
Link Building | | GAZ090 -
Link building
Hello everyone, I am building links for an e-commerce site and I need to increase the value of the links we get by placing them on specific pages in order to pass more juice to inner pages. Which part of the website should I point the links to? Because there is no content section on the site what I can do is either link to the homepage (not an option) or link to inner pages such as category/subcategory/product pages. My doubt is that it wouldn't look natural to link to products pages from a piece of content or from a site where people go with the intention not to buy but to get information. Any opinions on this?
Link Building | | PremioOscar0 -
Are the following considered bad links for Link Building.
I've been doing a lot of research lately on link building & I've read a lot about having a diverse amount of links. Social links, Blog links, comment links, footer links, No follow links, Directory links as well as links with Anchor text URL match, brand match, partial brand match, non-descriptive, and with keywords. But there is a lot of talk of removing those links that look like a site that's built just for link building purposes.... but Directories are basically built for link building are they not? I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they feel links from the following directories would be bad links. (Non-Paid) http://www.yoganza.com http://www.wkool.com http://www.wee-directory.com http://www.voicelet.com www.hotfrog.ca http://www.webdirectorieslist.com http://multiplelistingboard.com http://mozdirectory.net http://freedirectorypr.info Industry specific below: http://bestautolinks .com http://automotivedome.com http://automobilebuzz.com http://craigsautolinks.com Thanks so much for the help!
Link Building | | DCochrane0 -
Link Building for a New Blog
We are setting up a new blog and I was wondering what is the best way to build good quality links for a new website? I have been researching this quite a bit on the forums and a lot of people talk about writing good content which I agree with however no one will find that content if we are not ranking in Google for our keywords. From what I have read the following is what I should be doing Directory's Creating Link-bait (Info-graphics) PR Releases or Getting News Sites to link to us I have heard a lot of mention of using Articles sites like ezinearticles but I have also read that Post Panda that they dont have as much link juice as they once had and also I don't think that for a Blog that we should be using it as well but maybe I am wrong? Would appreciate some peoples suggestions
Link Building | | The_Zero_Wolf0 -
Great idea to get back links in short order; however the links would be unrelated. . Is it worth the effort . BTW, it's a white hat method. Should I proceed?
I have come up with a very creative way to get some great back links using white hat methods. The problem is that the back links to the site would be to an interior page or external promotional website which then have links back to the main website. What kind of value for the main domain would this potentially achieve. What are peopLes thoughts on this idea?
Link Building | | FidelityOne0 -
Link Building Features/Tutorials
I am previewing this software and am getting a little lost in its features. I am really looking for something that will help me identify link prospects, filter out the low-authority domains, and organize this information into an actionable list. Can anyone point me to resources (tutorials, etc.) on how to do that with this software? Which tools should I be using and how can I use them to reach these goals?
Link Building | | Falconberg0 -
Article Submissions for Link Building
Does anyone have any experience submitting articles as a Link Building method, and if so, do you have any specific submission sites that you would recommend?
Link Building | | OrganicDigital0 -
Link building tools
hello all Please can you suggest the top 5 link building tools that an agency can use? Thank you 🙂
Link Building | | vijayvasu0