How to sell linkbuilding?
-
Howdy SEOmoz,
I was wondering what your approach is in selling linkbuilding to clients (we're an agency).
- Do you sell it as "linkbuilding" or more like content creation/content marketing?
- do you bill by the hours, instead of project based?
- How would you calculate the number of hours required? (I know "it depends" :-), but still some insights would be cool)
- Do you start immediately with more creative strategies (widgets, infographics)?
I'm really looking forward in learning how you guys tackle this.
Best regards,
Nik
-
Have you ever known anyone to do linkbuilding (or SEO for that matter) on a revenue share/commission basis. I have not heard of this being done but it seem that a good Link Builder would not be afraid of having more upside rather than a fixed amount of money with no skin in the game.
The one downside to this is how is this measured. Does the client decided? Does the client show the books and averages the last years revenue and anything over that average is share profit at say 80/20 .
My focus is strictly e-commerce sites.
-
Hi Nik,
We work on a very holistic approach where we seek to deeply understand the client in their current situation and what they want to get out of working with us (which is (usually)... more revenue!)
So, you want to sell a benefit, not a tactic.
Link building is a tactic (that "anyone" can do), you want to sell "increased revenue", and how will you do that? With link building
See the difference? It's small but makes a big difference.
Remember, people don't really want to buy a drill, they want to buy a whole in their wall, but the drill is what does it.
Many people will measure links built, or rankings, or whatever else -- and those things are great -- but at the end of the day, all of that stuff boils down to a simple question : Did we make more money because of the work you did, yes or no? If no, they probably won't want to work with you much longer, no matter how many great links you've built.
It's the dilemma of connecting the business side to the technical side.
When doing a proposal, we look at the competition and see how far behind our client is. Then we do some estimates as to what we would need to do to out rank them and come up with a total amount of work.
At that point we can gauge it to the clients budget.
For example, if we think it's going to be 6 months at $4K per month, and they can only do $2K per month, then we would do "half" the work we planned on per month, and stretch the timeline out to 12 months.
Same amount of work, but the client controls the timeline based on the budget.
There is a limit however, if the client wanted to spend all $24K in the first month, we wouldn't be able to complete everything and get the rankings so you have to space it out realistically.
Remember to build into your costs some of the "meta" work like reporting, calls, link outreach, getting content created etc.
Hope some of that helps.
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
-
Dodgy linkbuilding tactic?
Hello I'm hoping someone can help...does the below link building tactic sound a bit suspect... An editorial link (articles are subject to review) on a relevant, good authority site, however, it's free to submit an article and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of engagement/comments. Here's the site in question if that helps! http://www.health-host.co.uk/ Thanks for any help you can offer. Alice
Link Building | | Brightside_Marketing1 -
International linkbuilding for an national company
Hi guys, Just wondering, what’s you take on doing international linkbuilding for an national company? In Holland there are very few websites / blogs / information platforms about certain niches. Let’s take SEO for example. There are a few marketing websites, a few SEO related websites but at an certain point my attention goes to what’s happening in America (on Moz for example). I think writing an YouMoz post is a great way to add something to the community. If that would reward an backlink, I’m all motivated to start writing! But does this help our rankings for Dutch query’s? I can see a lot of examples in which “the place to be” isn’t a Dutch website, but some big ass international forum / website etc. I would love to hear all of your opinions!
Link Building | | Bob_van_Biezen0 -
Linkbuilding strategy for website development firm... some questions...
Hi there: I own a website development and internet marketing business. We began providing onpage optimization as a natural extension of our website design services for our clients. I'm now personally working on the backlinks for our site, and I have a question for someone with more insight than I currently possess: You folks are probably aware that many web design agencies post footer links in their client's site, with some sort of anchor text to the effect of "website designed by Blankety Blank..." I've read that these types of sitewide footer links are probably a wash, in terms of linkbuilding value. (Thoughts anyone?) My best sense is that they help a little, but not a lot. Which led me to my next stratagem, which I'd like some feedback on the merits of... I'm thinking of offering my clients a slight price reduction in exchange for a dedicated page on their site for attribution. It wouldn't be pure self-promotion in nature; really just a brief description of tools used to build the site and a backlink. It could be part of a pre-existing "partners" page on the site, if client has one, currently. (Some of ours do...) The net result of this would be a single backlink from the main body content of client's page. Is this a smart move? I'm wondering what others think...
Link Building | | splatdude0 -
Outsourcing Linkbuilding: Companies, Costs, Payment models
Hi there I am looking at outsourcing linikbuilding to a new content site. I want to target one 3 word keyphrase to begin with, it has a keyword difficulty of 48% (moderately competitive) on Google US. Goal is to rank 1-3, the target page is well on-page optimised. Here are my questions: Are there companies that have performance based payment models? Any rough guestimates on how much money is needed to get a page to rank 1-3 for a 48% difficulty level keyword? Over how many months? Any recommendations for good companies? Thanks a bunch, Chris
Link Building | | Diderino0 -
Linkbuilding Startups
Hello, Which type of Backlinks should i use on startup of link building, and which type of backlinks to avoid? and how many backlinks should i place per day to avoid any penalty! Thanks.
Link Building | | leadsprofi0 -
Outsourcing Linkbuilding - Est. Time For Acct Creations & Link Backs From Acct Creation
Concerned about being ripped off... when maybe it takes only 1 hour but they charge instead 5 or 10 😞 Any seo benefits link building wise when creating these accounts do we get a backlink when creating an account and any value from these profile links at all or little ? ATTN: NEED APPROXIMATE TIME HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR EACH IF DONE MANUAL 36 top article directories - 79 web 2.0 sites 34 video sharing sites 50 social bookmark sites 10 top social networking sites 12 rss aggregator sites The question is how do I know that they are not using software like senuke automate the creation of accounts and can this be checked I am afraid of footprints left behind if they use software to create these accounts . Isnare creates accounts for article directories except for a few they say to do on own or they do it manual is this dangerous them using software to do this
Link Building | | helpwanted0 -
Cost affective way to automate linkbuilding?
I have done manual link submissions to directors and other places in the past. As a business owner i find it extremely tedious and find no time for it at all. I have outsourced it since and seen moderate results. There are systems like linkvana etc which promise to give high pr links, are they good? is there any other way to get niche relevant links automatically & cost affectively? Thanks
Link Building | | SamBuck0 -
Linkbuilding TO Your Guest Blog Post?
Hypothetical situation: You write a guest blog post for a popular blog about your niche topic. The post is a hit and sends you visitors, leads, and social media followers. Would you consider running a linkbuilding campaign to the blog post in order to help it rank better for its target keyword(s), given that the post has proven to convert successfully, despite the fact that the post is on a domain other than your own?
Link Building | | AnthonyMangia0