How to evaluate and compare sites of different cost and authority for linkbuilding impact

[Red_Mud_Rookie]

I work for a number of clients on linkbuilding campaigns, and I follow and recommend to clients a white hat "quality" linkbuilding approach. This has achieved great results for my clients but I often get questions such as.

Q. What is better for us - £100 for a mozrank 4 placement vs £200 for a mozrank 5 placement?

I am trying to build a numeric way of showing cost of placing a link (via article mainly) vs the mozrank / authority of the site its placed on.

The key to working this out though is knowing how much more value there is between the different quality of sites, and what are the key factors to build into the formula.

Ideally the output we will get is a linkbuilding effect cost which shows the cost per impact of a placement. A highly simplified formula (that wouldn't work)  therefore would be

Cost / mozrank

If we look at mozrank being 8 times higher between levels, how does this correlate with the value of the link from sites at those different levels?

We know that we will never have a correct formula for this but we are striving to get a formula which helps us to plan and evaluate different site opportunities at different costs.

I would love to know anybody’s thoughts on this,

Thanks

[Red_Mud_Rookie]

Yes... it is a bit like trying to rely less on finger in the air and a deep understanding of SEO so that I can explain it to clients in way that they can understand it.

I agree with Dejan SEO that we should look to maximise the number of linking domains, but I was hoping someone had a way of explaining to clients that sometimes it might be worth investing a little extra on content + placement to get that extra special link from a high PR/MR site.

[Marcus_Miller]

So, what you are trying to do is put a value on a link? Almost like calculating ROI on PPC traffic? I am not really sure how you would go about that. So many different metrics and how can you truly know the value of one link unless you add one at a time and assess.

You can try to guess at this but  sometimes, the metrics, even the moz-metrics don't add up in that way and links that you think will make a big difference don't do the job.

Couple that with the fact that it's a constantly moving target and it's more difficult still.

I am still not sure that I 100% understand what you are trying to do here :S

[Red_Mud_Rookie]

Hi Marcus, thanks for your reply. So no we are not trying to output a tiered flat rate for our clients.We are trying to show by link a number which takes into account price and quality of the link.

Maybe an example would help.

How do we compare an article placed on a mozrank 3 site @ £100, to an article placed on a mozrank 4 site @ £200?

We are trying to create a formula which takes into account cost and quality, to give us an output which we then make this decision on, and also a number we share with clients by each link on their monthly linkbuilding plan.

I hope that makes sense

[Dan-Petrovic]

I would go for a less cost and more linking domains given that they are all real sites. However it all depends what competition is like and whether you need authority or quantities (or both).

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, I don't really get what you are trying to do here. Is this to provide a tiered flat rate price per link for your clients? If so, I am not sure you can really work it like that across the board.

Sorry, not much help there. 
Marcus