Link Building Agency refuses to report Hours of work completed, is this normal?

[pbhatt]

A link building agency we are interested in is promising to work until X number of whitehat (manual) links are acquired for $YYYY each month. They say they don't report on hours, but instead focus on results. Is this common or is it a red flag?

[Anita_Clark]

The hours it takes them is really not relevant since the contract will be "x" number of links per month for "$y". Focus your correspondence on the quality and relevancy of the links they are providing.  Hopefully the adding of links will take a natural progression and not all at once each month.

[anthonydnelson]

I agree with the other people. An hour sheet isn't necessary. I can "try to build links" for 20 hours and not get much accomplished. Clearly not what you are looking for.

I also would be weary of someone who says they will "build you 15 links" or whatever number is promised. As EGOL mentioned, they may have their own blog network, pay for links or any other number of tactics you want to avoid. Remember, 1 good link is better than 20 bad ones.

It really is a tricky business. A good link builder can offer no guarantees. They can however keep working hard until their client is happy or until they deliver results.

Ask to see some of these things instead:

• Techniques they plan on using
• Link Targets
• Outreach Emails Sent
• Links Acquired

[askshopper]

I can't say that i have ever provided an hours worked report or ever been asked to, more on results providing data on a regular basis.

[VentaMarketing]

I have seen company's offer link building packages in many different ways.

Since this particular company works until a certain number of links are acquired each month, they should show you the links they acquire each month. That would be a very good way to check their work. Quality links take time and talent to acquire, so if they are doing a good job every month acquiring good links, I would not worry about their hours.

However, if they are using links farms,  spammy directories, or anything like that, that is a red flag.

Also, you could ask to see a link portfolio of one of their clients to see what type of links they typically acquire.

[EGOL]

Maybe they only work 5 minutes per month?

The links could be purchased, rented, traded or simply uploaded to one of their drop/grab sites?

How the links are acquired and their long-term persistence might be more important than how much these guys are workin'.

[BizDetox]

pbhatt.

Focus on their repore and what other people are saying. Asking for Hours is like being a big boss on top of them asking them if they punched in on the clock. If they can get the work done, it doesnt matter how many hours they worked. UNLESS, they are charging you by the hour which at that point your red flag makes sense.

But search the company on the net and see what other people are saying about them. You can easily get an answer. and be careful with people on Freelancer or Odesk, i have had some bad experiences, and stay away from people that are offering to link you o PR8, or such. Its all BS. ( speaking from experience here )

Best of luck.

Hampig M