I need help finding a link building professional
-
I understand that some may respond to this question advising that we should concentrate on building good quality content, and eventually the links will come. And I do agree.
The problem is that while we are implementing a content strategy and we're absolutely focused on creating unique, quality content for our audience, we're also a brand new business with a current grand total of (wait for it...) - 4 back-links!
So while we're devoting our efforts to create the most engaging content we can, we need to find someone that can help us build our back-link profile and help to promote our brand and content in the most legitimate way possible.
Obviously typing "SEO" into Google is not necessarily the most effective way to find the right person for the job and I'm a bit apprehensive about posting ads on eLance, oDesk, etc
Does anyone have any idea how we can find someone smart and highly experienced that understands the importance of doing this right? We are Australian based but they don't have to be local.
Thanks in advance.
- Stu
-
Hi Stu
The tips for finding a link builder here on SEOmoz from Moosa are good and if you have a budget of several thousand $ a month you will be able to get some good people to help with your SEO and content focus, so if the budget is available that is a good way to go.
If however the budget is not available you can do a lot yourself, you are already doing the hardest bit, creating interesting and useful content for your market, now all you need to do is let the audience know it is on your site.
You can do this by finding other websites that look after the same market but do not compete with you, such as a car insurance company if you sell cars, then offer to write some content for their audience (guest posting).
You should also use Twitter to follow people who are influential in your market and find a way to get on their radar (help them in some way or talk about things they care about etc.) then when you have a relationship with these people you can ask them to comment on your content, they share it with the people who follow them and then you have the beginnings of a group of people who think your content is worth talking about.
By asking industry influences to help with or talk about your content it will get shared and these shares are all potential links to your site.
I hope this helps
Sean
-
I really have to endorse moosahemani's response here. I will also add the biggest risk of hiring somebody to do your link building is they will do it un-ethically which will hurt not help your business. In the end you will have paid somebody to screw you over.
-
Hi Stu,
Why not approach one of these companies/individuals SEOMOZ recommends...
http://www.seomoz.org/article/recommended#link-building
Thanks
Iain - Reload Media
-
I am not really in a mood to present myself at the front of you and raise my hand but i can give you an idea of how you can find the right kind of SEO for your business. There are tons of snake oil sellers who can eat your money and give you nothing but will waste your time and put your website at risk.
Here are few of the things that should keep in mind when searching for the right kind of SEO for your business.
- He will discuss what he will do!
This means that he will be able to give you the overview of what he can do for your business and what you should expect on month to month basis.
- He will be Open to community
The right kind of SEOs are usually open to community and help others with their knowledge and talent. If you want to search for the right kind of SEO on SEOmoz platform i would recommend checking the list of top 50 active members and approach them as they are the most active people in the SEOmoz community.
- Usually there share their tactics
Not all but mostly good SEOs tend to write on different platforms (SEO blogs) about the expertise that they have in order to give the right image of SEO in the community. You can always find this by typing in their name or may be the company name they are working for.
- Twitter Addict
This is not must but true to almost 85% of good SEOs. They tend to share their perspective about SEO to other likeminded people in order to build relationship. Most SEOs discuss things, happenings and ideas on open platforms like twitter, so if you want a good SEO see how active they are on twitter and what is their fellow circle.
- SEOmoz list of Recommended Companies
If budget is not at all a problem for you, then you should consider checking out the list of SEO companies that SEOmoz recommend as they are all the high class people in the SEO community.
-
Hi Stu,
I'm going to say this at the risk of being struck down with slings and arrows by my highly-esteemed friends in the SEOMoz Q & A forum. Research and pursue high-quality directory links. Create a budget, research the directory's history, PageRank, check them in OSE, and vet them completely. You will be amazed at what's left. There are a lot of good directories out there and they still matter (ouch! I think an arrow just hit me).
I had a brand new niche site last January. In one year we've moved from PageRank 1 to PageRank 3 and we are little bitty teensy weensy. We are on track to quadruple organic traffic and sales in 2013. We have some good "earned" links, but nearly ALL of our first links were from high-quality directories.
Just be smart, research them, and never pay for more than one year. Next year, that directory could be gone. If you aren't in Yahoo.dir, pay the money and get listed (if you can). Also get into Business.com and JoeAnt.com...there are many many more good ones.
I'd love to raise my hand and charge you a consulting fee to do it for you, but I think you can do this yourself and save a lot of money and get decent results.
Good luck! [and I'm putting on my armor now to deal with the comments that come after this one, lol]
Dana
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
-
Do three way links still help in moderation?
do three way links still help in moderation? Have some friends with websites in the same genre as mine and was told three way links were better than reciprocal links. Thanks mozzers!
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Internal Link Building
For a large part of our SEO we have been focusing on inbound links (mainly from guest posts and blogger reviews). But our rankings have dropped (though I understand there is a natural fluctuation in rankings quite often) this week and it occurred to me that we should be focusing more on internal link building as well. We, of course, link often to our home page and have related products on every page but we lack a lot of direct key word links in in our description. Would it behoove us to be on a specific product page--take for example owls and friends wall decals--and somewhere in the description add something like "our nursery wall decals are safe for....and have "nursery wall decals" be the direct link since that is a key term for us? I just wanted to make sure that we are headed in the right direction before I spend a massive amount of time updating all these product pages. Any input would be really helpful. Thanks so much, Elizabeth
Link Building | | WNL0 -
Link over-building?
Hello all. One of the first things we do for our clients is to claim their local listings, include them on a set of selected directories (8-10), and blog directories (5), if applicable. Since they will all be linked to the client site, could doing all of this at once run us into problems with unnatural link growth? Thanks! Frank
Link Building | | FrankSweeney0 -
India and Link Building
A client of mine has decided to work all Link Building through an India team that she's used for a few years. The problem that I'm having with this situation is that the link building list below contains quite a few 0/10 PR websites, spam websites, and websites that have no direct relation to the client's industry. Am I wrong in thinking that link building should be done to high PR, authoritative sites that are related the the client's industry? The link below will take you to the Google Doc that contains all links built for this client. I would love it if someone could take a look at that list and tell me what they think. Is this recipe for disaster or great link building? https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4a0JOKKFu0SUFZRbFRBNUZJekE Thank you so much!!!
Link Building | | Linwright0 -
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 -
Backlinking / Link Building Services
Hello, Our site is struggling organically and one of the key factors (not surprisingly) is a lack of backlinks. We have hired a content writer and are working on a content strategy to generate quality, relevant backlinks. But this is more of a long term project. After reviewing backlinks to our competitors' sites, it seems clear that they are using agencies or services to generate backlinks (most coming from low quality sites). I'm aware that this isn't a good long term strategy (although it seems to be serving them well at the moment). I was hoping the community could provide some insight on products or services out there that provide "safe" backlinking strategies. I don't want to do anything that is going to harm us in the future. I've read a bit on the hoth, and it seems fairly safe and potentially effective, but it's hard find much objective advice on the topic. Any insight is much appreciated - thanks in advance! Jason
Link Building | | ba_seomoz0 -
Link building / baiting in the Google zoo
I work for a consultancy, and in the past most of our links have been acquired by giving away privacy statements etc for websites, including a link back in the body of the document, and making it a licensing requirement that the link be kept. We're launchinga new site. We want this one to be whiter-than-white, and would appreciate some advice on the following options. Option 1: no links Remove the links from the documents, and don't require links for the use of the documents. Leave a non-linking credit in the documents. Perhaps ask nicely for links from other pages. Option 2: links on other pages Remove the links from the documents, but make it a licensing requirement that users will link to our site from another page on their site. I appreciate that most won't, but some will. Option 3: retain the links Keep the links in the document, using domain name (with and without http and www) and business name anchor text. Option 4: script the links Use scripts to generate randomized links in the documents, so that no two are the same, but with relevant linking text for the most part. We're risk-adverse with the new site, and it will pick up some links "naturally". We're therefore tending toward option 1, on the basis that it may well generate as many links as option 2. Which of these options would you choose? Are there any other options we should be considering?
Link Building | | seqal0 -
Do you consider it risky to hire outside firms to build links?
Based on what happened to JC Penny do you think there is a significant risk of penalties if you have an outside firm build links for your site? For example they could buy some links and get caught or engage in black hat tactics without our knowledge. Is there anything that can be done to minimize any such risk?
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0