Hiring a Company for Link Building

[findachristianjob]

I am considering hiring a company to help develop link building for our websites.  It is just too time intensive for me and I would like someone with experience to do it.

So. . .what are the things I should ask of this company to make sure they know what they are doing and will do it in an ethical manner?  What are some things I should make sure that they will NOT do with the links?

Any guidance you have on what I should tell the company would be helpful.

[EGOL]

I think that the first question that anyone who wants to hire a linkbuilder should do is ask himself is... "Do I have any content on  my site that is worth linking to?"   If the answer to that question is "no" or "maybe" then you will need to find a linkbuilder who is either a freeking magician or a linkbuilder who will only get you links from spammy sites.

From dignan99:  I personally do not trust the links done by the vast majority of services that offer link building.

I agree.  If I needed a linkbuilder, I would hire someone to sit in my office and do it.  Then I could control the process and know that when they found good links that they would not be duplicated for my competitor's sites.     That's how you start an arms race!

If you have received some of the link requests that I get you would know that ignorant linkbuilders will make a fool out of you in front of other people in your industry.  Worse... turn an idiot lose and tell him to drop comments on forums and blogs with your name on them.  That can really damage the image of your business in the right places.

Getting to your question... I would ask where they are going to look for these links and I would want to see periodic reports of where the links are located so I can will know when to fire the linkbuilder for stinking up my domain by posting crap on other websites.

[dignan99]

HI Justin,

If I were in your position I would first take a look at the competition for the keyword or keyword phrases to try and assess the level of difficulty to surpass them in the rankings.

Once this is known, you will have a better understanding of their popularity, related backlinks(quality, quantity, targets) and at that point should consider your best course of action.

I personally do not trust the links done by the vast majority of services that offer link building.  Again, depending on the level of competition, I like the concept of trying to personally build a number of links each day that are of substantial quality.  That way you know you will not be punished at some point for being found in a bad area, and will also have a complete list of your presence on the web.  Over a 30 day period, you would have the ability to build 300 quality links, and will not put the future of your online presence(or lack there of) into the hands of somebody else.

It might take some time, but it would be worth the effort.

In addition to that, you might be able to build some quality connections with people within your industry, and start a network that could help your SEO a great deal in the future.