What Backlink Services Do You Use or Recommend?

[PaulDylan]

Hi,

I need some help w/ link blding and would like to outsource some of it. Can you recommend any reputable company thats affordable?

Thanks

[deltasystems]

Ha! I've seen those far too often. I don't know the process that led a company to get a contract by building links like that. Frankly I'd be interested to see their proposal.

I was given the opportunity to look at competitor proposals on several occasions. Most bank on giving an informational overload to show that they have top-secret SEO tools and knowledge of the industry. I saw a 40-page PDF spitting out data from what seemed like a normal SEOmoz account. I think they get the deal-maker to focus on data and "wow" them instead of putting focus on case studies and guarantees.

I just can't imagine why a proposal would ever be over five pages. I think Alan Weiss also states that all proposals should be under three pages. Harder to do sometimes given large projects, but still a good rule to follow.

Cheers to tasteful back linking.

[robertrRSwalters]

I think this type of hands off approach is useful for smaller companies who are not accountable to share holders. I can well imagine the annoyance a team of link builders may experience documenting in forensic detail their activities.

There are lots of examples of blue chip's getting burned, by "don't ask don't tell" link building.

I only today saw a very high profile supermarket chain in the UK back linking to picture from "Japansesearthquakepictures.com"..

I don't know how much more tasteless back linking can get than that.

[deltasystems]

Well I'm fine giving broad answers to the question (guest blogging, agreements with webmasters, social/forum associated link building.. etc) but anything more than that is unnecessary.

I had a client recently that wanted to know exactly how many hours I worked, a spreadsheet containing every link I built, and the list goes on. This was after we had signed a contract stating that I price based on value and that reporting like this would not fit into the contract. Instead I offered a guarantee on rankings and a broad idea of the links I build (white hat only).

When you outsource SEO you aren't just buying links. You are buying the case studies that came from the consultant or company as well. They know what works. It doesn't make sense for them to divulge every detail. Alan Weiss states that at the very least, reporting like this should cost extra. A lot extra. (I agree)

As long as you check out the references, portfolio, and case studies you will be fine outsourcing to a reputable company/consultant. It just might not be affordable like the OP requested. (And by affordable, I mean not initially affordable. All SEO projects should give a return to the client, even counting your fees, within one year is the general stance I take.)

[robertrRSwalters]

This is something I am considering myself, when I ask SEO companies where they source links from etc I  have had answers that range from...

"Our back linking methodology has been approved by the board" or

"It would be infringing on our intellectual property" or

"If we told you, you know enough about SEO to go out and do it yourself"..

My thoughts are if you have a number of responsibilities like I do, as long as you set out from the start what you need from an SEO company and keep them on a short leash for the first quarter you can get a good feeling if the links they are getting you are quality and equally as important are getting cached and indexed.

As with most things it comes down to budgets and resource.

[deltasystems]

Can you recommend any reputable company thats affordable?

You really have to pick if you want reputable or affordable.

I would recommend that you do the process yourself because it's much cheaper than outsourcing in most cases. Any time I have outsourced SEO I ended up getting burned in some shape or form, so I don't have any companies to recommend. Sorry.

If you give more details about your project perhaps the community may give you advice on doing the task yourself.