Thoughts on potential link building service (very clean/manual)

[krisism]

Hi guys,

I've been doing whitehat seo professionally for about 5 years now and ever since landing on bhw I've had this fellow on my shoulder telling me I can 'earn more.' So, after thinking it all through, from autoblogs to email inboxing, I think experienced link building may be whats best for me to offer.

Anyways, I haven't decided (and won't decide for at least another month). I wanted to run some of the prospective services by you guys and get your thoughts on if its something worth exploring.

So I know what you're thinking - link building, heh - everyone does that, right? Well my angle is a bit different because of three things:

1) All blog commenting and article writing is done manually. No bot posting, spinning or rewriting - all 100% unique as they're being written for the first time.
2) The service is monthly, not in blasts. This gives you greater coverage and helps us deploy an effective link building strategy to grow your link profile over time. Wonder why link blasts are often associated with G penalties? Because they look like spam. Our links will last the test of time and be a growing asset to your business.
3) You get the knowledge and experience of someone who's been doing this professionally for years, has helped fix hundreds of big G penalties, and understands how to built a long-lasting link profile. Every client would receive a consultation, basic support and a link-strategy.

Alright so I was thinking of offering 3 different levels for different link-building needs. The 5 possible things included would be
-direct blog comments on relevant indexed blogs
-answers (Yahoo/quora/ect)
-articles 500+ wrds (either guest posts or article submissions to key places)
-directory submissions
-linkbaits.
-all packages receive a monthly report.

Lvl1 ($50/mo) - 9 Blog links / 1 Answer
Lvl2 ($150/mo) - 15 Blog links / 3 Answers / 2 Articles
Lvl3 ($300/mo) - 35 Blog links / 10 Answers / 5 Articles / Custom Link Bait (or directory submission if they haven't had before).

Even at these prices its not the best margins but honestly I feel like it would be the only way to have true confidence in building a link profile that poses no risk to the client (now or in the future). If it was working well then maybe through tweaking prices/features or just finding ways to be more effective it would make a nice side revenue.

Anyways - what do you guys think? Would this sink or swim in your opinion?

Cheers

 

[ksy213]

I would like to have a review

 

[krisism]

Hi ksy,

As mentioned I'm not currently offering this - just looking to get thoughts on it. Seeing if it is worth actually getting setup. Therefore, no review copies/services are available.

Sorry - but feel free to let me know if you would personally see value in those services (and at those prices).

Thanks!

 

[TNphoneman]

In order to do this and be able to survive you need to automate some of this. Manual is great but for $5 per link that is high. I can get 125 social bookmarks for that price. I understand that you are trying to stay white hat but that does not mean you can not automate a portion of the work if not all of it to bring the cost down and or give more links.

 

[Lecca]

Alright so I was thinking of offering 3 different levels for different link-building needs. The 5 possible things included would be
-direct blog comments on relevant indexed blogs
-answers (Yahoo/quora/ect)
-articles 500+ wrds (either guest posts or article submissions to key places)
-directory submissions
-linkbaits.
-all packages receive a monthly report.

Unfortunately, these link building methods are pretty much outdated and quite ineffective (even potentially risky) in post Panda SEO.

 

[Thojon]

Unfortunately, these link building methods are pretty much outdated and quite ineffective (even potentially risky) in post Panda SEO.

Where did you get this information from?

I have been using these techniques along with a few added personal touches and have seen nothing less than success.

Krisism - I understand that you have nothing set up at this moment, but I would love to speak further with you as I believe you and I are looking to get into the same game. Pm me your email address if you don't mind as I don't have enough posts just yet!

Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Nuker]

50$ for 10 links ???
are they home page links ?
what PR ?

 

[smallgiant]

Unfortunately, these link building methods are pretty much outdated and quite ineffective (even potentially risky) in post Panda SEO.

I hope you are kidding. If not, please go away.

@op, your services while interesting, are too expensive as others pointed out. I appreciate keeping it white hat, but it would need to be much cheaper to succeed at all on this forum. Maybe you can find some other things to offer as part of your package deals, that are partially automated.

 

[Lecca]

Where did you get this information from?

I have been using these techniques along with a few added personal touches and have seen nothing less than success.

Krisism - I understand that you have nothing set up at this moment, but I would love to speak further with you as I believe you and I are looking to get into the same game. Pm me your email address if you don't mind as I don't have enough posts just yet!

Look forward to hearing from you!

I hope you are kidding. If not, please go away.

@op, your services while interesting, are too expensive as others pointed out. I appreciate keeping it white hat, but it would need to be much cheaper to succeed at all on this forum. Maybe you can find some other things to offer as part of your package deals, that are partially automated.

You are both entitled to your own opinions but all my (successful) SEO/linkbuilding campaigns were not based on any of those strategies and I've managed to make it on the first and second page for keywords with HELLISH competition. IMO, Yahoo answers and directory submissions don't fit in today's SEO link building strategies anymore.

 

[Thojon]

You are both entitled to your own opinions but all my (successful) SEO/linkbuilding campaigns were not based on any of those strategies and I've managed to make it on the first and second page for keywords with HELLISH competition. IMO, Yahoo answers and directory submissions don't fit in today's SEO link building strategies anymore.

I completely understand where you are coming from Lecca, as I myself operate completely without autoing, yet still have rarely used directories / yahoo answers. My methods are a little speedier, stronger and equally as long lasting.

But heres what I would say.
Google does not want you to just do certain things, certain sites and repeat process. A more natural, unique looking campaign would have an array of different website backlinks. If you truly want your ranking to last, be strong & all on a good time frame it is best in my oppinion to have a good mixture of links from all different kinds of sites.

Also you said that directories/yahoo answers were ineffective - this I can agree on, but I still think there are plenty of directories out there that are worth the time of day and should be used only to strengthen and mix up your links.

This is of course my oppinion like you say, none of us can be sure and i'll bet we all have different views!
Tom

 

[krisism]

Hi guys,

Thanks for everyone's responses and I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to the thread.

Lecca, I agree everyone is entitled to their own opinion - and if I may ask, what in your opinion 'are not' outdated link building techniques.

I've personally worked with these techniques for hundreds of real businesses and they're still ranking happily - though as we all know ranking is not a direct result of just the link profile.

Of course, I'm always open-minded to hear what you think are 'new/fresh' methods.

As for the yahoo answers - the reason is two fold. First, when it's not spam - it drives a lot of targetted traffic. Traffic that has good metrics helps create authoritative signals for search. Also, the links don't hurt when they aren't spam .

I also mentioned that yahoo was not my only target for answers as there are other sites out there. In the professional world, Quora pulls some weight, and there are a few others with good themes.

Directory submission (as old as it is) is not outdated. I can tell you that the top SEO's in the world working for major corps are still submitting to directories, and paying for those links as well. The other key is not submitting to every irrelevant directory out there but the ones that add value to your link profile. Directories serve as a great way to channel search spiders in for regular indexing.

Aside from that - the real money is the link bait for the top package. The directory submission would only occur once, after which every month they get a fresh new linkbait. Linkbaits are definitely still cool and effective as well - but like I said, if you have something better I'm all ears

Thanks for everyone's opinions on the prices as well. I know for BHW they may seem a bit steep, but the truth is my targets probably won't be on this forum I know from experience the pain of dealing with Google penalties, and for those who have experience it in a big way - they are prepared to pay a fair price for manual and experienced link development. The client would be assured (likely with a full guarantee) that they will not be penalized due to our link development.

For those who have a real business with any lifecycle longer than a few months - it's simple math because we have fixed prices and you can rely on your results

I think the typical 'expected' lifecycle of most projects for blackhat web are probably a bit shorter than the avg (due to our nature of chosen efforts ).

I'm thinking that perhaps some social bookmarking (which could be automated though I'll need to research risk more) - that would not mess with the link profile too much as social links are more citations than anything and have a short lifetime. Should help boost traffic and maybe help with selling points.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts guys!

 

[krisism]

Re: Nuker,

To answer your q on where we would link to:

- That totally depends on our link strategy. Each client could be unique depending on site size/structure/competition. We would develop a sound strategy with every client that involves selecting of key money/hub pages to deep-link. We do not link all to one page (unless they only have one page) - as a good site link profile has diversified links going to various parts of the site.

Just think - if I never did 'link building' - how would a site naturally accrue links over time? Would they be all directed to one page with the same anchor text? Nope Diversify and survive (Tip of the day)