I came across this presentation on link development which Sugarrae Hoffman gave this week at Pubcon. If you are considering buying or begging for links to your site, as many businesses are these days, she provides a great overview on how to choose between hiring a linkbuilding company and training an in-house linkbuilder. While much of the presentation is geared towards search engine marketing agencies there are a number of concepts that could be very useful to someone who is thinking of hiring a search engine marketing agency.
With apologies to Sugarrae for plagiarizing here’s my favorite info from the presentation:
Some potential questions for link development firms…
- q How do they develop links?
- q Do they use any automated programs?
- q What types of links do they produce (one way links, reciprocals, triangular, etc.)?
- q Do they utilize networks within their control to produce temporary links to clients?
- q How well do their links developers read and speak [insert language needed here]?
- q What factors do they consider when deciding on reciprocal link partners?
- q What training is provided to their link developers?
- q Will they require access to your site if they arrange reciprocal or triangular links?
- q How is it decided what anchor text is used and what pages of your site are being linked to?
- q Do they limit clientele to avoid providing direct competitors the same services?
- q What is the average number of links their developers generate each month?
- q What is the cost per link or per hour?
- q How and when is payment due?
- q Are they willing to sign a confidentiality agreement?
- q What expertise does the person managing your link development strategy possess?
Download the entire presentation: Delegating Link Devlopment
2 Response Comments
@Andrew Shotland ~ Whilst this post was created a staggering 5 yrs ago – it’d be great to see an updated version of Sugarrae’s presentation. The majority of businesses have become very SEO savvy since those days and it’d be interesting to see how advice today differs to advice given back then. Linkbuilding has evolved tremendously and so have client expectations of services related to linkbuilding. What questions do you think a potential client could benefit from asking a 3rd party nowadays? (Taking into consideration the landscape and array of competitive services available in the present SEO climate?)
Ed,
I think a lot of these questions are still relevant, but for me these days the big question is how will you create and promote awesome content for me?