Link Building for my ecommerce site

I'm thinking of hiring someone to build links - is it worth it?

[olimits7]

Hi,

I'm considering to do a freelance project to generate one-way links from PR3+ websites to my website. I'm just wondering from people who have done a similar project for their website, is it worth spending money on this? Did it increase your website search engine rankings?

These are some of the methods that freelancers say how they will do this project: create manual links to directory website submissions, social bookmarking websites, article submissions, social networks, forums, blogs, etc...

I'm kind of new to this whole SEO & link building methods to promote websites on search engines, but will any of these methods above actually work and deliver higher search engine ranks and increase traffic?

Thank you,

olimits7

[lorax]

Inbound links are crucial to your success in the search engines. The items you mention can have a positive effect but I if they aren't done by someone who knows what they're doing and cares about your company then I don't recommend them. You're better off learning the hows and whys of those techniques and doing them yourself. The catch with any of these techniques (including plain ole inbound links) is that you have to do them in a way that creates that positive effect and there are many different facets to consider.

For example, a link from any PR3 site is not as good as a link from a site that's within your market space. Longevity of the site you're getting a link and the other outbound links from the page your link will live on matter. Anchor text and landing page should be synchronized to get the most bang (anchor text == on page title == META title). There are several other items that I feel should be considered too. OF course it somewhat depends upon your market space. The more competitive it is, the more you need to really do all of them. If you're in a less competitive space, then you can likely get away with just a good solid site build and solid inbound links.

Social networking is all the craze right now. Going after links from YouTube, MySpace, etc is a waste of time for most businesses IMHO. I think there is far more value in making sure your site is built to perform well for the customers, the SEs, and your webmaster. Then using basics link building will do far more for you than the pursuing the fringe techniques. That's not to say you shouldn't create some viral buzz using a video or writing a really good piece. Cover the basics first then step out and use the social networking tools to create some buzz.

I'd ask yourself a few questions before you embark on a link building campaign.

have I built the site with SEO in mind? Items to consider here are target keyword list, keyword to content maps, hyperlink maps, unique keyword filled copy and META data.

have I built it so it has the best chance of being indexed by the SEs? Streamlined code, limited use of technologies that cause the engines to work harder (or simply stump them) like javascript and Flash. IS the code to content ratio low? Is the good stuff (the content) close to the top in the code?

have I built it so it is user friendly? Is the interface intuitive and simple? I'm a firm believer in dead-simple. No more than 7 major links to get into the meat of the site. I don't like clutter and neither do users. Make it simple for them.

does it work well and convert well? This is a very important test. If it doesn't convert then it's time to think about the whys. It doesn't necessarily mean the site is built poorly but it could. You won't know unless you test using real people - not you and your wife/boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/children.

If the answers are yes to all of them then, yes links would be next in line but why hire a contractor to do it? You should do it yourself or have someone working in-house with you. A college student that has an interest in your products or market sector could work out well. This way you can keep a close eye on them and be available to them for questions.

[dgessler]

It is definitely worth spending money on it if you want to move up in the search rankings. If all you're concerned is increasing your SERP's, you can get links from non-content-related sites if you wish (it's so much easier!). Just make sure the site is trustworthy (the longer the site has been on-line, the better; the more edu/gov links, the better; higher the PR, the better, etc.