Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I've decided to try an Elance link development contract for one of my client's sites.
Here are some of my requirements:
-links > PR3 only
-no Dmoz or directory mirrors
-all links must be approved
I'm getting quotes in the $500 range, everything from flat $500 for 100 links, or on a per-link price curve with the cost of each link growing alongside PR value.
Any suggestions, bewares, etc?
thanks!
I have seen a number of these hit up the same sites over and over again for links everytime they get clients.
I have a site where basically if the link request seems to be "outsourced" or automated, I just delete it.
Q. Will the link dev co build your link directory pages? In other words will they have access to your site via FTP etc. How do you both coordinate that?
Q. Are you required to provide reciprocal links from your site to the sites the link dev co locates? Are you required to link FIRST to the sites the link dev co proposes before you get a reciprocal link in exchange. If so, is the dev co responsible to get the inbound-link to your site? Will they provide you with a list of AUDITED CONFIRMED exchanges and the URL where a link to your site has been placed? Are you responsible to pay ONLY for CONFIRMED exchanges, and not for PROPOSED exchanges?
Q. How do you handle disagreements about whether or not to accept a particular partners link exchange offer. Can you agree on the acceptable "themes" of the incoming link pages and/or sites from which your site will receive inbound links (i.e., will they be from related sites, not from bad neighborhoods, etc)?
Q. How flexible will the link dev co be about rotating anchor text etc. Do you have any control over this?
Q. Will they give you the contact info so you can manage the relationship with the link partner's they provide after the link dev co has completed its project? If they don't then you are forever wedded to the link dev co.
Q. Do you pay for links which are later removed by the link partners?
Q. Did you get references on their prior work? Do their other sites get PR?
Q. Do you pay full amount up front or 50% up front and balance upon completion?
While getting link work done can be good value, learning how to do it yourself is an exceptionally handy skill and although I use Elance regularly I'm very glad I learnt how to do it myself. I know I'm getting quality, targeted links, and I'm also learning about my niche at the same time. After content development, links development is arguably the most crucial web promotion skill and if you can do both you've got the tools for making great sites.
Especially with link development on Elance there are many providers from, for example, India and Pakistan who offer good prices but sometimes lower quality work. If you do contract links, specify exactly what you want and make it politely clear that you won't pay if these conditions aren't met, eg.:
- No paid links
- Only sites with PR3+ home page
- No more than 50 links per page.
- Direct links, no redirects or "not allowed" by robots.txt
- Ontopic sites only - (specify topics here)
- No link farms or FFA.
- 1 link per site
- Permanent links, not links that will disappear in a month's time.
- No use of automated software such as Zeus.
- Buyer reserves the right to reject any link.
Hope this helps, good luck,
Jeremy
Employing Link hunters
[webmasterworld.com...]
Many of the posters there felt that, as much of a pain as it is, link development is very hard to contract out.
For me, a few good links can often outweigh many bad ones. If you're optimizing for clients, it's often helpful to teach a client how to do the time consuming grunt work and to supervise the details yourself.
$500 for 100 links
I will comment on the pricing. I can't imagine that you're going to get good links at this price, even if you outsourced to the far reaches of Outer Mongolia.
When doing a themed link campaign the idea is to get links from related sites and link to related sites. While you may know your industry well enough to know which competitors not to seek links from, out-sourced link builders will be mostly unaware and may invite a direct competitor to exchange links. While the competitor might have welcomed this invitation from just about anyone else he might also see this as an opportunity to damage your ability to compete against him and file a spam complaint.
If this happens, you could be quickly out of a host and your site could go offline. Link builders that are willing to temporarily host your site during the heat of the campaign can not only alleviate this worry, but are more likely to be aware of the many intracacies in the process, and will allow your current hosting solution to not be put at risk. You simply DNS back to the original server (with update files) when the campaign is over.
Neuron- perhaps I didn't understand what you were saying...please elaborate... How would my (or my agent's) email request asking a competitor to exchange links with my site violate any spam rules?
How would my (or my agent's) email request asking a competitor to exchange links with my site violate any spam rules?
It doesn't have to violate any spam rules. But think about it. You are sending an open invitation to Evil Competitor Dr. Doom.
Dr. Doom: "Mua-hahahaha! I will file a spam complaint with girish's host as well as his domain name registrar (especially if it's godaddy!) and make girish's website disappear!Yes, it's unfair, but they don't call me Evil Competitor Dr. Doom for nothing! Mua-hahahaha! Mua-hahahaha! Mua-hahahaha!Mua-hahahaha!"
Any time you send a link exchange request you are, in fact, sending UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email). It's silly, but it's the truth. There have been previous incidents of both hosting providers and Registrars (specifically GoDaddy) removing sites when they received spam complaints caused by reciprocal link exchange emails.
So, in theory, it would be possible for a competitor to try and get your site taken down by complaining to your hosting company and/or registrat saying you "spammed" them.
