The cheapest & most effective links to obtain

[Whitey]

I guess this is a few questions rolled into one.

What are the cheapest on topic links [ assuming reasonable quality ] and the most effective [ assuming ranking benefit ]?

Is it reciprocal exchanges , blogs , articles , press releases , or text link advertising, or maybe one that I've missed?

What would you expect to pay and what would you expect to return?

[kublai]

I've never paid for getting backlinks or visitors to my site, except for adwords that I used for a while. I wasn't satisfied at all because of high click fraud, and I left it.

I think social bookmarking sites are a good resource. They can quickly increase the popularity of your site and also the visitors.

[Whitey]

If you put a value against your time would you still say this would be true , versus using someone else's services?

[new_seo]

Yes,coz when I am doing the entire process then I can be sure about the quality of the links I am getting.

[Maxnpaddy]

Go for £20 to £40 links to begin with. No point in risking more than that, because if your site fails then you haven't blown a ton of cash.

Buy a few links at a time eg: 4 - as 1 single link bought every month, just won't work for you fast enough. You'll find that even a link from say Mirago - is pretty naff, and you will want faster results anyway.

I'd suggest that you buy the odd sponsored link too, this gives you credibility and better traffic than the cheap links.

[kidder]

If you work at it a little you should be able to get around paying for links in many cases. I've seen plenty of sites push into competitive areas thorugh hard work alone.

[Maxnpaddy]

Cheap links do little for a site. I suggest if you want results, then pay for something better that actually delivers. Buy small adverts and spread the adverts about. Keep it targeted and cut out what doesn't deliver.

[Crush]

Not true.

Part A get trust to domain
Part B any link will do.

[CainIV]

Yup, exactly what Crush said. Develop trust, then numbers.

Trust - Do the hard work to get some high quality trusted links initially and develop the site so that it commands trust in Google.

Then begin acquiring related links to the website.

[Maxnpaddy]

The majority of sites don't even have that many links, which range from a few hundred to perhaps 2000ish - this is not enough to stand out effectively on something as large as the internet.

Problem is with anything free, is that by the time you get all these links everyone raves about so much, a competitor site has jumped in and paid their way into the top of the serps, and beaten you. I'm not saying free links aren't helpful, but you will need so many, it will take years to make even a tiny dent - but the real problem is staying there! Few sites wil maintain this, as large businesses control the first page on SE's - they have $50k to flash about each month - do you?

Free is usually bad, naff, not great, little roi etc, and it's like that so companies sell their upgraded services on the strength of their databases, and this is how they make their profit. I'm still shocked at why so many waste time and substantial effort for such low results, and I believe many are sucked in to bad ideas which are detrimental to their site's success.

Advertising to avoid:

Banner advertising isn't effective as links are preferred
Offline adverts are too expensive
Untargeted links are a waste of time

Good Advertising:

Search engines
PPC, PFI
Low cost, targeted weblinks
Media
Specialist websites
Niche directories (for branding purposes)

and this is just off the top of my head, without me researching. I'm sure you guys can think of some more effective methods.

As with everything in life, you get what you pay for.

Develop trust, then numbers.

If you are at the point where trust is needed, that's start-up business territory. Sites need the traffic numbers first, so folks know they are about and serious - then when you've communicated with interested parties, then you can begin building trust and possible sales follow from that.

People don't visit a site and then buy straight away. It's insane to think this strategy will work, and many sites still hold on to this myth.

[edited by: Maxnpaddy at 11:48 am (utc) on Oct. 2, 2007]