How Do I Define What I Want from a Link Builder?

How Do I Find the Right Person?

[graeme_p]

I need to get more incoming links, but I think it would be better to pay someone who is good at it to do it, while I do what I am good at (writing content).

My problem is that it is hard to define what I want, and hard to find someone I am sure will deliver.

AFAIK the best long term strategy is the hard slog "find appropriate sites and request a link" approach. Not getting "100 PR 4 links" that are all on links pages.

It works well, as far as I have done it (people do link to me when asked to), but I am not good at finding sites to approach, and it is very time consuming.

So how to I find the right person to do do this? How much should I expect to pay? Has it worked well for others?

[martinibuster]

My problem is that it is hard to define what I want...

It shouldn't be hard to define. Define for yourself the typical profile of the site that you would like a backlink for then develop sample searches that reveal those sites, as well as directories that list them. Show them how to hop from site to site discovering more. OR do it yourself and give them a list of targets.

...and hard to find someone I am sure will deliver.

Train them yourself.

AFAIK the best long term strategy is the hard slog "find appropriate sites and request a link" approach.

Probably.

...but I am not good at finding sites to approach, and it is very time consuming.

It's time consuming, yes. Try mining the backlinks of the industry leaders and see if you can find a type of site you haven't thought of looking for.

How much should I expect to pay?

That's a balancing act. Have to make it worthwhile while not breaking your bank. That's a fee only you and your employee will feel comfortable with.

Has it worked well for others?

Yes. It's a bit of work finding the right searches for some niches, but they're usually there, just have to be creative. Then there's the training. I'm bcc'd on every request that goes out and keep a close eye on everything. Pretty important.

[graeme_p]

Martinibuster, hard slog it is, thanks for confirming it - and encouraging me to keep trying.

I have tried looking at where competitors links come from. I think I need to be a bit more imaginative in a few ways about how I do that. Oh dear, thinking is hard work ;)

Sharpseo, good advice, but I am a bit nervous about going from virtually no link building to buying. The last attempt I made to boost links (buying a press release/annoucnement service) not only had no discernible positive effect, it proceeded six months of no growth. I am wondering if I tripped some filters or spoiled my link profile with lots of irrelevant links. Now, I do not want to risk hitting more (given the natural growth of the site is quite good).

The rules mostly look good for identify link request prospects as well, so still useful. Thanks.