10k link budget

[Crush]

How would you allocate a 10k/month link building/seo budget. This is not hypothetical, this is want we want to spend for the next 6 months.

[Planet13]

Crush:

Could you use interviews with people who are seeking publicity as your content? (Particularly university professors who publish books or journals or something else they want to publicize?)

I'm just thinking that if you could interview them and put that interview on your site (or content derived from that interview), then they would probably be happy to link to that article (or to your home page) in an effort to promote themselves.

I know this would require a bit of work, but maybe it is a way for sites to get both free content AND a .edu link

Having said this, I think I am going to start contacting some of the small publishing houses in my niche and see if I can get them to hook me up with some authors. Hopefully they have some high PR sites.

[Crush]

Yes we could Planet, I was thinking about finding popular site owners and doing some guest posts on theirs and they do one on mine.

Our content not really suited to edu's but with some thought it could be.

Would be nice to link amongst other travel sites like the seo blogs do, I remember NFFC an old member here calling it mutal masterbation once for the lack of a better term.

[vik_c]

Start a Facebook page. Advertise. Get people to join. Add viral content. You'll get lots of links. Search engine algorithms seem to depend a lot on social media popularity these days. A 10K budget would be useful.

[jojy]

I would spend $3000 on product reviews, let others review and publish your products on their websites. Video reviews are also cool too but it depends upon the niche.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google really is shooting to be money proof, buying links may not help at all. It's sad but you may get the biggest bang for your buck by pulling a stunt of some kind and airing it out to the world. It works.

example: I mentioned shooting and bang so off the top of my head if you owned a car site (example) you may look up someone popular on youtube like FPSRussia and work out a deal to send him a muscle car knowing he will use some outrageous weapon and tannerite to blow it up. He'll thank you in the video and millions of people will see it.

disclosure: I don't know FPSRussia or condone what he does, I'm suggesting the eyeballs he commands are what you want to get in front of for natural backlinks. You'd air the vid on your site too etc.

[fathom]

Google really is shooting to be money proof, buying links may not help at all.

I've been doing links of all types since 1998 and can tell you (in my experience) Google itself sucks at uncovering link buying practices or the domains that have them.

While they maintain they don`t use the reports of others directly to handle paid links... I have lots of evidence in my own developments that suggests that is completely untrue.

I have gone years without Google uncovering anything - algorithmically.

I have been busted 2 months in a row because I have a fan that monitors and reports what he finds to Google.

All of that only makes it easier to do this because there is a major disconnect between what Google implies and what can actually detect.

So long as people live on Google`s word they won`t ever test it to see if it is true.

[J_RaD]

Start a Facebook page. Advertise. Get people to join. Add viral content. You'll get lots of links. Search engine algorithms seem to depend a lot on social media popularity these days. A 10K budget would be useful.

I see this as, i'd rather get more traffic, and links to MY WEBSITE which i own....rather then a facebook page which does do good, but not really in the long run.

everytime I see companies saying find us on facebook or doing stuff with facebook, all i can say is this is the exact stuff they should have been doing with their website! find our WEBSITE, engage users on your WEBSITE, put your URL everywhere...etc etc. Its like facebook came around now everyone wants to do what they should have been doing all along.....in the wrong place!

[Lenny2]

I was spending about 10K a month on links for a couple of years... I loved the results... I hated the dependency on the link building... it's a short term game to buy links. Since Panda I dropped my paid links and did not see any additional drop in traffic. (panda took about 70% of our traffic) Based on the advice I've been reading from "Wheel", when I get a "link aqcuisition/brand building" budget again I'd PM him to become a link building consultant... and that is what I'd recommend to you.

[ember]

Its like facebook came around now everyone wants to do what they should have been doing all along.....in the wrong place!

Bingo.

[CainIV]

Start a Facebook page. Advertise. Get people to join. Add viral content. You'll get lots of links.

Just running stunts and link-baiting campaigns via Facebook can be touch and go as well. I have seen many of those fail - even ones that I thought were planned very well.

[fathom]

Ya everything viral can be a real *****! Just because you think it's great doesn't mean anyone else will.

[greenleaves]

I spend quite a bit more than that per month, both for my own sites as well as client sites. Here is what I spend it on:

1- Developing portals. I have 200+ portals spread across 60+ class C IPs. I develop content with links to my clients sites and to authorities. Then I build Social bookmarking, web 2.0s and other such 'free links' to the pages I develop. To top it off, I shoot xrummer and scrapebox links to the web 2.0s, SB, etc. This way I ensure 3 levels of link laundering.

2- I buy 100s of links off fiverr and other such sties. But it takes time and experience to make this worth your time.

3- I have VAs create manual links wherever my competitors have links. I use tools to find the places my competitors have links, then make my VAs get links there.

4- I hire Copywriters, pay for video production, buy cheap scripts in mass to produce content for web 2.0s, review sites, video sites, doc download sites, etc. There are 100s of places on the web where you can get quality free links if you have content, videos, small scripts, etc. And if you are smart, you can make them appear 'relevant' in big G's eyes.

5- I have a very large list of people I know over the years who have their own private network of sites. For a fee or a favor, I can generally get access to them. I know over a dozen different people with thousands of sites in total over thousands of class C Ips.

6- I set up sites that I use to give links out and get links in exchange. Scrape whois info to spam people for link exchanges. Although I'm cutting back on this as it is less useful now a days.

7- I buy up existing sites that expire.

8- I sometimes build 4th level links to the 3rd level links... I'm doing this more now.

9- Press releases

10- Link bait campaigns

11- Anti-linking campaigns (I make sure links are taken down from where my competitors got links)

12- Secret sauce and other techniques

I rank for some of the most competitive single keywords out there using this. Having said that, these techniques mean little unless you do it well, cover footprints, and stay smart. One slip up can mean your site gets a manual review which it might not pass.

Oh, I will also say I pass all the major updates without a hitch using the above mentioned methods. Panda, what panda? (I did get slightly hit on one of my clients sites by Panda, but it is back)

[jojy]

Ya everything viral can be a real *****! Just because you think it's great doesn't mean anyone else will.

well said!

[Planet13]

@ greenleaves

Regarding point #6:

You say you are cutting back on reciprocal linking because it is less useful.

Do you mean that reciprocal links do not help as much with ranking?

Or do you mean it is so hard to get reciprocal link partners that it is not worth they effort?

Or do you mean both?

[fathom]

Do you mean that reciprocal links do not help as much with ranking?

This tends to be true... because of the fact that the resident page your link goes on as in the "links page" are not really related to anything specific other than maybe "links". If you're looking for ranks for "links" it might be a viable development.

The other issue... most site owners that deploy this free service exchange offer do so because they have little in the way of a marketing & advertising budget... not because their website patronage deserves or desires to jump to your website... or in other words there isn't anything there (normally) for you like link juice to share.

Do this excessively... you might have something but then Google suggests this: [google.com...]

However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact your site's ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:

• Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")

[MushHak]

no one thought of saying

"contact me" - I'll do that :)

[greenleaves]

@ Planet13
That it is not worth the hassle anymore. Few people are willing. Those that are, generally want something I'm not interested in (i.e. a directory on their site... I'm interested in deep page in content link in exchange for another deep page, in content link). Given two links of the same quality/value, you can get it cheaper with cash or free content (which is the same as cash, it is just another form of 'web currency').

[Planet13]

I'm interested in deep page in content link in exchange for another deep page, in content link...

Yeah, that is exactly what I am interested in.

My thought is that I will go ahead and link to them first, then email them and asking if they will kindly reciprocate. Then just mention that if they are not that interested, fine, because I can always link to their competitors instead....

No guarantee it will work at all. But people will often do more to prevent losing something than they will to gain something.

[votrechien]

Anyone rejecting the idea of spending $10k/month on link building has to maintain perspective. We have no idea how significant (or insignificant) portion of their overall budget this represents.

[graeme_p]

Others I believe include BOTW, JoeAnt, GoGuides, Ezilon, and Aviva

Seriously?

My experience of being a volunteer on those sorts of directories was pretty poor. I did get my own sites listed on them, but it was frustrating how clueless most editors were.

The last straw was when I added Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's company, the site on which he publishes his widely read shareholder letters) to the investment section of Joeant. Not only was it removed, but I also got an email asking me not to add such "low quality" sites in future.

I also got very irritated by the editor of another directory (I forget which) who insisted that Microsoft invented the internet, and countless minor stupidities.

[Crush]

Al Gore invented the internet.....stupid :)

[chicagohh]

So long as people live on Google`s word they won`t ever test it to see if it is true.

So very true. Most people are looking for an "authoritative" source for tips. Testing - even in the most simple of situations - seems to be lost on many.

[murgatroid]

Creating infographics is already "yesterday" in my opinion.

Infographics still work, just not as well as they used to. You still get "shock and awe" traffic (which clients love to see...conversions or not...) if you get it to go hot on Stumble or Reddit and coupled with targeted outreach, you'll get a decent amount of links, provided the graphic is compelling.

We appraise a permanent, editorial, keyword anchor link @ roughly $200 per link. So if I spend $3K on a graphic and social promotion and get 15 + solid, editorial links, I'm pretty pleased. The more links above the 15, the better the value.

And with targeted outreach and social promotion (and a decent graphic), it's really not that hard to snag 15+ editorial links.

Infographics are still well worth the money IMO.