Building quality links doesn’t come cheap. If you’re serious about ranking, it’s important that you set aside a lot of money to make sure an outside service does the job right because if you plan on spending $10 to acquire 10 links, you might as well hang up your SEO hat now.
While pricing doesn’t necessarily equate to quality, there are some things you’re going to want to look out for so that you don’t go in the red with your budget. To get you on the right path to finding the best link deals, here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Look at the pricing
Solid link building companies won’t charge you $10 for a guest post or $5 for a press release. Yes, while you can find companies that will have this sort of pricing, it isn’t a service that you want. If you’re wondering why, let’s explain:
With thousands of ways to build links, you have to understand what a good price is. For example, would you go to the grocery store and pay $11 for a gallon of milk? Probably not. Even though the price is high, it doesn’t mean the milk is going to taste like heaven. The same idea can be applied to link building services.
If you have your eyes set on a particular strategy, try to research at least five to 10 companies to see what they charge. Also, look at their traits as a company. Use a spreadsheet, record your results, and compare when you’re done. With these prices, it should give you a good idea of what it could cost you.
Now, the pricing isn’t everything when it comes to building links, and you can actually build links without paying a premium price. However, you have to understand that you have to research a lot more than just the pricing. If you want to find the best company, along with competitive pricing, here are other questions you’re going to want to ask:
- How do you build your links?
- Can I see some references?
- What is your client retention rate?
- Can I look at some examples?
- Do you offer any guarantees?
- What do you know about Google?
- How long have you been building links?
- Who else do you work with?
Treat this hiring process like you’re hiring an employee for your business. The more you know about this link building company, the more comfortable you can be when you hand over your credit card.
2. Test
Even if you think you found the best link building service, it doesn’t mean it’s going to work 100 percent. Before you even hand over your main website domain, it’s usually wise to use a website that you don’t care about. One of the main reasons is because if things go south, you won’t have to worry about digging yourself out of a penalty. Yes, you can get penalized because of bad practices. In the end, if the service is showing positive results, then this is when you can have the company start working on your primary domain.
3. Know the competition
If you’re building links for a local company, then it’s probably silly to spend thousands of dollars to get links in national newspapers and on well-known blogs. Most of the time, a local company in any industry can rank with a few simple links.
Before hiring a service, know what kind of links you’re going to need to see top 10 results. For example, building links for a local plumbing company in the middle of Iowa will take very little work, while a pizza parlor in New York City could take months and a lot of hard work to see desirable results.
For those working in the local SEO space, consider reputable link building services that offer a variety of reputable services that can build your rank naturally.
