If you’re trying to build a backlink profile on a budget, you essentially have two options: try to get it done in house or outsource it to individual freelancers or agencies. Sometimes, your personnel makeup is well suited to going the in-house route. You may have marketing people who have the time to take on this arduous task for which there’s not usually an immediate reward. But often times, you’ll lack both the time and expertise to engage in link building campaigns on your own. That’s when it makes sense to turn to outsourcing.
Ways to Outsource Your Link Building Campaigns
When it comes to link building outsourcing, you can either hire freelancers to work with you, or you can employ an agency to take over the entire process. Both have their pros and cons.
Outsource Link Building to Freelancers
The primary benefit that hiring freelancers has over contracting with an agency is the price. With a little shopping around on sites like Upwork, you can find a content writer and a link building expert who have good feedback ratings for generally less money than it would take to put an agency on the job. However, you’re then faced with the challenge of managing this team.
That’s where the primary demerit comes into play. Even if you hire a virtual assistant to take the daily operational management tasks off your plate, you’re still going to have to give this team direction. If you’re a marketer who knows the ins and outs of link building, that’s no big deal. You should be able to give a good virtual assistant your goals, tell them the steps to get there, and let your team execute. Unfortunately, things rarely go that smoothly. Odds are, you’re going to spend a significant amount of time managing this team, and that could take away from the time you have to do what you do best – the reason you went into business in the first place.
Outsourcing Link Building to an Agency
The number one reason to outsource your link building campaigns to an agency can be summed up in five words: “set it and forget it.” You can work with them to establish goals for your campaign, and leave the rest to them. This allows you to spend your time in your primary role. Assuming they’re a seasoned agency with proven results, you can look forward to a report detailing exactly how well they did at meeting your objectives. At that point, you can consider whether you’d like to retain them or try another approach.
The number one drawback with a top link building services agency is, of course, the price, which is usually in the hundreds of dollars per month but can climb into the thousands as well. These companies typically utilize manual outreach link building, which can bring you quality backlinks but at a premium price. However, if you can afford the price tag, and you’re confident that you’ve found a reputable agency that can meet your objectives, this is likely your preferred route for backlinking outsourcing. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Tips for Agency Link Building Outsourcing Success
Take Advantage of Your Network
If you maintain professional contacts with fellow business owners or marketing directors, feel them out regarding their favorite SEO agency with link building in their portfolio or standalone link-building boutique. This is usually the easiest and most effective way to find a link building outsourcing company that can and will do the job right.
Know What You’re Paying For
Some agencies charge by the hour; some charge by the month; some charge a fixed fee for achieving your campaign objectives. For link building, this last model is the most straightforward since you can specify precise quantity, and, more importantly, quality backlinking goals for each campaign. Typically, the agency will get half the amount up front and the remainder when your goals are reached. If you’re paying by the month or by the hour, make sure you specify some objectives that must be met on a given timeline in order for the contract to continue.
Don’t Move Your Goalposts
You should work with the agency ahead of time to establish reachable goals for your campaign. If you don’t know a lot about link building, you’ll be relying on them to help you with this. When you’re setting contract parameters, keep in mind that these days, it’s more difficult to get a lot of high authority links than it was ten years ago. So, if their goals seem pretty modest, that’s to be expected; they could still yield a huge return.
That said, don’t allow them to be wishy-washy when they present you their final report. If they weren’t able to meet your goals, and you both felt those goals were reasonable at the time, demand that they continue their work until these goals are met before you provide them with their final payment.
Outsourcing Link Building with Getbacklinks.net
If you can’t afford to shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month to an agency, and you don’t want to run herd over a bunch of freelancers and trust them to do the job right, you do have another option: using an inbound link building service such as Getbacklinks.net. These are professional link building services that use a variety of manual and computer-assisted techniques to bring hundreds or even thousands of backlinks to your site. You’ll want to make sure that they only use white-hat techniques that won’t get you punished by Google, and, as with agencies, you’ll want some sort of guarantee that they will meet your campaign goals. But hiring a quality link building service can bring you the backlink profile you want without the headaches of hiring freelancers or the budget woes of employing an agency.
