14 replies to this topic

[logos1234]

Hi,

I have a limited budget for developing links to my site, so I was wondering what people thought about either spending it on a PR Web link ($200 with keyword rich anchor text) or a Yahoo! Directory submission ($300).

I understand that both will get me several links, but I wondered what is the best way to spoend my money. Is there a better way to spend $300? Should I go for smaller directories that charge less?

Should I forget the links and buy some Christmas presents instead?

Many thanks

[Randy]

You want my honest opinion?

Neither will give you appropriate value for your money. But if you're going to do one of them and you have something interesting to say the Press Release would be my choice. Not a release just because, but because you have something new and interesting to tell people. It's an advertising vehicle, not a link building one.

[Jill]

I agree with Randy. Both of those would be a waste of your $300 imo.

Haven't seen your site, but think about investing that $300 in hiring a professional copywriter to write your home page. Most sites can use that more than anything.

[logos1234]

Hi Randy and Jill,

Thanks for your responses, I agree that I won't get appropriate value for money. Suppose I already had fantastic copy on my site and conversions were amazing but I wanted some links to get higher rankings and more traffic, is there any type of links that are worth spending my $300 on?

Thanks

[cbp]

If your promotional budget is in the $1000's then its probably something that may be worth doing; I would not do it if your promotional budget is only $300

[Randy]

I'll agree with cbp. You'll need a larger budget to do anything remotely effective with your link building. At which point you can hire someone to do it for you most likely and end up with a lot more pretty decent links.

Funny how that works out, but it does.

[logos1234]

Thanks, it looks like I'll have to save up!

[Jill]

Suppose I already had fantastic copy on my site and conversions were amazing but I wanted some links to get higher rankings and more traffic, is there any type of links that are worth spending my $300 on?

If you had that, then you would presumably already have a link-worthy site and you shouldn't need to buy links. You would simply need to find out where your target market hangs out and make them aware of your awesome site.

Please see our social media marketing forum for more on that.

[logos1234]

I guess the problem is that it is not worth linking to yet, possibly in the way that people wouldn't link to ecommerce sites necessarily. Currently I don't have any cutting edge, brilliant content that is worth linking to, although I will have and I'll know what to do now through the social media marketing forum, but what about most average sites that are competing with other average sites, that just want a bit of a boost in rankings. OK presumably, add great content and then reach out to your market. What about ecommerce sites then that don't really offer any great content? A blog?... OK i'll get over to the social media marketing forum!

If you had that, then you would presumably already have a link-worthy site and you shouldn't need to buy links. You would simply need to find out where your target market hangs out and make them aware of your awesome site.

Please see our social media marketing forum for more on that.

[Randy]

What about ecommerce sites then that don't really offer any great content?

It is a common misconception that e-commerce sites are incredibly difficult animals for which to obtain back links. From personal experience I can tell you this is a false belief, if the site is well thought out and constructed. Oddly enough, the piece most e-commerce webmasters miss is the very thing that'll make their site successful on the e-commerce front.

A Unique Selling Proposition, also known as a Unique Value Proposition. Or in plain English, what one thing do you offer customers and visitors that has value and is unique to your site. Something none of your competitors offer. Even if you carry the same products or services as dozens, hundreds or thousands of other places you still need to have something that is unique to your site and product/service that will connect with users and encourage them to buy from you.

Once you have the USP defined and clear enough to promote (you should be able to state it in a single sentence) you now have a hook to start an effective link building campaign.

As an aside, you'll also have a foundation upon which to start building your brand. That's what good brand slogans are after all... Effective, memorable USP's.

[Jill]

but what about most average sites that are competing with other average sites, that just want a bit of a boost in rankings.

They pretty much are out of luck. Years ago when there wasn't a whole lot of competition online, you could be an average site with average content selling average stuff that many others were selling.

Now you can't.

So figure out what you need to do to set yourself apart from the average joes and that will be your answer to getting links. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah it's work. Without hard work, don't expect to get high rankings. Why would the search engines put an avg. site on the first page of results when they could put 10 amazing ones instead?

[logos1234]

Thanks again Randy and Jill,


That's brilliant Randy, I forgot about the marketing basics! I think I have a USP for my own site, which I can use as a hook for link building - I think I've been approaching link building the wrong way. As a new business it's really important to me that I connect with prospects and make my offer attractive to them. I suppose the problem has been that I've always done link building using a less effective approach of submitting to free directories, article marketing and so on and not really reaching out to my audience. Like Jill said, I need to find where they hang out and connect with them. Don't get me wrong, I've had some great success with this link building approach, but now it probably isn't so effective.

Jill, what I don't understand is that my website is ranked 2 and 2 in Google for my top 2 keywords and I never considered my site to be that great. I suppose I must be doing something right, but I think that setting myself apart from other sites can only be a good thing - have a better understanding of my clients and offer better information and a better service and value for money. I do intend to start a blog for my target audience that can help solve their problems and sell my services at the same time. Do you think this is a good approach for link worthy content?

[Randy]

I do intend to start a blog for my target audience that can help solve their problems and sell my services at the same time.

Having valuable info available is always a good thing. Whether you use a blog as the delivery system or set up regular old html pages with a sensible navigation doesn't really matter. If a blog is easiest for you, use a blog.

The advantages of using a blog are:

1. You can allow users to post questions and comments, which can turn it into a bit more of a community.
2. You can easily integrate RSS feeds because every blog out there supports RSS feeds automatically.
3. You don't have to worry so much about the navigation within the blog, because again they all handle it automatically.
4. As a general rule it's easier to administer than doing each page yourself.

The main disadvantages of using a blog are:

1. You have to make it part of your normal schedule to post useful info to the blog so that it doesn't stagnate.
2. You have to stay on top of commenters, because it's a sure thing you're going to have some try to spam your blog.

[Jeff G]

before you want to "invest" your money for buying any traffics, please answer this question:
1. what topic of your site?
2. it is for profit or just information site?
3. it is selling a product like minisite?

these are the question you should answer before allocation your budget on it.
i know buying traffics is a good way of getting tons of traffics but not anytime..
sometime you have think out some other ways to get traffics

I agree with Randy. Both of those would be a waste of your $300 imo.

Haven't seen your site, but think about investing that $300 in hiring a professional copywriter to write your home page. Most sites can use that more than anything.

I agree on that...why don't u give us your site so that we can get more widely on what are the next step to make improve..

[logos1234]

Thanks Randy and Jeff,

I like the idea of a blog, so I really need to get a grip with the business decisions and issues involved with regard to SEO, so that I can write authoritative posts and attract my target audience. I really like the idea of comments and developing a community and sure, will need to make the time to moderate it and post.

Jeff, my site showcases my web design skills and what I can offer small to medium sized businesses. for the last couple of years I have been doing online marketing full time and I specialise in SEO and PPC, so am moving away from web design to that. All of my previous links related to web design, so I am having to acquire new links that correctly focus on my current business. I still offer web design, but it is a side line now. I rank 1 for web design in my county, so it seems a waste to turn away those enquiries and also I can cross sell my SEO services to these clients.

I'd prefer not to put my site on here as I don't want any connection with my website and my posts on here.

Really, the original question was asking: I have a bit of spare money, how can I best use it to increase my rankings and the number of leads I get? I have come to understand now that it's not all about rankings, but from my experience rankings are important in my field for bringing in leads. I am now exploring social media marketing and blogs to try to connect with my target audience outside of rankings, I still feel I need to rank in the top 5 for my SEO keywords because if I can't do it for my site then how can I do it for others. I suppose it's more about trust and business image than anything else.