subject: The Truth about Inbound Linking; Don't Be fooled! [print this page] The Truth about Inbound Linking; Don't Be fooled!
With the popularity of companies trying to gain a phenomenal page rank based on Google's techniques behind inbound linking and popularity; many companies are wasting, losing and spending way to much money for link building services. There are thousands of dollars being spent every day online to achieve a higher organic search engine listing and page rank. With that in mind there are always companies that will figure out a way to manipulate the system by offering services that intentionally go against the rules and could possibly get your company banned from most of the popular search engines. My goal is to show you how to prevent these types of companies from taking your well budgeted marketing money and doing something that will NOT benefit the success of your companies page rank nor organic listing in the major search engines.
First I wanna give you some things to look out for and questions to ask a Internet marketing company that is soliciting Inbound linking campaigns. I suggest that you copy and paste these questions and answers to a text file or email so that you can have immediate access to what you need to watch for. After several years of online marketing, SEO, and internet business consulting I too have to stay up-to-date on what's going on in the world of SEO, your problem is that you don't have the time to run a business 100% and keep up with all the internet marketing scams available to you, because you expect the experts to handle those things for you, right? Well here is one of the main problems with internet marketing companies.
Some Internet companies hire Sales people and NOT SEO experts.
This is very critical when it comes to your business, you need someone that understands your business and NOT someone that understands how to close you. I think most Internet companies fail, because they just don't know-how and/or understand what we are talking about at times when it comes to SEO, PPC, CPC, Algortihms, etc; and that's okay, we don't expect you to know it all, right? However you do expect us to know it all. So here are some ways to find out if your talking to a salesperson or an SEO expert. First you have to Ask Questions:
How long has your company been in business?
Who are some your clients?
Can we contact your clients that has been with you longer than 6 months?
How many clients do you have that is in my same industry?
Can you send me more information about what you do?
Are you a member of the BBB (Better Business Bureau)?
IMPORTANT: Make sure that what they tell you, they also have in writing.
2. Don't Be Scammed; Not every Inbound Link is a GOOD Inbound Link.
Just like the saying, "Some things that look good to you; are NOT always good for you." The saying is also very true when it comes to Inbound linking. I have seen internet marketing companies charge anywhere from $20 per Inbound link up to $1,000 per Inbound link. I know the range is very far and in between; however based on Google's philosophy behind gaining popularity; where does your budget fall into those prices? Some companies pay in upwards of $20,000 a month to purchase so-called quality inbound links. The problem is this; Where are your links coming from? Remember this, all I need to operate a internet marketing company is a couple of web developers, a salesperson, and a computer. Here is what you don't know; most of the link building marketing companies are creating there own webpages to link to you or they will create FREE blogs on places like wordpress, blogger, etc, purchase the domain, add google adwords and starting compiling a list of links and/or a list of article links to other blogs. Now understand this, there is nothing wrong with creating and operating a blog with relevant content and updated news relevant to your website. However there is something wrong with creating what we call, "Spamming Sites", which are free blogs, websites, etc that are filled with nothing but a simple text link directing to tons of customers that the SEO marketing companies salesperson sold a link building campaign to. And the hardcore fact is, it does nothing for your page rank or popularity; in addition the developers, marketing company and/or individual will eventually get banded from places like wordpress, blogger, etc, because they don't allow those type of sites to operate and when they catch up to them...? guess what happened to that expensive link you just paid for? It's completely banned and erased from the blog provider services. Here are a few tips:
If it sounds to good to be true? It usually is!
Make sure that the marketing company of your choice create a list of Inbound links that are relative to the nature of your business.
You want to make sure that you establish a linking relationship with companies who generally have a page rank.
Know where your inbound links are coming from.
Research the sites linked to your website, if they are not receiving traffic? What makes you think you will receive traffic by linking to them?
Make sure that your SEO marketing company is NOT building these scamming sites. Ask them if they will be adding your URL to a blog listing directory.
Ask for work that they did for someone else, and then check and see where their clients are listed in google.
Get a Google Webmaster Tools Acount - you can track all of the inbound links and visit the pages that you are linking too.
The fact is that many people are being scammed for millions of dollars per year and most of you people reading this article can agree and/or has been scammed. Trust me we all have been there and most are there right now. The idea is to continue to battle these companies with no integrity, lack of honesty and no merit in hopes that we can find those real companies that follow the rules, uphold honest, and are compelled to see you rise in the organic search engines and/or gain the higher page rank.
This is the beginning of a series called "The Truth About Internet Marketing" and I will continue on the topic of Inbound Links in my next article and I look forward to several responses to this one and many others. Also if you have any questions regarding this article? Please leave a comment.
There are many more things to cover with inbound links, all questions can also be directed to my email.
