Page 2 - Backlinks verses Blogs/Articles

This may be an unanswerable question but would you or anyone happen to know what it takes to get caught up by something like this? I looked at a website for a friend and they had tons of blog links. These blogs were all run and started by the same company and all the blogs contained links to each client. So company 1 would have a blog and have links to companies 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. On companies 2, 3, 4, 5's blogs, there would be links pointing to each of the other companies. It looked very fishy but let me say, each site ranked very well for the terms they were targeting, some of these terms were quite competitive.

I would take Egol's advice to this point. Invest in a copywriter who will write great content for you and the links earned from your content will be specific and very beneficial to you.

As already stated, any large quantity of links per month will likely be crap and have little to no benefit for you. Just remember with links if you proceed down this road, its about QUALITY not quantity.

I think fathom runs an SEO vetting company right here!

Ok I'm showing my inexperience here but where would I begin to find a "copywriter" who specialises in this area.

Hi LewisDB

Could I be a little bit cheeky and ask you to give NewSEO a nudge to contact me. As I'm a newbie I cant seem to be able to contact other members directly

I guess its worth a try as I'm really paranoid about the big SEO marketing machines I've been speaking with.

Thanks

Sure

When I needed a great copywriter I went straight to blogs about that topic and found someone who wrote kickass original content. I am really picky but found someone who writes better than I do and who also has the deep content knowledge to write authoritatively in this field.

You want traffic or you want links?

Do either of these people have a client list of real people you can contact for real world testimonials?

Can they show you sites they have succeeded in ranking?

If one guy has a private network of high ranking blogs that he plans to plug into that's not a bad thing. But I wouldn't really call that an SEO Campaign.

And just having lots of links.... well I think the guys above have covered that.

I cant see any company giving me a client for a testimonial that has had a negative experience.

Again I dont have the experience or nowledge to evalute how effective their methods are.

The first thing I did was contact companies who ranked highly under the search SEO or search engine optimisation. If they are listed well on google then they obviosly know what to do to get there. The big question for me is if they will spend the time and knowledge on my site for the quote they give.

I'm only just getting a peek of this SEO world you guys live in and its certainly interesting.

When looking at these two SEO proposals,

Do either of these firms tell you anything about your competition?

Have they researched netcurtainsdirect(dot)com?

What have they learned?

Do they have a plan for beating the competition?
or are they just going to get you some links and "see what happens"?

Have they taken a good look at your site? Offered any suggestions for improvement? Even though we're focused on SEO, let's not forget that what we're really here for is CONVERSIONS aka sales.

Thanks
Shawn

They did take a look at the competition but again I'm not sure if this is to help with their sales technique or they truly look to see what work will be needed.

IMHO I think they will give me a set of standard links and blogs and then will see what will happen. Although to give them some credit they are both listed highly under SEO search terms so they must be doing something right.

I'm not trying to be contradictory, just bringing up some things to consider which may help you and which may get corrected by the "pros" here, [ which would help me )

1.) The "name space" for net curtains doesn't look too competitive, but it is a an e-commerce target so you can safely assume that the competition is aware of their own SERP - at least for the important terms. And the smart ones are aware of your position as well. Therefore, any significant change in position will not go unnoticed and the smart guys will investigate what happened and react. The reaction could be.. A.) go out and buy some more links or.. B.) Report the fact that you've got a whole bunch of paid for links. [ not trying to instill fear here, would appreciate some feedback on this possibility ]

2.) In the mean time, while you and your competition fight over number one for the "root term", plain old on-page content development could be getting you to the top for dozens and dozens of secondary terms: ie: root-term + one-word. Question: have either of these firms suggested what other terms you should be going after in addition to the "root?"

3.) SERPS are good, High SERPS are better, Traffic is good, Targeted traffic is better, Links are good, Quality links are better, Conversions are good, High conversion rates are better. Question: does your internet marketing plan address all of this? If not, you're pretty much taking the same approach as the " get links and see " guys... except it's more of a "get SERPS and see" plan.

Thanks
Shawn

P.S. I just re-read my post and it sounds a bit harsh, I don't mean to imply that you don't know what you're doing. The opposite in fact, just being here and asking questions is proof that you're no dummy, and - I suspect - one step ahead of the competition.

Its ok


Ok this is what I'll be getting for my money:

Monthly

2 Articles submitted to 50 websites
3 blogs submitted to 50 websites

or

2 Articles submitted to 33 websites
3 blogs submitted to 33 websites
33 free directory submissions

How does the extra directory submissions compare to losing blog and article submissions.

Which would work best.

Also, the sites the blogs etc would be submitted to will have no relation to what I sell, but to be fair its not easy finding sites that relate to Net curtains.

What do you guys think of this whole package and the methods they will be using?
(This is probably playground stuff to you guys)

Thanks in advance

It's all a learning experience. Whether or not you think its playground stuff to anyone is irrelevant. As long as you learn from what is being said.

I cant quantify in my mind how 50 links will be of any quality. Finding 50 quality links in 1 month seems to me like an arduous task. Maybe I'm crazy...Tell me you are going to get me 5 links and I'd probably be happier knowing that they are quality links. People seem to think that more is better and it couldn't be any further from the truth.

Are they going to create 3 blogs for you and submit them to sites? What is the purpose of 3 blogs? Can you elaborate on this a little more?

Most directories are for the birds. More so free directories. There are a few directories out there that are free and have some benefits (namely DMOZ) but there are some decent paid directories that can help (Yahoo, Business.com I think).

Hopefully this helps a little.

Is a bigger pile of crap worth any more than a small pile of crap? No, for they are both worth crap.

Send me a check, and I'll mail you a bag of crap. That way, you'll at least have something to show for it.

Blogs, forum posts, article syndication, when blanketed, are not going to give any more than a short boost, that doesn't last long at all, and may not even give you that. Especially if they are unrelated, and are the sole means of this company's SEOing other sites. The more work they take on, the faster your post/article will be buried, the quicker it is worth absolutely zero.

If you're going to consider hiring an SEO, take the advice give to you previously, and hire someone with a good reputation.

I presume the submission of blogs will create a stronger link than just adding a link. Again I dont have the knowledge to know if this is true ior not.

They are saying, rather than going out there and getting me 100 links a month they will submitt 3 blogs and two articles spread across 100 sites. This will produce 100 stronger links.

Is this the case or am I way off the mark.

Also, concerning your last comment,

A: why do you think I am here?!?

B: I've tried hard, but cant find anything negative about SEOconsult, is this a recommendation in itself?

C: If you can recommend an SEO that doesn't try to fill my head with magic, be constructive and feel free.