Deep back links vs. Home page back links

I've been shopping around recently for a good SEO company. They aren't hard to find, but they aren't cheap either. Anyway, I'm trying to find out how to get the best bang for my buck.

Here's my example...

I currently have a home page about widgets which is seo'd for

Widgets | Widget Makers | Widget Companies

The home page has 4 child pages that are region specific.

Miami Widgets | Miami Widget Makers | Miami Widget Companies
Tampa
Orland etc. etc.

I was thinking of having the SEO company optimize, and build links to the home page. With the thought that the home page would then pass authority to the child pages and rank them as well.

So I guess my question is.. Would it be worth it to have them just build links to the home page, and try to get the child pages ranked that way? Or would it be better to try to rank & build links to each child page individually?

My company doesn't have the cash to do all 4 child pages at once, so I'm just trying to decide what would be the best option. The seo company wants about $500/month for 4 key terms. Competition for the terms is some what competitve, but not extreme by any means. Most pages in top 10 are pr-1 & pr-2

Thanks for any input you can provide. Hope all that made sense.

Yes you are right it is better to have links to every page, not just the home page, because linking to the home page only, 'may' make your overall back link profile look unnatural. It's also a good idea to have your links pointing to linkworthy content, otherwise they may again look a little unnatural. All the sites which consistantly rank well for competitve keywords have linkworthy content, check it out on Google.

Please ask the company 'how' they are going to rank your website for those four specfic terms, and ask exactly what they are going to do, then come back to us. It's best to make sure it's legit before spending out. I feel that if you are paying ongoing fees like this, the company you are spending out on need to be doing more than 'just the basics'. Also make sure they are not intending to purchase links.

Thanks. Thats what I thought. This seo company has some pretty large well known clients, so I'm not concerned about the quality of their work. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get the most out of my investment.

How long do people normally stay with an SEO company? Being that this place charges month 2 month, I'm assuming I could use them for a couple months, and then stop once I'm ranked in the top 10 - but then it would be up to me to maintain my rankings.

Dont judge competition by their PR. Follow the seo goat advice. Its very important to know how they will get the backlinks. Dont get carried away by their past or present work.

Honest question - How should I judge competition in the top 10 serps?

If ur SEO company has pretty large clients and they are charging $500/month, then their is a good reason to worry. Companies with large clients dont charge so less or they dont take such small projects. Be extra careful now, i can smell a rat.

Honest answer. Ur true competition are those webpages which use ur targeted keyword in their title tag and which use them in the verbatim form. So

allintitle:"keyword eg:

allintitle:"Widget Makers

use the command in the google search bar