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How to Outsource Link Building the RIGHT Way (No Headaches!)

If your car breaks down, do you fix it yourself or take it to a mechanic?

If you get hurt or sick, do you blindly follow whatever random advice you get from users on social media or do you go to the doctor?

We typically rely on experts to help us with things beyond our scope of expertise and with things we simply don’t have time for.

The same is true for digital marketing, and in particular, link building.

Companies of all shapes and sizes, but especially marketing firms, love the idea of outsourcing link building, but they also recognize critical challenges and obstacles that make the arrangement harder than it needs to be.

So how exactly are you supposed to outsource link building the right way?

In other words, how do you make outsourced link building less of a pain in the ass?

Why Choose to Outsource Link Building?

First, let’s talk about why you would choose to outsource link building, rather than pursuing this effort internally.

  •       Time savings. For many business owners, this is all about saving time. You simply don’t have the time or the internal resources necessary to take care of your own link building efforts. Link building is, of course, a time activity. Despite its importance and value, it can quickly encroach on your other responsibilities. Outsourcing to a link building authority means you can continue your link building efforts without tapping into those limited internal resources.
  •       Capacity issues. Even if you’re willing to expend the time necessary to link build internally, you may not be able. If you don’t have the experts or team members required to sustain the scale of link building efforts you need, outsourcing becomes your only realistically viable option. Many business owners treat their outsourcing partner as an extension of themselves, doubling their resources in the process.
  •       Quality concerns. Good link building prioritizes high authority, valuable links – and it attempts to earn them as naturally as possible. Unless you’re a genuine link building expert in your own right, this is a challenging standard to meet. Outsourcing link building typically means working with dedicated link building experts who make quality one of their top priorities.
  •       Scalability planning. One of the greatest advantages of outsourcing your link building efforts is making your strategy more scalable. Your link building partner will likely have abundant resources that can be leveraged at any time; if your marketing firm starts to grow, you can simply scale up your link building partnership, rather than being forced to hire new people aggressively or turn clients away.
  •       Additional required services. In many cases, outsourced link building partners offer far more than just link building services. They may be able to help you with things like on site content development, keyword analysis, page tuning, and more. In this capacity, link building is only a small fraction of total outsourced SEO services.

Why Outsourcing Link Building Can Be a Headache

Of course, outsourcing your link building process can also be a headache.

Since you’ll be delegating most of the work externally, much depends on the quality and work style of your partner. With a bad partner or a partner who’s simply a bad fit, you’re much more likely to run into issues like:

  • Quality. Most link building agencies aren’t going to tell you that they use cheap, dirty tricks to build links. But unfortunately, some of them do. If your link building team chooses low authority or irrelevant sites for link building, it could end up doing more harm than good for your clients. Do you also need to make sure that your partner is developing quality content and including links naturally to preserve sustainability in your SEO strategy?
  • Reliability and consistency. Sometimes, a link building team will work doubly hard to make a good impression at the start of a campaign, but then become unreliable or inconsistent in their delivery. SEO requires consistent, diligent effort, so any reliability or consistency issues can become magnified quickly.
  • Expertise. Are you confident that your link building partner knows what they’re talking about? Do they truly understand the nuances of SEO and the impact that link building can have? You need to feel confident that you’re working with genuine experts, or else the integrity of your entire strategy could be compromised.
  • Available services. You might have a great link building partner already, but if they can’t help you with other aspects of SEO strategies, they may be limited in their abilities to serve you and your clients. While not a strict necessity, it’s often valuable to choose a partner who can offer many different SEO and digital marketing services under one roof.
  • White labeling. White labeling isn’t always necessary, but for some agencies, it’s critically important for preserving their reputation. Not all link building partners offer white labeled services and assets, and those that do aren’t always totally reliable in their delivery.
  • Disproportionate costs. Some link building agencies have totally reliable experts and a solid, clear process for delivery, but they’re simply too expensive. Disproportionate costs can jeopardize the overall value of the services you receive.
  • Communication and reporting. Your link building partner might be handling the bulk of your link building work, but you’re still ultimately responsible for the results. That’s why it’s so important to have a partner who excels in communication and ongoing reporting. If you feel like you’re always in the dark or if you can’t get reliable answers to your questions, it’s going to introduce wrinkles into your working partnership.
  • Scalability and future. Ideally, you’ll have a single link building partner who scales and grows with you well into the future. Unfortunately, many partners aren’t able to scale up with you – and others may be only interested in short-term arrangements.

How to Outsource Link Building the Right Way

So what steps can you take to outsource link building the right way?

Outsourcing Link Building the Right Way

  • Start with a plan. First, start with a plan. You should have a thorough understanding of exactly which SEO and digital marketing services you need, exactly how much you’re willing to pay for those services, and how you plan to grow your efforts in the future. You should also have an understanding of what type of partner you want to have and what some deal Breakers might look like. You won’t be able to identify a good fit until you first identify what a good fit looks like.
  • Think about the future; not just the present. SEO is best considered as a long-term strategy. It typically takes many months to see the impact of your efforts, and it’s only after years of investment that you begin reaping the full fruits of your campaign. On top of that, link building agency partnerships develop over time as you get to know each other and collaborate more frequently. Accordingly, you shouldn’t merely look for a partner who can solve your present woes; instead, you should look for a partner who can work with you and grow with you well into the future.
  • Budget intelligently. It’s tempting to look for the best deal on the market, but in the SEO world, remember that you often get what you pay for. It’s often, but not always worth spending a little extra to make sure you get the quality services you need to succeed. Working with the cheapest link builders on the market is probably going to burn you, but of course, working with the most expensive link builders introduces the risk of overspending. Budget intelligently so you can afford reasonable, quality services.
  • Recognize the right fit. Many companies looking to outsource their link building make the mistake of trying to find the best link builders available. Instead, you should reframe your efforts to find the most appropriate link builders available. What’s a good fit for you isn’t necessarily the objectively best player in the market.
  • Set expectations proactively. When you do find a link building partner, have a frank conversation early about your shared expectations. What is this working relationship going to look like? Who will be responsible for what? What are expectations for communication? Sorting these things out proactively can help you avoid a lot of issues down the road.
  • Prioritize collaboration. Some business owners see outsourcing as a glorified form of delegation, but it’s much more effective to outsource your link building as a collaborative partnership. Your link building experts have experiences, resources, and insights that you do not. Similarly, your link building partner may not immediately understand your business or your link building priorities. Only by working together will you be able to achieve the best possible results.
  • Be ready to offer feedback. Throughout your working relationship, be prepared to offer feedback to your outsourced link building partner. Assuming they’re equally communicative and receptive to that feedback, it can serve as a foundation to a better partnership.

When shopping around for a link building partner, pay close attention to:

  • Areas of specialty. Does this link building partner have any areas of specialty, or do they offer more generalized services? For example, do they work primarily with marketing and advertising agencies? Do they deal primarily with small businesses or big corporations? Do they have any expertise in building links for companies in a certain niche? This could help you find a much better link building outsourcing option for your needs.
  • Available services. Does this link building partner offer any additional digital marketing services? Even if you’re not in the market for these services now, you may find yourself needing to tap into them in the future. For example, let’s say your client doesn’t have many linkable assets onsite. In pursuit of a better link building campaign, you may advise them to develop better onsite content; if neither you nor they have the resources necessary to produce that content, your link building vendor might.
  • Expertise/experience. As you might imagine, more experienced link builders are more valuable than their inexperienced counterparts. If you can, try to find a link building agency partner with many years, if not decades of experience. At the very least, your link building partners should be extremely knowledgeable about link building, SEO, and search engine optimization in general. They should be able to competently answer all your questions and help you learn more about this complex field. Also, they should be ready, willing, and able to share the details of their link building expertise with you.
  • Past clients and results. What types of clients has this link building agency had in the past? If they are bound by NDAs, or if they are unable to disclose this information for other reasons, see if you can at least see some evidence of past results. Has this link building partner helped a sufficient number of businesses rank higher in search engines and generate more traffic?
  • Ratings/reviews. In line with this, look up ratings and reviews for your target link building partner. Do people generally seem happy working with this agency? Are there any common complaints or concerns?
  • Prices. Obviously, you’ll need to take price into consideration. There’s nothing wrong with looking for a competitive, attractive price, but keep in mind that sometimes, it’s necessary to pay a bit more to get access to quality backlinks and reputable sites.
  • Communication and rapport. Finally, evaluate communication and overall rapport. Is it easy to reach someone with this link building outsourcing agency? Do they transparently answer all your questions? Are they relatively easy to get along with? Do they share your digital marketing philosophies and values?

We’re not looking to take over the world… yet…

But we are interested in becoming the best white label link building agency out there.

And depending on who you ask, we’re already getting close to achieving that goal.

We have the team, the resources, and the hard-won experience to help you achieve all your link building goals – and we’re ready to make you look like an SEO superhero to your best clients.

If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!

Timothy Carter
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