So... should I begin to pay for backlinks?

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   WryLiltposted 14 years ago

   I know that there is a lot of backlink advice out there.
   
   I know there are a lot of places to get backlinks.
   
   But when do you reach the stage where it's appropriate to start paying for backlinks - I know at least some of the pro hubbers do (while others don't backlink at all.)
   
   I have several accounts now, and also plan to write at least a few hundred more on this account and would like to get more exposure and ranking for the hubs I have that are starting to do well...
   
   Advice appreciated.
   
   And no... I don't like social bookmarking sites.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You reach the stage when it is appropriate to pay for links when you decide you would be better off spending your time doing something else and have enough money to do so. Doing your own is time consuming and boring.
      
      But - you need to do it so as to get an idea of how much time it takes and, by extension what is an appropriate price to pay. Plus - you need to find what is the most effective way of doing it. All links are not created equal and you can waste an awful lot of time or money building useless ones.

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         WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Mark.
         
         I have dabbled in it but I'm always stuck between wanting to spend time writing more hubs and wanting to spend time promoting. Writing usually wins.

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   Arthur Fontesposted 14 years ago

   Hubpages has a nice video on the subject.
   
   
   http://learningcenter.hubpages.com/

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      Never_Forgetposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Most of that video is complete nonsense BS that will prevent you from ever earning a decent amount of money from your hard work.

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   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   I would say it depends where you get them from.  I am currently running an experiment with an automated backlink tool, it is going pretty well so far, but I would avoid the ones which sell 'backlinks' without telling you any other information.
   
   A lot of the time a bit of manual backlinking and organic growth can generate enough backlinks for a well researched keyword.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   Most of the things recommended in hubs come with an affilite link. I've noticed that programs without aff links don't get recommended much. So what does that suggest to you?

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      sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      true and untrue
      
      most will require some sort of motivation to take the time to write about something, especially when its something that "helps" possible competition perform better.
      
      You have to be careful of whose recommendations to trust - but in most cases , services and products have hundreds of options and the writer/marketer can select from any of these to promote.
      
      example) I write about webhosting sometimes - I can get the same commission for a sale among at least 40 possible hosting companies that I am partnered with and that i could recommend, but only HostGator gets a full recommendation from me. Thats my honest opinion as a client and an affiliate with exp w/ multiple hosting companies.
      
      some would pay more than HG
      
      I dont use any paid backlink services, so I have no direct response to the OP.
      
      as always its about your niche, its competition and a cost verse benefit analysis of what it would take and what you could earn if you are #1 for the term
      
      I cant imagine paying for backlinks until I have exhausted the more traditional methods and I have a budget to afford and experiment with such services(which I do)
      
      
      I keep seeing these backlink/dont backlink comparisons and never do i see the important factor of competition mentioned. The argument is very specific to the term/terms one hopes to rank for any statements to the contrary are naive

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         SteveoMcposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         How do you make so much sense all the time?  I want to be your apprentice.

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            sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            well, i am now following you to be your apprentice!
            
            a couple weeks back my washer stopped draining - it took me hours of forum reading at diy locations to figure out and test and discover that my lid switch was broken (can push where it was suppposed to with a screwdriver to start draining) - your hub on the subject would have saved me hours of time! It is without question the most complete resource on the subject that I discovered.
            
            Now just need a hub on taking the chassis off a washer and not getting electrocuted

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               SteveoMcposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               I am honored.....and thank you kindly for the support, now help me get about another million readers for that hub and I will be eternally grateful!   

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      thisisoliposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      It suggests that some of us like money
      
      However the programs I recommend for the most part, even with affiliate links, are programs that I actively use myself.

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   SteveoMcposted 14 years ago

   I like the OP and want the answer.  If it turns out to be a viable option, please inform those of us who are still in the tunnel and can see a glimmer of light ahead.

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   Csjun89posted 14 years ago

   I think you shouldn't!
   
   Perhaps you should try making more friends who have their own websites, or make some new web sites of your own!

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   Bill Manningposted 14 years ago

   IMO most paid backlinking services are not worth a darn. Most of them put your link in directories, which are almost worthless now.
   
   Let's face it, if these places actually took the time to find a great place to put your link, spent time making a little blurb and then put your link in the content, they would have to charge you 20 bucks a link!
   
   Most of them have auto scripts that throw your link out there on partner sites that quickly become seen to Google as link farms and spam bots.
   
   In fact it's easy to get hurt by those paid link places as your link can be seen as spam.
   
   As is most often the case in life, doing it the slow, hard way is the best.
   
   However, if you know people that have blogs, partner up with them and exchange blog post to each other with your link in the post text. That is the best way.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Ah - so you have some proof of this?
      
      I could do this to my competitors then? I could add your site and build links that are seen as spam and get you "hurt"?

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         Bill Manningposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I think it's common knowledge that if you suddenly get 100 back links in a day Google does not like that.
         
         Or if all your links are coming from link farms and other spammy sites. In fact yes indeed, if you put someone's URL link into 50 "bad" sites you would hurt them.
         
         Back links work both ways. Most of the time they are good, but doing it wrong can backfire and get you penalized or even banned.
         
         Having your links in known hijack sites and other sites deemed bad by Google gets some of that bad vibe pushed to your site.
         
         So that is why I want to know exactly where my links are going. I've swapped so many links, only to see 6 months later the site no longer exits.
         
         Which BTW is another thing Google does not like, broken links all over your site to URL's no longer in service.

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            So - you have some proof then?

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               Bill Manningposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Nope, no proof at all since I've never tried to hurt anyone nor put my links in bad sites.
               
               I only know what I read from the dozen or so forums I belong to, including adult ones and black hat ones.
               
               I do know many who say they tried things and it bit them in the ass, getting banned outright from Google to dropping way down. I'll believe them and not do the same as they did.

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                  Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Well - seems to me you have misunderstood what these people are doing or what the ramifications are.
                  
                  It makes absolutely no sense at all to me that something I could do off site will adversely affect one of my competitors. Because the Internet is a nasty, competitive place and - trust me - if this was possible - peopel would be doing it.
                  
                  The way these people get "hurt" is not a direct penalty.
                  
                  What happens is - google discovers a spammy way of creating links and discounts those links, causing whoever is using them to lose whatever authority they were gaining from them. This is not being "hurt" - this is more being caught cheating or gaming the system. And invariably their content is poor quality.
                  
                  There are a few things that can get you penalized, and if enough people complain about your activity to google I understand you can get an IP address or domain penalized - but I have only ever heard unsubstantiated rumors about this and in any case - hard core black hat SEO types can easily use proxies and IP masking.
                  
                  Hubpages specifically asks you not to create spam links to hubs, and I guess if we all went and bought 500,000 spam comments on blogs, we might make an impression and draw negative attention when 500 million spam comments got dumped out there and 5,000 blog owners complained to Big Daddy G. Not sure how much it would need to be to do so though.
                  
                  The internet is a big place, I mean - huge. Seriously - if you have made such an impression to get yourself banned - you have probably made enough money not to care.

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               John Holdenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Not sure what proof you need Mark, it's been well established since well before the internet that well directed advertising is far more cost effective than the scatter gun approach.
               For example, is it Steve who writes on wahsing machine repairs, is he better linking to a small selection of sites selling spares by mail order or a couple of hundred ambulance chasers in New York?
               
               I really don't think a high level of experience is necessary to answer that one.

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                  Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  This has nothing to do with the ability to "hurt" your competition by creating spam links into their pages.

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                     John Holdenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Well it was past my bedtime and the critical functions were fading but I do think my previous post did sort of a bit more than suggest it was possible to sabotage a site. I mean, denial of service attacks are hardly new are they?

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         John Holdenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Mark. from experience that does seem to be the case. I subscribe to a small forum for booksellers. Though not busy there was little chit-chat on it, mostly good solid content and all ways a good solid ranking on Google.
         Then the address was sold as a back link, attracting a 100 or so links every day. Many were content just to let their link lie in the index, many more felt it incumbent on themselves to post their link on the forum and clutter it with messages along the lines of "great post" or "me too" and then slip in their link for their dog grooming parlour in down town Skegness.
         Google doesn't index us any more and that hits in the pocket as it isn't just the forum that is no longer indexed.
         
         So yes it hurts.

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            

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   experience daysposted 14 years ago

   Paid backling services are generally rubbish, but big sites usually have paid backlinks - it's how you get them that matters.
   
   Spammy backlinks in the footer of a website won't help your couse, but a subtle promotion in a website's page content can't hurt. Approach potential websites directly, rather than through dodgy backlink brokers

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   Bill Manningposted 14 years ago

   On a related note, I myself was contacted by a rep from Holiday Inns. They wanted to pay me $75.00 for a text link on my three hotel related sites for a year.
   
   THAT kind of paid back linking works great. Just pick a site related to yours that has high PR, then offer to pay for a link. But it quickly gets expensive.
   
   Yes, I did accept the money.

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    shazwellynposted 14 years ago

    Now, like any business, it is about money in and money out.  If you get more money in from paying for backlinking (including the cost or expense of this) then it makes good business sense to do this.
    
    If you are paying more money out than gaining, why would you go wasting your money?
    
    Competition? There seems to be a rumour that Google doesnt account for this since the mayday changes - but who knows for sure?  The algorithyms are a secret!  I think it is something to do with (apparently) accommodating the social networking sites - facebook etc. 
    
    So, is competition relevant an issue now?  I dont know, but I am sure time will tell.  Google is a changing, evolving thing who aim to be more natural as time goes by.  Whether cheating the system will still work - with backlinking, is another mystery.  I guess we all have to trial and error this before we can tame the beast!

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       Bill Manningposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I really don't think backlinking is cheating. If I knew I would not rank any higher no matter how many links I make, I would still do it.
       
       Links give you traffic. Links on related sites give you very valuable traffic. One site I have gets over 2,000 uniques a day from links.
       
       If you did it enough you could forget all about Google and just get your traffic from links.

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          shazwellynposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Cheating wasnt my words... I think this was paraphased from... errr... *looks around*... ummm.. I think I watched a recent video  *wink*

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11. 85

    WryLiltposted 14 years ago

    Go away for a few hours and come back to 25 replies.
    
    Thanks for the feedback.

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    kerrygposted 14 years ago

    Misha did a hub awhile back on paid backlinks that you might find useful: http://hubpages.com/hub/Backlink-Tool-O … or-Writers

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       Mishaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the plug Kerry, though the hub about 1waylinks is closer to the topic.
       
       As for the original question - I am with Mark

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          WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks. I will read it.

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    Medora Trevilianposted 14 years ago

    Why pay for something when you can receive it gratis? Linking that occurs naturally is worth more, anyway. All the best things in life are free.

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       WryLiltposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       And if I'd rather have the reward of backlinks now, instead of in nine or ten months or even two years time?
       
       The more backlinks I create, the more people view it, meaning the more natural links will be created.

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