Internet Backlinks - DIY or get an expert in?

FrankieJ_2

I run an on-line retail business and have been working trying very hard to get my site up the google rankings. I am fairly happy with the optimisation of the site itself but have been desperately trying to work on getting more backlinks. I have been doing this manually up to now - but what a soul destroying and time consuming task!

Has anyone got any tips on how to speed this process up or else recommend any SEO companies that get results on a limited budget!!

:beer:

flo123_2

how many backlinks have you got? Is your site in a competative area? Be really careful about bringing someone in to do the seo work as badly placed backlinks are worse then no backlinks at all.

FrankieJ_2

It's a very competitive area - jewellery. I think I have over 150 backlinks which are a combination of jewellery/fashion related sites. However not all these show up on Alexa and the search engines.

flo123_2

hi frankie,
I too have a jewellery business and am working hard to get backlinks. I have been stung in the past by a seo company who basically took £3,000 for a load of spammy links. My only advice is be really careful about who you hand your money over to. Have you tried UKBF? It's a really vibrant business forum (of which I am a member) and you might find some help there. Not sure if I am alowed to post links so if not the site is ukbusinessforums.
fiona

qw3rt7

You need a proper strategy for such a competitive market. I mean if you want to rank for the term 'jewellery' the top positions have around 25,000 backlinks, amongst other things, so would be VERY hard to beat
(see here for details: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/advsearch?p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ernestjones.co.uk&bwm=i&bwmo=d&bwmf=s ), however 1st position for 'delicate silver jewellery' could easily be achieved with a relevant title and heading, and a handful of links with the correct anchor text.

The key to cracking competitive markets like this is targeting longtail, low competition phrases with individual pages of your site, to get a steady, increasing stream of customers to your site. You can continue to work on your main competitive key words whilst actually seeing results from the lower traffic longtail phrases.

Just going after highly competitive key words, especially if you are doing so manually yourself, is likely to be very frustrating.

cit_k

Try running some competitions, or have a interesting funny flash game designed, something that will go viral, and get people linking to it on blogs, sites, forums etc.

The previous advice in the thread about being careful is worth heeding, as many SEO companies (especially, but not limited to, the cheaper end) can do more harm than good.

You can either learn yourself, or pay a real pro, and you would need a pro for a competetive market like jewellery...

Backlinks alone are only one part of the equation, have you optimised your site for SEO?

FrankieJ_2

THanks for the tips, I will certainly take them on board.

I think our pages are fairly well optimised and we are getting fit page ranking for our brands and some of our less competitive phrases but utlimately it's our aim to get up there for phrases like "costume jewellery"

flo123_2

have you thought about an SEO software like MArket Samuri or something. I have never used it myself but I know it cuts out a lot of the leg work in getting back links etc. I think it is around £150 so might be worth it. As I said I have not used it and don't know if it is any good....there are other similar programms like it too

FrankieJ_2

Good idea - Has anyone used software such as Zeus for semi automating backlinks?

DSoares

Not used Zeus before, no.
A friend of mine has used wizard-solutions.co.uk for SEO/link building - but they charge on a monthly basis.
They do a free site review though, so that might save you a few bob - get them to tell you where your site can be improved.

I guess what you need to figure out is whether you want to take the time to learn SEO/link building/backlinks or you want to pay a professional to do it for you.
I agree with flo123- don't go to an agency that uses 'link farms'- they damage your rankings.

Good luck

D