Building backlinks is important to the success of any website. These links help you go up in the rankings at search engines like Google and this will therefore give you more traffic. Building backlinks yourself can sometimes be a time consuming task. This is why plenty of webmasters prefer to outsource the creation of backlinks to an external service so they can focus on other things, such as improving the content of their website.

But in order for your backlinking campaign to be successful, you need to use a service provider that knows what they are doing. Otherwise, you may end up with poor results or they may actually hurt your search engine rankings. Here are some things to look for when selecting a backlinking service provider:

The speed at which the backlinks are done

Google will not like it if a site that only had a few backlinks suddenly starts receiving thousands of them overnight. It will be quite obvious to them that you are trying to “game the system” and go up in search results quickly. Make sure that your service provider understands this and that the posting of the backlinks will be done in a gradual, natural way.

The sites where they post

Backlinks shouldn’t be posted on sites which are plagued with comment spam or are nothing more than a page full of links to other sites. This will probably hurt your rankings more than it will improve them and is therefore best avoided.

The quality of the comments

Posting your website‘s link on blogs is how many service providers build backlinks. However, for them to be effective, the backlinks would need to be posted on blogs which are in the same niche than you. Furthermore, they have to be actually relevant to the post at hand, rather than being generic comments like “Nice site” or “Thanks, very good!”. Comments like these look like obvious spam and will probably end up being removed quickly by the blog owner.

Check their reviews

Many providers of backlinking services advertise their services on sections of internet marketing forums designed for this purpose. This actually is a very big advantage for you. You will be able to see comments from other users who have purchased backlinks from them and see if other buyers were satisfied or not.

Avoid going with a provider that has few or no reviews, even if their prices seem to be the least expensive out there. Many scammers price their offerings very low in order to attract a lot of orders and then do either poor quality work or do nothing at all and disappear with the money they’ve collected. If you have to deal with a new member who doesn’t have any reviews and hasn’t built up a reputation, only make a very small order first to see if they are actually able to deliver on what they’ve promised.

Hiring outsourcers can either be an awesome experience or a complete nightmare, sadly I have been on both ends of the spectrum. Good contractors are hard to come by, but if you look in the right places you are going to have a much better chance of finding someone within budget and that is capable of doing the work to your satisfaction.

Today we are going to focus on outsourcing websites such as oDesk, Elance, and Guru.

Putting Out Jobs Requests

The first step of finding someone to do work for you is your job request. This is the most essential part and the area where you will make or break your chance at getting a good contractor.

Make sure you are extremely specific. If you want a native English speaker, make that a requirement. If you want someone for less than $5 per hour, make that a requirement. Make sure the task you are requesting to be completed is extremely detailed so that potential contractors can assess whether or not is worth their time and if so, what their price to complete the task is.

Choosing a Contractor

If you are looking for a long term contractor this is the time to really focus in on what you want and make sure the person is qualified to do what you are asking them to do. One great way to make sure you have the right person is to put 4-5 of your best candidates on a trial basis. What you do is simply ask them to do a task (for a reduced amount, say 50% of their asking price) and do part of the task like that. If they get hired you will hire them for their asking wage, if not you pay them for the work they did. This helps the hirer make sure they have the right person, and as a contractor makes them work harder to try and get the long term work.

Clear Tasks

Make sure you are very clear with the tasks you give to your contractors. From the start you need to give very clear and concise directions to your contractor. Ask them to explain back to you what you are requesting, so you can make sure they understand the task (especially if it is a long term task). Don’t be afraid to ask for changes or to send videos showing them how you want something done.

Once you have a good contractor, hang on to them and make sure they are happy. Keep the work coming for them and you will have a great working relationship.

Whether you are writing your emails to your clients or you are outsourcing your writing to a ghostwriter, the most important thing is to cater to the audience you have currently.

Not the audience you wish you had.

What is the difference? A lot actually. Some emails that I get from internet marketing folks or even from big box retailers usually do not pertain to me. Sure, maybe I am cynical and a harsh customer, but I expect a lot from people sending me emails, so when they disappoint I usually unsubscribe as soon as I get to the link to click it.

When you have potential clients and clients on your mailing list, you have a problem.

Why? Because one group already knows you and your kick-butt products you sell.

The other needs to be convinced that your products are their best choice if they are going to buy “x” online.

Understand the difference? Good! Then don’t have them on the same list as each other.

Set up two (or more) lists for clients. If you have an opt in for a free report, have that as a “potential clients” list.

Then, if you have people who have bought your product, put them on a brand new list that is “buyers” because you know a few special things about them. They A) bought your product, B) Have money to spend, and C) are interested in your niche/type of products. With this you can market specific messages to them, how to get the most out of your program or other complimentary programs (down the line) that will help them boast their productivity more, or what have you. These can be your own products or products from others that you are an affiliate for.

Another thing you need to be careful of with your email auto responders is to not send them to frequently. Send an email per week and always make sure you include an opt out button at the end. Don’t spam your followers, you should just be happy they signed up for your email list in the first place!

Stay human. Don’t try to get overly complex (unless your product is on nuclear research or something), and make sure you explain everything in your email, so there are no questions left for the user to try and dig up somewhere else, you will lose subscribers easily that way.