Calling all link builders

For the last few years I’ve worked with 100’s of link building providers including big agencies, social gurus, low cost Asian suppliers, one man bands, seo’s with networks, and link bait specialists. Spending anything from $20,000 a month with some to $100 with others.

If you’re a link building provider then I’d love to hear from you but here are a few tips..
Don’t explain the benefits of link building to me.
Don’t explain SEO to me.
Don’t send me SEO reports.
Don’t send me ranking reports.
Don’t tell me what keywords to target. – You’re only part of a much bigger picture.
Don’t sell – i couldn’t care who your other clients are, or what rankings you got for someone else.
Don’t insist on phone calls – if you can’t explain your service in 2 paragraphs via email i’m not interested.
Don’t ask for a contract longer than 1 month. If we like the work we will renew month after month. Some suppliers have worked with us for 4+ years
Don’t bullshit – claiming to have a database of 1000’s of contacts when all you do is outsource to a 3rd party will piss me off(wont it Gary).
Don’t over promise. If you struggle to meet requirements say so, it’s ok, but tell me as soon as you can – don’t wait until the report is due to tell me your 2nd cousins dog has been sick or our blog sucks so the viral failed.
Don’t make me chase the report you promised.
Don’t try and find out my budget before giving me an idea of a price.

This really should be easy for both of us.

What to do
Within a couple of emails we agree what work to do.
Send me an invoice
You then get on with it, i leave you alone.
End of agreed time you send me a report.

If this hasn’t put you off then get in touch.

Briefly list the work you do – bullet point list would be perfect.
Show me recent samples of your work.
Give me a price, and then give a 2nd price for sending lots of work.
Let me know how much work you can do.

(contacting me should me easy – if not then online isn’t for you)

The Best SEO Blogs

I keep my news reader subscriptions to a minimum, regularly adding and removing sites depending on signal to noise. I look for sites that inform or spark ideas, though some are just entertaining ramblings of a northern monkey. – I actually subscribe to dozens more dormant sites(the infrequent postings mean i don’t unsubscribe) but the list below are ones with activity in the last 3 months.

0toCash
Andrew Girdwood
Bill Slawski
Blogstorm
Church of the customer
David Naylor
EarlGay
Eric Enge
Esrun
Hobo SEO
Irish Wonder
John Andrews
John Battelle
Kissmetrics
Level 343
Link Spiel
Lyndon Antcliff
Ryan Clark
Sebastian’s Pamphlets
Seth Godin
SEO Gadget
State of Search
Tim Grice
The Google Cache
Vinicius Vacanti
Wiep Knol