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What Makes Linkshero Different?

My name is Artem and I founded Linkshero because I needed a link building service I could trust myself (you can read my full story here).

There are 3 main problems you might have already seen while shopping around:

1. Zero Transparency. Agencies don’t show you how they do things and hide all the processes from you. If they have things to hide, how legit could they be?

2. Bullsh*t Links. Spammy link building is a staple of conventional poor quality services. This is when you get Web 2.0s, spammy comments, PBNs...all pointing to your real business website. Rest assured that Google Penalty will follow next.

3. Dishonesty. They tell you “it’s white hat”, but then your site ends up on a homepage of a website that is a part of a PBN. It happens all the time and I really hate that.

With all this in mind I wanted Linkshero to be something that you can trust your business to (while sipping Piña Coladas on the Bahamas of course).

Something that would push your business to grow and succeed in the long-run because it is just SO GOOD that one can’t ignore it.

First, Linkshero is 100% Transparent!

You have access to everything that we do:

• Leads we find
• Emails we send
• Processes we operate

Seriously...

Anything you need to look at - we are there with our books 100% open!

In fact, we are so transparent that you can just steal our process (it’s the execution that you can’t get hehe).

We build links using a solid process of blogger outreach.
In other words, we simply tell people that are most likely to be interested in our content about its existence.
And because the content we pitch is extraordinary, people can’t help but link to it...after a minor email "push".

Time for the unprecedented - I am now going to show how we build links...from A to Z.
Grab a coffee/tea or hot chocolate with marshmallows because this one is long 😉

Our entire process is divided into four stages.

• Stage 1: Discovery
• Stage 2: Planning
• Stage 3: Prospecting
• Stage 4: Outreach

Let's look at how we do things in detail...

As we are building real business and long-term value here, we need to familiarize ourselves with your business and your website.

This is what we do during this stage and there are 3 steps that we always follow.

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Step 1: Onboarding Questionnaire

Once the payment is processed, you get a form to fill.

Here are some of the questions that we ask:

• Why are you doing what you are doing? What's your mission?
• What's the ultimate goal for your brand? Where do you strive to be in 5 years? 10 years?
• Are you a part of any community/ies? (e.g. local chess club, MMA fighting, kingdom of the little people in China etc...) List 2+ below.

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You would need to provide as much information as you can because we will be building real relationships with real people on your behalf.

Why is this awesome?

Well, if you decide that you don’t want to work with us in the future, you would still have this REAL people that we built these relationships for you.

If you understand the power of what good people can do for your business...

Maaaan...you understand how insanely awesome this is!

Brag​​​​ Note
We had our clients invited for interviews and local events, based on the blogger outreach we did for them.
How cool is that for a link building service?! 😉

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Step 2: Google Search Console & Analytics Access

Tree rings record all sorts of things that happen with a given tree over the course of its entire lifetime.

Google’s Search Console & Analytics are kind of the same thing for your website.

We need to see if there are any existing problems, so that we don’t waste our effort.

We can also find some opportunities that we could translate into gains really quick.

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Step 3: SEO Analysis

We use Ahrefs, a leading data-driven marketing toolset, to decipher your website.

By doing this we want to check these 4 things:

• Your top performing pages. Why did they perform so well? Can we amplify and/or recreate that success?
• Your least performing pages. Why did they flop? Can we turn them into superstars? How?
• Toxic links coming from nasty websites. These usually come as a result of poor link building practices, negative SEO attacks, spammy links that accumulated over the years…
• Anchor Text Analysis. Is there any over-optimization for a given keyword? How do you compare to your competitors?

We also run a quick speed test and give recommendations based on the results.

Please note that we are “just” a link building service, so we won’t be able to resolve that for you, but...SEO is like a human body - everything is interconnected (so we can’t ignore other problems your site might have).

By the end of the onboarding stage we know:

• Why you do what you do
• Your target audience
• Your top competitors
• Whether you are already a part of some community
• How good your website is in eyes of Google
• What is your top performing content
• If we need to clean up your link profile

In other words, we have a solid understanding of your business.

Time to move on!

During the onboarding stage we take in as much info as possible because we use it to plan a winning link building strategy for you.

Our planning also depends on:

• Your willingness and ability to create content
• Your budget
• Time available

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• Original research
• Visuals (e.g. infographics)
• Expert guides
• Interviews
• Any combination of the above and more…

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Step 4: Understand the Path

There are generally two NOT mutually exclusive paths we could take.

We like using their combination because it brings the best results, but it depends on the case by case basis.

Path 1: Building Links to a Linkable Asset

So, if your budget allows, then we would definitely take you towards building a few, but remarkable pieces of content that would be like pillars of your website.

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• Step 1: Create LOOOONG Form EVERGREEN content
• Step 2: Promote it like there is no tomorrow

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We use these following resources to get ideas for a killer piece that would drive insane traffic to your website + get you a ton of links:

• Your Competitors. Yes, sometimes competitors are actually quite smart, so we can “steal” something from them and build on that.
• Your Search Console.  This is another reason we need your permission to view it - SC is a powerful tool that basically tells you how you can improve your existing content. Google gives us all the answers - let's use them!
• Google Trends/News. Sometimes we can capitalize on a trending topic and build something around that. It’s like finding a horse to ride.
• Ahrefs Content Explorer (CE). CE shows us top performing content for a given keyword. We can also see its shareability and the number of links it received. Basically, we look for content that already performed great in the past and, again, build something around it or just take and improve it “above and beyond”.
• Your Audience. Sometimes people ask awesome questions. We can totally create something outstanding by answering them!
• Your Expertise. If you know something that must be published out there (e.g. you have some research or 1st hand experience in the subject), then it can easily become a stellar linkable asset.

• A lot lower bounce rates
• A looot higher page dwell time (Google rewards those that provide sticky content like by a LOT)

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The benefits of building linkable assets are massive:

• First, you get new content for your blog
• Second, you can get many quality links via blogger outreach
• Third, you can get people to subscribe (via PDF Download of that same post)
• Fourth, you can rank for a loooot of keywords, when you are #1 for the main target keyword of yours (on average, if you rank #1 for the main keyword, you also rank for 1,000 long-tail keywords - imagine this traffic potential!)

Path 2: Guest Posting for Link Building

If you are new to link building, then you should know that guest blogging is one of the most commonly used white hat link building strategies out there.

It works, but it gets abused by marketers all the time, so quite a few webmasters started asking for money to get them posted on their websites.

This is explicitly against Google’s TOS.

On top of that, think of it this way, if they sell to you, then they sell to anyone!

Only God (and Ahrefs) knows who they sell links to!! (casinos and viagra anyone? 😉 )

So, money corrupts the system and, honestly, we would never put your business at risk.

We use guest posting as a way to build genuine relationship with those websites that are actually real and relevant to your niche.

If they ask us for money, we say “see ya l8r allig8r” and move on to the next lead.

Yeap, Linkshero is too honest to thrive on this market? 😀

Step 5: Create Content Calendar (only for Linkable Assets)

If we are moving along with LAs, then we need to plan things ahead and follow the plan step by step...ferociously. 😎

Again, our goal is not quantity...it’s quality!

I would much rather post one exceptional piece once a month (and get a ton of links and features in all sorts of places) rather than dump 10 average entries in one week.

Yessss...that’s how important that is.

Depending on your budget and output capacity, we would have a different number of linkable assets produced every month, but if I was to pick a number - 2 per month would be the rule of thumb.

Ready with content calendar?

Now is the time to take action! 😉

By the end of this planning stage we know:

• Link building path we are taking (LAs, GPs or both)
• Have a content calendar (if applicable)

Stage 3: Prospecting

Link prospecting is the 3rd stage of our top quality white hat link building service. 

In essence, link prospecting is simply finding leads that are most likely to link to your business.

Here is what these leads look like, once they are organized in a client's spreadsheet:

Depending on the path we choose, the type of content that you are willing to produce (or already produced) and a few other things, we will be looking for the following prospects...

Step 6: Prospecting for Guest Posts

Depending on your niche, guest contributions can be insanely effective for getting referral traffic and building authority (which obviously converts into links...you link junkie lol).

What is Guest Posting?

In link building universe guest posting (aka guest blogging) is basically writing on somebody else's website in exchange for a backlink. 

When done with quality in mind, it is a great way to meet new people, expand your audience, build authority and even get some new business!

How Do We Find Guest Post Opportunities?

There are 3 types of blogs on the internet:

• Type 1: Openly Accept Guest Posts. To find them we use a simple Google search operator - [keyword] "guest post".
•  Type 2: Indirectly Accept Guest Posts. These guys do not publicly state that they accept guest posts, but if you make friends with them - they would. Basically any blog that's relevant to your business can be "befriended".
• Type 3: Don't Accept. Yeap, there are many blogs that don't accept guest contributions even if you are friends with them. 

Step 7: Prospecting for Competitor Backlinks

I like this method a lot because sometimes it gives insaaane results!

The only “negative positive” thing here is that before you actually deploy this type of link building, you need to create an outstanding linkable asset (you must do that anyway - there are no excuses).

What is Competitor Link Building?

We would simply find all the worthy links that you competitors have and try to get them to link to us as well.

How Do We Find Competitor Links?

Let’s assume we created an absurdly awesome guide on “dog training”.

We would now go and find all the articles that are relevant to our piece AND have a substantial amount of backlinks pointing to them (all this via Ahrefs).

We would then filter out the rubbish that they might have accumulated over time and record them into our database for the outreach stage.

By the way, here is my very own video of competitor link building...check it out:

Step 8: Prospecting for Resource Pages

This type of link building is very common and we use it extensively.

What Is Resource Page Link Building?

A resource page is simply a page with helpful links that point to external helpful resources.

Only exceptional content gets featured on those pages (that’s why you need a killer LA).

How Do We Find Resource Pages?

Everything on the Internet has a footprint and resource pages are not an exception.

Going back to our “dog training” article…

In order to find relevant resource pages, we would type “dog training inurl:links” in Google’s Search.

By doing that we really tell Google that we are interested in results that contain the word “links” in their URL + they must be relevant to dog training.

We then filter all the results and record relevant quality leads in the database.

Step 9: Prospecting for Link Roundups

Another great way to build quality backlinks is by the means of link roundups.

What Are Link Roundups?

Link roundups are very similar to resource pages with one main difference - they are time-sensitive.

In other words, they are usually collected over a specified period of time - weekly, monthly etc.

Here is an example of a typical link roundup: “Monday Link Roundup: Best Posts From Last Week”.

How Do We Find Link Roundups?

Again, very similar idea with resource pages - type “dog training link roundup” in Google Search and you might already seem some results.

We can also fine-tune what we get by telling Google we are only interested in the roundups posted during the last week/month or any custom date range.

All the viable leads are also recorded in our database.

Above are the most common types of link prospecting, but we at times we also use:

• Twitter prospecting. We would find people based on what they Tweeted previously and pitch them our story/content.
• Recent Stories Prospecting. Sometimes we can capitalize on newsjacking and/or pitch a re-usable asset (e.g. an infographic) that we created to journalists and relevant bloggers.

Link prospecting is a continuous process of our white hat link building service.

By the end of this stage, we have all the prospects required for the next stage of process - outreach.

This is the final stage of our link building cycle.

This is when we “pull the trigger” and pitch our leads whatever we have.

To do this we use personalized emails that are most likely to trigger a positive response.

Let’s look at this stage using the 2 paths I mentioned earlier.

Path 1: Outreach for Guest Posts

Our main goal here is to sell YOU as an authority that would provide great content to their audience.

Given that you are an expert in your field many other blogs will LOVE to have your your input on their websites...and we just make that happen!

After a successfully secured guest post not only you get a link to your website, but you have a VERY powerful new connection with the person on the other side of the screen. You will be able to grow this collaboration into something big.

Based on our guest post pitches I had my clients:

• Invited for interviews
• Invited for local events
• Asked for further business collaboration
• Discover new clients

I hope you now see why getting a link to your website is literally the tiniest outcome our link building service gets you.

Path 2: Outreach for Competitor Links, Resource Pages, Link Roundups etc…

Our main goal in this scenario is to show your extraordinary content to those that might be really interested to learn more about the whatever subject you wrote about.

The really cool thing is that we have a killer reason for outreach - we have a “WHY?” question ticked off.

We reach out because we saw them interested in the subject before and all we do is feed them something they already liked in the past.

Based on this simple principle that works all the time we had:

• Linkable assets go viral and collect links throughout the year (imagine if you get links to your business naturally...without a link building service!)
• LAs featured on news websites pretty much doubling traffic and exploding the DR/DA of our client overnight
• Received invitations for business collaborations and local events (similar to guest posts as well)

Which brings us to…

Step 10: Reaching Out

Finally!

If you ever sent cold pitches, then you know how daunting that actually is - you get little reward for all the hard work because EVEN WITH a toooon of personalization, there won’t be many results.

This is why quality white hat link building is so laborious.

To give you an idea of conversion rates for the 2 paths…

• Guest posts. Anywhere between 5% and 50%. A lot depends on your niche, your voice and your website.
• Linkable assets. Anywhere between 1% and 10%. Again, a lot depends on your niche, your asset, timing and so on.

Let’s talk examples.

If we were to get you 10 GP placements at 5% conversion rate, we would need to email 200 targets.

To do that we use heavily personalized outreach templates.

Given that they are sent to a properly found target audience, we get the most quality white hat links possible.

Step 11: Following Up & Managing Replies

What’s more daunting and time-consuming that sending emails?

Managing replies and following up!

You might be surprised to know that most of the backlinks actually come from follow ups  - that’s what many link builders don’t say.

We usually follow up once or twice before moving forward (we could have bombarded them for a lot longer, but we don’t want your business to end up in spam boxes and your reputation associating with aggressive spam).

Managing replies is also very time-consuming.

Sometimes people don’t understand or get confused, sometimes they want more details...so it takes a lot of time.

Another special category of people - those that are genuinely interested in our pitch, are happy to include the link, but then disappear after some negotiation.

We are able to track that with Google Sheets, which means that we leave no stone unturned.

Last time it tooks us 6 weeks to secure the link after the initial contact we made with the lead - now that’s negotiation skills!

F.A.Q.

Here is a few things I want to expand on.

Why Do You Charge That Price?

Ok, here is how it works.

Finding, filtering and recording 200 leads into a spreadsheet takes about 20 hours.

Writing templates, pitching, managing replies and following up takes about 25 hours more.

This makes a total of 45 hours.

Now that we divide €2,000 by 45 we get €44 per hour payment, which is a veeery affordable SEO price (in fact, SEO prices usually start from $100 per hour, so we are bargain).

And on top of that you don’t just pay for the time we work - you are actually guaranteed results!

Why Do You Have a Limited Number of Clients?

We put a ton of effort and work a lot for our clients - quality in this regard is hard to scale.

On top of that I don’t really want to scale because being an oversubscribed small giant is a lot more fun for me personally.

Do You Have a Money Back Guarantee?

Nope, no money back guarantee because, again, you pay for the time we work + your guaranteed results.

What If You Pitch 200 Targets, But Won’t Get Me Links?

We continue pitching until we get you those 10 links. That’s, obviously, free of extra charge.

What If You Pitch 200 Targets, But Will Get Me More Than 10 Links?

You get them for FREE!

This is why our service is so good price-wise...

You get your white hat links for cheap IF you have content that people are stunned by! 😉

Do You Also Create Content?

We tried that in the past, but we don’t do that anymore because when link builders try to create content...it doesn’t work.

Ideally we want you to have your in-house (or freelance) content creator that we could be in touch with directly in order to share ideas and feedback on what to create and how to write it (there are specific steps they could take in order to create linkable assets that get links).

Anything Else I Need to Know About?

Here are a few bits:

1. We don’t work with people that want to teach us SEO. By all means, we always listen to your concerns, but if you think you know better, just do it yourself.
2. The price we charge doesn’t include any extra fees that PayPal or Transferwise may include, so they will be added upon the payment.
3. There is definitely something else, but this should be good enough for now.

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