A Comprehensive Guide To Outsource SaaS Link Building

Ask any reputable SEO expert for a foolproof strategy to scale your SaaS website on the search engine results page (SERPs). Getting high quality backlinks will top the list.

But that's not without reason. 

According to a survey by Brian Dean’s Backlinko, pages with backlinks have higher search engine rankings than those without. Sure enough, number one sites on Google’s front page have 3.9x more backlinks than those below.

However, there’s a catch: link building is a lot of work, time, money, and effort, especially if you're doing it in-house. Moreover, there’s no guarantee your own link building efforts will actually move the needle or deliver the expected results.

And that’s where outsourcing SaaS linking building comes in.

In this article, we will explain what it means to outsource your SaaS link building process, why it is important, and how to start.

What Does It Mean To Outsource SaaS Link Building?

Outsourcing simply means letting an external individual or agency handle a functional job that could have otherwise been done in-house.

In this case, you’re contracting an experienced expert or a dedicated SaaS link building service agency outside your company to build quality links to your website.

While that looks like a simple decision to make, there are actually a lot of factors that come into play:

• You just developed a new SaaS website and lacked the proper in-house assets to take charge of backlinks.
• Your website’s growth has reached a plateau, and it needs an ice-breaker link building strategy that you can’t currently offer.
• You’re taking over a new website and need to scale it up, but you don't have the necessary link building resources.
• You have tried doing it in-house but failed countless times. Trust me, it happens a lot.
• You want to kick things up fast and project your SaaS website for maximum traffic value.

The fun fact is you’re not the only one stuck when it comes to building good links. Over 65% of SEO marketers – including reputable specialists – agree that link building is the hardest SEO strategy.

And when it comes to the SaaS market, things are much more difficult. For relevance, you need to get links from other relevant websites in the same or near-same niche which means you must invest in an expensive PR strategy. So, it’s only a matter of time before your brand’s pocket starts to leak.

However, the game changes with outsourcing link building services. A record-proven and goal-oriented link building outsourcing team like TripleDart gets the job done, delivers beyond-expected results, and ensures you receive value for your money. Simple!

Reasons You Should Outsource Link Building

According to SEOtribunal, 75% of SEO is off-page. And one of the most important off-page factors is backlink. 

Search Engine Journal also analyzed hundreds of ranking signals for Google and found that backlinks, among other things, have a high cadence of SEO value.

With this much value, it's crucial to ensure your link building process is in the right hands – which is most likely not your hands. 

And here's why:

1. You Don't Have The Time To Spare

As a SaaS business owner, you have tons of tasks to execute, several teams to manage, meetings to attend, and so many more. In most cases, even the highly-touted 40-hour work week is not enough. Agreed?

Now imagine having to set up a fully armed in-house link building team. 

• First off, you have to source out talents through your HR team. 
• Spend days or weeks onboarding them and ensuring they understand your company’s culture.
• Integrate the team with your content and SEO team, marketing and sales departments, and other crucial units of the organization.
• Then, try and fail multiple times just to find a strategy that works – which you might never find. 

Don’t also forget you have to monitor their work processes, ensure they properly integrate with the company’s existing workflow and track the results they produce.

During the trial and error process, you’ll likely lay off one or two talents in search of others with better competencies. And that means another cycle of onboarding, integrating, training, etc.

That’s a lot for an already busy company. Moreover, it’s easier to assign lesser priority to other vital units in your organization if you’re not careful.

Your proposed team members also have their own difficulties. 

• An average link specialist with a year’s worth of experience can only build a max of 7 backlinks per month, according to Mark Webster. 
• That means a team of one specialist and other supporting members will need working experience of about 5 years to effectively build as much as 15 links monthly.

Source: Editorial.link

In contrast, outsourcing your link building process takes the whole work off your desk. You focus on the results, while an external link builder handles the whole job. Besides, most dedicated enterprise link-building agencies have quite a number of top link building specialists, not just one, which means you should expect tens of top-quality backlinks, monthly.

2. SaaS Costs A Lot Already

SaaS lives on big money. You have to spend thousands or hundreds of thousands to build and maintain cutting-edge software.

Then, there’s enterprise SaaS SEO. Aira’s state of link building reports that 61% of marketers spend 10% of their total budget on link building activities. We’ve not even factored in the cost of other SEO tactics, including website content creation and technical optimization.

To develop a functional internal link building team, you have to account for the cost of SEO tools used, the salary of each team member, employee packages, and other side expenses. 

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• The cheapest Ahref subscription is $129 per month and without add-ons. Let’s ignore the fact that you’ll need more than two different SEO tools and more expensive plans for extensive features.
• An average link building specialist earns between $67,000 to $124,000, depending on work experience. If your team has one specialist, one PR manager, one content writer, and one editor, then you should expect to spend around $500,000 yearly for an above-average team.
• Full-time employees are entitled to certain benefits such as paid leaves, healthcare insurance, paid vacations and tours, life insurance, dental insurance, disability insurance, retirement plans in cash or stock, severance packages, etc. Value can not be estimated and varies depending on location.
• Some websites charge you for every link they give.

Source: Glassdoor

Combine everything, and you’re going to get a ridiculous total. Is it worth it? Well, not so much for a team that still has to go through trial-and-error link building processes.

On the other hand, outsourcing your link building processes to an experienced SaaS link building agency saves you stress and ensures you don’t drain your bank to get things done. You spend less and achieve better results. No employee benefits, no need to invest thousands of dollars in tools, and you only pay for results.

3. Gathering A Team With The Required Skill Sets Is Tricky

A link building team is only as effective as the members making it up and their competencies. For a good team, you need talents with skills such as:

• Above-average SEO expertise and sufficient knowledge of search algorithms.
• A solid PR management competence.
• Negotiation skills to close fair link building deals.
• Versatile content writing competence to fit different brand’s tone when creating guest posts.
• Good eye for link building opportunities.
• Ability to follow up and keep track of previous projects.

Besides the niche-specific skills, you need individuals with soft skills for communication, dedication, quick decision-making, efficient problem-solving, and attention to detail to launch a successful link campaign.

Gathering a team with these skills takes a lot, whether in time or money, and there’s a high chance you never will. Most of our clients were unable to do so until we stepped in.

Alternatively, you can outsource to a team that has all these competencies in place already. That’s quicker and more effective.

4. Access To A Library Of Experience

Creating an in-house team gives you 100% control, but that means you have to settle for a team of individuals:

• Who have never worked together.
• Who lack record-backed experience working in the field.
• Who lack the necessary knowledge to build an effective link building campaign strategy.

And this results in failed campaigns.

If there’s one thing about outsourcing to SaaS link building agencies, it is that they have been in the game for years. They have tried and tested hundreds of link building strategies themselves, worked with different brands to solve big SEO problems, and devised a surefire way to produce quantifiable results.

So, would you rather hand over the future of your SaaS brand to an inexperienced team or let our experts do their thing? We’ll let you decide that.

5. SaaS Is A Game Of Efficiency

There are over 30,000+ SaaS companies globally, and a large number are located in the United States of America. 

With this much competition, you don’t have the time to try hundreds of strategies in order to find out which one works or not. Your competitors will be way a thousand miles ahead by the time you’re done.

Outsourcing link-building helps you tap into reputable link building experts' knowledge, experience, and databases. 

Most importantly, dedicated SaaS link-building agencies have a library of high-ranking authoritative websites in place to build links from. This makes it easier to tap into their resources and get only relevant links.

6. You Get Trackable Results And Accountability

When you outsource to the right team, your first index of measurement is the results you get. 

Let’s say you got a link from sites like SEJ, Forbes and Hubspot. The first thing you’ll notice is the change in the number of leads that come into your sales funnel daily and amount of conversions due to improved SEO ranking.

Link building agencies also provide weekly or monthly analytics reports or dashboards, which you can use to monitor the value you’re getting. If it’s below your expectations, you have the option to pull out, and some offer a money-back guarantee. 

No spooky dealings or ill-promised results without delivery. And unlike your internal team that’s still trying to find a strategy that works, you can be assured of delivery from day one.

How Much Does Outsourcing Link Building Cost? 

Link building costs a fortune if you’re planning to do it in-house as we’ve previously explained. At least, you will need a budget of more than $500,000 for a total of 150 to 200 links yearly.

Outsourcing costs less, as little as $50 and as much as $3000 per link. Here’s a clearer breakdown based on our analysis of other link building teams.

• Low-quality links: $50 - $100 per one.
• Medium-quality links: $150 - $300 per one.
• High-quality links: $200 - $3000 per one.

Several factors also influence the overall cost:

• Industry competition: SaaS links cost more regardless of quality. A low-quality link could go for as little as $150 to as high as $5000 per one.
• Plan: A link building package costs less when you break it down per link. On the flip side, a standalone link plan costs more.
• Quality: We explained the differences from low to high quality above.

So, if you plan to build 30 high-quality SaaS links monthly, the minimum budget will be ($200 x 30 links). 

That’s $6000 per 30 links monthly and $72,000 per 360 links yearly—a cheaper alternative compared to almost $500,000 for an in-house team. Bear in mind that the minimum outsourcing cost varies but is not as expensive as in-house costs.

How To Outsource Link Building?

If you’re at this stage, then it means you understand why outsourcing link building services is crucial for your SaaS brand’s success.

Now, let’s see how to outsource link building and get your campaign running.

1. Design A Goal And Objective Roadmap

Your goal highlights which pain points you hope to solve and the results you want to achieve by outsourcing. For instance, you might be battling with scaling your site content and service pages on SERPs, which in turn leads to little to no visibility and low organic traffic leads

By the time you outsource your link building, these goals become your major metric and index of campaign success before anything else. Moreso, the team you outsource your link building to will also need it to optimize their strategy.

When creating a goal, ensure you follow the SMART methodology.

• Specific: Rank number one on Google’s front page.
• Measurable And Achievable: Rank number one for ten main keywords on Google’s front page.
• Relevant: Rank number one for ten main keywords on Google’s front page to boost organic lead generation.
• Time-bound: Rank number one for ten main keywords on Google’s front page to boost organic lead generation within six months.

You can always adjust your goals as needs grow.

2. Assess Your Current Link Building Efforts And If Website Is Ready

You’re going to be wasting your money if your website isn’t ready to be linked to. 

Let’s say you got backlinks from reputable sites like Forbes. If your content is not up to par and your competitors notice, they can request a link replacement with alternative quality content to Forbes’ editors. 

Also, backlinks boost organic traffic and your website’s overall SEO and help your pages rank high in search engines. But what determines if leads stay is if they find value. Remember, your main goal is to acquire organic leads.

Things to check for include:

• Website design and scalability.
• Content on-site, content deliverability, internal linking, and other on-page SEO factors.
• Customer support.
• Mobile-friendliness.
• Usability and navigability.

Run a technical audit to assess website speed and fix. Most users expect your website to load within 2 to 3 seconds, or they’ll ditch it.

3. Estimate Available Capital And Viable Budget

How many links you build monthly or yearly depends on your base capital. If you’re short on revenue, you can start with 15 high-quality links monthly and gradually scale up till you have enough to build 50 monthly.

We know there’s a lot of pressure, especially if your competitors have hundreds of thousands of unique backlinks while you have barely a hundred. But it’s best to take it stepwise and avoid breaking the bank.

4. Agency or Freelancer

Most brands prefer outsourcing to freelancers on Upwork or Fiverr. Sure, they provide services at a cheaper cost, maybe as little as $30 per link.

However, there’s a downside. Most, but not all, of these freelancers use link farms that they own, deliver in just a few days or hours, and promise results that don’t come.

For better results, you should choose a reputable SaaS link-building agency with a track record of completed link building campaigns. Agencies comprise specialized teams and usually go through the white-hat link-building process — outreach, guest posts, context edits, editorial mentions, etc.

5. Find The Best Agency

To choose the best agency for your link-building campaign, you should consider years of operation, case studies, database, and market reputation, among other things. Go to their review and testimonial pages and verify from third-party review sites as well to confirm claims. 

Most importantly, consider your budget. Agency pricing and plans vary. Some charge as much as $1000 per quality link, whereas others charge just around $200 while delivering more or less the same quality.

You can also request a trial period at little cost or go on a demo call with their sales representatives to explore their link-building process. Ensure you’re not draining your wallet for a link-farming agency disguised as a SaaS SEO agency.

6. Evaluate Results After Six Months

After investing a fortune into making things work, you definitely don’t want to leave it on auto-run. Evaluate your efforts and the effectiveness of the agency you outsourced to in three to six months by reviewing the analytic reports.

3-6 months is ideal because that’s how long it takes to see the maximum effects of a link-building campaign on average. But you can also evaluate after the first month.

Also, you can integrate the contracted agency into some of your outer-level meetings in order to help them understand brand processes and develop a strategy that’s tailored to your SaaS only. Works well for maximum results.

Let’s Save You The Trouble

So, that’s it! You now know what it means to outsource link building, why your SaaS business needs to, and how you can.

However, we understand how difficult the whole process can be, and that’s why we want to help you. At TripleDart, we’ve built a one-hit SaaS link-building strategy that works all the time after leveraging our decades of experience. 

Our team analyzes your needs and evaluates your existing strategy to design a result-oriented link-building campaign that moves the needle.

Ready to start? Let’s one, two, build!

FAQ

What Is Outsourced Link Building?

Outsourced link-building is a strategy that involves letting an external agency or freelance link-building specialist handle your link-building process. For a SaaS brand, this allows you to focus on other things that matter, saves money, and is more efficient than just building links with an in-house team.

Best Time to Outsource Link Building?

There’s no fixed time to outsource link building, but outsourcing is the best option if your SEO strategy is lagging or you don’t have enough capital to build links with an in-house team. Other factors such as time, experience, and efficiency are enough indicators to outsource your link-building process.

Does link building still work for SEO?

Yes! Backlinks are still major ranking signals and strongly correlate with ranking on SERPs. To acquire high quality links, you need to actively invest in link building through guest posting, broken link building, editorial mentions, context editing, and other approaches. Outsourcing to a known link-building agency in the industry, such as TripleDart, makes it easy.

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