Would you buy cheap links for potential page rank in the future?

I am wondering if this business model would work. Will people pay for a link for a cheap price now on a page with little or no page rank with the idea that later on the site may get a higher PR? Kind of like an investment. Once the site gets a page rank the prices go up.

I developed a site based on this but now I am not too sure if I should try and market it since it seems you need to already have an established page rank before people would even consider purchasing links.

 

I think it won't work.

People look at your pagrank, backlinks, content relevancy and quantity of outbound links on your page.

Why to pay for link on pages that can never get pagerank or get it within couple of years?

 

I have used a similar model on my directories for the last year, and it seems to be working (albeit slowly). I started with 2 directories on seperate IPs and the basic premise that one would be purely paid while the other required reciprocals. I then reworked the script of the reciprocal directory so that links from the paid directory appeared as featured links in the recip directory. If people wanted featured links in the recip directory, they were forwarded to the paid directory.

Obviously, when I started this they no PR, so I charged charged $2 for a permanent lifetime link. Shortly there after, I created a 3rd directory which would also display the links from the paid directory as featured links and raised my price to $3. Not long after that, Google did their PR update, and my two original sites went to PR 4 so I bumped the price to $5. I am working on a 4th and 5th directory to add to the mix (which will also display the paid links as featured links), so I will be raising my price again soon.

I have about 650 links in my paid directory, and around 33% of them have been purchased in the last 3 months, so I would say that people will pay for future developments IF they are fairly certain future developments will occur. You can ensure this by adding content regularly (blog weekly, add reprint articles, etc.). Make sure to point out to people that you are and will be growing, but don't say junk like "This page predicted to be PR7 in Google's next update!".

 

As a customer I can say NO I'll NOT!

 

I wouldnt, rather buy on sites with existing pr or wait til there is pr on the site.

 

I feel the same way. And it would show me that the owner of the site has been actively pursuing a well built website and doing it with patience.

 

But, if the price is reasonable, why wouldn't you? Suppose you're the type that would pay $1 for a link on a PR1 page, $2 for PR 2, etc.

Now, if you see a site that is constantly being updated, has indexed pages, has its blog listed in blogomatic, feedburner, etc. and they're offering a link for $1, would you stil buy it? It is a given that they will gain PR, the question is simply how much PR will be granted.

 

This question can be easily answered by applying a little common sense. Who cares what the PR on the toolbar shows? Does Google update the toolbar PR each day...NO. Does Google update your site's PR...YES ALL THE TIME.

If I had a brand new site that got picked up by all the major media, got links on wikipedia, and tons of .gov and .edu links....are you saying that my site would only attain any kind value after a toolbar update?

Should you purchase links on sites with a PR0....YES. If the site has attained a considerable number of quality backlinks (which you can find here http://www.linkvendor.com/seo-tools/domain-popularity.html) and is well designed, you know that your investment will pay off. Now If someone is charging money for a link on a page with 2 inbound links, a free template, and no content, its obvious that your investment will never pay off. You should also be careful because some people will attain a PR5, stop promoting and link building, and your link will become a PR2 or less after the next update.

The point of my little rant here is that you should be more concerned with the quality of the site rather than the PR. That is what you should base your decisions on.

 

Actually I woulud do it if the link was guaranteed to stick. But I have found that many webmasters I have dealt with tend to remove the link when their page climbs in PR.
Actually I am intrigued by Tims Directory.
What do you mean by 4 links? Does that mean I can submit 1 site to 4 categories, 4 sites or 1 site to 4 different directories?

 

I find it funny since the fact that the updates and this whole thing is from Google. So yes I would depend more off of the Original Google toolbar updates vs. someones PR toolbar. Considering that one basis their info off of Google Info. So Google is the official on the in PR info.

 

I have four general directories. They are all on seperate IPs. They are:

1. www.after5webdesign.com/directory/index.php
2. www.dakotatundra.com
3. www.ndthunder.com (<- need to fix that template someday)
4. www.dyartts.com/directory/index.php

To save myself a lot of typing, I will refer to them by number. 1 is paid only, and its listings are replicated in 2, 3, and 4 as featured links, so if you buy a link in 1, you also get links in 2, 3, and 4. 1 also allows deep linking and listings in multiple categories (as long as they are appropriate), so both of your questions are correct: you can submit one site to four categories, and it will automatically be added to all four sites. That would give you 16 links for $20. And here's how my model matches the model in this thread: As I build new general directories, all links currently in the After 5 directory will be included as featured links in the new directories, so you are getting the promise of future returns by buying today. People who paid $2 11 months ago for two links in PR0 directories are pretty tickled about their investment now I should suppose

 

I actually just launched my first directory website and I do charge for permanent listing for a quite high price.

But after what I have read here it does encouraged me to reduce my price.Just wanna see does the high price be the main reason for the little submission to my directory.

 

I don't pay for links - at all.

 

yeah sometimes i do that, its abit of a gamble tho

 

I used to feel that way, then I started running a directory. I've never had a site over PR5, so I looked at the sites that had high PR and found that all of them with PR6 or higher were buying links in directories and/or getting sponsored links elsewhere. I'm not saying that you have to buy links to get past PR5, but it does appear that it is part of the equation.

 

If the site was very relevant to my own and showed a lot of promise, I might pay a *small* free for a listing. First, I would exhaust my resources and try to acquire a free or reciprocal link from the site.

I don't use PageRank as the sole criteria when evaluating a site. I think that's a near-sighted way to look at things.

Good question. Thanks for posting.

-Brandon

 

For most, budget is the major constraint.

 

Has anyone ever attempted to document ROI for link investements?

 

For certain links I have. Anytime they cost more than my webhosting, I try to keep track of how much traffic they send and how many sales I get.

 

Tim, I just bought an entry. Will probably do some more after this. Good prices and clean directory!
Thanks