If like me you object to paying someone 300 a month to get you ranking on the search engines, then you have probably made the decision to do your own SEO work. Of course this brings with it a set of new challenges. How to optimise the content on your site? And perhaps more crucially, where and how to build links? In this article I'm going to provide a short review on a product I have recently been using to build links, known as 'Build My Rank'. I will endeavour to give as honest a review as I can.
How does it work?
For a monthly subscription you get access to the BMR network of blog sites. These are high quality, aged domains that have already had their 'link juice' built up over time. They range from PR1 to PR6 sites, and are hosted across a range of IP addresses, so from the search engines perspectives they appear very natural. Basically what you do to gain a link is write a short post of at least 150 words. The only caveat is that it has to be original content. Once approved your post (along with your link) goes onto one of the network's 1200+ blog sites. BMR then does a little bit of bookmarking magic to ensure that your link has greater 'juice' and that Google indexes it. You can write as many of these posts as you like- you only have to pay your monthly subscription fee. It's a pretty simple concept and process really.
The Cons
Let's look at the down sides of BMR first. In the first instance it does come at a cost. It costs approximately $60 a month, which for me (as a Brit) is roughly 40 a month. So it's not exactly cheap. The other downside is that you have to put some effort into BMR for it to work. That's right, you can't just hit a button, put your feet up and sip on a pina colada! Each link requires you to write a post of at least 150 words, and it has to be original content. If you attempt to use existing content published elsewhere on the net it will be rejected. So, if you are a little on the lazy side this isn't the product for you. That said, you can of course outsource the writing to other people if this isn't your strong point.
The Pros
Now let's take a look at the positives. The fact that BMR insists on original content ensures that the quality of their network is excellent, and this safeguards the quality of the links that you are receiving. This is incredibly important, especially in the 'post-Panda' world. With BMR you do gain links that have a decent amount of weight and authority. To give you an example of the effectiveness of this tool, I recently managed to get my ranking for the term 'London Wedding Photographers' from the bottom of page 2 for Google, to position 5 of the first page. 90% of the links for this term I generated through Build My Rank, so it shows how powerful the tool can be, if used correctly.
I also like the fact that Build My Rank automatically 'bookmark' your posts to ensure that Google indexes them. Indeed, there is very little point in going to the effort of creating links if the search engines don't find them! Finally, BMR also offers customers the option of a free trial period, during which they can gain 10 free links, to see if the tool is right for them. As I said before, this may not be the best product for everyone, so it's always good to have the option of a free trial.
Conclusion
I have personally had very good results with BMR, so it's near impossible for me to give a 100% objective review. I would point out that it is not the product for those that are looking for a simple solution that doesn't involve any leg work. That said, with a bit of effort the results you can get with BMR are excellent. I would say, however, that you must ensure that you don't build links exclusively with this tool. It's an absolutely fundamental principle with SEO that you gain links from a diverse range of sources, and not just from one source, which will appear unnatural.
