Are Paid Links are More Justifiable Than Paid Friends?
There’s a well-known fact that paid links are a widely used SEO technique that may bring immediate results. However, as search engines obviously don’t welcome paid links, this SEO technique (not sure that it can be described as “White Hat” one) may lead to risks for those who buy them: Google is penalizing those who buy paid links. Moreover, paid links don’t guarantee long-term results. However, still many dot.com entrepreneurs buy links to manipulate rankings for their websites. Paid links remain the subject of intensive Software Discussion at Beta Release being a very huge and controversial subject.
But lets’ turn to such a relatively new technique in the digital world called “paid friends”. Social media optimization is continuously becoming an imperative for businesses of any size looking forward to extracting benefits from their online presence. However, social media optimization is not an easy task and network building demands engagement and time. And unsurprisingly lots of businesses want to get results at once without working hard to establish a large network of potential customers. The same as with paid links, “paid friends” buyers should also stay cautious because, for instance, Facebook’s terms of service prohibit using personal profiles for commercial purposes. So the risk of being banned is feasible.
On one of my favorite blogs I read the information about the agency that offers the “paid friends” service. You are in need of 5000 friends on Facebook? They will be yours for nearly $650. For roughly $1,200 you’ll get 10,000 friends. The follower on Twitter will cost you 11 cents. Nice, isn’t it? But I still really doubt that this social media marketing option will work out. Yes, paid links are not good but still they can bring results. Can paid friends bring results? I really doubt. The ROI in buying friends is not easily quantifiable. Every effective social media optimization campaign demands engagement and, what is more important, interactions. The trust and reputation are the milestones for every effective SMO campaign. Will a business gain trust through buying friends or build reputation without interacting with them? Sounds dubious.
Now let’s turn to the title of this post: so are paid links are more justifiable than paid links? Probably they both should be treated as no-nos. At least the first one is risky and the second one is very doubtful.
