Link for an article

[doogers]

I had someone contact me the other day who claimed that they would write original content articles for me in return they would like a link from each article that they write. What do you think of that idea?
Thanks,
Luke Bouman
616-502-8897

[SEO Nick]

It's good if you need content :/ Probably better off writing your own.. that way you don't need to give out a link

[doogers]

But it wont hurt me to give out a link will it?

[SEO Nick]

Not unless the site you're linking to is bad. IE. Doesn't follow search engine guidelines.

[JoeFrow]

You should also ask for references from this person. My gut tells me that they are going to provide you articles that they have pawned off on others. What this means is that you gave them a link and they gave you duplicate content.

This is just my guess, but they should be able to give you examples of their work on live sites so you can be a judge. You could probably also google the url to see how many sites link back to it and check out the content there.

No matter what check out the site you are linking to because it might be junk and could hurt your pr if you link to it.

Gold luck.

[webmaster]

Honestly, it's kind of a paid link, and I would not do it - here is why. You have not accepted $ for the link, however you have been offered "something" in exchange for the link (In this case content) which is the currency here. You cannot / (Are not) able to vouch for the website and it is not a trusted source to you, so you should not link to it.

[doogers]

So do you think google will frown on such a thing?

[John Allen]

It is an interesting concept. I got an email a couple of days ago with the exact same solicitation. I decided against it for some of the reasons listed above.

[jamesww]

You should be careful in doing this but I do know of an agent that was in my previous office and they had alot of great content written for them for links. Part of the deal was that the content had to be copyrighted and the only license to the content was held by the agent. If they are unwilling to do this I think it would be a bad idea. Just my .02

[TheLady]

this is not a bad idea, however you do need to protect yourself. I would ask they send you the article so you can research the url, and the quality prior to posting to your site. then go to www.copyscape.com to verify originality, (really cheap to do) from there i would google the writer's name, and the info on the content to verify it is accurate. after it is ok'd there you need to be sure the url isn't banned by google - selfseo.com will help w/ that and any other possible concerns you may have.

so if you're willing to do a lil' homework for the content, it's worth looking into, but if even one thing pops the wrong way, back out w/out posting and send them an email that you will not be using it so they do not attempt to contact you in the future.

there are many industries where this is common place. on one of my sites i just sold 9 links in 3 articles for 75 bucks doing it that way. this is not something that should be done unless you know what you're dealing with.