How do I structure an offer for link building strategy/plan and implementation?

I have been working in SEO for over 10 years and have built search agencies from the ground up. I've also worked with some big brands on International SEO like Active.com, as well as many US based chains like Extended Stay Hotels. I suggest sub-directories as they are MUCH easier to manage and promote via SEO. You can't have specific local IPs with sub-directories, but you can with sub-domains. But that's not hyper critical, there are WAY more important factors. Plus, you can geo-target in Google Webmaster Tools. Your current structure for sub-directories is perfect: http://drivingtests101.com/Canada/Ontario With subdomains, each will be treated like a brand new site. So you would have to work very hard to get each to gain good authority SEO-wise. Plus managing and hosting lots of subdomains is a ton of work! In order to not get penalized you need to: Implement the the "lang" and "hreflang" tags in the HTML of each country directory and all pages within. Have unique Title tags and descriptions written in each language. Have unique content for each country and state page. Written in each respective language. Yes, its a TON of work but hey, you are trying to take over the world! If you are serious about international search traffic then you will do these things and the costs should be balanced out with the extra traffic you'll get. If you can make the root domain super authoritative then it will boost ALL of the internal pages. This is also key to ranking well for international search. I'm open to a follow up call to elaborate on any of my responses or to answer other questions.

Here is how I'd suggest you learn SEM: #1 - Open a Google Adwords Account (You can search for free credit / promo codes) online and play around with it. #2 - Review all of Google's training material: https://support.google.com/adwords/?hl=en&page=examstudy.cs#topic=3119071 #3 - When you finish Google's training materials, then read about Adwords on the web. Here is one good resource and you can Google for more: http://www.wordstream.com/adwords-for-dummies #4 - Sign up for an affiliate network (e.g. Commission Junction or Linkshare) and use your free credit to promote another company's offer. #5 - Once you feel comfortable with Adwords, consider building out your own Lead Gen websites or selling leads to existing affiliate networks (e.g. Motive Interactive or Integrate.com) #6 - If you'd like to learn from someone else, find an entry-level job at an agency: http://www.indeed.com/q-PPC-entry-level-jobs.html #7 - Another good way to get good at PPC if you work in an in-house marketing role is to hire someone to audit or manage your own account for a period of time so you can learn how they think and what they do. #8 - One word of caution: Google takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. Their default settings make it very easy to waste a lot of money so really make sure you know what you are doing before you spend too much money.

Two key concerns are 1. Customer confusion with the 2 offerings: Imagine being in an art gallery that sells photography training and fine art or a book store that tries to sell you fine art. Even if it's the same group of people, they may be in very different mind-sets and hence may not associate both together. 2. SEO challenges with mixed messages you're sending. Which keywords would you optimize for which part of the site? Advantage would be if the customer base is the same group of people, hence offering cross-sell opportunities. For instance, if your MAIN source of leads for the training site is the art site, then this would be more important. In general, I would suggest one site for one customer group. If there is likely to be a very high overlap, then same site, with multiple sub-sites might work. In matter of fact, it'll probably be EASIER to do two sites for this than one site. Your designer will thank you :) Then tastefully add cross-links in the places where someone is likely to use them. For instance the art gallery could have a post 'How I make art' and links to your other business there. And the photog training site would have your art pics with subtle on-image links to your art biz. While I'm not a branding expert, I do find that my engineering lead approach to challenges in Marketing/Sales usually works, and provides clarity and direction.

TL;DR -> Yes you will risk it if you don't perform a proper audit and migration from the original platform. Any type of architecture changes can 100% ruin your SEO if you are not migrating content and topics correctly. Many people assume this is limited to URI structure but underestimate the power of Topical hierarchy and the content, internal linking and URI structure which play a crucial role into any migration effort. If you have any questions about the migration process, give me a shout. Decent free migration checklist: https://searchengineland.com/site-migration-seo-checklist-dont-lose-traffic-286880

Hi, Your site is a Q&A so I presume that every time someone create a new Question it will generate a unique URL for that. Indepentend if you have or not an answer you want Google to crawl and index your site as quick as possible to start to analyzing the new page and bring traffic to it. The best way to expedite this "re-crawling" is to use a ping service that you can trigger after your user answer the question. PS: If you site is updated frequently you shouldn't have a problem with crawling, because Google usually identify this type of website really quick. Drop me a call is free for this week. Best,