What backlink building packages leave you after time costs
Margin on resold links looks huge until you count the hours. Here are three hypothetical retainers worked through, plus the one number that decides whether a package is worth selling.
The rule we use
Judge a package by margin per hour
Percentage margin flatters small retainers. A 75% margin on $300 is $225, and if the month eats four hours it pays less than a mid-priced freelance hour. Divide first, then decide.
- Count briefing, donor review, content checks and reporting as hours.
- Add a buffer of one hour per package for client questions.
- Raise the price or cut the scope when margin per hour drops below your other work.
Three example retainers
| Starter | Growth | Authority | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client pays per month | $300 | $900 | $2,500 |
| Placements per month | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| Average cost per link | $18 | $40 | $130 |
| Cost of goods | $54 | $320 | $1,300 |
| Hours (brief, review, report) | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Margin before time | $246 (82%) | $580 (64%) | $1,200 (48%) |
| Margin per hour | $123 | $145 | $171 |
Reading the table the way an ops lead would
The starter package has the best percentage and the worst use of attention. It also tends to attract the clients who ask the most questions per dollar. Plan for that. Our scoping template limits the questions by limiting the scope.
The authority package gives you the lowest percentage and the best hourly figure. That is normal, because fewer, pricier links need roughly the same briefing time as cheap ones, so the fixed hours spread across more revenue.
Notice what is missing. We left out tooling such as Ahrefs or Semrush seats, payment fees and the cost of chasing late invoices. Add your own, since an extra $120 a month in tools changes the starter package from comfortable to thin.
Cash flow matters too. You top up a balance before paying a basket, so the money leaves your account before the client's invoice clears. Net-30 clients stretch that gap.
A last point on pricing. Resellers who raise prices once a year, on the anniversary and with two months' notice, lose fewer clients than those who add a surprise surcharge in the middle of a term. Write the review date into the contract in 2026 so it exists before anyone needs it.
What happens if one link costs more
| Average cost per link | Cost of goods | Margin before time | Margin per hour at 4 hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30 | $240 | $660 | $165 |
| $40 | $320 | $580 | $145 |
| $55 | $440 | $460 | $115 |
| $75 | $600 | $300 | $75 |
Clients who later discover the per-link cost tend to renegotiate. Quote a retainer for a managed service, with scope and reporting in it, rather than a mark-up on links. Our do and don't list covers the wording.
Costs the table leaves out
- Seats in Ahrefs, Semrush or Moz that you pay for per client or per month.
- Payment fees and currency conversion on the client's side of the invoice.
- Time spent chasing approvals from a client who answers every second week.
- Replacement placements if a page is edited, or a donor changes its terms.
- Account management time on calls that nobody put in the scope.