When rebuilding a site, when should you start building links?

[emcadoo]

We are in the process of completely rebuilding our web presence.  We went ahead and started a blog using Hubspot while we are redesigning everything and writing all new content.  The new site will be live in early August.  The question is when do we start making a big push with Linkbuilding?  I am currently trying to promote the Blog but I'm wondering about linkbuilding for the rest of the site?  Do we wait until the new site is live or do we start doing it now?  The new site will be completely different from the old site?

[EGOL]

The answer depends upon how much your content is changing and what type of links your are "building".

If you are getting links into articles that will be on the same URL before and after the rebuild then getting links into them now is fine.

If your content is going to move to new URLs then getting links after the move will have best results.

If your content is going to change significantly then webmasters who link to you now might not like what you have up later and it might be easier to get them to link to improved content.

As for methods of getting the links... if you are buying them or getting them from sites who have some partnership with you  then you don't have to worry about editorial decisions... however, if these links are to be given on the basis of merit then you should wait until you have super design and best possible content before you spend time on linkbuilding.

See... the question is complicated.

[emcadoo]

Well the content and the UI will change dramatically for the better.  The site looks ok now but it doesn't engage visitors.  The Blog still has the old UI but we're posting new content to the blog everyday and we'll put the new skin on the blog when the main site goes live.  So if I am reading your response correctly I could probably continue with building links related to the blog but should hold off on links to the main site.

One follow up question.  What are your thoughts one paying an SEO to do linkbuilding?  It seems that paid linking building is probably ok for getting a lot of links to lower ranking sites but sites that have a high domain authority will have to be manually done by someone in house.

[EGOL]

What are your thoughts one paying an SEO to do linkbuilding?

My thoughts on linkbuilding are different from those of most SEOs.  I attack rankings with content and let linkbuilding happen naturally.  That makes the links happen slowly, but nearly 100% of my time goes into producing permanent equity for the website.... and instead of paying a linkbuilder I would rather pay an author.

but sites that have a high domain authority will have to be manually done by someone in house.

I agree.  Although we generally do not do link building we occasionally request a link from an authoritative website.  I make all of those contacts myself.  If they will be linking to us based upon the merits of our content then someone who can speak to the content will be the most qualified for making the request.  The more technical in nature your content becomes the more important it is to have content area expertise making the contact.