Sites that link to our own two apps, after a pitch
Every way to get backlinks hurts.
If you run a small product and you’ve tried, you’ve hit one of these.
You write to blogs yourself
“Out of roughly 300 emails sent, I’ve gotten maybe 8 responses and only 2 actual links placed.”
You buy them
“Half the sites that respond look like they exist only to sell links.”
You hire an agency
“I just find the service to be very opaque.”
What works is slower: an article that already covers your niche, one line that makes it better, and an offer the editor wants. We made that part fast.
2,326 emails. 33 links.
All for our own apps.
July to October 2026, for our Mac app and our SaaS. About 180 editors said yes. 130 sites now link to our two apps; these 33 did after a pitch we sent, and each card opens the page that links to us.
2,326
first emails sent
276
editors wrote back (of the first 1,515)
33
links went live
Why the Domain Rating matters
Ahrefs scores every site from 0 to 100 by the strength of the sites that link to it. A link from a strong site counts for more, which is why sellers price links by it.
- Median Domain Rating of the sites that link to us
- 35
- Sites at 40 or more
- 14 of 32
- What our 18 dofollow links from DR 20+ sites would cost at Respona’s prices
- $4,740
We paid with free licences, guest posts and links back. Domain Rating by Ahrefs, Oct 28 and 30, 2026; prices from respona.com/pricing, Oct 25, 2026. We show the rating of the sites that link to you; we don’t promise your own will rise by a number.
Mac app: 1,169 emails offering a free licence, 22 links. SaaS: 346 emails offering a guest post and a link back, 8 links; then 811 link-swap emails, 3 links. Replies were counted on the first 1,515 emails only. Setapp (DR 80) links to both apps from two columns we wrote for its blog; it is not one of the 33. Links recounted on Oct 30, 2026 by crawling every site we emailed; Domain Rating by Ahrefs, read on Oct 28 and 30, 2026.
From 35 Google clicks a month to 8,862
Our Mac app, March to September 2026. A Domain Rating is the score Ahrefs gives a site. What you want is people finding you on Google, and links from real articles are how a new site earns that.
- 35Mar
- 69Apr
- 239May
- 2,072Jun
- 5,974Jul
- 7,451Aug
- 8,862Sep
- 8,046Oct*
We stop the count on Sep 20. After that, about 2,500 spam domains linked to the app on their own; we don’t count junk.
Not rated at launch. Two dated readings since, so the line between them is drawn straight.
Google Search Console, Mar 15 to Oct 28, 2026 (*October: 28 days so far). Linking sites from DataForSEO. The app’s own pages earned the clicks, and links from real sites helped Google trust them; we can’t measure the split, and the app also launched on directories and Setapp. These are our numbers, not a promise for yours.
What to expect
Our own numbers, so you can do the maths before you pay.
1 in 70
first emails becomes a link. With a real offer, expect 1 to 3 links a month; close to none without.
$100–400
is what one link costs to buy (Respona, The HOTH, LinkDR). Your month costs $49.
$0
paid to editors. Some will ask; the agent tells you and moves on.
It won’t burn your domain.
These settings are locked on for every customer. You can make them stricter, never looser.
- You set what it says about your product, what you offer in return, and which blogs it may write to.
- You approve your first 20 pitches one by one, and every reply comes back as a draft.
- Sends fromA mailbox on a second domain you own
- Daily limit emails
Locked. Stricter only.
- Same blogOnce a month, across every customer
- BouncesPauses above 3% of the last 50
- Paid linksNever. No promised link counts
- About your productOnly what’s on your product sheet
- Every email ends withReply “no” and I won’t write again.
Everything in your founding month
$49 a month. One bought link costs $100 to $400.
- The agent, sending for youNew articles in your niche every week, each with its own line and pitch, follow-ups and reply drafts.Respona from $198/mo
- Outreach from day oneThe agent starts on your product the day you join: first articles, first pitches, sent once you approve.Day 1
- The offers that got us 33 linksThe three offers that worked (a free licence, a guest post with a link back, a link swap) and the real emails behind them.Our playbook
- Guest posts written when an editor asksYou read it and sign it.Included
One bought link, or eight months of pitches
1 link on a site with a Domain Rating of 50+
$4008 months · $392
Prices read on each vendor’s own page, Oct 25 to 28, 2026: Respona, The HOTH and LinkDR (per link, priced by the site’s Domain Rating by Ahrefs, 20 to 50+); backlinkoutreach.agency (agency); MentionAgent and BacklinkGPT (tools).
$49 a month.
Less than one bought link.
Founding month
$49/month
- Outreach starts on day one
- New articles every week, each with its own line and pitch
- Follow-ups and reply drafts
- The offers and emails that got us 33 links
- Guest posts written when an editor asks
- TodayYou pay $49 and tell the agent about your product and what you can offer editors.
- Day oneIt finds the first articles in your niche and writes the pitches. You approve, it starts sending.
- Every weekNew articles, follow-ups on the silent ones, and every reply back to you as a draft.
- First 60 days of sendingNo live link? Every dollar back. Cancel any time.
Editors decide what they publish, so we guarantee your money, not a link count. Terms · Refunds
Questions
Anything else: arthur@earnedbacklinks.com. Arthur answers himself.
Your first pitches go out on day one.
Start your founding month and the agent starts on your product today. Not ready? Send your product’s address and Arthur emails you 5 of them, free.
