You have learned a lot about link building over my last few posts. Now I will divulge how you should go about getting a link on another site. I’m talking about how to master the outreach message. Once you find the blog or site you wish to obtain a link on, you must find contact information. Once you have the contact information, I will draft an email asking for one of the link building opportunities discussed in the previous post (guest post, scholarship promotion, broken linkes, unlinked mentions, etc.).
It is important to keep in mind that these blog or site owners are busy people and probably get hounded all the time for a link on their site. That is why I take this different approach:
- Be Grateful: I thank them for their time because I know they are busy people.
- Be Transparent: Tell them who you are, who you work for, and the client you are contacting them on behalf of. (Occassionally a client will not want you to share their name so you simply mention the industry in which they are in. For example, if Amazon.com was my client, I would all them a client in the “online retail client of mine.”
- Reference Your Expert: Let them know that you will not be writing the post, but an expert from your client’s company will be. If you are allowed to divulge the information, let them know who that person is, their title, and reference an article he wrote so they can do their research.
- Do Your Research: This refers to two steps in my outreach message. First, make sure you have found other guest posts on their blog that link back to the author’s site. This means that they have accepted guest posts in the past and link back. Second, find a topic that is a hot-topic in the industry. Use factual information to back up your proposed topic.
- Make it About Them: Find an article on their site that pertains to your topic of interest. You need to make sure their readership would be interested in your post. If someone has already touched upon the topic, their readers may be interested in your take on the subject. Your email needs to be about helping that site and their readership, not helping yourself to a link. Create a post they will like and the link will come.
- Propose a Topic: With the information you found along with the article on their site, propose a topic that is original and has your own spin. They want to know that you are not going to reiterate what other articles have already written.
- Call to Action: Finally, make sure they know your contact info. It is simple and easy, but sometimes people forget.
TIP 1: When you are referencing ANY outside source, it is important to link the article or reference in the email. This minimizes the amount of research they have to do. Even link their own article if you reference it. This way they don’t have to search for it on their own blog. It is polite and will score you bonus points.
TIP 2: Do NOT mention the link. That will come up in conversation later down the line. You have already done your research and know that they have linked back before. Write an amazing article for them and their readership. Then mention the link when you send them a final copy (if they did not bring it up prior to this stage in the process). Sometimes blogs even mention specifics like how many links in the article you may have or where in the article your company can provide a link.
Here is an example email that I have drafted in the past. All of the information that you would need to replace is blacked out, but this should help you visualize how to reach out for a link.
Clik here to view.
Screen Shot of an Email
Now, sometimes outreach cannot be done via email. Sometimes it has to be done over the phone. Take a look at the animation I created to illustrate how an outreach phone call could sound. Keep in mind that all phone calls are different, however, I have heard and been on a few that have played out like this one.
Next post will be about how to find these link building opportunities! Till then, search away!