Link building 2012 – Outreach tips

This is the second in a series of blog posts about link building in 2012. The previous blog post looked at the first vital stage of link building – prospecting. That post looked at the two main methods that I use when prospecting – Google and Open Site Explorer, and how to begin to use them. This post is about the second stage in the link building process – outreach.

Outreach is the vital second link in the link building chain. It is the process of contacting link prospects in order to elicit a link to your site from theirs. The main tool for outreach is email, though you can use the phone, Twitter or Facebook to get in contact with people.

First, email –once you have found your prospects, you need to look for an email address on the website. This can sometimes be hidden away , so you may need to do some rooting around in order to find it. Usually there will be a “contact us” tab, but sometimes the email will be on another, less obvious page.

Tips for writing emails

1) Always use a first name where you can – the personal touch always boosts success rate.

2) If you can’t find the contact’s name to address the email, make it a friendly “Hi there”, rather an the formal and old skool “Dear Sir/Madam,”

3) Be friendly! This sounds like stating the obvious, but many people ignore this piece of advice. As the saying goes, “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”

4) Keep it short – everybody in business, be they bloggers, webmasters or journalists, are busy, and don’t have time to read “War and Peace”. 3 or 4 short paragraphs will usually suffice for an initial outreach email.

5) Reply promptly to emails from contacts.

Phone outreach tips

1) Phone is an underused method of doing outreach. I find my link success rate usually increases sharply when I speak to someone on the phone.

2) SEOs have a tendency is to be a bit “geeky”, and do not always easily take to the phone when talking to prospects and/or clients. Break this habit. Pick up the blower!

3) It’s good to speak to someone at the website/organisation you are targeting even if it is to take their email address. You can then lodge in people’s minds, so when they receive your email, they remember your name and are more likely to respond.

4) Be persistent! If you call a website’s phone number, and its engaged, try again later. IF the person who you need to speak to is not available, leave a message then chase up in a few days. Simple tips, but very effective.

One important tip for all outreach

The vital thing when doing outreach is to have something of value to offer in exchange for a link. I think we’ve all tried to get something for nothing in this world; the “Gis a link Gis a link Gis a link...” approach, and we all know it doesn’t work. You have to have something of value to offer in exchange for a link. Typically, this is either money, a reciprocal link, or occasionally if you have an amazing piece of content that fits perfectly with a prospect’s site, then you can use that.

Author Bio: Searchpath are experts in SEO in Swindon and Cirencester. They specialise in web dev, link building and analytics.

Posted in: Guest Post,SEO,Tips