How to build relevant and targeted links using bloggers part three: contacting bloggers

written by MO.com Subject Matter Resource Max Holloway

 

Read part one where I showed you how to build a list of relevant websites using Wordtracker’s Keyword Tool. And part two which explained how to filter your list of websites .

How do I ask for links?

Once you have enough contacts (I aim for 100 for the first batch) you can start contacting your bloggers, this is fraught with danger and is not advised. However if you insist on talking to bloggers then you should follow these guidelines.

Think deeply about what you can offer them

This is crucial. If you have nothing to offer them; nothing that will benefit them then they will most likely not even reply.

Can you provide them with some content they don’t have?

Can you add some info to some content they already have?

Do you have an amazing piece of content (and I do mean amazing) that they would want to link to?

Here’s a great list from Ken McGaffin, 25 reasons a site will link to yours

The link back to your website will normally be in an author bio or introductory paragraph. Some websites will let you put links in the actual body of the article too.

Spend time on your email

I go through about 5 drafts before I decide on an offering format (and I tend to continue tweaking afterwards)

You want to communicate your offering quickly and concisely, using easy-to-understand English.

1. The subject line. This decides whether your email gets opened or not. “Hi Mike, looking for articles about Entrepreneurs?” Works better than “Guest post request #87”

2. The Body. Always use their name! Your email should be as brief as possible, and not be superfluous. The language should be simple and not include words like “superfluous”

3. Easy to follow. Get the email to flow logically. Who I am, what I’m offering, how that benefits you, what I will do, what you need to do.

It can be extremely useful to have a co-worker take a look through your email before you send it.

Example:

“Hi Mike,

I write start-up business advice for http://www.extremely-good-business.com/and I noticed that you didn’t have any posts about how to get in touch with bloggers to build great links and relationships.

We’ve found that websites can double or even treble their traffic within a month using this technique so I think your readers would really benefit.

Would you like me to write an article about link building for your website mo.com ?

Let me know if you would like to go ahead.

All the best,

Max”

Follow up!

The majority of my replies come from the second or third email I send as most people you are contacting get 100’s of emails a day.

Your follow-up should be brief and be sent as a reply to your original email (so the original is included in the thread) as it is quite likely they never read the original in the first place.

I normally send something along the lines of

“Hi Mike,

Have you had a chance to look at this yet?

Best,

Max”

 

Record everything

You will forget what you’ve sent, who you’ve sent it to and whether or not they replied!

Make sure you record everything that you do and everything that they do so you don’t end up emailing the same person twice, or worse, missing out on a chance to get a decent link!

My spread sheets end up looking something like this.

Once you have completed this hang onto your list and make a note of everyone who accepted a guest post, this could be the start of a very successful relationship!

The #1 indicator that a website will link to you is if it has already linked to you once, so never be afraid to ask again.