Email outreach strategies through backlinks are today’s version of rifling through the Yellow Pages, choosing a likely company, and picking up the phone for a cold call pitch. Simply stated, an email outreach program is an electronic cold call to a website or other influencer to persuade them to review and link to your own site.
It takes a lot time and it’s not exactly the most stimulating endeavor, but it works. In fact, along with social campaigns and newsletters, building a strong backlink profile pays off big in the long term. Indeed, link building is a must in SEO strategies, but the challenge is to track down ideal backlink opportunities and then create an in-kind outreach message.
Consider the numbers: 100 emails should generate at least five links back to you. If you don’t see five backlinks, you’re doing something wrong such as emailing to non-relevant sites, sending non-compelling email copy, emailing your competition, or hosting a website with little substance.
The road to backlink success starts with thorough research and targeting relevant contacts with a personalized message that inspires them to respond with a backlink. Let’s take a look at some proven methods for creating a successful email outreach strategy for backlinks.
Offer a sneak peak
Some webmasters love to get a first look at content you intend to link to, especially if it is an infographic or video. Webmasters want to link to relevant content and offering a look at your work before it’s out there is a great primer in requesting a backlink.
Exclusive offers are a big hit
There will be times you want to offer a particular webmaster an exclusive look at content before you release it into the world. Share a teaser glimpse to pique their interest. In the email, perhaps reference a particular good job they did with a project and pitch the benefit your marketing strategy can bring to their business. For example, pitching original work you’ve done to a high-profile blogger or traditional journalist is an excellent way to inspire return linking.
Just ask
Sometimes it’s easy to overthink a marketing strategy. Instead of making it complicated, just ask if you can write some content. Find a resource you’d like to partner with, create a simple yet enticing sales pitch, and ask. Send an email outlining what benefits you can bring to a webmaster. This is a very common and effective strategy.
Leverage your content
If you have stellar content on your site but still want to ramp up your ranking, seek out opportunities on related and well-established sites. Contact a site owner with a well-crafted outreach email, post some relevant content on a new blog, and your backlink success rate will skyrocket.
Be helpful
If you’re searching through and reading blogs and come upon a broken link (and you likely will), reach out to the webmaster with the info on the problem and while you’re at it, include a polite ask to link back to your site. It’s great to help others out anyway, but always a nice bonus if you can get a little love in return.
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