Getting links - the actual final approach to do so

[inhouseninja]

Hi All,

So once you use OSE Tool to point you in the right direction of sites that might be able to give you links, what are the best practices for then reaching out to the website?  I get that you need to give value in your request for a link and offer something of value – but what else to think about??

Ie Call them, email them, email who?  Follow up with phone call??? Do you just use the standard contact form on their website?  Presumably you need to track all this, just do it in a spreadsheet?

What do you say in the email?  Do you offer them a link (if you can?)

I guess it’s a thing that sounds easy enough – go get a link – but I would imagine that people who have done this enough with some success can maybe share some of the things that particularly worked or did not work…

At the moment it just seems a daunting  / time consuming task  - even thinking of getting an intern to help do all this – pros and cons to that as well???

Thanks for your time!

[akaigotchi]

I guess one thing that certainly helps is to take your time: Linkbuilding is all about creating relationships and so don't use a bulk mail tool to approach the people you want to give you a link. Remember that there's always people behind a website and try to be as polite as you would be in the offline world, if you were asking somebody for a favor.

It often helps to take your time and to do some research on WHO is operating this website. Personalize your e-mail and if you make them an offer, offer them something that you think fits their needs 100%. Don't offer them something that has nothing to do with their topics or target audience.

Yes linkbuilding is time consuming. But very rewarding in the same way. Think about your link partners as partners and not as websites giving you something. Establish a meaningful connection and get those links in no time

[DavidKonigsberg]

You need to identify what your angle will be are you after a guest post or a paid link or a banner etc

Then you need to separate your sites into high and low value targets - The low value targets just shoot over a generic pitch or offer with a subject and heading for that site. Email or use form on site -Start by saying you like their blog etc

For the high value ones  call if you can. Create a blog post for them to post as a guest post and send it over to them to use with some info about you etc. Or start commenting on the blog to gain a relationship then contact and ask for a way to work together.

[CPU]

The task can be time consuming and many companies will get an intern or such like to do what I call the "donkey work" once the target sites have been identified.

For scalability email is usually better than phoning however some people may prefer the personal touch. Recent link building I have been involved with was contacting suppliers to the company I was working for and asking them to include a link to the site as the more visible the site and the more sales then the better it was for the supplier.

Another link building exercise for a different company involved contacting all business clients and asking them to host the link on pages they had set up to help their staff as the companyI was working on behalf provided client benefits that the company were offering to their staff.

With both these examples it was easy to explain in a sentence or two the benefits of the link building rather than just a speculative "please link to us" request. If you can work out what the relationship between the two sites or companies is then it may be easier to request and receive links.

I would track all this in a spreadsheet so you know who has responded positively or negatively and you can chase up those that say they will add a link if they haven't done so and also you can make sure you don't pester people who have already refused.

Hope this helps.

[firstconversion]

Read Paddys blog about this - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-build-links-without-fancy-tools

I commented with an example of the email I send http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-build-links-without-fancy-tools#jtc138789

I just keep it as simple and honest as possible