Last week, Michael wrote about his take on link request emails. I thought it would be valuable to share my own perspective on the subject, coming primarily from a background of making email requests to site operators. The lessons I’ve learned aren’t universally applicable, but they’ve helped go a long way in getting attention and having a high probability of getting the link.
STEP 1: Determine Value
Some links are worth an incredible amount of time, money and effort. Others are worth a quick email, one follow-up and a shrug if you can’t get them. Determining which is which is the tough part. The best way to determine a link’s value is to see where the page/site ranks at Google in general. If the site’s pages are consistently ranking in the top 3-5 results for the target terms, you’ve struck gold. If it ranks consistently in results 6-20, it’s still carrying a lot of value. If the rankings are highly sporadic and you only find a few relevant pages that rank in the top 20, the value is lower.
One big mistake early link builders make is determining a link’s value based on PageRank. I think it’s a grievous error, as you’ll be highly over-valuing older sites and, in many cases, overlooking pages that rank well, which to me is the single best indicator of value. The Page Strength tool can be more valuable (as it provides a lot of relevant data), but again, I wouldn’t rely on the score itself. Look at the links pointing to it, the inclusion in DMOZ/Wikipedia and the human tagging on the page, but don’t assume that a link from a Page Strength 5 will be more valuable than a Page Strength 3.
Once you have a good idea of relative value in your mind (value = time/money you should spend acquiring the link), you’re ready to proceed to the next step.
STEP 2: Content Targeting
This step is so often overlooked that I get the feeling there’s an official link building guide out there with a chapter missing. In Step 2, you have to look at the site/page you’re requesting a link from and ask yourself this question:
If I owned that site, what content on my site (the site you’re link building for) would entice me to link to it.
Here are some of the possible answers:
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If the page is a directory or takes paid submissions or is linking directly to several of your competitors’ homepages, they’re likely to link to you without any special content considerations
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If the site’s a research or informational site, you’ll need to have a resource that provides value to their readers. Oftentimes, a tool, multimedia piece or collection of data/research unavailable elsewhere will be the key.
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If you’re dealing with a direct (or indirect) competitor or a commercial entity in the space, a compelling piece of content may need to be accompanied by a reciprocal link (if you’re willing to go that route). Although reciprocal link building as a strategy is well past its prime, in a one-to-one link building campaign, it can be extremely valuable and won’t hurt you if you’re doing it infrequently.
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If the site is a government, non-profit or educational site, content that looks and feels non-commercial can really help, as can linkbait-style content that delivers value to visitors without requiring payment/registration.
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In some cases, there’s almost no content you can provide that will satisfy the requirements of a picky site owner, at which point, money enters the equation (if it hasn’t already).
A great example is to think about SEOmoz itself – if the blog, the articles and the tools didn’t have such an open-source, community feeling to them, is there any chance that hundreds of competitors in the SEO world would be linking to us? Thus, the value of building a site that has a non-commercial (or subdued) feel to it becomes clear. The quality of a site’s GUI also comes into play when link building – professional layout, color schemes, spacing and graphics play a shockingly big role in how well received the link requests become.
Once you know what content you need to get the link, you have two choices – build it, or decide that this link isn’t worth the time & effort. Sometimes, you’ll find that so many links require that content piece that it’s worth building after all. Make sure you remember all those links you’ve passed over because you didn’t have worthy, linkable content – you can always go back to them once you’ve built it.
STEP 3: Establishing Contact
In some cases, it’s enough to send your link request in the first email, but for important sites where there’s a high risk of being turned down, I always think of the relationship first. Establish a relationship, and oftentimes, the link will come to you without even asking – if it doesn’t, that relationship is at least enough to separate you in the future from the morons who send email spam and those who send the one-off link request.
There’s an infinite number of angles from which to approach a site, and your style has to change depending on the size, industry, focus and feel of the site. Don’t worry, after a while, link builders develop a sixth sense about how sites will respond simply from clicking through a few pages (SEO company owners – cultivate and reward this skill in your employees; it’s invaluable).
Even though I can’t share all of the methods for approach, I can give an example that’s worked in many situations in the past:
Dear folks behind website.com,
I have to say it – I’m a fan. I came to your site through Google (who doesn’t, right?) and was immediately impressed with what you’ve built. I’ve recently joined the ranks of site owners in the ultra-soft cotton bedding world myself, so I’ve been looking around and researching who else is on the web.
I’m sure you’re busy, but I was wondering if you had a minute for two short questions – #1 – For your article on Indian fabrics (URL), did you actually travel to India to buy those or do you have connections? and #2 – Have you found a good resource online on sewing silk? (NOTE: Obviously, you need to make the questions relevant to your industry, and the second should plant the seeds for a piece of content you plan to write and have them link to)
Much appreciate your time – I hope all’s well in Kansas City (I’m out here in Seattle and it’s pouring, as usual).
Best wishes,
John Such-and-Such
“But, Rand”, I hear you say, “that’s dishonest!” In some ways it is, but not entirely. You really do like their site or are, at the least, envious (since it’s ranking well). You also have at least a passing curiousity in their business, so question #1 should reflect that and question #2 is fairly direct as well, since you want to determine if anyone else has put together great content to fill that niche.
The rapport you’ve built through this contact should continue for at least one more back and forth before you go the link acquisition route. And, while it may seem distasteful in some ways to be building a relationship solely for the purpose of a link, you should be thinking of this as a potential industry contact, and possibly even a future friend – just because you’re meeting because you want a link, doesn’t mean the relationship has to be purely selfish. I have people I’ve chatted with, done work for, and even met in person and shared a beer with that I met through a link request. Approach link building with a relationship in mind and you’re sure to have a better chance of success.
STEP 4: The Link Request
You’ve worked hard to get here, but this is the most precarious part of the equation. The wrong link request could ruin your shot, so you want to be as careful as possible. Universally, I’ve found that there are two ways to make the link request – directly and indirectly.
With a direct request, you literally ask if the party will link to your content. This approach works best if the site already links out to others in your space, for their content or merely because they provide relevant services. You can also take the financial angle and ask if a paid link is available – many times the answer is yes. While purchasing links gets a bad rap from Google, when it’s done in a one-to-one, direct fashion, it’s virtually untraceable unless you’re buying it through Google Checkout or MC’s put a bug on your laptop.
The indirect method asks the site owner to merely look at your content, and possibly provide their feedback or input. This method is perfect for educational/resource focused sites that you think are a long shot. Remember that even if your request meets with no link, you can always refer back to the direct method afterwards, particularly the financial incentive.
Whatever method you use, it’s of critical importance that you find some shared point of reference or logical explanation for your link. If you can’t find a place on their site where it would be relevant and intelligent for them to provide a link, either you’re not looking hard enough or you’ll have to pay. The key is to have a connection between your link, their site, and the users who’ll visit both that makes sense to you and the site owner. Link building is an excercise not only in patience, but psychology, too. If you can get inside the mind of a site owner and understand his motivations, you can make that link happen.
One last note – link building via email requests IS absolutely a numbers and time game. The highest success rate I’ve ever seen hovered around 75%, and it’s usually below 50%, even for highly relevant, quality sites with great link builders. Target 100 links, plan on getting 25, and you’ll be thrilled if you can get 40.
