If you’re reading this blog post, you understand the importance of link building.
You might even have some minimal experience building backlinks to your blog or website.
But you’re not sure how to truly scale your efforts.
You’ve developed some good content, but you’ve only seen it garner you a few links – most of them from colleagues and people who already know you/like you.
You’re tired of sitting back and waiting. You want to make things happen.
Well, you’re in the right place.
This post is going to walk you through the precise ways you can build links via manual outreach – something that requires a little effort but typically produces powerful results.
If you’re willing to apply a little elbow grease, we’ll show you how to get started.
+ The 2 Primary Approaches Link Building
+ 1. Link Attraction
+ 2. Link Outreach
+ 4 Link Building Outreach Tactics You Can Use
+ 1. Email Outreach
+ 2. Guest Posting
+ 3. LinkedIn Outreach
+ 4. Pitching Journalists
+ Partner With a Link Building Expert
Before digging into the granular details, let’s set the table a bit more.
There are ultimately two primary approaches to link building:
As the name suggests, this model is all about creating quality content, publishing it to your website, and optimizing it so that it’s visible and shareable. The hope is that people discover your content – either via Google, social media, or other direct referrals – and that they, in turn, link to your content as well.
Link attraction is a reactive form of link building. It has its place, but it largely removes you from the process. If you (a) have little time/money to dedicate to link building, (b) are not in a hurry for results, and (c) believe in the quality of your content to stand on its own merit, this strategy works. If not, you’ll need a more hands-on approach.
If link attraction is a reactionary approach, the link outreach method is about being proactive. The objective is to go out and “sell” your content, for lack of a better term. You do everything within your power to find people who are able to link back to your content and you persuade them to do so.
Link outreach takes a lot of time and can be frustrating at times. However, it’s like pouring gasoline on a few sparks – it causes embers to swell into powerful flames. And if you want to be successful with link building and SEO, you need flames.
Link building outreach – also known as manual link building – is a pretty broad category.
You understand the importance of doing it, but where do you start?
Here are the precise tactics and strategies that we’ve seen work wonders for clients, businesses, bloggers, successful SEOs, and industry-leading digital marketers:
Email is a powerful asset for link building outreach – but it has to be used wisely.
Anyone who has the ability to link back to your website has an email account. In other words, you have a direct line to them. It’s all about how you use it.
There’s an art to email outreach and you have to spend time perfecting this skillset.
Cold emails without a strategic approach rarely, if ever, work.
You have to learn how to write good emails so that they’re (a) opened and (b) engaged with. (If an email doesn’t get opened and engaged with, it’s heading straight for the dreaded trash folder.)
When writing an outreach email, think about it from the perspective of the recipient. When they see an email come through their inbox, their brain intuitively performs a three-step evaluation process:
The average professional receives 120 new emails per day. They only respond to 25 percent of them. One would have to assume that the response rate for cold emails is far lower – perhaps in the 5 to 10 percent range.
To get a response, you have to get a passing grade on all three of these filters.
How do you do this?
Well, you can use what SparringMind.com calls the 3-B Plan:
That’s sort of the template – or style guide – for writing outreach emails that get opened and engaged with. But how do you actually write powerful emails?
Here are some things to consider:
This is just a very basic primer on how to handle email outreach. There’s so much more to learn. Do your research and commit to becoming a student of email communication. This is a transferrable skill that will serve you well throughout your life.
Let’s talk guest posting (also known as guest blogging).
This strategy involves actually writing copy for an existing website or blog in order to generate backlinks and visibility.
Guest posting is a science – and it’s constantly evolving.
The best practices and tactics change every few months and the key is to stay on the cutting edge with your outreach tactics so that you’re getting noticed. But the underlying principles always hold true.
Here are some basic steps you’ll need to take to start using guest posting in your link building strategy:
Obviously, this is a 60,000-foot view of guest posting outreach. In order to be successful, you’ll have to zoom in and get very granular with each of these steps. But if you’re willing to put in the work, it can generate some pretty powerful and high-authority backlinks for your content.
Email tends to be generic and spammy. People know this and have very little problem deleting emails without responding.
If you want to increase your open rates and get better responses, consider using LinkedIn. It’s seen as more personal. (And you’re less likely to have people delete your message without replying.)
Tips for LinkedIn outreach:
LinkedIn is wonderful because it’s targeted. People log on to the site because they’re focused. It’s a professional networking platform, which means, unlike Facebook or Instagram, people are willing to talk business. Use this to your advantage!
This is the fourth and final tactic we’re going to discuss in this blog post. And it’s one that often gets overlooked.
Pitching journalists sounds like an outdated and archaic method – but don’t let that fool you. It’s actually one of the more powerful tools you have in your link building outreach arsenal.
Journalists are valuable for a number of reasons, but they’re especially helpful because of the exposure they promise.
If a well-known journalist – someone with thousands of followers/readers – is talking about you, a lot of people will hear about it. That’s why this method is about equal parts link building and PR.
The key to getting a journalist to write about you (or use your content as a resource) is to add value to them. Remember that they’re in the business of creating content, too. If you can give them a story that will resonate with their readers, you’ll have no trouble getting some links.
Once again, it’s all about the pitch. Here are some things to keep in mind:
The great thing about working with journalists is that you can quickly build up a network of people who can be tapped at any time.
Because once a journalist works with you and figures out you’re for real, they’ll be happy to partner on future projects. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
Okay, here’s what you’re probably thinking:
“Those techniques sound awesome…
…but that sounds like a full-time job!
I’d love to implement two or three of these…
…but I have a dozen other responsibilities on my to-do list!”
You’re not the only one!
This is a common sentiment – and one that prevents most well-intentioned people from pursuing link building outreach.
But the good news is that you don’t have to actually do link building outreach in a manual capacity.
By partnering with a link building expert – or a reputable white hat link building service – you can automate link outreach.
This provides you with the best of both worlds: massive link building growth potential and minimal time commitment.
What are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves and get started today. (Better yet, hire someone else to roll up their sleeves.)