Introducing The 80/20 Link Building Method
In the complex landscape of SEO, efficiency isn’t just an advantage—it’s a necessity. That’s where “The 80/20 Link Building Method” comes into play, drawing its inspiration from the well-regarded Pareto Principle, which posits that 80% of results typically arise from 20% of efforts. This method applies a strategic focus to link building by honing in on the most impactful activities, enabling you to achieve the most substantial results with the least amount of wasted effort.
Why the name? It’s simple. This approach prioritizes the 20% of your link-building activities that are proven to drive 80% of your campaign’s success. Whether it’s targeting high-authority websites, engaging with key influencers within specific niches, or creating standout content that naturally attracts links, this method ensures that every action taken maximizes your potential returns.
The effectiveness of “The 80/20 Link Building Method” lies in its precision and adaptability. By concentrating on what truly matters—those critical 20% of tasks that significantly move the needle—it sidesteps the common pitfalls of traditional link-building strategies that often spread efforts too thinly across too many fronts. Here, every step, every link, and every piece of content is strategically selected to build your brand’s online presence more robustly and efficiently.
With this method, your link building isn’t just a part of your SEO strategy—it’s a driving force behind it, crafted to deliver not just links, but links that matter. This refined approach not only enhances your site’s authority and rankings but also aligns seamlessly with your overall digital marketing objectives, creating a synergy that propels your online visibility to new heights.
Link Prospect Evaluation
The concept of “Excel Hell” might resonate particularly well with those who have had to sift through extensive lists of link prospects. Anyone tasked with filtering thousands of URLs for outreach purposes understands this challenge deeply. As outlined in Chapter 8, we introduced various strategies for prequalifying your link prospects, which include using targeted searches to identify potential links that align with your assets and analyzing common links among competitors’ backlinks.
Our approach to assessing link prospects incorporates both automated and manual techniques once you have compiled your list for a project. Initially, we suggest employing automated tools to quickly sift through large volumes to narrow down your prospects based on quantifiable criteria. Following this, a manual inspection should be conducted to further assess and identify the most promising link opportunities that best fit the specific segment of your campaign. Additionally, this stage is suitable for collecting contact details, if required for your outreach efforts.
Evaluating Link Prospects Using Accessible Metrics
When faced with the daunting task of assessing hundreds or even thousands of link prospects, a logical starting point is to utilize any accessible metrics. For instance, if you’ve utilized tools like the SEOBook Firefox plugin to extract data from search engine results, this can serve as a valuable metric source. Additionally, many commercially available link prospecting services offer their own metrics, facilitating a more “automated” qualification process.
Here are a few strategies to efficiently filter out prospects from extensive lists without the immediate need to manually inspect each webpage:
Identifying Keyword Relevance in URL Structures
Upon transferring your link prospects into a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel®, one effective method to gauge their relevance is by searching for your key market-defining keywords within the URLs themselves. This process can also extend to keywords that are specific to the type of link opportunity you’re exploring. For instance, if your focus is on identifying link lists from .edu domains, spotting the words “link” or “list” in the URL can serve as a strong indicator of relevance. Similarly, if targeting blogs, the presence of “blog” in the URL would be an ideal starting point.
URLs that feature these indicative keywords should be earmarked for a more detailed, manual evaluation later in the process.
Assessing Authority Through Host Name or URL Page Rank
Page Rank (PR) continues to be one of the simplest and most accessible metrics for evaluating the authority of a URL and its host. While actively pursuing high page rank links isn’t a strategy we advocate, it is undeniable that PR can provide useful general insights about a set of link prospects. For those who have gathered their link prospects through targeted link-building queries or from analyzing competitor backlinks, organizing your list by the descending PR of the host names can quickly highlight the most authoritative and potentially valuable sites for your outreach efforts.
Additionally, there are other authority metrics provided by various link-prospecting tools that can be utilized in a similar manner to further refine and prioritize your list based on site authority.
Utilizing Inbound Link Counts and Social Media Distribution Metrics
While the number of inbound links to a website, like Page Rank, can be subject to manipulation and should not be the sole criterion for partnership, it becomes significantly more valuable when prequalified through specific queries or the analysis of backlink co-occurrences. This metric can guide your decisions on which sites to target for outreach, and it also helps identify specific pieces of content that resonate well with your market.
Furthermore, distribution metrics such as Twitter mentions, Facebook likes, mentions on Reddit, and StumbleUpon activity are crucial indicators of a site’s social media presence and engagement. The SEOBook SEO for Firefox Toolbar, for instance, provides an easy means to extract these data points, revealing the social visibility and audience engagement of a domain.
Websites that demonstrate strong social media metrics not only show active participation in social platforms but also suggest a potentially large and engaged following. These characteristics make such sites ideal candidates for content placements, interviews, and engagements related to news and events, warranting deeper consideration in your outreach strategy.
The Preferred Tool for Efficient Metrics-Based Qualification
For efficient and intelligent metrics-based qualification of link prospects, the SEOBook SEO for Firefox Toolbar stands out as the tool we consistently recommend. Its ease of use and customizable features set it apart. To access this tool, a simple sign-up is required, but it offers significant benefits. The toolbar allows users to directly download, aggregate, and sort link prospect data from the search engine results pages (SERPs).
While many competitor backlink prospecting tools offer their own sets of metrics, none, to our knowledge, provide the extensive range of metrics available through the SEO for Firefox Toolbar. This comprehensive capability makes it an invaluable resource for streamlining the process of evaluating and organizing link prospects based on key performance indicators.
Conducting Manual Prospect Qualifications
At some point, manual site inspection becomes essential in the link prospecting process. While it’s beneficial to minimize the number of sites you need to visit by hand due to the time-consuming nature of this task, it is also a critical phase where you might find significant inspiration for your campaign. It is advisable to allocate sufficient time for this stage and be prepared to document any creative ideas that arise.
Assessing Asset Relevance
Occasionally, the mere inclusion of a keyword related to a link opportunity in a URL might suggest its relevance to your linkable asset. However, a more reliable determination often requires visiting the site to assess whether its owner or curator is likely to be open to featuring your asset. This hands-on review helps ensure that the site’s context and content align with your link building goals.
Evaluating Reach and Influence
Several methods exist to gauge a site’s influence and reach, but many of these metrics are not easily automated on a per-URL basis. For instance, the number of blog or newsletter subscribers can provide insights into the longevity of the site and the potential reach of your linkable asset if featured. These factors are critical when determining the strategic value of pursuing a particular link prospect.
Social Media Engagement as a Metric
The number of Twitter followers a site’s publisher has can be a useful indicator of influence, particularly when evaluating the site for potential guest-post opportunities. An even more telling metric, however, is the frequency with which the domain has been mentioned on Twitter, as this provides a clearer picture of the site’s reach and audience engagement. Additionally, check if the site features badges from niche social news sites, which allow users to vote on content. Investigating how often the site and its content appear on these platforms and how frequently their posts become highly popular (“go hot”) can be invaluable. Prioritizing sites with high reach and influence is crucial for effective link building.
Identifying and Handling Competitors in Link Prospects
It’s not uncommon to find competitors within your link prospect data sets, which might not be immediately obvious, particularly if you or your client are new to a market. Sometimes, determining whether a site is a competitor requires a direct visit to the site to understand its offerings and positioning.
Assessing At-a-Glance Site Quality
When manually reviewing sites, consider the overall quality of the site. Evaluate the design and layout: Is it aesthetically pleasing or, at the very least, not a distraction? Check for an excessive number of ads or AdSense links that clutter the page, potentially burying valuable content. Also, pay attention to the quality of the writing. Obvious misspellings and poor grammar can be indicative of a lower-quality site, and despite any promising metrics, such issues can be strong reasons to exclude a prospect from further consideration. Prioritizing quality and credibility is essential, as these factors significantly impact the potential success of any link-building collaboration.
Streamlining Manual Qualification with the URL Reviewer Tool
For those tasked with the manual qualification of link prospects, efficiency is key. We’ve developed a tool specifically to accelerate this process—the URL Reviewer Tool. Here’s a guide to using this simple, yet effective, free tool to enhance your by-hand review process:
- Optimize Browser Settings: Begin by turning off images in your browser. This not only speeds up browsing but also reduces the load on your computer’s resources. You can typically disable images through your browser’s settings or options menu.
- Utilize the URL Reviewer Tool: This tool is designed to open a list of URLs in new tabs simultaneously. Look for options that allow opening sites in multiple tabs to get started with this tool.
- Manage Tab Load Start with adding 10 URLs to test how your computer handles the load. If there are no issues, gradually increase to 20, then 30 tabs, monitoring for any bottlenecks caused by your RAM, router, or internet connection. The goal is to determine the maximum number of tabs that can be efficiently managed without slowing down the process.
- Choose the Right Browser: Chrome is recommended for managing RAM allocations more efficiently compared to other browsers like Firefox, Opera, or Safari. However, if you have reservations about using Google products, especially concerning link buys, consider using an alternative.
- Efficient Tab Management: To close tabs quickly, use keyboard shortcuts—Ctrl-W for Windows or Command-W for Mac.
- Organize Your Findings: As you evaluate each URL, mark only the confirmed, definite prospects in your spreadsheet. Once you complete the list, sort by the marked column to separate the prospects from non-prospects. This distinction is crucial as non-prospects can serve as valuable references for future qualifications, helping you streamline the process even more.
By adopting these techniques, dedicated link builders can efficiently hand-qualify up to 250 URLs per hour, significantly enhancing productivity in the link qualification phase.
Key Qualifiers for Identifying Link Opportunities
When evaluating link prospects, it’s crucial to apply a diverse set of qualifiers that can comprehensively assess the potential of each URL. Here’s a list of automated qualifiers that can help streamline this process by focusing on specific metrics and characteristics:
- Keywords in Target URL: Presence of relevant keywords directly in the URL.
- Keywords in Title Tag: Relevance of keywords in the URL’s title tag.
- Keywords in H1 Tags: Utilization of key terms in the primary heading of the page.
- Keyword Occurrences in Body Text: Frequency of keywords within the main content.
- Keyword Occurrences in Meta Tags: Presence of keywords in meta descriptions and meta keywords.
- Number of Outbound Links: Total outbound links from the URL.
- Number of Inbound Links to URL: Inbound links pointing directly to the target URL.
- Number of Inbound Links to Domain: Total inbound links to the entire domain.
- Followed vs. NoFollowed Outbound Links: Status of outbound links regarding follow attributes.
- Competitor URLs: Presence of competitor URLs within the link prospect list.
- Excessive AdSense Placements: Overuse of AdSense which could indicate a lower quality site.
- PageRank of URL: Google PageRank of the specific URL.
- PageRank of Domain: Overall PageRank of the domain.
- Domain Age: Age of the domain as an indicator of established presence.
- Page Type: Classification of the page type (e.g., social network, blog, forum).
- Number of Comments in Comment Threads: Engagement level shown by comment activity.
- Inbound Links from News Sites, Edu’s or Gov’s: Quality inbound links that add credibility.
- Inbound Links from Blogs and Other Sites in Your Prospect Set: Relevant links from similar niches.
- Forum Signature Inbound Links: Links originating from forum engagements.
- Inbound Links from Niche/Industry News Sites: Links from key industry news platforms.
- Inbound Links from Industry Groups and Organizations: Links from relevant professional groups.
- Social Media Inbound Links: Links coming from social media platforms.
- Social Media/Industry Group Badge Outbound Links: Outbound links to social media or industry badges.
- Duplicate Page Type Entry: Ensures the list captures all essential page types.
Utilizing these qualifiers will enable you to better understand the strength, relevance, and potential of each link prospect. By focusing on these metrics, you can make informed decisions about which prospects to prioritize for your link-building efforts.
Comprehensive Manual Qualifiers for Evaluating Link Prospects
When conducting a thorough manual review of link prospects, consider a wide range of qualifiers that delve into the quality, relevance, and credibility of a page. Here are 31 key by-hand qualifiers to guide your evaluation:
- Relevance Between Pages: Assess the genuine relevance between the target page and your page.
- Unidentified Competitor: Determine if the site is a previously unidentified competitor.
- Human-Generated Text: Check if the content appears to be written by a human, not autogenerated.
- Excessive Ads: Look for obtrusive or excessive advertisements.
- Motivation Behind Existing Links: Understand what motivates the current links on the target URL.
- Site Activity: Check for recent posts, site updates, and updated copyright dates.
- Grammar and Spelling: Evaluate the text for correct grammar and spelling at first glance.
- Design and Image Quality: Assess the overall design quality and image standards.
- Resource Page Maintenance: Determine how well-maintained the resources or links page appears.
- Multiple Link Pages: Identify if there is more than one link page.
- Latest Update: Note when the last site update occurred.
- Accessibility of Site Owner/Moderator: Check if the site owner or moderator is easily reachable by email or phone.
- Comments Box: Look for a comments section and evaluate its activity.
- Quality of Comments: Assess the quality of the discussion and comments.
- Relevant Discussions: Check if there are discussions related to your product or service.
- Established Community: Determine if there is an active community, evident in comments or forums.
- Presence of Q/A Forms: Look for question and answer forms on the site.
- Strength of Content: Evaluate the strength and quality of the content.
- Editorial Presence: Determine if the site has editors managing the content.
- Links to Influencers: Look for outbound links to known influencers in the field.
- Written Reviews: Check if the site contains written reviews.
- Newsletter and Distribution Signs: Look for an email newsletter or other signs of reach and distribution.
- In The News Section: Check for a section that features quotes by major newspapers and industry publications.
- Personalized URL: See if the person’s name is part of the URL.
- Industry Analyst/Consultant Presence: Determine if it’s an industry analyst or consultant site.
- Niche News Coverage: Evaluate if it’s a niche industry news coverage site.
- Robust Commenting Community: Assess the commenting community and response level from the author.
- Industry News Coverage: Determine if the site writes about recent industry news and developments.
- Conference Attendance: Check if the site mentions attending industry conferences.
- Multiple Media Formats: Look for the presence of multiple media formats (video, podcasts, etc.).
- Blogroll Appearances: Identify if you’ve seen this URL on multiple blogrolls.
Using these detailed qualifiers will help ensure a comprehensive assessment of each link prospect, aiding in the identification of the most beneficial and relevant opportunities for your link-building efforts.
Understanding and Expanding Your Audience Base
When developing an SEO link-building strategy, it’s crucial to shift focus from mere keywords to the actual audiences these keywords represent. This deeper understanding of your target audience is essential for the success of any guest placement campaign. Here’s how to proceed:
Translate Keywords into Audience Profiles
Start by converting your SEO keywords into target audience profiles. For instance, if your client aims to rank for “web hosting” with a specialization in services for “small, online business owners,” this keyword doesn’t just represent a service, but a specific group of people with distinct needs and behaviors.
Brainstorming Broader Target Audiences
Using your initial audience—small online business owners—as a base, think expansively about related groups who might also benefit from your client’s services. This process involves adopting a “directory mindset” to identify potential categories under which these business owners could be listed or searched for in directories. This approach helps in visualizing different facets of your primary audience and related segments that might be interested in your client’s offerings.
Example Audiences Based on the Initial Target:
- Small Business Owners: Broad category that includes not just online businesses but also brick-and-mortar stores that might be looking to expand online.
- Online Business Owners: Directly targets entrepreneurs who operate exclusively online.
- Ecommerce Businesses: Specifically focuses on businesses that sell goods or services online, which require reliable web hosting to ensure efficient operations.
- Web Design Professionals: Those who design websites might need recommendations for reliable hosting services they can suggest to their clients.
Utilizing Directories for Inspiration
Visiting an online directory can provide further insight into how businesses are categorized and what other potential audiences could be relevant. Directories often segment businesses in ways you might not initially consider, offering a structured approach to understanding different market segments.
By broadening your audience scope and accurately defining their profiles, you enhance the effectiveness of your SEO efforts, ensuring that they align more closely with the needs and interests of potential customers. This strategic focus on audience rather than just keywords can significantly improve the outreach and impact of your link-building campaigns.
Quick Viability Check: “[TARGET AUDIENCE]” + intitle: “write for us”
To evaluate the potential for a guest placement campaign, combine your designated target audiences with the search command intitle: “write for us”.
Web pages featuring “write for us” in their title tags are actively seeking content contributions. By accurately defining your target audience and performing this search, the number of results and the relevance of the top 10 to 20 entries will help determine the feasibility of a guest placement campaign and suggest its potential scale.
If you encounter 200 to 300 results per query, with 3 to 5 solid opportunities among the top 10, you can reasonably project about 10 guest-post placements per query, assuming a 20 percent conversion rate.
This quick assessment will help you decide whether a comprehensive inventory is necessary, or if you need to reevaluate your target audience strategy. It’s possible to discover that the volume and quality of opportunities are not sufficient for significant SERP impact, indicating the need to supplement with other types of opportunities that have a higher volume.
Assessing the Volume of Placement/Posting Opportunities
When you observe strong indicators of content demand, it’s time to either expand your search into a comprehensive inventory or set up the groundwork for someone else to undertake the prospecting. This involves thorough querying to identify potential guest publication opportunities.
Here’s a detailed guide to crafting queries for effectively prospecting guest posting opportunities:
- Expand Your Query Scope: Start broadening your search queries to capture a wider range of opportunities.
- Look for Prolific Guest Posters: Pay attention to individuals who frequently contribute guest posts within your industry. Their presence on multiple platforms can lead you to additional opportunities.
- Identify High-Volume Opportunities: When you encounter guest posters who appear across hundreds of sites, categorize these as high-volume, low-value placement opportunities. These are plentiful and can be leveraged for broader scale efforts.
By accurately measuring the volume of these opportunities, you can determine the number of writers needed to effectively cover all potential slots. This strategic approach ensures you efficiently allocate resources to maximize outreach and impact in your guest posting campaigns.
Assessing the Quality of Guest Posting Opportunities
While the quantity of placement opportunities is important, the quality is crucial, especially if your goals include branding and expanding reach. Here are key steps to evaluate the value of a guest-posting opportunity:
- Analyze Content Reach and Distribution:
Search Article Titles: Copy and paste the title of a two-week-old article from the site into a search engine, using quotes around the title. Observe where the article appears. Are there instances of content scraping? Is it mentioned on Twitter? Does the site have an active RSS feed that syndicates its content? This can provide insights into the publication’s reach.
- Evaluate Social Media Engagement:
Social Shares and Interactions: Check the number of tweets, shares that articles typically receive on the site. This indicates the social media reach and how engaged the audience is with the content.
- Community Engagement:
Comments: Look at the quality and quantity of comments on articles to gauge the community’s engagement and interest in the topics discussed.
- Internal Linking Practices:
Publisher’s Linking Strategy: Notice if the publisher frequently links within articles to their own pages. This common practice can impact the SEO effectiveness of your guest posts.
- Backlink Profile:
Quality of Backlinks: Scan the site’s backlinks to see if recognizable and reputable sites are linking to it. This helps assess the credibility and audience of the publication.
- Anchor Text Usage:
Guest Posters’ Anchor Texts: Observe whether guest posters predominantly use exact match anchor texts or brand names. This can indicate the site’s policy on SEO and link building.
- Content Commitment Requirements:
Editorial Standards: Determine if the site requires or requests an ongoing content commitment from its contributors. A demand for regular contributions often signals strong editorial standards and a commitment to quality.
By meticulously examining these factors, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of what characteristics your content needs to possess to be successfully placed on high-quality sites. This approach ensures that your guest posting efforts align with your broader marketing and SEO objectives, enhancing both visibility and brand reputation.
Assessing Expertise in Guest-Published Content
Now that you’ve identified your target sites, it’s important to determine the level of subject matter expertise required to address your audience’s informational needs effectively. Explore how accessible this expertise is—are there forums, books, PDFs, or other resources you can utilize for research?
The presence of “write for us” pages often signals a high demand for content and typically correlates with readily available, well-organized knowledge in the field. If you’re aiming to produce comprehensive content, assess the prevalence of tip-based articles as well. Remember, incorporating your audience-specific keywords into this research will enhance the relevance and focus of your findings.
### Essential Questions to Ask Before Signing a Guest Placement Contract
Guest placements do more than build links; they can establish a client’s expertise in a specific field if executed with precision on the right platforms. To ensure you can deliver this value effectively, it’s crucial to understand the level of access you’ll have to the client’s resources and their commitment to the project. Here are some critical questions to discuss before finalizing a contract for guest placement services:
- Brand Expertise as a Purchase Factor: Is the client’s perceived expertise crucial to their customers’ purchase decisions?
- Client Involvement: How involved will the client be in content ideation?
- Access to Experts: Are there subject matter experts available for interviews?
- Client-Produced Materials: Does the client have any published materials (e.g., tools, PDFs, presentations, videos) that could be leveraged in guest placements?
- Unique Data Availability: Is there unique data about the client’s market that can be published?
- Content Approval Process: Who in the client’s organization must approve the content?
- Social Media Activity: How active is the client on social media, and do they plan to increase this activity?
- Email Address Provision: Can you obtain an email address ending in @client.com within three months?
- Authorship of Placements: Whose name will appear on the placements?
- Restrictions on Contacts: Are there any publishers in the client’s industry that should not be contacted?
If the client shows reluctance or inability to demonstrate expertise and support credibility-building initiatives, guest placements, especially with high- and mid-quality publishers, might not be the right strategy. However, if the client recognizes the value of guest placements for publicity, branding, and reach, and is willing to actively share their expertise, the campaign is likely to achieve excellent results.
This outreach strategy is recommended for campaigns where all content is written prior to placement. While some prefer to get content ideas approved by publishers before writing—which can speed up initial outreach—it may slow down the overall process, particularly when client approval is required for content. This approach might not be suitable for larger-scale operations.
Managing the Outreach Phase with an Effective Tracking System
The outreach phase of a campaign involves numerous components that must be meticulously managed to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and brand protection. To keep track of these moving parts, consider setting up a detailed spreadsheet that includes several key columns to organize and monitor the progress of your campaign:
Outreach Tracking Sheet Essentials
- List of Outreach Prospects:
Start with a broad list of potential guest placement prospects. Based on typical experiences, if aiming for 10 successful posts, plan to reach out to about 100 different prospects, anticipating a conversion rate of around 10% initially, though you might achieve as high as 30%.
- Specific Niche Focus:
It’s crucial to match the content accurately with the publisher’s niche to ensure relevance. For instance, an article on email marketing tips should be targeted at blogs specializing in email strategies, not those focused solely on SEO. This ensures that the right “flavor” of the article reaches the appropriate audience.
- Prospect Contact Information and/or Contact URL:
Maintain a column for each prospect’s contact details or a direct URL to their contact page. This simplifies the process of reaching out when ready.
- Anchor Text/Promotional Link Target:
Specify the preferred anchor text or the target URL for promotional links within each guest post. This helps maintain consistency and relevance in your backlink strategy.
- Notes:
Include a section for notes that can offer additional guidance or important tips to your outreach team. These notes can be instrumental when managing multiple prospects and maintaining the clarity of your campaign’s goals.
By effectively utilizing this tracking sheet, you can enhance the organization and execution of your outreach efforts, ensuring that each step is aligned with your campaign objectives. This structured approach not only streamlines the outreach process but also helps protect your brand’s integrity throughout the campaign.
Organizing Your Guest Content Strategy with a Detailed Content Details Sheet
To effectively manage and monitor the various stages of your guest content as it progresses through the outreach and publishing phases, it’s crucial to set up a “Content Details Sheet.” This sheet should serve as a comprehensive database of your guest post inventory and their respective statuses throughout the campaign. Here’s how to structure this essential tracking tool:
Content Details Sheet Structure
- List of Completed Content Titles:
Compile a master list of all guest content titles. This list represents the inventory of articles available for placement, which you will promote through your outreach efforts.
- Specific Niche Focus of Each Piece:
Clearly identify the niche focus for each piece of content. This information is vital for ensuring that each article is pitched to the most appropriate publishers, enhancing the likelihood of acceptance.
- Content “Status” for Individual Articles:
- Maintain a column to track the status of each article with terms such as:
- Written”: The article is complete and ready for promotion.
- In Consideration”: A publisher has shown interest and currently has the article for review.
- Pending”: The publisher has agreed to publish the article, but it has not yet been posted.
- Placed”: The article is published and live on the publisher’s site.
- Domain of Prospective Publisher:
Initially, record the domain name of where you intend to place the article. Once an article is published, update this field with the final published URL to keep track of where each piece is hosted.
- Date of Initial Contact:
Document the date when you first contacted each publisher. This helps manage follow-ups and provides a timeline of your outreach efforts.
By implementing this Content Details Sheet, you create a valuable tool for managing your guest posting strategy more efficiently. This sheet not only helps in tracking the progress and status of each piece of content but also aids in ensuring that the right content is matched with the right publisher. Such meticulous organization can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your outreach and content placement efforts.
Outreach Emails: Balancing Templates with Personalization
In the realm of link outreach, the debate between using templates and crafting entirely unique emails persists. The effectiveness of using templates largely depends on the extent of your preliminary work—targeted prospecting and thoughtful content design allow for more templated elements in your outreach. When you’ve aligned the needs of your publishers with what you’re pitching, a templated approach can demonstrate clear benefits to the publisher, making your outreach efforts more streamlined and scalable.
Implementing Templates
Templates can be utilized effectively with simple tools like a notepad application for minor alterations or more complex tools like merge macros in word processing applications. However, certain aspects of your email must remain unique to each recipient to ensure effectiveness and personal engagement.
Elements That Should Not Be Templated
- Initial Rapport:
The first sentence should establish a personal connection without being overbearing. Remember, publishers are busy, and while you’re offering them valuable content, a subtle approach is key. For instance, sharing a brief personal anecdote that relates to the target audience can be effective, like, “As a busy mom of multiples who also juggles freelance writing, I value your time and insight!”
- Understanding of Guest Submission Requirements:
Demonstrate that you’ve researched and understood the guest submission guidelines of the site. Approximately 20% of publishers have specific requirements, and showing that your content complies with these can significantly increase your chances of acceptance.
- Content Titles:
When pitching content titles, limit your suggestions to two or three. This not only prevents the email from appearing as part of a mass outreach campaign but also helps in receiving quicker responses due to the limited choices.
- Benefits of the Content:
Clearly articulate the advantages of the proposed content for the publisher’s audience. While a well-crafted title can convey the primary benefit, expanding on how the content will serve and enhance the audience’s experience can add significant value to your pitch.
By carefully combining templated elements with personalized touches, your outreach emails can be both efficient and engaging. This approach ensures that each communication is tailored enough to feel personal yet streamlined enough to be practical on a larger scale.
Crafting Effective Templated Sections for Outreach Emails
When it comes to the parts of your outreach emails that can be templated, it’s important to focus on clarity, readability, and believability while also ensuring that your messages are concise and free of unnecessary details. Here’s how to effectively template key components of your outreach emails, which you can then adapt as needed for different publishers:
Templatable Elements
- Introduction – Who You Are and Why You’re Writing:
Craft a cordial and brief introduction that includes who you are and why you’re reaching out. This part should be easily adaptable to fit the specific site you are contacting. For example, “I’m [Your Name], a content creator specializing in [Your Niche], reaching out to share a potential collaboration opportunity I believe would be beneficial for [Publisher’s Site].”
- Highlight Relevant Accolades:
If you, your writer, or your brand has any notable achievements, briefly mention these. Accolades can enhance your credibility and might encourage publishers to respond positively and swiftly. For instance, “Recognized as [Award/Recognition], we have a proven track record of engaging content that resonates with audiences.”
- Cite Notable Previous Publications:
List two or three significant places where your work or your brand’s content has been published. This not only showcases your experience but also allows publishers to quickly assess the quality of your previous work. You might add, “My recent articles have been featured in [Publication Names], where they have garnered substantial engagement.”
- Showcase Engagement Statistics:
Share metrics such as the number of tweets, shares, and links your previous guest publications have received. Impressive figures can be very persuasive. Phrase it like, “My last piece on [Topic] received over [X] shares and [Y] links, demonstrating significant audience engagement.”
- Promotion Plans for the Post:
Outline how you plan to promote the guest post if published. This shows your commitment to ensuring the post’s success beyond just securing a spot on their site. Example: “Once published, I will promote the article through my social media channels, email newsletter, and by linking to it from my blog, ensuring maximum exposure.”
- Flexibility and Cooperation:
Express your willingness to collaborate with the publisher to make necessary adjustments to ensure the content fits their audience perfectly. “I am more than willing to tailor the content as needed to ensure it aligns perfectly with your audience’s expectations and your editorial standards.”
By preparing these templatable elements in advance, you can streamline your outreach process while maintaining the personalization needed to engage effectively with each publisher. This approach allows you to balance efficiency with the customized touch that is often crucial for successful collaborations.
The Piggyback Pitch: Maximizing Your Outreach Emails
After the initial pitch in your outreach emails, adding a “P.S.” or an “Oh, by the way” section can be an effective way to leverage your contact for additional opportunities. This approach allows you to introduce more value to the publisher and increase the potential for further collaboration. Here are a few ideas on how to incorporate additional requests tactfully and effectively:
Additional Opportunities to Pitch
- Promote New, High-Utility Content:
Suggest content that could be of high value for their audience, such as infographics, widgets, videos, or newly published articles. For example, “P.S.: I recently developed an infographic on [Topic], which I think could be a fantastic addition to your upcoming roundup or might be of interest to your Twitter followers.”
- Inquire About Contests and Giveaways:
Many sites engage their audience through contests or giveaways. Offer something beneficial for such events. Phrase it like, “Also, if you’re planning any upcoming contests or giveaways for your readers, I’d love to contribute [Product/Service] as a prize. It could be a great fit for your audience.”
- Propose an Interview or Survey Participation:
Suggest an interactive element such as an interview or a participation in a survey. This not only adds content but also engages the publisher more directly. You might add, “Additionally, I’m compiling insights on [Topic] for an upcoming piece and would be thrilled to include your expert opinions. Would you be open to answering a few interview or survey questions?”
Including these additional pitches can help strengthen your relationship with the publisher by showing that you are interested in providing multifaceted value, not just securing a one-time guest post placement. It’s essential to keep these additions brief and relevant to ensure they complement your primary request rather than overwhelming the recipient.
Effective Outreach Execution Tips
Executing an outreach strategy effectively can greatly enhance your chances of success in securing guest post placements. Here are some practical tips to help you manage your outreach process efficiently and avoid common pitfalls:
- Start Small and Be Patient
- Send Initial Emails: Begin by sending out 10 to 20 emails. This manageable number allows you to tailor each message without feeling overwhelmed.
- Allow Response Time: Wait one or two days before following up or sending more emails. Publishers often need time to go through their emails, especially if they receive high volumes of pitches.
- Pitch Titles, Not Complete Articles
- Keep It Flexible: Pitch article titles rather than complete pieces. This approach gives publishers the impression that the content is being created specifically for them and reduces concerns that you might be distributing already-published material.
- Organize Your Files
- Use “Placed” Folders: Create a designated folder on your hard drive for content that has been successfully placed. Once an article is published, ensure it’s moved to this folder or deleted from your general inventory to prevent accidentally sending the same piece to multiple publishers.
- Utilize Your Spreadsheet for Multiple Purposes
- Project Management: Use your outreach spreadsheet as a central tool for tracking progress, managing prospects, and recording placements.
- Client Reporting: The same spreadsheet can serve as a reporting tool to provide updates to clients on the status of various outreach efforts.
- Feedback and Approvals: Incorporate input from clients or team members directly into the spreadsheet to streamline communications and approvals.
- Track Placements and Build Relationships
- Maintain Contact Information: Keep detailed records of where each piece has been published along with contact details of the publishers. This information is invaluable for future outreach.
- Repurpose Relationships: One of the biggest long-term benefits of your outreach efforts is creating a list of reliable sites that you can revisit with new content. Each successful placement builds a foundation for future interactions, making subsequent pitches more likely to succeed.
By implementing these strategies, you’ll not only enhance the efficiency of your outreach efforts but also build valuable relationships and a robust network of content placement opportunities. This approach ensures that your guest posting efforts support broader marketing objectives and contribute significantly to your organization’s content strategy.