We all know the value of getting links to our site. Links bring
you traffic from related sites and boost your search engine rank,
which brings you, umm, more traffic. So, basically, links =
traffic.
However, gone are the days of simply asking for a link (in
exchange for a link from your site) and actually getting one.
These days, bland reciprocal link requests such as these almost
never yield any benefit because they are simply ignored. Think
about this old-school approach from the email recipient’s point
of view to understand why your link requests are ignored.
Webmasters of quality sites, the ones you want to get links from,
are constantly dealing with link requests. 9 times out of 10 the
webmaster simply sees "Link Exchange" and deletes the email. I
know I do. I have more important things to do than to entertain
requests that are most likely for sites that are not even
relevant to mine.
And like most webmasters, I don’t give the link requester the
chance to even prove if it is relevant (meaning, I don’t read the
email). I’ve seen so many of these emails that they seem to hit
the "Deleted Items" folder as fast as the Viagra spam emails.
So, this is the first hurdle, getting your email read. If your
subject line resembles a link request at all, busy webmasters
will see it as such and simply delete it. You have to put
yourselves in their shoes. What would get you to read the email?
Well, how about starting off by telling them what YOU can do for
THEM, instead of the other way around. This simple tactic works
much better. Which one would you open:
A) Subject: "Exchange links with xyz.com"
B) Subject: "Love your site! As my way of saying thanks…"
In the body of the email you can introduce yourself and your
site, and explain what you are trying to accomplish with your
site.
Now, the following method varies slightly depending on what type
of site you have that you are trying to get links for. Most sites
fall into 2 categories: content sites and e-commerce sites. Is
your site offering valuable content to your visitors (such as
information on the best local golf courses), or is your site
selling something (software or an ebook or something)? Your site
will be one of these types.
If it’s a content site then the process of acquiring links is
much easier, because you simply have to convince the potential
link partner that your site would be of value to them and their
visitors. You could use an email such as:
"Hi there,
I just saw your site at _______ and think it's a great resource
for our new _____ site. Our _____ site is unique because
______(here is where you would stress the value of your
site)_________. Check it out at _________. Since our ____ site
is like nothing else on the net, and we are quickly becoming the
favorite resource for ____.
I am going to add your link to my site in a prominent location
(with few outbounds on your link page) and was wondering if you
would do the same.
The traffic we can send each other will be highly targeted and
both of our visitors would appreciate and benefit from this link
swap.
Again my site is at _________. Check it out!
Let me know if you would like me to add your link to the site.
Thanks!
____ (name)"
This type of email works well, and should net you a bunch of
links if your content site truly is of value to the email
recipient and his/her visitors.
Now, if your site falls under the second category, an e-commerce
site, you need to put a little more work into your requests using
the following approach. The body of the email would go on to
explain that, as your way of saying thanks for a great site, you
would like to offer them a complimentary copy of your ebook…or a
copy of your software…or provide a service to them (copywriting,
ebook design, graphic design)…whatever…in exchange for a link
from their site. If they link to your site, you will provide them
with something in return, other than simply a link back from your
site.
And it doesn’t have to be your main product either. You can put
together a valuable little bonus for link partners, or you can
acquire master resell rights to something that you think would be
of interest to them and offer them this. The key is to be
creative. If you think about it just a little bit, I’m sure you
can come up with something to give away in exchange for some
highly valuable links.
I have used this tactic successfully several times and it always
works beautifully. People love this because there’s actually
something in it for them, unlike the dozen other boring
reciprocal link requests they simply deleted. Trust me, it works.
But the key is that you have to approach the right sites –
RELEVANT SITES. I can’t stress this enough. You cannot simply use
this tactic as a blanket approach and send out as many emails as
you can. If you do that, there goes the personalization and
credibility you are hoping comes across in your email. You have
to find only relevant sites that are truly valuable to you as a
link partner.
And if your goal is simply to get top search engine rankings and
not just the desire to have a ton of links pointing to your site,
you don’t have to send out hundreds of these requests - if they
are properly targeted. This is especially true if you are in a
relatively untapped niche market, because only a handful of the
right links will get you top search engine rankings. After you
get these links you will get listed at the top of MSN in a couple
days, Yahoo in a couple weeks, and Google in a couple months.
They all index and rank pages differently, but they share a
common trait in that they all place an extremely high value on
relevant backlinks. More so than any other SEO tactic out there,
in fact.
So, how do you find relevant sites? Well, ideally these sites
would not only be relevant but also would have a decent Page Rank
as well as few outbound links on the page you would like to be
linked from. As a rule of thumb, the higher the Page Rank and the
fewer the outbound links the better. The PR Prowler program does
exactly this. It allows you to enter in the keywords that relate
to your site and specify a minimum Page Rank for your potential
link partners, then it returns a list of highly valuable and,
more importantly, relevant link partners for you and shows you
the value of each one as a link partner. It can also email these
sites from within the program (and customize each email), so you
just have to craft your message and click "Send".
Bottom line: You have to be smart when you approach sites these
days. With all the spam laws and email regulations in place, not
to mention the resource drain on all those involved, you must
only contact relevant sites to get links back to you. And by
doing this in a creative fashion whereby the email recipient
actually gets something of value in return for a simple link on
their site you increase your chances of landing these valuable
links tenfold. Not only does this boost your link popularity and
search engine rank, but these relevant links are great traffic
generators in and of themselves. It’s a double-whammy, and an
internet marketing tactic you should not take lightly.
Put some work into your link requests, and it will pay off in the
end.
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