This is no news, but link building is still the main way for affiliate marketers to build their search engine presence. And that’s even after the recent Google banning of sites being a part of private blog networks (PBNs).
However, getting links isn’y always as straightforward as finding the right prospects and then blasting them with “Hey, link to me please!” emails.
As affiliate marketers, we have to realize that even though many of the sites we’re attempting to get through to with our outreach are run by other marketers, that’s not the case across the board.
Some people simply don’t understand the idea of link building and don’t really care that much for it. So they won’t understand why you’re even asking for a link, and most of all, they won’t understand what benefit is there for them or you.
As it turns out, “links” is not as commonly used a term as we’d imagine.
So How to Do Outreach the Right Way?
First of all, it’s a good idea to not use the word “link” anywhere in your outreach message. Two reasons:
- If your email address domain is already not particularly trustworthy then the message can get caught by a spam filter due to it using words like “link,” “opportunity,” and a couple dozen others.
- Asking for a link is a very direct request that rarely presents any benefit to the person being asked other than the vague, “Your readers will love it!”
Somethings that’s reported to work much better is starting a talk on how your business could work together with the company you’re targeting for the link, pointing out some ways you could both get extra exposure by catering to your similar audiences.
No matter what will come out of such communication, if anything is to be put into reality, it will involve links – either as the final result or a byproduct.
One more benefit is that talking about mutual cooperation will be much better received by site owners not that savvy with SEO-related terms, like “link building.”
Having the Big Picture in Mind
Just like pointed out by one article at Search Engine Land, what we’re after here is building a business, not just building some links.
Let’s not forget that links are only a tool to get specific SEO goals achieved, and that what is way above that is the goal of building a profitable business for the long haul. That’s why we should keep our main business goals in mind every time we decide to reach out to someone in hope of getting any kind of mention.