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SEO 8 min read March 25, 2019

How To Leverage Cold Email To Supercharge Your SEO Strategy

How To Leverage Cold Email To Supercharge Your SEO Strategy
How To Leverage Cold Email To Supercharge Your SEO Strategy 16261788245305
Levi Olmstead
Head of Community and SEO at G2Crowd
Building awareness for your brand, getting more site traffic, and boosting revenue can all easily be achieved if your website ranks for the right keywords on Google and other search engines.

There are countless ways to boost your search engine rankings and crush these goals, but there is one that's not getting enough attention: cold email.
Typically, you might think of cold email and search engine optimization (SEO) as being two completely separate tactics. But one of the best ways to leverage cold email to supercharge your SEO strategy is to use it to build relationships with people who can help improve your search engine rankings.

Essentially, you can leverage cold email to find people of influence across all platforms who can potentially be persuaded, enticed, or downright compensated for sharing your brand, message, or product with their loyal following.
In the past, these people were called by many names, including bloggers, thought leaders, Instagrammers, YouTubers, evangelists, and more. Now the term influencer accurately applies to all of them.

Email is the perfect medium for reaching these influencers. Not only does email marketing deliver an average ROI of 4300%, but, according to a Tomoson poll, every $1 spent on influencer marketing yields an average of $6.50 in revenue —that's an ROI of 650%. Combine the two, and you've got a powerhouse tactic.
One of the best ways to achieve on-page SEO results from influencer shoutouts is having them produce content for their website explaining, reviewing, or promoting your product, linking back to your website or specific landing pages that need a boost. It's really that simple.

Let's dive deeper into how you can do this.

Create a rock-solid outreach strategy

Creating an effective cold email outreach campaign all starts with knowing who you're going to reach out to. Prospecting goes a long way, and the tools available to you are endless. Try using a tool like Serpstat to analyze which content is performing best, and, more importantly, which key influencers are creating that content.

Choose any keyword in Serpstat, and you'll find a list of all the top content out there including who posted it, how much engagement it received, and where it ranks. Once you have a name, you can use a tool like VoilaNorbert to find the right email address so you can reach out to the influencer directly.

Once your list of prospective influencers is ironed out, you can then leverage email automation to reach out. For example, the outbound cold email platform Mailshake will provide templates, real-time analysis of your email quality, and, best of all, will track analytics around who opened your email, who clicked links, and more.

Craft the perfect cold email

Email software like Mailshake will help you get the mechanics down, but you've still got to personalize the content to your industry or offering. The best cold emails are simple, to the point, and provide value to the receiver. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1
Use a compelling subject line. Approximately 47% of people open an email based on the subject line alone. Spend extra time making it relevant, conversational, concise, and intriguing. Take a look at all the spammy email subject lines in your inbox and do the opposite to truly stand out.
2
Get them hooked from the beginning with a hard-hitting opening line. You've got a short window to keep them interested, so spend extra time here as well. A solid tactic is to ask a thought-provoking question, highlight a pain point, or share an interesting story or statistic. Whatever you do, don't talk too much about yourself or your company. That's off-putting so early in the conversation.
3
Provide value to build rapport and credibility through sharing relevant articles, videos, case studies, social proof, or insider knowledge they couldn't get elsewhere. Once you have them hooked, you've got to get them to care about your cause. A little flattery and ego-stroking are useful here; but in the end, you need to show them what they get out of the exchange, whether that's value to their followers, compensation, or an opportunity to learn something.
4
End on a call-to-action and make it easy for them to take the next step. People are much more likely to link to your website, write a review, or share your content if you tell them exactly what you'd like them to do.

Carve out time for the follow up

You've put in the hard work of prospecting, crafting the perfect message, and sending out emails. Some recipients respond, but many don't. While that's normal for any outreach campaign, does that mean you should give up on those who don't respond?

Absolutely not.

If at first you don't succeed, try again – and again. The follow-up email can be extremely effective in helping you achieve your desired result. One study saw an 18% response rate to the first email, 13% to the 4th, and 27% to the 6th.

With your follow-up emails, you'll still want to prioritize the subject line to maximize open rates. Follow best practices, as stated above, and don't come off as needy. Keep things on an even keel and position your emails as a no-brainer decision for them, not a favor for you.
You could:

  • Highlight why linking to your site will help their rankings and credibility
  • Share why reviewing or highlighting the right product can build trust amongst their following
  • Give them interesting content or data to position themselves as an expert or credible source in their field or industry.
In the end, people will give you links for their own reasons. All you can do is position your needs as a win-win for everyone. Cold email is a great way to start the conversation and effectively reach a large number of influencers for a low cost.

Boosting search engine rankings and maximizing your reach all starts with knowing the right people. Conducting proper research and prospecting relevant affiliate and influencers go a long way towards making your cold email outreach as effective as possible. From there, you've got to craft a compelling message that captures their attention, keeps them interested, and ultimately provides enough value to warrant their promotion and links.

Finally, the real success of this strategy lies in the follow-up. Savvy people are inundated with emails from CRMs and all kinds of platforms, so cutting through the noise isn't always straightforward. Be relentless about following up, and split-test what's working and what's not so you can make your email campaign stronger each time.

What's your go-to email formula for boosting search engine results or reaching influencers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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