Link Building Outreach: How To Run Successful Outreach Campaigns That Get Results


Link building in 2020
Some websites still rely heavily on directory links, PBNs, and paid links. Do these methods work? If done properly, then sometimes. Are these methods risky? Yes.
But come on, we all know that these methods of link building are frowned upon. When it comes to PBNs Nathan Gotch's summary is pretty accurate in my opinion:
That is because these sites will be creating content and reaching out to suitable bloggers for relevant links.
Why is outreach so vital for link building?
Editorial links gained through outreach have always been safe from regular Google purges, and there is no evidence to suggest that this will change.
This raises the question "why doesn't everyone use outreach?"
Well to answer that question – it is quite hard! The trick is to find websites that will find your content interesting and promote your content to that website's owner or editor.
Outreach brick walls
#1: Small pool of websites
For example, let's say your niche was a very specific type of flooring. Simply widen your niche to include all types of flooring or to include the even broader niche of home improvements.
You should try and be as niche and relevant as possible. However, if you are not getting much traction being extremely niche then don't be scared to widen your niche.
#2: Time investment
I have run outreach campaigns where I have sent over 50 personalized emails, received 6 replies and ended up with 2 links as a result. All in all, this campaign took me just under 15 hours but the two high quality links I ended up with were editorial mentions from high DA sites in an incredibly competitive market that we now dominate online.
#3: Rejection
Take my last example, I sent 50 emails and received 6 replies. Was it worth it for 2 high quality links? Hell yeah!
#4: No suitable content
I learned the hard way, through burning bridges like this by being too abrupt, that link building is a process that is vital to SEO success and not a task that you carry out in bursts on a Friday afternoon.
My advice would be to plan a gap in the prospect website's content and reach out once you are fully armed with your awesome piece of content.
Why outreach fails
Too many webmasters are spammed with 'hey check out this content that I am sure you will love' emails. These emails get deleted as there is no effort or real content behind them. So the outreach ultimately fails because your emails suck.
The biggest reason your emails suck is most likely due to either:

Hello,
I had a look at your post [insert post name]
[insert post url]
We have a simiar article that goes into a lot more depth, check it out here:
[insert post url]
Please link to this if you think it is valuable.
Thanks,
This example had very little effort and the sender is most definitely focused on quantity rather than quality.
How to research a link opportunity properly?
If you are a website owner and someone reaches out to you for a link you don't want the hassle of finding a place for the link in your content. That is why a content hook is so important – find information that will help you nudge the website owner towards where your link will fit in.
How to write the perfect outreach email?
"Hey [Name], You might remember we spoke about [subject] a few weeks ago…."
Here is an example of an email I recently sent out that got me a solid link:

Check out an interview, where Ann Smarty, a former Editor-in-chief at SEJ, tells about the main points editors of the popular blogs pay their attention to while reading the guest posting request and how to make your letter stand out of hundreds of other requests.
If you want to take your outreach emails to the next level, read this post by Neil Patel. In this article, he goes through 7 things that make him delete outreach emails he receives. Avoid these at all cost! Also, if you fancy a bit of a laugh, read John Doherty's examples of bad outreach emails.
Important: Follow Up!
A lot of people use Boomerang to schedule a reply if the receiver does not respond. I instead change this to send me the email back if I have not received a response. This way I can craft a more personalized response.
To use Boomerang for Gmail, install the extension on Chrome and follow the steps below:


How to find relevant domains for link exchange?
Open the Batch analysis report and add the list of domains. Then you will receive date on:
- Domain Rank;
- Pages indexed;
- Referring domains/Referring pages;
- Nofollow backlinks;
- Referring;
- IP-addresses;
- Referring Subnets;
- Text links;
- Redirect links;
- Image links.


Final thoughts
Use this guide to make sure you are getting the most out of your outreach campaigns and please give me a shout in the comments with any questions :)
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