The Link Builder’s Guide to Email Outreach

by NEIL PATEL on DECEMBER 7, 2012

One of the least sexy ways to build links is through email outreach. It sucks because it’s time consuming and boring, but it works. It actually works really well.

For every 100 emails you send out, at least 5 of them should be linking back to you. If you can’t get 5 of them to link back, it means you are doing one of the following things wrong:

• You are emailing non-relevant sites.
• You are emailing your competitors.
• There is little to no substance to your website.
• Your email copy isn’t compelling enough.

If you’re interested in giving it a shot, I’ve made the whole process easy for you. From finding sites that will potentially link to you to the templates you should test out, I’ve laid it all out. So, here it goes:

Finding links

The easiest way to find sites that will potentially link to you is to do backlink checks on your competition. You can do so easily through Open Site Explorer.

In addition to backlink checks, you can do some quick Google searches to find sites that you can reach out to. For example, if you are looking to get links from sites that talk about all things Vegas, you may want to run this search command on Google:

intitle:”las vegas” inurl:”links”

Once you run that command, you’ll get a listing that looks something like this:

And it doesn’t stop there. Another way you can find sites to get links from is through broken link checkers. Search for sites that tend to link to content similar to yours and find out if they have any broken links on their website. You can do this through tools like Broken Link Check.

Getting names and email addresses

Now that you have a list of sites that you want to reach out to, you need to get contact information of the actual people running those websites. You can do this manually, or you can just use Mechanical Turk or oDesk.

For pennies on the dollar, you can get the name and email address of the webmaster that manages the site as well as the website name and a few links to popular pages on that website.

Don’t forget about the basics

Before you start your email outreach program, you need to set up your tracking. You don’t need much to accomplish this. I typically use an Excel spread sheet to keep track of everything, Gmail to send out my email, and Yesware to track my email open rates.

Out of all the tools, the one I find most useful is Yesware as it tells me which email templates and subject lines are read the most. This helps me fine-tune my email outreach templates so I can maximize my open rates.

Now that you got the basics down, it’s time for you to start sending out emails.

Email templates

If you don’t know what to write to webmasters or if you aren’t creative, don’t worry about it. If you use the email templates below, you should be fine.

When using the email templates that I wrote below, you need to keep a few things in mind:

• Keep the subject lines in lower case letters – I do this because I want the email to seem casual as if a friend was sending you an email.
• Be creative – plain, boring emails tend to be considered spam in many cases.
• Personalize – you have to include the person’s name and the website name in the email so it doesn’t come off as spammy.

Here are different email templates you can use, depending on the type of outreach you want to do.

Broken link email template

You want to send this email as an independent 3rd party, and not a website owner.

Subject: there’s something wrong with your site 

[insert their first name], I was browsing your website and noticed you have a broken link.  You can find it on [insert webpage with broken link], and it’s the [insert anchor text of the broken link] link.

As an avid reader of [insert their site name], I love reading anything you write about, such as [insert article on their website], and anything you link out to. Sadly, I couldn’t find the article you were trying to link to, but I did happen to find another good webpage on the same topic: [insert url to webpage that you are building links to]. You should check it out, and if you like it, you probably want to switch the links.

I know you are busy and probably get millions of emails a day, but I hope this one was helpful. I just wanted to help you out for once as[insert their site name] has changed my life.

Cheers,
[random persons name]

Basic link request template

You want to send out this email as yourself.

Subject: [insert first name of website owner], i think i’m in love with you

I hope I didn’t freak you out by my subject line, but I’m really in love with you. Don’t worry, it’s not in a creepy way. What I mean is I’m in love with your website [insert their website name].

You probably get tons of people everyday who are in love with [insert website name], so I won’t bore you with my reasons. Instead, I thought I could show you some appreciation by giving you some feedback on how you can improve your website.

1. Insert suggestion #1
2. Insert suggestion #2

And if you are wondering how you can repay your biggest fan, feel free to link to my website [insert URL]. 

Ah… just kidding, you’ve already done enough for me by making[insert their website name] so awesome!

Cheers,
[insert your name]

PS: If you do happen to link to my website [insert URL], it will seriously make my year! Maybe even decade!

PR pitch

You want to send out this email as yourself.

Subject: don’t you hate it when people pitch you story ideas [insert their first name]?

Well, I too have a PR pitch for you, but before you hit the spam button and move onto the next email, just give me 37 seconds, or else you’ll regret this for life! 

So, here it goes:

I’m launching [insert your website URL] on [insert date], and I wanted to see if you wanted to cover it. Here are 2 reasons your readers would love it if you covered it:

1. Insert benefit #1
2. Insert benefit #2

I could keep on going with reasons on why you should blog about us, but I won’t bore you with the details. If you’re interested, let me know, and we can set up a time to chat when you’re free.

Cheers,
[insert your name]

Oh… I think I have 7 seconds left, so if you could just hit the reply button and let me know what you thought of my pitch, that would be great. Even if it is “F off”…, any feedback would be great.

Guest posting

You want to send out this email as yourself.

Subject: you should blog about [insert your guest blog post topic]

[insert their first name], as an avid reader of [insert their site name],I would love to read about [insert guest blog post topic], and I think your other readers would as well.

Your content on [insert existing post from their website #1, insert existing post from their website #2, and insert existing post from their website #3] is great, but I think you can tie it all together by blogging on [insert guest blog post topic].

I know you are probably busy and won’t blog on it, so I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.  How about I write it for you? Don’t worry, I’m a great blogger and have had my posts featured on[insert previous guest post URL #1] and [insert previous guest post URL #2].

Let me know if you are interested. I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love… as I am one. 

Look forward to hearing from you,
[insert your name]

Funny link request

You want to send this email as yourself, but be careful with this template. It worked really well for me with the first few hundred emails I sent out, but after a while people started to mark my email as “spam”.

Subject: dude you have to check out this nude pic

You dirty boy, I can’t believe you opened this email. There’s no nude pics here… instead I’m using a software called Yesware to track if you opened my email… and you did!

But don’t worry [insert their first name], I am not going to blackmail you by posting it all over the web. Instead, I just want you to link back to me. 

Or at least consider it.

My website is [insert your URL], and here is why I think your readers would want you to link to me:

1. Insert reason #1
2. Insert reason #2

Hopefully you link to me. And don’t worry, even if you don’t, your “dirty” secret is safe with me. 

Cheers,
[insert your first name]

Conclusion