How to bring a personal approach to link building
Do you have link building techniques for audience development?
If your answer is “yes”, and these linking building endeavors of yours are based off generic form letters, you may want to reconsider your strategy.
As the Internet becomes more social, it’s important to interact like a real person. That statement may sound strange, but think about all of the spam that exists online. There is often hesitation about the legitimacy of messages, and that especially goes for generic form letters.
Personally, when I receive an inquiry for a link, and I can tell it’s a generic message from someone that has probably never even read the content on the Mequoda Daily, I completely ignore it.
Instead of wasting your time sending out generic inquiries for building links, try using these tips below that create a more personal experience.
Tips for link building
The following tips come from a great article on SEOmoz. The author goes through a large amount of detail to express his strategy for link building, which has supposedly helped his response rate go from about 20% to around 80%.
Tip #1: Context is king. As I mentioned earlier, generic messages probably won’t work very well. Instead, consider a great opening that relates to the person you want to get a link from. The SEOmoz article states it perfectly by saying “people love to know their work has been enjoyed, viewed, absorbed so actually take the time to read it and strike up a conversation about something you truly find interesting.”
Tip #2: Sustain the conversation. If you get a response from your first inquiry, continue the conversation. If you immediately ask for a link at that time, your initial attempt may look like a “thinly-veiled link request”. Build a relationship with the person and keep the conversation going.
Tip #3: Close the deal. As the SEOmoz article states, “the key thing in this phase is to only pull the trigger on asking for a link after context and value are established. This way, asking for the link isn’t the main point of the conversation. Your genuine interaction was the focal point, and asking for the link is merely a part of that conversation.
Do you have any more tips for link building? How about questions regarding the process of link building? I’d love to have a conversation about link building in the comments section below.
