Got great content and now want to evolve your SEO strategy by cold emailing link prospects? We’ve got you.
Link building via email outreach — which is key to your SEO success — should also be known as relationship building. The stronger your relationships are with fellow websites and bloggers in your niche, the more backlinks you’ll secure.
Many link building relationships start off with a cold email that you send to a link prospect. The problem is that cold emails have a bit of a bad rep. In some industries, average cold email open rates languish at just 15.22%.
The good news is that if you can nail your cold email game, it becomes so much easier to increase your open rates and get your relationship with link prospects off to an amazing start — and then some!
In this article, we’re going to show you how to fine-tune your cold email campaign so that it boosts your overall SEO strategy.
Introduce Yourself
Cold emails themselves need to be strategized if they’re going to work for you. In other words, you can’t always go straight for the jugular with your first email by asking a link prospect if they’re prepared to supply you with a backlink. Instead, some situations will call for an initial introductory email.
An introductory email could read something like this:
Hey (insert their name),
I came across your website and really loved what I saw. As a fellow digital marketer, I just wanted to shoot you a message to let you know that myself and my business are really loving the content you’re sharing.
Since we’re in the same industry, I was hoping that we could connect?
If there’s anything you want from us, feel free to get in touch!
Thanks,
(insert your name)
At this point, you’re not asking them for a link. Instead, you’re playing the long game and building a proper relationship.
Make sure to personalize your email, too. Generic emails that have clearly been sent out to many different people are a major turnoff.
Introduce Your Best Blog Post
Let’s say that you’ve already produced some awesome content for your blog. There’s a chance that the website you’re cold emailing is already aware of your blog, but there’s also chance that they aren’t.
As such, it’s always a good idea to draw their attention to your blog by pointing them in the direction of your best piece of content. If it’s awesome and they love it, they might share it of their own free will.
This is important because a link prospect needs to see your credentials. Remember, they want to publish content that offers lots of value to their audience. If they can see that you’re already offering lots of in-depth value to your own audience, they’ll be more willing to work with you on link building.
Here’s what you could write:
Hey (insert their name),
I’m going to keep this brief because I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your plate! I’m a digital marketer who loves what you’re doing.
Having checked your blog, I reckon you’ve got the same kind of audience as I have. As such, I wanted to share with you my latest blog post (insert name of the blog post and link).
Perhaps it might be worth a read for someone in your position? If you have the time, I’d appreciate some feedback, too!
Thanks,
(insert your name)
This kind of cold email is direct and to-the-point. Moreover, if they do happen to like your blog post, there’s every chance that they’ll provide you with a backlink.
Demonstrate Your Worth
Google wants valuable, in-depth content from you. Valuable, in-depth content that educates, informs and resolves users questions ranks better than low-value content.
Your link prospects want this kind of content from you, too. The thing is, they won’t know how valuable your content is to them until you demonstrate it.
Essentially, with this cold email, you’re going to show a link prospect where your website and business “fit in.”
For example, if your aim is to be placed on their resource page, show them why you deserve such a place. What are you offering them and their audience?
If you want to publish content on their blog, you again need to demonstrate why. What answers will your content provide? How will your content help their audience?
Here’s what you could write in a cold email if you want your website to be included on a website’s resource page:
Hey (insert your name),
I came across your resource page, and I noticed that you’ve listed the best SEO tools for 2019. I’m a huge fan of these tools too, especially (insert SEO tool name)!
However, I did want to mention that my company recently launched an exciting and useful SEO tool (insert name of tool) that has so far helped X amount of digital marketers scale their business.
If you perhaps have the time to try it and research it, please do let me know and I will give you access.
All the best,
(insert name)
This is a very direct email that makes it clear in no uncertain terms what you want from them — a backlink on their resource page. If they’re interested, they’ll be in touch.
The Pitch
Lastly, if you really just want to publish a piece of content on a high-traffic website’s blog, you just have to ask.
The problem is that this cold email is perhaps the trickiest of all because you don’t want to come across as a spammer who’s simply in this for themselves.
It’s always a good idea to begin with the introductory email that we mentioned in the first tip before going in with your pitch.
Your pitch is essentially a brief email that outlines an idea you have for their blog. It’s a good idea to research their blog first to see what type of content they like to post, before drafting your own.
Then, you could write an email that goes something like this:
Hey (insert name),
I’m a digital marketer who recently came across your blog. Having loved what I saw, I also realized that I produce similar content.
As I’m looking to increase my own businesses profile, I thought it might be mutually beneficial if you were to publish a piece of my content on your website that includes a link back to my page.
The idea I had in mind was this (outline your idea).
I believe this content will be useful to your audience, as it solves a particularly troublesome problem. At the same time, publishing content on your blog will also provide me with more high-quality traffic.
If you think this is a good idea, or if you have any questions, please do get in touch!
Thanks,
(insert your name)
The key with this kind of email is to be brief, direct, and to demonstrate the mutual benefits of publishing a piece of your content to their blog. Remember, link prospects will always be asking themselves “what’s in this for me?”
Conclusion
Before we wrap up, it’s worth mentioning that, whoever you cold email needs to be validated first. You can use an email lead generation tool to help you find the right prospects so that you aren’t wasting time.
Other than that, while cold emails do have a bit of a bad rep in some circles, they’re vital to your success if you’re thinking of reaching out to link prospects in a bid to secure more backlinks. As long as you do this right and follow the tips in this article, there’s no reason why you can’t build better relationships — and better links.
This is a guest post from Aljaz Fajmut. Aljaz is a digital marketer, internet entrepreneur, and the founder of Nightwatch— a search visibility tool of the next generation. Check out Nightwatch blog for SEO and marketing tips and follow him on Twitter: @aljazfajmut
