Kelvin Newman at Site Visibility has an interesting account of how when he was sending out educational link request mails for a client’s product, the site owners he was contacting were mailing him back, asking how to purchase the product.
What I hadn’t anticipated that a lot of the people I was contacting would reply asking how to subscribe to the magazine in question. It reminded me that with a bit of luck the link building process can actually do quite a good job to help you sell.
In this case, the after effect of a link building campaign was enhanced sales. Kelvin describes his experience and tips on how to get the most bang for your buck from link building requests.
- Sell yourself – don’t be scared in your link request to talk about what makes you better than your competitors or why nobody else like you exists.
- Encourage Feedback – the best PPC adverts & landing pages feature a call to action with a clear desired outcome.
- Don’t Seem Cookie Cutter – whether you are trying sell in your link request or not, you’ve got to avoid seeming cookie cutter at all costs.
- Respond to them – if they’ve taken the time to read your link request, look at your site and then email them back you owe them some of your time.