Alright, so you’ve finished targeting. By now you’ve compiled a relatively long list of prospects and you’re ready to start fishing. But how do you ensure that your lines don’t snap, that you don’t come home empty handed. The following is a list of 4 simple, tried, and trusted tips that’ll help you reel in those fat, juicy, high PR links.
First things first, bring the right tools to the party.
Boomerang
Bloggers and internet regulars of all shapes and sizes receive a plethora of daily emails; it’s quite easy, therefore, for an email from a stranger (ie. you/me) to slip through the cracks. If you don’t get a response within a few days don’t give up on your target, and don’t be too proud to send it out again.
This is where Boomerang comes in handy, this tool allows you to schedule emails to boomerang back to your inbox if you never receive a response. Instead of combing through spreadsheets to see who responded and who didn’t, boomerang delivers a perfect list straight to your inbox and makes resending emails as simple as the click of a button. Countless times I’ve written off certain targets after my first batch of emails only to be shocked by the second round when they not only respond, but ask for a full article.
Get Boomerang’s scheduled sending, it’s free.
Rapportive
Following the Chrome store trend, the next little tool that can simplify your outreaching life is Rapportive.
Quite often, while scanning blogs and plucking email addresses, you’ll find that actual names are MIA.
Instead of sending impersonal emails beginning with ‘Dear Editor,’ install Rapportive and instantly get a slew of information on your target including not only their name but their professional title, linkedin page, and even their latest tweet. Use this information creatively and you’ll have a huge leg up on anyone starting their emails with ‘To whom it may concern.’
Ditch the Template, Get Personal
Link Building is all about weighing what you put in against what you get out. It’s easy to blast off 50 emails with a pre-fab template in a short amount of time. And if your sole goal is to reach out to as many people as possible, then by all means, go for it.
But if you only get a 10% response rate, and an even fewer percentage of completed posts, is the shotgun approach really worth the extra time you save yourself (and subsequently waste prowling Facebook)?
No. So get out the scalpel and get personal. Use Rapportive to find out more about the Blog owner, and for God’s sake pay attention to their blog. Spend a second reading it, don’t just look at the PR and call it a day, interact with them (they’re real people, despite popular belief).
If you must, brown nose or bend the truth, but know that a little attention to detail, one little comment about their blog or even their interests, will go a long way and could quite easily become the difference between no response and a completed blog post.
Stay in Touch
Alright, so you’ve Boomeranged, you’ve crafted a personal email thanks to Rapportive, and you’ve congratulated Bob at bobsbigboytrains.blog for his impeccable selection and taste for model trains, and in response Bob has granted you what you’ve been after all along, Guest Post privileges with a couple of big, fat, juicy links.
At this point you may think that your outreach is finished, kaput, but you’d be wrong. The real players in this industry know that outreach is an ongoing process, they recognize guest posting not as something one sided that needs to be convinced, but as a mutually beneficial relationship to be grown. The real guest posters provide articles and simultaneously initiate relationships, they understand the value of creating an online database of blogs and bloggers, a virtual rolodex accessible at any time should they need to call upon it. They utilize Twitter Lists, Google+’s circles and hangouts, they connect via Linkedin and Facebook, they recognize their accountability and approachability are their livelihood.