Email Outreach Link Building: How to Build Backlinks

We all know the importance of backlinks.

They are, in fact, one of the top three search engine ranking factors that Google evaluates when rankings websites.

Therefore, it is safe to say that a website with no backlinks will have an extremely difficult time ranking at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

However, the bitter truth is that almost nobody is willing to just give free backlinks to a fresh new website, right?

So if you have a brand new website, would do you do? Back in the day, it used to be a lot simpler. When the web wasn’t so crowded, you could simply email influencers in your niche, and they would often just give you free backlinks.

Now, it doesn’t work that way.

Influencers and well-established bloggers get thousands of cold emails every month. You have to be very, very targeted in order to be heard. In this post, we take a look at some proven strategies that will not only help you get heard but also get a few solid backlinks to your brand new website.

For tips on how to build backlinks to a new website without email outreach read our short blog post on how to build backlinks here.

1. Lay the Foundation

Sending an email to an influencer without any prior connection whatsoever doesn’t make any sense. Why would they help you? What are you giving them in return?

Nothing.

Therefore, it is wiser to lay a solid foundation before you start asking for backlinks.

Connect with them on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Regularly post comments on their blogs. Strike a conversation. Contribute to their network. Help their followers. Get your name out there.

If your favorite influencer is selling a product, you can also buy that product to get in their good stead and stand out from hundreds of other people.

2. Be Targeted

Your backlink strategy should be extremely targeted to people who are actually interested in the type of content you produce.

This is one of the major reasons why Brian Dean’s Skyscraper technique works so well. He shortlists people who are already interested in a certain topic and leverages their interest to gain content popularity, social media shares, and backlinks.

Here is a good (although not the best) example of relevancy and being targeted can help you.

Let’s dissect this down. Why does this work?

• It addresses the influencer by his/her name.
• It highlights a recent article that he/she wrote, which shows that the sender is actually a reader. To make it even better, you can actually highlight a few cool points within that article.
• Nobody provides backlinks just for the sake of providing backlinks if they don’t get anything in return. Influencers want value, so they can provide that value to their followers, which, in turn, maintains their credibility as influencers. As you can see, it mentions that the influencer is already linking to a certain article. The sender of the email, however, now has as an updated version of the same article.

If you were an influencer, would you like to keep redirecting your users to an outdated article? Or would you like to replace that link with a newer, better article?

Yep. You got it right.

3. Create Super Comprehensive Blog Posts

In today’s online world, everybody is producing content in the form of blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.

How do you stand out?

One way is to create super comprehensive and detailed blog posts, free of fluff and filler. It is, however, easier said than done. But blog posts that are very detailed and lengthy often give the impressions of being extraordinary. Also, they drive more traffic.

For instance, if you are an SEO beginner, trying to learn the tips and tricks of search engine optimisation, which of the following two articles would you click on?

• 3 Search Engine Optimisation Tips
• The Ultimate Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide to Rank Your Post on Google’s #1 Page

These “guides” or long-form blog posts not only garner more traffic and engagement but they also get more backlinks.

Based on a HubSpot research, long-form contents generate more backlinks. See the following chart.

4. Share Something Interesting

Can you provide unique value to the influencers in the form of something interesting and useful?

Big-shot influencers are hard to impress. But if you have something to tempt them, don’t be hesitant to throw it their way. After all, they are also humans and constantly require value to share with their followers. In fact, they have way more pressure than any of us to do that.

Here is an example of sharing something and providing unique value. The chances of getting backlinks with this technique are much, much higher — even if you have a brand new website.

5. Advertise Social Proof

Did a big blog or another influencer pick any of your content? If yes, it can be a huge booster to your outreach efforts — especially for smaller or brand new websites that are still looking for a way to make their mark.

Even if one influencer has picked any of your content, it will encourage other influencers to not take you in the same light as all the other newbies.

Just don’t forget to slip it in one of your emails.

Here is an example.

6. Change the Common Reasons — Be Creative

Most cold email senders start the outreach email with the same way:

• “I noticed you shared it on Facebook, and I wrote a similar post. I’m sure you will love it.”
• “I noticed you shared it on Twitter, and I wrote a similar post. I’m sure you will love it.”

While it may work, it is certainly not the best technique. When people have read a piece of content, they don’t want to read another post just like that. If it was a list-based blog post, a much more comprehensive list will certainly matter.

For example, Brian Dean’s 200 Google search engine ranking factors will certainly beat almost all the other topics on the same topic.

However, if it is not a list like this, you may want to rethink your strategy and reason for sending the email.

Be creative. Be different.

Why not send an email saying:

“Hey [First name].

I saw that you tweeted a post “Why you should publish one blog post every day”. It was an interesting post with some great ideas. However, I don’t believe it actually works in the long run.

I recently wrote a post “How Is Publishing Every Day Killing Your Blog?” It highlights the disadvantages of publishing 1 blog post daily and compares it with the advantages of publishing just one post per week.

I’m sure you will thoroughly enjoy this new take. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
[Your name]

As you can see, if you do something like this you are standing out from the rest of the crowd and thousands of email.

Outreach is different than broadcasting and should be treated like it.

Be a little different and experiment with various ideas, strategies, and outreach methods. Notice what sticks with the type of people you are reaching out to and optimise those shortlisted methods for the best possible results.

I hope you found the ideas in this article useful – and that now you are ready to build backlinks for your brand new website! If you have any questions do feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.