Link Building – Email Outreach
Strategy – Blueprint – Best Practices – Guideline | Reading Time: 25 Minutes
This document saves you from reading hundreds of blog posts about Email Outreach for Link Building and just gives you a strong course of action combining everything with my 14+ Years experience. Follow the below guidelines and best practices to get maximum success from your email outreach campaign. Please understand what works for one project can’t work for others and you have to keep improvising.
Find Your Industry
Before you start with your email outreach campaign, you should know in which industry your client falls. Instead of finding the exact industry, you can always find the super industry. For example, DeskMoz falls in Internet & Technology category.
Explore Keywords
Find all the keywords which are relevant to your client’s website and even it’s industry. Try to find at least 25 keywords and make a list of them. For example, you can select “Live Chat Software” and add to your list for DeskMoz.com. Though DeskMoz doesn’t deal into the software, it is from the same industry, so it is valid to use.
List of Competitors
Using the above keywords, make a list of the players by searching those keywords on Google. Your list should include all the competitors and other websites from the industry. Make sure you have at least 100 websites.
Find Broken Pages (Internal Broken Links)
Find the 404 pages aka internal broken links using https://error404.atomseo.com/ or https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ or https://ahrefs.com similar website. You should find out if there are any content pages/blogs which are showing 404 (not found) error.
Make a list of all these blogs/content pages and then find their referring domains (domains which are linked to these pages). Only include those referring domains which have domain authority/domain score of 40+.
Contact these referring domains through email outreach and suggest a relevant link of your client’s website which they can always replace the broken to yours.
Subject: Found a Broken Link on [Website]
Hi [Name]
My name is Arnav and I take care of content marketing for DeskMoz.com.
I was reading one of your blogs [Referring Domain Blog’s Link] on your website and found that you have an external link pointed to [Broken Link] which actually doesn’t exist anymore.
[Name], we do have a blog post [Your Blog-Post] which is detailed enough to cover the same topic. Actually better than that :). It would be great if you can replace the broken link with the one I mentioned.
Once done, please let me know and I will share the blog over my company’s social media so that you can get some traction.
Cheers!
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know who should I contact.
If you get success in getting your link, do not forget to thank him. It will help you in the future where you can ask for a guest blog post.
Whatever status is, always update in the tracker. This step is very important for measuring performance.
Find External Broken Links
Find the external broken links using https://error404.atomseo.com/ or https://www.deadlinkchecker.com or https://ahrefs.com or https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ or similar website. You should find out if there are any pages which are having broken external links.
Make a list of all these blogs/content pages and then find their referring domains (domains which are linked to these pages). Only include those referring domains which have domain authority/domain score of 40+.
Contact the main website where you found the external broken link and suggest a relevant link of your client’s website.
Contact the referring domains through email outreach and suggest a relevant link of your client’s website which they can always replace the broken to yours.
Subject: Found a Broken Link on [Website]
Hi [Name]
My name is Arnav and I take care of content marketing for DeskMoz.com.
I was reading one of your blogs [Referring Domain Blog’s Link] on your website and found that you have an external link pointed to [Broken Link] which actually doesn’t exist anymore.
[Name], we do have a blog post [Your Blog-Post] which is detailed enough to cover the same topic. Actually better than that :). It would be great if you can replace the broken link with the one I mentioned.
Once done, please let me know and I will share the blog over my company’s social media so that you can get some traction.
Cheers!
If you get success in getting your link, do not forget to thank him. It will help you in the future where you can ask for a guest blog post.
Whatever status is, always update in the tracker. This step is very important for measuring performance.
Wikipedia Dead Links
Getting a link from Wikipedia won’t help you directly with your SEO efforts but a great way to tell Google that even if it is a no-follow, you are there.
Just enter this search string on Google and it should do the trick: site:wikipedia.org “Main Keyword” intext: “dead link” For example for DeskMoz, I can search: site:wikipedia.org “Live Chat” intext: “dead link”. You can also do the search on https://www.webfx.com/seo-tools/wikigrabber/
This will show the Wikipedia pages which are having dead links. You can always create content or use your existing content and suggest/edit the Wikipedia page by replacing dead-link to yours.
You can also contact the referring domains (content/blog post only) of that dead link and suggest your blog-post.
Out of Business – Competitor
Find your competitor or industry’s player who (went or) is going to be out-of-business. It’s easy and a proactive method to contact its referring domains and ask to replace the external links which are going to become broken soon.
Just enter your main keyword in the Google News or BuzzSumo and see if there is any news related to your business mentioning that. If you find any player going out of business, check the referring domains and contact them.
For example, I searched “Flower Delivery” Out of Business Shut down in Google News and found that one big player “FTD” is going out of business in July 2019. Why should I wait to contact the referring domains?
Subject: Oops..Broken Link on the Way
Hi [Name]
My name is Arnav and I take care of content marketing for DeskMoz.com.
I just found that [Competitor Website] is going-out-of-business [News Link]. And I can see that you have linked to [Competitor Website Blog Link] on your blog [Blog Post]
[Name], we do have a blog post [Your Blog-Post] which is detailed enough to cover the same topic. Actually better than that :). It would be great if you can replace the link which will soon become broken, with the one I mentioned.
Once done, please let me know and I will share the blog over my company’s social media so that you can get some traction.
Cheers!
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
Expired Domains
Simply visit https://www.expireddomains.net/ and enter your main keyword. This will show you all the domains which have your main keyword in their name, along with other information like referring domains, Alexa rank, etc.
Sort the list by referring domains (DP) and contact the referring domains (content related/blog posts) to replace the broken link by yours 
Note: Do not contact forums, classifieds, directories, etc.
Resources Pages
There are lots of websites which provide resources/important links on their website to help their visitors. You can always contact the website where they have a relevant category and ask them to add your link. Mostly, they have a form where you can submit your website. Just use the below search strings to find some relevant websites with the resources page.
There are high chances that you can find some external broken links on these resources pages and you can always find the referring domains and start contacting them.
Link Placement (Business Websites’ Blogs)
1. Write Awesome Content
Before proceeding with the Link Exchange on Business Websites, make sure you publish 2-3 blog posts on your own/client’s website or some famous websites like Medium.com using your own name. This is very important as you need to show your work as a sample.
2. Search Business Websites
Start searching websites which sell something i.e. some product or service, not just blogs/information. Usually, these websites will have their own writers/editors and maybe a separate team for content. It is always preferred to search them by using the keywords you have shortlisted. You can use BuzzSumo or UberSuggest for the same.
3. Post Genuine Comment
Before you contact them, it is always good to comment on their Blog Post. Please note that you should comment using your name and never mention about your website. Do NOT enter your website name. You can also add them over LinkedIn/Facebook or follow them on Twitter.
4. Establish a Contact
Subject: Hi
Hi [Name]
My name is Arnav and I take care of content marketing for DeskMoz.com.
I read one of your Blogs [Blog Link] and found it an excellent read. I, even, shared my views about it in the comment section.
We do have a blog post [Your Blog-Post] which is quite informative and I would be more than happy if you can include a link on your blog post. You can put a link on this [Text] or [Text].
Once done, please let me know and I will share the blog over my company’s social media so that you can get some traction.
Cheers!
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
5. Follow Up
You can also use this email as your first email in case you get more results using this.
Subject: Re: Hi
Hi [Name]
I am not sure if my last email reached to your Inbox.
I want to add a link of your blog post [Blog Post Link] on our official blog [Your Blog Post Link] and wondering if you want me to use any specific anchor texts or if you can choose from the existing content.
In exchange, I expect a link of our blog post [Your Blog Post Link] on [Blog Post].
Please let me know what do you think about it.
Cheers!
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
6. Thank You Email
Always send a Thank You email. You can always continue this association when you have more clients from the same industry. It would be much easier to get the link then.
Guest Blog Posting
This is the most famous technique to get good links. It needs a lots of patience, efforts and good content. You can always contact blogs or business websites (which accepts guest blog posting) and contribute a blog post on their website as a guest blogger. It is important to follow some set of rules and steps to get maximum out of this strategy.
1. Find the Websites
This is a simple task and there are various ways to find relevant websites. You have to continuously follow all the ways so that you keep finding new websites.
A. Search on Google
It’s actually easier than said. Simply follow some search strings on Google and you can come across lots and lots of websites who do accept guest blog posts. Below are some search strings which will open a plethora of opportunities for you.
B. Readymade Guest Blog Posting Websites’ List
There are already lots of resources/websites which have already done the above work for you. Just find them and then start adding additional websites to your list.
C. Reverse Image Search on Google
This is a very interesting way to find relevant websites which accept guest blog posts. All you need to find a website which is top on your industry and accepts guest bloggers. That website must be having a bio/profile of their guest bloggers/contributors. Like for example, in Internet and Technology, SEMRush has a proper Guest Bloggers area (https://www.semrush.com/blog/top/all/). It has a profile of all the Guest Bloggers along with the image.
Just upload these images one by one on Google Images (https://images.google.com/) and see where these bloggers are posting on the internet. Usually, these bloggers use the same image, and this will definitely yield you the best results with lots of new opportunities for Guest Blog Posting.
D. Register on HARO
You can register on HARO (https://www.helpareporter.com) or similar websites which will send you regular emails asking for some quotes as per your expertise. You can always mention your website so that they can use your quote and link back to the website, wherever possible.
E. Find ‘Active’ Competitors
It’s not just you who is putting efforts into getting some good links for your clients. There are lots of competitors who are actively doing the same and getting regular links from Guest Blog Posting or other methods. They must be writing lots of content on their website and putting efforts into content marketing. Identify them, and follow their footprints to get new opportunities.
You can always track their backlinks using free software like UberSuggest or directly searching on Google with a search string: link:Competitor.com
If you do not find such an ‘active’ competitor, you can always look around and find some websites from the same industry.
F. Set Google Alerts
By using Google Alerts (https://www.google.com/alerts) you can always put yourself ahead. You can enter some relevant keywords in the Google Alerts and you will receive a notification whenever somebody posts something related to that.
You can, then, beat the competitors and reach to the bloggers and ask for link exchange or guest blog posting opportunity.
2. Categorize the Websites
Do not contact every website you come across for guest blog posting. It is good to contact only those which are from your website’s industry and have high Domain Authority (DA), preferably 40+.
You can always differentiate the websites on the basis of relevancy & DA. So if there is a website which is only about Live Chat or Live Chat Software, you can definitely contact them for DeskMoz.com which deals into providing live chat agents even if that website has a DA of 20. At the same time, if any website has a DA of let say 80+, then it is good to get a link from it, even the same is not from your industry.
You have to further categorize them on the basis of “how you should contact them.” As you will be having a super targeted list, you should always contact them individually. But, if there are certain websites like those who accept guest post and have clear guidelines, you can automate the process using software like Mailshake.com or BuzzStream.com.
You can also categorize them by the traffic they are receiving from different countries. Check on https://www.Alexa.com and it will show you the country from which maximum traffic is generated. So, if your client is from the USA, it is always good to get links from the websites which are getting maximum traffic from the USA.
3. Find the Email
This is the most important part. If you make a mistake here, your chances of getting one good backlink will become slim.
Remember, you need to get in touch with the person who actually takes care of Guest Blog Posts. Reaching out to different person will be a total waste of all the efforts and can also impact the Email reputation. You should try to reach the Editor, Content Manager or Marketing Manager. If you do not find the right Email ID, then try to contact them over Live Chat, Twitter or Facebook and drop a message asking for the concerned person’s name and email.
You can use free tools like Email Hunter (100 Credits), Sell Hack (10 Credits), Clearbit Connect (100 Credits), Voila Norbert (50 Credits), Hunter.io (200 Credits), Snovi.io (50 Credits), etc. and find the correct Email ID.
You can usually find the Email IDs on Submission-Guidelines/Write-for-us/Contribute pages. If it’s not there, try finding under about us section on Social Media.
If nothing is available, it is best to use the contact form or use the generic Email and ask for the concerned person’s Email.
Subject: Hi
Hi [Name]
My name is Arnav and I am looking for the concerned person’s email who takes care of accepting Guest Blog Posts on your website [Website].
I tried finding the same on my own but looks like it’s not there.
Can you please let me know whom should I contact and the right email.
Thanks
4. Email Outreach
The toughest part is reaching inside their inbox with a proposition they can’t deny. You need to make sure that the person whom you are reaching is the right one. Just personalize as much as you can, do not use the same email template, use not more than 3 links and try to sound human.
Subject: Can I write for you?
Hi [Name]
I hope you are well.
My name is Arnav and I work for [Client Name].
I enjoyed reading blog posts of yours on [Website].
I believe I have some content ideas that I think would be useful and engaging for your readers.
I would love to write for you on a regular basis and wondering how can I proceed further.
I can assure you the content would be well researched, engaging, and written from scratch.
Here are some articles I am proud to have written in the past:
[Link 1]
[Link 2]
Looking forward to working with you!
Best
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
5. Follow Up
If you don’t get a reply in the very first attempt, there is a little you can do except following up for the first and the last time. Keep it simple and hope it gets the attention.
Subject: Re: Can I write for you?
Hi [Name]
I am wondering if my last email made to your Inbox.
I want to write as a Guest Blogger on your website and have some nice ideas. I can assure well researched and unique content.
Let me know what do you think about it.
Best
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
6. Content Ideas
Once you get a green signal, share 3-4 great content ideas. You have won half of the battle by finding the right website, then finding the correct email and getting response. You should not make a mistake in sending inferior content ideas.
Your ideas should sound very professional, catchy and something which will definitely have a Yes! from the other person. Usually the ideas like 7 Best Chat Tools in 2019, 10 Best SEO Practices You Can’t-Miss, or 10 Fashion Blunders You Must Always Avoid will be considered as something where great, well-researched content can be written.
7. Getting Content Published
Once you have an agreement over the topic/content idea, make sure the writer writes a very good piece of content. Make sure you read, understand and forward the guidelines of that website to your content Writer. It must be as per the submission guidelines, and must also follow the mentioned word limit.
Getting your content rejected at this stage is as bad as losing in the final of the World Cup. You, obviously, do not want to get your efforts wasted.
And do not forget to insert your client’s website link. I am sure you can’t miss this.
8. Thank You Email & Sharing on Social Media
If you succeed in getting the Guest Blog Live, do not forget to thank the person and also ask for sharing on their social media channels. Social Media sharing is very important and will definitely help us in getting some traction.
Bonus Tip for Link Placements: Theory of Getting Featured
Get some 3-4 Blogs written on your client’s websites. These Blogs should be about your industry’s players (not competitors) like Top 20 SEO Agencies in the USA or Top 20 Tech Bloggers Who Can’t be Ignored. Now, include some genuine names of big players. Names which everybody knows!
Now contact other websites/bloggers and tell them that you want to include their name in that list. Sound like they won some lottery by getting featured on your website. Ask for some brief bio, photograph, etc.
And, once they reply in affirmative, ask for a link from their existing blog-posts.
Email 1
Subject: You are getting Featured on [Website]
Hi [Name]
Hope everything is groovy at [Business Name].
On our blog, we are curating a list of top live chat software – [Link].
I am writing to you because I thought [Website] would be a good addition to the list.
Would you be interested in featuring your company on our blog?
Best
PS: if you are not the right person for these matters, kindly let me know whom should I contact.
Email 2 (Once you get a positive reply)
Subject: Re: You are getting Featured on [Website]
Hi [Name]
Great!
We have this Blog Post [Link] where we want to feature your website. In exchange, I expect you will link to us from one of your blog posts [Blog Post Link] using this anchor text [Text].
Kindly share 100 words about your website which we can include along with a logo.
Later, we can also work on mentioning you as an expert in our upcoming blogs.
If you have any questions, do let me know.
Cheers
This way you can get some good links from authority websites. Now Google prohibits excessive links exchange, so instead of putting their link, you should just mention their Name and Logo. This is actually them getting featured on your website and in exchange you got what you wanted in the first place.
Also, once the deal is done, do not forget to thank and ask for social media sharing. This will definitely help you in getting some free traction.
Simple But Great Hacks & Tips
- Add a good email signature using a tool like https://www.wisestamp.com/gmail-email-signature/ also do not forget to put a professional pic/headshot to your email.
- Write a good professional bio when signing up as a contributor or guest blogger.
- Always try getting a do-follow link. A no-follow link is only good if you are getting it from high DA website.
- Make sure the link is in the right format (http/https or www/non-www).
- Install Grammarly so that you can avoid prominent typos and grammatical errors.
- Contact over Social Media if possible. It works faster than Email and has a better response rate.
- Use tools like https://neverbounce.com/ to make sure your emails do not get bounced.
- Use Websites like WayBackMachine to find out the cache of the broken page.
- Always start slow when you have a new Email account. So it should be something like sending 50 emails the first week, then 75 next and so on.
- Keep checking your Email reputation at https://gmail.com/postmaster/ or https://www.mail-tester.com or https://mxtoolbox.com/
- Use free account of BuzzSumo or UberSuggest for Content Ideas.
- Use Ninja Outreach or BuzzStream for finding websites/bloggers/influencers.
- Use https://rankz.io/tools/check-domain-authority for bulk checking DA
