Sphinn - The Link Building The Kiss of Death

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Sphinn It!

Went Hot: July 22, 2008 - 3:10 pm
Posted By: UtahSEOpro 83 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://searchengineland.com)
Category: Link Building

If you are an experienced link builder, you might be tempted to read something other than today's column, which on first glance may appear a bit to rudimentary for your skills. If you do stick around, and I hope you do, I'll share with you what I consider to be one of the tragic mistakes that even sophisticated link builders often make when contacting a site to request a review/link: Using the wrong contact method.

6 Comments

Who Desphunn This (0)

Comments

from FLSEO 83 days ago #

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There are two people in the SEO world that I will stop anything that I am doing to pay attention to.

I) Eric Ward
II) Eric Enge

from wheel 83 days ago #

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I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this warrants an articlee. It's absolutely true - I send all my emails to a specific person and address the message to them. It's dear ralph, not dear contactus. Thankfully for me my competitors mostly don't get beyond dear webmaster.

I skimmed the article and don't think I saw this - but sometimes a whois lookup will provide answers as well. Or whois lookups of other domains that they own. Or googling their name. Or doing a whois to get their phone number then googling the phone number to find another site where they are which can lead to them (and an address that nobody else has....meaning your link request sticks out).

It's not extra work - it's part of surfing around the site and reading it a bit so you've got a very targetted email to send them. Like you know so much about them it's like you've been buddies for years.

from hjortur 82 days ago #

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Yeah, that's the funny thing. It's not extra work - it's less work. Even though you could only cover 1/3 of the sites in that time, you'll probably be having three times links out of it since you now have "real email addresses" instead of sending 90% directly to the spam folder.

from blennon 82 days ago #

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Quality over quantity still rings true for link building. Every link request is essentially a sales call. Your odds of success increase tremendously if you can get in contact with the person making the decisions, not just a gatekeeper or overburdened and spammed email inbox (i.e info@)

Another way to find backlink prospects is to look for sites reusing your content. These are links you should already have (but many times don't get) and have certainly "earned".

from alexvega 82 days ago #

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Cool article!

from shalom 81 days ago #

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Sending emails just burn bridges - take the time to research a good link partner and make the call. Speaking to decission makers in person allows you to build a relationship with them and achieve better links.

I've seen average response rates between 1% to 3% from email requests. By doing a little research into finding the decission maker and picking up the phone to call in person we have success with over 50% of the sites we identify as potential link opps.

It only works if your good on the phone ;)