Email Copy for Link Building: All You Need to Know
One may think that there are hardly many times when SEO and copywriting can be used in one sentence. Like, yeah, we talk about the keyword placement in the context of SEO, and that’s it. But actually, there is a link between them that may not come across as obvious. ‘Link’ like in link building, does that spark an idea?
We are going to discuss how to write good copy for effective link building.
Link building is all about communicating back and forth. You need to build and maintain connections, just like in personal life. You can think about other blogs as real people that you need to become buddies or at least acquaintances with. One can’t ever go wrong here with choosing to be respectful, mindful, and, of course, polite.
Many times the interaction between you and other webmasters or experts take form of emails. So it’s crucial to know how to approach this communication and emails specifically.
Off-page SEO is a very important part of almost every marketing strategy. So don’t you want your emails to be actually opened on the other side of the screen? Just by knowing email etiquette for communicating in this particular area and understanding who to reach out to you can build more backlinks. And you know what that means, higher place in SERP rankings.
You can perform a web audit and include data on incoming links to find out how effective and good your existing backlinks for you right now.
Outreach is a very affordable and thus popular strategy. But it is effective only if you know how to approach it properly. Only some 8% of outreach emails are being responded to.
So, obviously, there is a lot to be improved with emails. Let’s talk about dos and don’ts .
Try to avoid templates that are too basic
If you are sending outreach emails that are a lot like this one, you might want to review your template. If you are using something that you found online, there is a pretty big chance that a lot of other businesses use it as well, so be careful with that. Unfortunately, even a person’s name in the beginning cannot save an email that feels to mechanic and generic.
Add personalization
Make sure that the subject of your email is something the person on the other side of the screen would care about. That’s when personalization comes into play. Make sure that you address a person by their name and have an appealing subject. Yes, subject line really matters. Avoid uninteresting subjects at all cost. There are so many emails we get daily, if you want to be seen, it’s crucial for your message to stand out.
Besides that, try to be human in your emails, share some materials and resources that you found interesting and useful. Your audience will notice this and will respond with higher open rates.
Make them curious
Subject lines are very important, okay. That’s why we are talking about them again.
Don’t be afraid to make your subject too long, it’s a problem at all. Make sure that you have enough space to be creative and put a compelling, interesting message for your audience.
Do not lie
Who could knew that mum’s advice could be helpful in marketing too? The thing is that lie is a terrible base for any relationship, and if you start by praising someone’s services or blog, they will probably realize that you are lying very early on. And if they do, your communication will probably very soon.
So lies are usually very obvious in outreach messages.
Be real if you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. And someone is hurt or starting to distrust you, they will probably close your email without reading it further.
It’s much better to be sincere. Tell exactly what you like about their website or product. What are you interested in? What can you offer? Sincerity can be easily read and it helps to build real and open communication beneficial for both parties.
Avoid being too wordy
Don’t you appreciate your time? Don’t you think others do too? It should be somewhat obvious that most people wouldn’t enjoy reading a twenty-minute novel about benefits of partnering with you.
Look at this example below, does it look painful for the eyes?
The person this should be either a real fan of you personally or really needing exposure at the moment to finish reading this email.
Keep it simple, if you can tell the same message without some of the words or sentences, get rid of them! It is rarely exciting to see a giant text, especially if you consider that this person is at work.
Keep your messaging clear and focus on the goal that you are trying to attain with this email. In our case, we want more backlinks, so we need to establish and maintain communication and show what you partner can get from collaborating with you. If you do digital analytics for marketing it would make a lot of sense to find experts that might need your services or advice. For example, you could collaborate with a team of designers and each would share their expertise for the blog.
Establish communication first, ask for a favor later
If you are sending a cold email, it is kind of rude to ask some right in the first message. One could say that this is basic etiquette and manners, but in many businesses desperate for exposure send out emails that are repulsive. Just imagine a stranger writing you an email and asking to borrow money from you. It doesn’t sound trustworthy or exciting.
So do not rush with business, start by demonstrating others what kind of value they might get from collaborating with you. And after the trust is established and both parties understand what they get from the engagement, then it’s time to discuss guest posts, participation in research, etc.
