Create a content upgrade for the site owner → ask for a link back credit
For this approach, you create an infographic, PDF, worksheet or checklist that's relevant to an authoritative article. Then you can offer it to the site owner or content marketing manager to include in their article in exchange for a back link credit.Hey Site Owner or Content Marketing Manager,
❶ Been following your site for a long time - finally a blog that backs up their points with scientific studies, not just their personal experiences!
❷ I recently created an infographic that illustrates every NLP technique and how to apply it in real life:
[image link]
❸ I think it'd really help readers of your article on NLP have a visual reference to understand each technique.
❹ Let me know if this would be a good fit?
Signoff
❶ Provide one meaningful comment about their website.
❷ Mention you created an infographic (related to a topic they have an article about) and provide an overview of what the infographic shows or teaches.
❸ Mention which one of their articles the infographic would be relevant for and reiterate a key learning they'd get from your infographic.
❹ Ask if they'd be willing to share it with their audience.
Successful link building email offering an infographic → back link from Life Hacker
Luke from Pest Pro App got his company featured in Life Hacker by offering them an infographic on insect identification.I really liked your article on Identifying Dangerous Spiders. Great stuff!
You actually inspired me to take this a step farther and create something even deeper in the subject of insects & spiders.
I thought I'd reach out to you because I just published an infographic on Insect Identification and I thought it might interest you. It covers 28 of the top insects & spiders that bite. All based on research and I have the sources to back it up.
Would it be OK to pass it along? I'd love to get your opinion on it.
Either way, keep up the good work with Lifehacker.
Best,
Luke
Was you interested in that infographic I mentioned? I forgot to post the link within it.
You can find that here:
blog.pestproapp.com/the-top-28-biting-stinging-insects/
Regards,
Luke
Successful link building email offering a infographic → back link from Kissmetrics
Kaloyan from WooGuru got his infographic on social media tactics featured in Kissmetrics' blog with the email below. Cleverly, he pitched Kissmetrics the idea before he had created the infographic.Sean Work referred me this email in regards to the blog of Kissmetrics.
I just wrote a post on eCommerce Sales with some ingenious social media tactics and growth hacks. We're currently working on turning this post into a professional killer infographic that will have the core information from the post.
I'd like to offer this infographic to Kissmetrics blog so you can publish it exclusively. The infographic will contain the Kissmetrics logo, too of course.
Is this something you might be interested in? Please let me know so I can show you the infographic.
Cheers,
Kalo WooGuru.net Founder
Implement an influencer's advice → ask for a share
Hey Influencer,
I've been following your blog for the past 3 years, so many great insights!
❶ Your recent post about radical honesty really resonated with me. I followed it step by step and I found it dramatically reduced my day to day stress levels.
You can read my post about it here: [link]
❷ Would you be open to sharing the results with your audience as a success story in your article?
❸ I can write a paragraph summarizing its highlights so you can easily adapt it for the article.
Either way, thank you for sharing your can't-find-anywhere-else tips with the community.
Signoff
❶ Create a post detailing the results you achieved by implementing an influencer's advice.
❷ Share the link with them and ask if they may be willing to add it to their article. A success story helps boost its credibility.
❸ Offer to write a paragraph introducing your success story to make it easy for them to this section to the article.
Quote an influencer's advice and ask for a share
This is how Stephen Altrogge cold emailed Joanna Wiebe from Copy Hackers, leading her to tweet his article.In addition to my copywriting site, I run a pretty big faith-based site and I get contacted by random people like myself ALL. THE TIME. So I'm keenly aware of how these emails come across.
Anyway... (that's called an awkward transition)
I recently wrote a blog post about fixing landing pages in which I quoted your specific advice.
Given that you're a marketing expert, I was wondering if there is anything you would change to add to the post?
I'm trying to create a library of the highest quality material on my site, and I really value your advice on this. Also, I may try to turn this into a lead magnet at some point, so I want to keep improving it.
Okay, won't keep you any longer, I'm not going to be that sleaze ball who asks you to share the post on social media...but if you did share it, gratefulness would ensure (that's called self-promotion thinly disguised in self-deprecation.)
I always appreciate the work you do, and I appreciate learning from you.
Thanks!
Pitch a guest blog article to the site owner
Hey Site Owner or Content Marketing Manager,
Been following your blog for a while.
❶ Really enjoyed your recent article on study motivation. What worked for me when I was in school what visualizing what was possible after I graduated and how I can apply or benefit from what I learned.
❷ I have an article idea that I think would be really helpful for your student audience. It's about how they can create their own super effective study guides by turning complex concepts into visual memory aids.
1) It can be difficult to understand technically challenging concepts like coagulation by reading textbooks' walls of text. Instead you can find videos that animate and explain these concepts.
- How to use Google to find publishing companies' high quality explainer videos
- Which parts of the video to screen capture and annotate for your study guide
2) How to organize and summarize your screenshots
- How to summarize every key idea into one sentence
- How to find diagrams and pictures to reinforce aspects of the concept the screen captures you already have may be lacking
3) How to use table of contents and Headings to organize your notes and screenshots
- How to use table of contents to enable quick jumps to different sections
❸ Links to a few articles I've written in the past:
[Link]
[Link]
❹ Love to know what you think!
Signoff
❶ Praise one recent article on their site and share your thoughts about it to show you really read it.
❷ Pitch a story idea relevant to their audience. Break it down by key sections and provide a list of major points you'll cover for each. This conveys the value of the article for their audience.
❸ List a few articles you've written in the past to show them your writing quality. If you don't have any published articles yet, you can link to your blog articles.
❹ Ask them for their thoughts about the article idea to open the conversation.
Feature another website's content or article for a possible share
Hey Site Owner or Content Marketing Manager,
❶ Your article on how super busy people declare email bankruptcies and manage their inboxes was really interesting. Including the fact Beyoncé changes her email once week! ❷ I featured it here for my business audience who writes a lot of emails:
[link]
❸ The rest of the article shows how to write effective emails to super busy people and how to follow up appropriately to get a reply.
❹ Let me know if this would be a good fit for your audience?
Signoff
❶ Provide a meaningful comment about the article you featured.
❷ Mention that you featured their article to a relevant audience.
❸ Briefly describe the key value of the rest of your article.
❹ Ask them to share your article, framed in terms of if it would be a good fit for their audience.
Tired of dry spells when it comes to getting new customers?
Hey Prospect,
❶ I came across your comment on Sales IQ on Product Hunt.
❷ Here are a few other tools I use in the prospecting process that allowed me to contact 100+ prospects a day semi-automatically:
- Snapper - Search for prospects on Linkedin and download all the profiles that match your criteria. Includes their full names, position, company and smart guessed email addresses (from experience, 80%+ of them work).
- Verified - Upload all the email addresses to verify which ones are working.
❸Recently, I used this process to generate 300+ warmed up prospects for Redeem. 35% of them converted into paying customers, representing $20 000 in new business.
Let me know if you have any questions about how to semi-automate your prospecting to consistently get new customers.
Signoff
❶ Mention where you came across this prospect and use the topic they commented on to open the conversation.
❷ Provide them valuable lesser known insights related to the topic they commented on and the services you provide.
❸ Mention a specific result you achieved for a client to intrigue them into asking for more details.
Ask the site owner to redirect their broken link to your site
Hey Site Owner or Content Marketing Manager,
❶ I was looking for a few resources on momentum trading and I came across your informative guide [Article title].
❷ I noticed that one of the resources you mentioned about online brokerage comparisons no longer exists:
[screenshot of the browser with the URL of the page and the 'Page not found or 404' message]
❸ I recently created an extensively researched guide on how to choose the right online brokerage based on your trade volume, trade frequency and invested amount:
[Link]
❹ [Screenshot of a section of the article]
❺ I think your audience would find it helpful and I also update it regularly as online brokerages change or new ones enter the market. Also cited your guide in it as well. :)
❻ Let me know if you'd be open to updating the link?
Signoff
❶ For this approach, use a broken links finder like Ahrefs' to find relevant articles containing broken links. First simply mention you came across their article, framed as a subtle compliment.
❷ Mention you discovered a broken link in their article and specify what type of content the URL is going to. Include a screenshot to provide visual confirmation the page no longer exists.
❸ Briefly describe the content you created on a same topic that the broken link goes to.
❹ Include a screenshot of a section of the content that provides the best overview of what it's about.
❺ Convey your content would be helpful to their audience and also mention you linked to their content in yours. Providing value first makes it more likely they'll say 'yes' to you in reciprocity.
Skyscraper: create a better version of an article they currently link to → ask them to link to yours too
Hey Site Owner or Content Marketing Manager,
❶ I was running experiments on hiring freelancers and I noticed you mentioned one of my favorite guides on the topic: [link].
❷ I tested its steps and found great success with Reddit as well. Especially when you use a "no brown M&Ms" clause to weed out people who don't read your entire job description.
❸ I just published a more in depth guide laying out step by step how to find, motivate and pay freelancers with results from my experiments. Also mentioned your article on the topic:
[link to your article]
❹ Let me know if this would be a good fit for your audience?
Either way, keep up your great work!
Signoff
❶ Use backlink checkers like Open Link Profiler or Ahrefs to find what articles influential relevant websites are linking to. For this approach, create a better more comprehensive version of one of these articles.
To start, simply mention you came across their existing link to the article you created a better version of.
❷ Briefly describe the context of how you created the article or the research that you put into it.
❸ Mention you created a more in depth version of what they're currently linking to and provide a few details about what it covers the article they currently link to doesn't.
❹ Ask them if your article would be a good fit for their audience, which subtly implies "would you be willing to link to it?"
Approach credit: Brian Dean's skyscraper technique
Ask people who shared your content in the past to share again
To see who shared you content, simply search your site link on Faceook and Twitter. For example, I would search for 'artofemails.com' for my site:
Hey Link Sharer,
❶ Thanks so much for sharing my article on how to give compelling speeches - glad to know my persistent follow ups to interview world class speakers paid off :)
❷ Just wanted to share with you a related article I recently published.
10 types of effective speech structures for different situations (business meetings, presentation to large audiences, etc.):
[link]
Thought you may enjoy it!
❷ Feel free to share if you liked it - thank you again for your support!
Signoff
❶ Thank them for sharing your earlier article.
❷ Mention you recently published another related article and provide a brief summary to show why it's worth a read.
❸ Gently ask for a share if they liked the article and reiterate your gratitude for their support.
