When creating outreach messages for link building, the most important concept to come back to is: just be yourself. Sometimes we get caught up in how to phrase a sentence or pitch, causing us to stumble over our words and lose sight of some of the most important fundamental human values.
The key is to remember that approaching link building outreach with authenticity first serves as the ultimate guide for all initial outreach messages and responses. Below are some values to consider when starting any outreach-driven campaign:
Three Values to Guide Your Outreach Emails
1. Be Authentic
Definition: real or genuine; not copied or false (source)
Story: I remember being handed my very first SEER assignment to prospect and outreach to a handful of small business websites. I had the option of pitching 3 different assets to a prospect list of 10-15 websites. I sat down to send my outreach and was stopped in my tracks. It was a struggle to match each site to one of the three resources. I thought to myself: “which one would they be interested in?” I began sifting through SEER’s existing outreach templates and discovered the consistent genuine tone throughout all of them.
Example phrases:
“Would you like to work together on...” “I was wondering if I could get your feedback on…” “Would you be willing to contribute…”
2. Be Thoughtful
Definition: showing concern for the needs or feelings of other people (source)
Story: When we start out in any link building or PR role, we all have a dream of that first big mention. The one that causes a spike in referral traffic proving to our client or team that we drove a significant amount of eyeballs to the promoted brand/page.
To date, I’ve realized that bigger, higher authority features tend to start with a thoughtful approach.
Example phrases:
“If you ever need a source for an article…” “If we can help in any way, please let me know…” “We are grateful for…”
3. Be Transparent
Definition: open; not secretive (source)
Story: Sometimes, we might make a mistake. Mistakes like sending outreach to the wrong email, accidently keeping [Website Name] in the email template, or forgetting a subject.
Always remember, if you make any sort of mistake in your email outreach, be transparent. Email the person back and let them know you made a mistake.
Example phrase:
“I wanted to follow up and first say sorry for…”
I generally find myself coming back to these values when I am about to write an initial outreach message or respond to any opportunity. I also consult this SEER post on SEO outreach quite often for best practices.
If you have any other values you consider when approaching link building outreach, feel free to drop them in the comments or write me a line on Twitter.
