As we all know and understand, links are an integral part of ranking well in the search engines…it’s a barometer they use to determine your site’s importance and relevance.
There are many ways you can obtain links – you can purchase them (be very careful doing this), someone who finds your site can link to it from theirs or you can request a link from a site you visit…the third option is where we’re focusing today. How you request a link from someone is every bit as important as obtaining them in the first place
Consider the following:
Dear site owner,
I was looking at your web site and think we should link to each other. If you are interested, please add the following code to your HTML:
[Insert code here.]
Thanks,
Any Company USA
Amazingly enough, a lot of website owners think this will pass muster and get them that link. Of course that’s nonsense as you will see. This type of link request message would most likely be ignored by anyone who receives it.
So what should a link request email contain so it gets opened, read and acted on by the site I’m trying to target?
Continue reading for 12 things your link request should contain. While these items may seem pretty obvious, you will be amazed at how many do not think about these.
- In your subject line, be sure you follow any instructions given from the site you’re trying to get a link from. Many sites that have a collection of links include information on what to include in your subject line. Example – Subject: Link Submission. If you don’t take the time to find any link request instructions and/or don’t follow their directions, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from them.
- Include the site owner’s name in the salutation and in the first lines of your message. This indicates that you have taken the time to look through their site and truly respect what they do. Also, immediately addressing the person by name lets them know that your message isn’t some ‘spam’ they’re receiving.
- Right after their name, include your name as well. This lets them know that it’s a real human sending the message. A first line like “Hello, Mr. Jones. My name is Adam Smith” indicates that you have taken the time to find out who runs the site and that you’re nice enough to tell them who you are. It also shows you didn’t just send the message to several thousand other people.
- Include the site’s homepage URL in the first few lines of your message. This is an extension of steps #2 and #3. Also, maintain professionalism and don’t show fake sincerity or imply friendship when in fact, you’ve never met the person.
- Next include your site’s URL – “I am contacting you about my site, known as ‘SiteName’, which is located at http://www.anysite.com/.”
- State the URL on their site where you think your link would fit the best. “With regard to your links section at…[insert exact URL of their links area].”
- A quick paragraph explaining your site and why you think it’s worthy of a link from their site. “I respectfully request you consider my site for a link as I feel my site is a nice match for your collection of links.”
- The exact URL on your site that you want the site to link to. Your homepage for instance may have a lot of flash images so you could suggest an alternative page that will load faster if someone clicks on the link.
- Include a valid email address for them to reply to with any questions, etc. Actually write out your email and don’t rely on them to hit ‘reply’ or see where the message came from – “If you would like to contact me or have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].”
- And include your phone number too so they can exercise that option if they like. “Or if you prefer, you can also call me at (352) 555-5555.”
- Confirm that you have added a link to their site from yours.
- And include the URL on your site where they can see the link to their site – “…that you can see at http://www.anysite.com/links.html
Including these items in your link request email goes a long way in ensuring the receiver opens the email request, reads it and acts on it. Recognizing the site owner as a real person and immediately stating your name eases their mind that they’re not being spammed. If it’s obvious your email is a bulk request, it will be immediately deleted.
And you guessed it, you can’t create one generic message and send it over and over again. You need to take the time to create and send a unique message to each site you’re requesting a link from.