Why you need different link building strategies for different types of sites

Posted by Ken McGaffin on 25 April 2011

Finding quality link prospects is easy. Making an approach and winning that link is not. And if you’ve got thousands of link prospects you’ll not have much success if you make the same blanket approach to each one.

A personal approach works best

We learn in copywriting that a personal approach works best and so we’re taught to speak to an individual and to address their experiences, needs and concerns.

Understanding the problems they face every day and providing the answer is the key to success, and it’s the same with link building.

You need to understand the reasons why your target will link to your website and then adapt the way you approach them. Get this right and your target will be much more likely link to you.

What reasons do people have for linking to you?

People have so many different reasons for linking to you. Here are a few:

• They’re a directory editor and have 17 submissions to plough through this weekend and they want to get it done so they can spend time with their family, watch the big game or whatever ...

• The person may publish a list of resources for their industry and want to keep it as up to date as possible.

• They have a blog post to publish and don’t have an idea of what they’ll write about.

• They’re looking for business opportunities and other websites they could partner with.

• Perhaps they are a journalist writing an article on ‘online wedding videos’ and they want to feature not just one but a couple of suppliers … and they want some real ‘people’ stories that will interest their readers … and they want to tell readers where they can find out more …

So if you can help them with their top priorities then you’ve magically increased your chances of getting a link.

Fit with your targets’ habits and style

People who publish online tend to develop their own writing, linking or reviewing habits over time and you’ve got to fit in with them. Are their habits a hidden secret? No, of course not! They’re staring you in the face.

They’ve demonstrated their habits over and over again in the websites they chose to link to and the way in which they link. All you have to do is look at what they’re doing and fit in with it. That old maxim from Yogi Berra still works a treat, “You can observe a lot by just watching”.

So spend time looking through the sites you’re targeting, read their guidelines if they have them, find out what makes them tick and then think about how your site could interest them.

The problem with personal approaches

If you’re working at volume, you’ll want to attract hundreds of quality links, and to do that you’ll have to ‘approach’ thousands of prospects.

However it’s just not possible to make personal approaches to thousands of people. You have got to work like copywriters do, instead of approaching individual people you’ve got to approach ‘groups of people’.

Categorize and prioritize your link prospecting

You can’t just start with a list of 1000 link prospects and work your way down the list one at a time. You’ve got to categorize your prospects and then prioritize them within each category.

In the Link Builder tool, we already sort link prospects into different categories so that you can develop different strategies for each. And of course, you can also create your own.

Why are different strategies so important?

There are three major reasons:

(i) Different categories have different needs

A directory simply wants you to make a brief, accurate and meaningful description of your business but sending that type of information to a blogger or journalist will just get you ignored.

What the blogger or journalist is looking for is a story that will be of interest to their readers and you need to spend time creating that. And try sending a ‘story’ to a directory or resource list and you really will be wasting your time.

(ii) Synergy

Synergy is that the sum of all parts is greater than the whole – in other words one plus one equals three.

So if I have a breaking news story, the fact that several bloggers or journalists write about it at the same time gives the story an extra momentum. Other bloggers are likely to see the story as important and will also follow suit (or disagree or give a different perspective).

People who have seen the same story on a number of blogs or on Facebook or Twitter are more likely to pay attention and even spread the story themselves.

(iii) Visualization

I’m a great believer in visualization in order to be successful. So when I make an approach to a prospect, I’ve spent a long time imagining what their reaction will be. What will they like, what will they dislike? What will catch their interest, what will they find boring?

I imagine their reaction and can hear them saying, “yes, that’s worth linking to”. It takes mental effort to visualize – almost like an actor working themselves into a part.

But just like an actor, I can’t switch back and forth from role to role, I need to stay in character to be convincing.

Focus on groups of prospects

I’ll organize my day so that in the morning say, I’m focusing on contacting bloggers and no other types of site. I want to visualize myself talking to bloggers and pitching ideas that I know they will find attractive.

The next day, I’ll decide to focus on directories and resource lists. I’ll work on that category and nothing else.

Link building is a difficult task. But like any difficult task it can be broken down into its constituent parts and managed easily. Categorization and prioritization should be fundamental to that approach.

Examples of how to approach three different types of link prospect:

1. Example of an approach to someone who already links to you.

People who already link to you are very important. They are obviously well disposed to you and will be keen to hear about anything new or useful that you’re doing. Next time you could get an even better link from them.

Here’s an example of someone who already links to Wordtracker. Marion is a blogger who writes about how moms can set up small businesses at home and market themselves effectively online. She prides herself on giving good advice and highlighting tools and resources that will be useful to her readers.

She published a review of Wordtracker’s free Keyword Questions tool in the past so she’s a prime candidate for writing about the updated version. We’ll keep the email friendly, short and to the point:

2. Example of a directory listing

Directories are a relatively easy source of links as long as you approach them in the right way. That means strictly following their guidelines – you want your submission to pass first time so you don’t have to engage editors in any discussion. Get it right first time and then move on to the next job.

Directory submissions need to be factual with no hype in the language. Avoid phrases like “sensational new quality pens” or “pens so good, they’ll supercharge your creative juices”.

Something like this:

3. Example of blog outreach

Bloggers are very important not only for the audiences they deliver from their own blog, but for the way they can spread your story through Twitter, YouTube and a host of social media sites. However, bloggers are different from journalists and the traditional press release is not only unlikely to work, it’s likely to get their backs up.

You’ve got to know where each blogger is coming from. What do they write about? What’s their standpoint? What are they likely to be interested in hearing from you?

Then start exploring their social media profile and start interacting with them. Then you’ve got to involve them in what you’re doing – even better involve their readers.