Tactics for Successful Guest Post Link Building Outreach

Most professionals in the SEO world know that link building is a crucial part of a successful digital marketing strategy. Having high-quality and relevant backlinks from external websites to yours can increase your search engine rankings, boost your website traffic, and in the best of circumstances, help you reach potential customers. 

Earning links is no easy gig. Link building requires a lot of manual effort, starting with creating content that’s worthy of links, which is a difficult enough task in and of itself. 

Creating great content is just the beginning. You also have to put in the effort to outreach for linking opportunities, which requires a lot of time, research, patience, negotiation, and follow up. Safe to say, link building outreach is not for the faint of heart.  

So what are the best practices of successful outreach? Which strategy will work best for you and your business? Below, we’ve highlighted some tried and true strategies that will help you and your business get started in your link building journey. 

Remember the Golden Rule: Don’t Waste Anyone’s Time

Most people who have an online presence can relate to the feeling of having an inbox that is overwhelming. While inbox zero is a noble ambition, it can be a daunting and unsustainable task even during your least busy and most organized week.

At its core, sending an email to a site owner asking for a backlink is unsolicited correspondence. It’s much like asking a stranger for a favor, so you’ll want to be sure the email you are sending has all the information they need to make an informed decision from the get-go.

Read Through a Target Site’s Website for Guidelines

It may seem like a no-brainer, but as a digital marketer, you’d be surprised about how many emails come through an inbox where it is abundantly clear that someone hasn’t taken the time to read through their clearly stated submission guidelines. 

At this point, the majority of sites that accept guest posts have a detailed write-for-us page giving you most of the information you need in order to make a great first impression with the editors and site owners. 

In order to help cut through some of their inbox clutter, editors may request or require: 

1. Specific subject lines on your emails
2. A detailed outline of your outreach
3. To meet in person before moving forward with your guest post 

Reading through their site and being prepared to meet their requests helps ensure editors and site owners that you care not only about getting your own link, but that you care about their audience, and their goals, and are willing to acknowledge that part of link building is creating mutually beneficial content.

Compose a Thoughtful and Accurate Subject Line

One of the biggest challenges of working in marketing is getting the intended recipient to open your email in the first place. More often than not we focus so much time and effort on the body of the email, we completely forget about the subject line, and while we may have been taught to not judge a book by its cover, it is really easy to judge an email based on its subject line. 

It should be clear from your subject line exactly what it is that you want out of your interaction. 

Are you hoping to work with an editor to work on a guest post? You can let them know by starting your subject line with “Guest Post Submission Inquiry-[Title of Piece].” 

Looking for a sponsorship opportunity? “Sponsorship Opportunity Question” ought to appear somewhere in your subject line. 

Regardless of your intent, it should be very clear exactly what it is you’re looking for from the start. 

Introduce Yourself and Your Expertise

With Google’s EEAT updates in full effect, many editors are going to not only want to know what your proposed topic is, but also why you’re the right person to write about that particular topic. 

In your email, be sure to briefly introduce yourself to the potential site editor. Most sites don’t require a full CSV, so keep it short and to the point. 

Explain Your Pitch Clearly 

After introducing yourself and why you’re the right person to write your particular piece, it’s time to put together your pitch. 

There’s no magic formula to writing the perfect pitch. Some editors and site owners prefer to get several titles at once, while others prefer receiving one succinct and thorough outline. Others prefer sending a fully fleshed-out piece of content that they can read and give a red or green light to.

Again, it’s important to read through any given guidelines on a target site, as well as read through the content they have previously published in order to figure out the best approach. 

Send In Examples of Previously Published Work

In order to prove that you’re a competent writer, many editors request to see examples of your previous work. If you have your own site, be sure to include links to your most thorough and least promotional pieces of content. If you’re working on behalf of an agency, or have spent a lot of time ghostwriting, it may be worthwhile to utilize tools like Contently as a portfolio in order to keep track of some of your best articles.

In addition to sending your previously published work, you might also consider sending over links to your social media profiles, including your Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and other relevant social media.

Don’t Forget to Send a Follow-Up

Sending thoughtful outreach is clearly no easy feat, which is why it’s so important to take the time to regularly follow up with any outreach you send. If you’re not already utilizing a CMS tool to do outreach, you’ll want to come up with a system that allows you to follow up on a regular basis. 

Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to outreach, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to follow-ups. You’ll have to pay attention to the signals you get from a particular target site. Typically, however, we’ve found that manually scheduling follow-ups every 1-2 weeks is an ideal balance.

Templates for Link Building Guest Post Outreach

As mentioned previously, there really are no universal approaches for outreach that will land you a backlink every single time. In fact. When it comes to building organic links, it’s worth celebrating a 5% conversion rate. However, with A:B testing and some tweaking, the templates below may be able to give you a solid start with your content outreach journey. 

Email Template for General Guest Post Inquiries

This kind of outreach is a great solution for when you’re unsure about a site’s specific guidelines and want to get more familiarized with a site before you put forth the effort into creating specific ideas or pitches.

Hello [insert name of site owner/editor],

My name is [your name], and I’m a [job title] with extensive experience covering [topics in which you are an expert]. I wanted to check in and see if you were accepting contributions from new authors on your site, [exampledomain.com]. If you’re interested in seeing previous examples of my work, I have a small sample of my writing on my [site/portfolio], which you can find here [link to portfolio/site]. 

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to potentially working with you.

[Name]
[Occupation]
[Email address where they can most easily contact you]
[Link to writing portfolio]
[LinkedIn profile]
[Other relevant social media]

Email Template for Specific Guest Post Pitches

If you’re trying to build links to a very specific piece of content and have a strong pitch related to the target site’s goals and endeavors, being specific about the content you have in mind might be the way to go. 

Hello [insert name of site owner/editor],

My name is [your name], and I’m a [job title] with extensive experience covering [topics in which you are an expert]. I wanted to check in and see if you were accepting contributions from new authors on your site, [exampledomain.com]. 

I am specifically interested in writing about a piece titled [title of piece], in which I hope to cover the following:

• • Why piece is important to our industry
  • Why it’s important to your readers
  • How this issue will evolve over time

If you’re interested in seeing my previous writing samples, you can find my previous works here [link to portfolio/site]. 

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to potentially working with you.

[Name]
[Occupation]
[Email address where they can most easily contact you]
[Link to writing portfolio]
[LinkedIn profile]
[Other relevant social media]

Email Template for Multiple Guest Post Pitches

If you’ve read through the target site’s website and have a couple of ideas floating around, pitching multiple titles could be advantageous. 

Hello [name of site owner/editor],

My name is [your name], and I’m a [job title] with extensive experience covering [topics in which you are an expert]. I wanted to check in and see if you were accepting contributions from new authors on your site, [exampledomain.com]. 

I’ve put together a few potential titles for you and your audience, which I’ve highlighted below.

• • [Example Title 1]
  • [Example Title 2]
  • [Example Title 3]

If you’re interested in seeing my previous writing samples, you can find my previous works here [link to portfolio/site]. 

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to potentially working with you.

[Name]
[Occupation]
[Email address where they can most easily contact you]
[Link to writing portfolio]
[LinkedIn profile]
[Other relevant social media]

Conclusion 

Ultimately, when it comes to guest post link-building outreach, there are a few key tactics that have the potential to achieve a higher rate of success. 

Not only is it important to be creative with your subject lines and content introductions, but you should also ensure that your pitch outlines the benefits of working with you and focus on presenting value for the website’s readers. 

Highlight what sets you apart and make sure to follow-up once you receive a response, as that can improve the chances of acceptance from editors that are inundated constantly with proposals. 

With these tactics in mind, it’s possible to create successful guest post link building outreach campaigns that will help your blog or business reach desired goals. Again, remember the golden rule: don’t waste anyone’s time.