hoW I BUILD LINKS

STEP 1

Decide if we are a good fit for each other.

STEP 2

If yes, I want to know more about your business. How do you want to be perceived? What does an ideal client look like for you?

What keywords do you want to rank for? What topics are your audience interested in? (I want to generate more leads and revenue to your business!)

 STEP 3

 Competitor analysis. I reverse engineer your competitors’ backlinks and websites that rank for your target keywords.

What can we learn from them? What is working for them? What content could potentially work and do well in your specific niche.

STEP 4

 Content audit. What content do you have on your website that could be used for outreach?

I look for content that contains unique data, that are funny, highly educational or something that could be highly valuable to a prospect.

This can be infographics, lists, articles, videos or something else. I list all linkable assets and the URLs in a separate spreadsheet and write down what keywords they rank for.

STEP 4B

If you don’t have any useful content on your website and/or are not actively creating content I will help and pitch you some ideas on link-worthy assets you can create.

An important aspect here is that the content piece gets produced quickly, either by someone in your team or a freelance writer. Or I can hire a writer and do it for you.

STEP 5

 Create a prospect list (I start with 200 prospects). What sites I choose depends on the link tactic.

The key here is that you want to be associated with the right type of sites, that have either high authority now or are likely to get in the future.

In general, I look for sites that are real businesses themselves and don’t monetise through their content but make their money on products and/or services.

The goal is to find sites that share a part of your audience or niche. In order to find prospects I use a mix of Google operators and look for opportunities such as:

1) What tools are your business using on a daily basis?

2) Websites that mention your brand but haven’t linked to your website.

3) Networking/business expos you have attended

4) Prospects from Facebook or Instagram groups

Depending on the niche, you sometimes have to be extra creative and think outside the box.

STEP 6

Run outreach. You want the person who later receives the email to feel that their site was actually viewed, assessed and that the email feels genuine.  It doesn’t matter if that person is a journalist, business owner or someone else – the same principle applies: creating a real connection.

I divide prospects into different groups and look into each group based on what is going on in that specific niche.

This can be trends, jokes, interests the recipients has (without being creepy). Focus is on creating a genuine connection.

The focus is either:

1) why the linkable assets is relevant for them and their target audience and why they should care.

2) If a guest post, suggestions and three pitches that are in line with what the website is about, and about topics their audience would be interested in.

One important thing here is to look at the tone in which they write and to mirror that in the email template.

I always calibrate and evaluate and if some emails or an angle is not working,

I try to learn from it, change and try something new. I also don’t email people over and over again but stop if I haven’t received any answer after two follow ups.

My style of writing is friendly and funny but I adapt depending on who I’m emailing.