10 Tips on How to Write an Email for Your Link Building Outreach

One of the things most webmasters hate every time they check their inbox is an unsolicited email containing a ridiculously composed message overpraising their website’s content which doesn’t make sense because everything in it is awkwardly worded without getting into details. The worst is, the whole email is jumbled with wrong grammar and spelling errors. The ending is, well you should have known already – the cold and unforgiving cell of the digital world’s trash bin.

How to Write an Effective Email for your Link Building Outreach?

If reaching out to webmasters and website owners is part of your link-building campaign, then the need to write an effective outreach email is quite important, not only to accumulate high quality links but also to build rapport to your peers in the industry and establish your reputation one email at a time.

Here are some tips on how you can create an outreach email webmasters and website owners won’t ignore.

1.) Only search for websites/blogs with content directly related to yours.

This is quite important because if you’ll send inquiry or requests to websites which content are not related to yours, then there’s really no chance your email will be entertained. Use search parameters that would help you expedite your search online. See samples below.

For guest posting – Keyword/yourCompetitorName + “write for us”

For site listing – Keyword + intitle:add/submit/suggest/post/list/recommend article

For infographic promotion – industryName + inurl:infographics

For product reviews – ProductName + review + site:wordpress.com

2.) Once you got a prospect website, try to study their content and what specific topic you can offer that can bring value to their publication.

Check out the tone of their writings, the kind of multimedia they use, the topics they haven’t covered yet but you think can add value to their publication. This is the key on how to convince them that you mean business and have the capacity to add value to their website.

3.) Write an email subject that would let them know at first glance what your intention.

Capturing their interest is very important. A lot of webmasters would immediately delete an unsolicited email even before they open it purely base on how its subject is worded. Make sure that you have explicitly defined what your intention is and what you are offering in your subject.

4.) In the greeting portion of your email, always mention the first name of the website owner or the webmaster.

This is one of the most common mistakes done by marketers in their link building outreach. It is human nature that we connect more to those ones who call or mention our names. Sending an outreach email that only contain the generic greetings such as Hello, Hi, To Whom It May Concern and the like doesn’t work and would only decrease your chances of getting a positive feedback.

5.) In the body, honestly mention how you find their website, why you are sending them a request, and what value you can offer.

Of course, you should clearly mention your intent, how you found them, and the value of your proposition. Avoid using flowery words and just be truthful as possible. Let them know that you are capable of producing content which is at par with their standards. Maintain a semi-conversational and professional tone all throughout your email.

6.) At the end of your email, mention all the notable websites that featured your previous works or those ones that featured your link on it.

This can make or break their impression about you. Be sure that the link references you’ll mention are highly relevant and credible. Most webmasters are quite meticulous in evaluating references because they know that a lot of people online can create fake ones for fraud and scam purposes.

7.) End your email with a positive note such as like you are hoping to hear from them or you are looking forward to a positive response.

This would put a subtle pressure in your email to prod the reader to get back to you because you are waiting for their feedback. You have to keep on reminding the webmaster or website owner until the end of y our email why you are reaching out to him/her.

8.) Make sure your email signature contains credible information about you and your business.

This is also quite important. You have to leave a strong and credible impression to your email reader. Make sure you put all the relevant credentials and places where they can reach you, check more about your business, and where they can confirm your identity. Missing out this very crucial part of your email can make or break your outreach.

9.) Use the domain of your business website as your email address domain.

This is actually quite important if you are serious in branding your business through email outreach. Using a free hosted email is a sign that you are not coming from a serious business and can be one of the reasons your email message would be deleted at first glance. Thus, before you set out doing your link-building outreach, make sure you will be using the domain of your business website or your other official domain names as the domain of your email address.

10.) Proofread and edit your email to avoid grammar and spelling mistakes.

Of course, this is very necessary. Before sending your outreach email, always make sure that it is proofread and is free from any types of grammatical and spelling errors. You only have a slim chance of convincing your reader, thus any slight mistakes in grammar and spelling can determine if your email will be replied or will be ignored.

Conclusion

The first step to a successful link-building outreach relies heavily on how you write your email. The tips provided on this blogpost can help a lot in guiding you on how to create an outreach email that can easily capture the attention and interest of your prospects. Of course, you have to learn how to apply each tip and customize it depending on the goals of your link-building outreach. Also, don’t take this blog post at face-value. Read and research more. Good luck!

Read my related post on

Link Building for Attorneys

If you are looking for a holistic link builder Give SEO Expert Qamar Zaman at 972.437.8942

Qamar Zaman

Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Why You Should and Should Not Pay for Your Brand Name to Appear in SERPs

Isn’t it hilarious? Why would you have to pay for your brand name to appear on top of Google’s SERPs? No matter how you want to see it, paying Google through their AdWords program to put your brand name on the top means you’ll be paying double – for your SEO team and Google AdWords. So, why some experts have managed to convince business owners to bid for their brand term (in AdWords) so that they can plaster it on top of the SERPs?

In this blog post, I’ll try to weigh in why you should pay and why you should not bid for your brand name.

You Don’t Want to Lose Out to Your Competitors

Should Bid:

If you are in a niche wherein competition is very stiff, you don’t want to lose even an inch of your edge against your competitors. Prospects who are sure to convert or are more interested to know more about your products and services usually use your brand name when they search you online. If one of your competitors is bidding in AdWords for your brand term and it appears side by side with yours in organic search results, there’s a higher chance that you’ll lost some clicks. This is the time that you need to step up and claim your brand name.

Should Not Bid:

But, there’s a little problem with the argument above. When a searcher who is looking for your brand would click on another link because it bears your brand term, there’s a higher chance that he/she will immediately leave the page the moment he/she realizes that it is not the one she/he is looking for. That would mean higher bounce rate to your competitor’s site and you would still get the click that is originally intended for your brand.

Google AdWords CPC is Quite Cheap

Should Bid:

Of course, the cost per click for your brand term is really cheap because it has very low competition. It would be a shame if you would just allow your competitors to steal those clicks just for a few bucks. Bidding for your brand term can help you secure more clicks which means more traffic that could lead to higher conversion.

Should Not Bid:

The problem with bidding for your brand term is if you are in a very tight budget. This would mean your marketing budget would double and this is something some companies can’t afford. Also, how long are you planning to bid for your brand term? For a month, a year? You cannot bid for it like forever. Also, instances of having competitors using your brand name to steal clicks from you can surface every now and then. The best thing to do is to maintain your top position through organic SEO.

Conclusion

Bidding for your own brand term to prevent your competitors from stealing your clicks for sure can help you a bit when it comes to maximizing the use of PPC marketing to boost your visibility in Google SERPs. This can be really helpful if you’ve been trying to increase your conversions through boosting your click through rates but this cannot be applied to all types of business.

For businesses who are in a very tight budget, paying for a few bucks (for even a month) for their brand term to appear on top of Google SERPs can weaken their financial sustainability. Most people who are searching for your brand would surely leave the webpage when they find out it is not what they are looking for. This can bring negative impression on your competitor’s webpage, something that they can’t do for a long time because it would increase its bounce rate.

Try to weigh in the pros and cons. Is it necessary to bid for your brand name, or is it important to focus more in organic search than paid search? You’re the only one who can decide. Good luck!

If you need help with your Google ADWORDS campaign speak with Qamar Zaman Google Adwords Expert

Qamar Zaman

Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Law Firm Marketing Forecasts for the year 2015

There have been many speculations and forecasts about lawyer marketing for the year 2015. Some of them are made by a number of experts in the legal industry. Among these experts is Larry Bodine from Law Practice Advisor. He provided his own predictions for legal marketing for this year.

According to Bodine, lawyer site is now considered essential element in terms of marketing. There was a research made that shows law firms can generate more new leads online. That is why having a law firm website is really a must for all lawyers in the legal world.

He also mentioned something about the intensification of a lot of review sites. Clients usually refer to review sites like Yelp, Google, Avvo, etc. before they buy anything or before they hire the service they need. Lawyers need to pay attention and to continually monitor for their reviews on these sites. They should also know how to handle both positive and negative reviews they have about their legal services and their law firm in general.

Bodine said that the best strategy for increased conversion rate and to be able to engage visitors is by offering them a free downloadable content wherein they will give out their details like their name, phone number, email address, etc. This tactic might be beneficial in enticing more potential clients.

He mentioned that lawyers must send visitors with an automatic newsletter either from their contacts on the firm mailing list or those who have opt-in. Lawyers can use Mailchimp since it has a plug-in that will automatically compose and send newsletter on the set date.

Bodine believed that to be able to generate leads, lawyers should have social proof. These potential clients spend and consume many hours on social networking sites like on Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. These clients expect lawyer to be the same. Bodine said that clients want to see daily updates from lawyers and they want to see series of new posts.

These are the forecasts by Bodine regarding lawyer marketing for this year. Lawyers in the different legal fields can be able to utilize some strategies that were mentioned by Larry.

To learn more about attorney marketing tips bookmark our blog.

By: Qamar Zaman. Dallas based SEO Expert who specializes in attorney marketing.

Related post: Tips on Social Selling your Legal Services Online by Lawyer Marketing Expert

About Larry Bodine

Larry Bodine, The Law Blog Guru, is a former practicing attorney who knows how to turn website visitors into clients for trial law firms. His team of experienced lawyers know how to turn online legal content into paying clients. Visit his website for great insight on lawyer marketing.

Watch Video by Qamar Zaman SEO Expert in Attorney Marketing Dallas http://tinyurl.com/nbq29py

Qamar Zaman

Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

Pay-Per-Click Campaign Tips for Lawyers by Qamar Zaman PPC Expert for Attorneys

Lawyer PPC Expert Qamar Zaman Gives out some tips on how lawyers can use Pay-per-click without having to hire a team of marketing experts.

Attorneys in general strive to be on top among all their lawyer competitors. Some lawyers hire marketing team to manage their Pay- Per-Click strategy. But for some lawyers who have limited budget for this kind of marketing strategy, here are some tips you can use in doing Pay- Per- Click without having to spend a dollar for a marketing team.

In doing online marketing, you should utilize long tail keywords. These are longer keywords which consist of three to five words that are highly specific to what searchers use when searching for something online. Long tail keywords earns less traffic to law firm’s site but are considered higher quality traffic compared to that with normal keywords which means having higher conversion rate. With this fact, you can conclude that having these set of keyword will do good on your lawyer site so make sure that you have a balanced mix of both normal and long tail keywords.

When you are using AdWords, proximity targeting can help you save time when it comes to creating a marketing campaign for your lawyer site since it allows ads to target specific places that you prefer. You can set certain locations in your ads. You can save time using this useful tool since you won’t have to type locations each time you set your marketing campaign.

You can increase your online presence on Search Engine Results Page (SERP) by utilizing extensions. Extensions can help in improving your ad rank and it takes only a little time to set it up. It also allows your ads to feature information of your law firm like your office location, phone number, etc. Not only that, extension promotes social engagement which can help your law firm increase your online presence.

Use PPC software to be able to know which keywords to use for your law firm site. This software can also give you suggestions when it comes to your ads performance and for the editing of your ads. On the other hand, WordStream can help you ensure that your marketing campaign can provide you with a good impact even with a minimal time investment.

Continue to use SEO tools to help you boost your online presence. You can use tools like Moz, etc. This can also help you with your PPC campaigns for your law firm marketing.

You can choose to use all these tips to help you market your law firm site and boost your online presence using PPC independently.

Watch Video on: SEO Tips http://tinyurl.com/nbq29py

Qamar Zaman

Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

What Non-Profit PR Pros Can Learn from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The year 2014 had the non-profit industry reeling with awe when ALS Ice Bucket Challenge campaign went viral and accumulated a staggering $114 million in donation. This tremendous outpouring of support was mainly caused by influencers who helped amplified the effort.

According to Crowd Companies, the non-profit campaign got the participation of over 50 political figures, over 200 notable actors and actresses, over 200 athletes, and over 220 musicians.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a very successful campaign all non-profit PR pros should emulate. Given their utter success, what could have most non-profit PRs have done wrong that they haven’t get the exposure they want?

Lessons you can learn from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

What makes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge different from other non-profit campaigns is, it went viral organically. A few PR experts believe that if it has been done by a PR or marketing firm, it won’t get as much attention as it had garnered. But, this observation is lacking because the organic popularity got something to do with influential people picking it up.

Compared to other non-profit campaigns, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was disseminated in a very entertaining format. And, it also urges people to encourage their peers to do the same as well. Uploading videos and tagging friends in social media has never been that enjoyable more especially when it supports a great cause.

The major factor that drives millions of people to join the challenge is the participation of popular personalities such as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Timberlake, and Jimmy Fallon. Creating a campaign that can appeal to the sensibility of popular people is definitely a must.

4 Must-Dos for Non-Profit PR Pros in 2015

In 2015 and the year onward, non-profit public relations professionals should now have enough knowledge on how to run a successful PR campaign that cannot only mobilize but can also inspire people all around the globe to participate and take action. Below is a list of PR practices you should start doing to put your non-profit organization in the forefront of your donors/benefactors.

1. Be unique and original. Don’t be a copycat. Use your creativity and find a campaign strategy that has never been thought up before. Don’t be afraid to challenge the norms.

2. Incorporate multimedia and social media. People love user-generated content. You should leverage on this knowledge and build your campaign with this information in mind.

3. Create a campaign that can appeal to both the celebrities and the masses. The influencers play a very huge factor in disseminating all sorts of ideas and causes.

4. Use the power of social pressure by prodding people to encourage their friends that their participation can help a great cause.

Lastly, don’t just rely on tips and articles like this. Think outside the box or you can also think that there is none. What we mean is, always take initiative and be proactive. There’s no single strategy to gain more visibility and exposure. Good luck!

Qamar Zaman

Chief Visionary at One SEO Company. An Internet Entrepreneur SEO & lawyer Internet marketing professional & Starbucks Lover.

from Dallas Internet Marketing Blog

5 Search Engine Optimization Strategies You Should Not Do in 2015

In 2015, there are so many things you need to take care of when it comes to SEO, and one of them is to avoid those strategies that aren’t useful anymore. To create a foolproof SEO campaign, here are the top 5 strategies that you should not use anymore from this year and onwards.

1. Spinning Articles for Building Links

Despite all the search algorithm updates released by big search engines in the past few years, there are still so many webmasters and website owners who still believe that spinning articles can help them boost their rankings. This is definitely a bad practice and should have been avoided years ago. Spun articles are treated by search engines as duplicate content thus categorizing them as spams. If you don’t want to get any penalties that would cost you your business, then stop using spun content to build links and manipulate search rankings.

2. Over-optimizing Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Your webpage’s title tag and meta description are one of the major factors that can affect how well you rank in search results and how often people would click on your link. Stuffing them with so many awkward phrases just to fill them with keywords you want it to be found can trigger most search engines’ spam filter. This would lead to penalty and possible de-indexation. This year and beyond, be sure that you are mindful in writing your titles and Meta descriptions by composing compelling ones that can help you drive more traffic to your website.

3. Publishing Too Sales Pitchy Blog Posts

Of course, this practice is very common in the online marketing industry but this is something you should avoid doing especially when you are optimizing your content for search engines. Too sales pitchy blog posts won’t attract the right audience, it would repel them. Create content that is informative and offer value to your prospects. Create useful articles with the needs of your readers in mind. Remember that blatant advertising doesn’t work anymore on the web because people now have the choice what content or information they want to consume.

4. Doing Guest Blogging to Accumulate Do-Follow Backlinks

Probably one of the dangerous SEO practices you will do in 2015. If you still believe accumulating a huge amount of do-follow backlinks can give you an edge in SEO, then you better do something else. Guest blogging should not be mistaken as a link building tactic. It is a strategy that can help you promote valuable content and at the same time allows you to network with people in your industry. Getting your guest articles publish regularly in popular websites related to your niche can help a lot in boosting the value of your website, brand, and reputation, just make sure you are not littering the web with low quality content intended to hoard do-follow backlinks. Remember that Google’s latest search algorithm now penalizes website owners who manipulate search ranking by accumulating too many unnatural links.

5. Creating Too Many Web Pages to Boost Search Rankings

This may have worked in the past but search engines are smarter these days. Creating too many pages doesn’t mean you’ll get higher rankings. You should take into consideration if they are of high quality and added more value to your website. If these webpages are solely created to manipulate search rankings, then you should think twice and consider the fact that any types of rank manipulation these days are deemed to fail because technology in search is getting better and better.

When 131 billion searches are conducted every month on the web, the need to properly position your brand through optimizing it for organic searches should be on top of the list of your online marketing priorities. By knowing past SEO strategies that don’t work anymore, you are equipping yourself and your team to be more prepared in conducting an effective SEO campaign that can help you achieve your marketing goals. Good luck!

This Blog post is created by Qamar Zaman a Dallas based SEO expert who specializes in attorney marketing to help attorneys get valuable cases using his digital marketing program. To learn more please visit www.qamarzaman.us

The post 5 Search Engine Optimization Strategies You Should Not Do in 2015 appeared first on One SEO Company | Lawyer Marketing.

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