Share your favourite link exchange template email with us!
-
Hey Mozzers,
I've been working on a bunch of different templates lately to approach various companies in our industry for link exchanges. But I'm somewhat stumped on what the best approach would be. I want to convey the message that a link exchange would be beneficial to their ranking in search engines, but I don't want to come off sounding overly spammy.
Do you have a template that you have found worked well for you? Share it with us!
-
I agree with staying away from the link exchange page idea. However, I would think that you could find legitimate links from local sources, especially if you have any existing offline partnerships with them. Do you sponsor any little league teams or do any charity work? Do you offer free storage for women referred from the battered women's shelter (I know of movers that provide free moving for battered moving)? Anything like that you can ask for a link back from the people as a way for them to show their support. Natural links would also come from people involved in real estate, property management, student housing -- anyone that frequently deals with people that move and need a place to store things.
-
Ah, gotcha. In my experiences dealing with SMB clients, some great links for local businesses are from:
- Local directories (these also help build citations for local SEO purposes)
- Guest blogging on industry-related blogs (in your author bio, you can include a link back to your Wisconsin Cheese company - or whatever business it is that you are promoting)
- Sponsoring local events or finding other ways to get your company local press (links from newspaper websites, press release websites, and charity/event websites)
I don't mean to steer you away from link exchange requests as a tactic. It can certainly be useful, and you're right, it can be an easy method for small businesses to obtain links from other local companies or websites. I just get frustrated by the low response rate and oftentimes relatively weak link opportunities that I see with this tactic. Usually local competitors' websites are just like your own before you start working on SEO - weak, unoptimized, and with few backlinks.
I'd rather spend my time to get a guest post published on an authoritative website in my industry. It might not be as relevant of a link as one of my competitors in the area, but I can guarantee that it is going to have a ton of authority and link juice behind it.
-
Thank you for the advice. We do have many other campaigns that are currently running and very successful at link building. In this particular case we are looking to contact other local businesses in our area and offer them a link exchange. They are not websites that blog, nor do we regularly blog, it just doesn't suit a small business profile.
So suffice to say, the only way i have ever been successful getting other local businesses to link to us is with the classic "link exchange" format. Although it seems outdated, it still does work for this particular situation.
-
I don't really do any formal reciprocal link exchanges via e-mail, but I do have a ton of success with the following method:
1.) Write a great blog post or piece of content for your own website. Include in it links to other great blogs or resources about the topic you're writing about.
-
When the post is published, Tweet at the people whose websites you linked to and let them know that you mentioned their amazing, helpful resource in your latest post.
-
This generates a TON of retweets, and once in a while a great link back to my website from the blog/website that I mentioned. It also helps me establish a line of communication with authoritative figures in my industry. In short order, it puts me on their map, making future link requests much easier.
I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I thought you might find it interesting. Just my $0.02!
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
The No of Sites linking to www.apollopowersystems.com is 50 as per Alexa, but Moz shows that the no of sites linking is 23\. The no has increased in Alexa but in Moz the no is 23 since 3 months. Why is this Difference?
Hi There, As I am new to SEO, so the problem that I am listing below may seem very naive. Please help me out. Please explain me the difference between the no of backlinks of the website, www.apollopowersystems.com as per the websites below. The nos are completely different as per the websites below: As per www.moz.com the no is 23 As per www.ahrefs.com the no currently is 586 As per www.alexa.com the no is 50 Please tell me why these nos are different. Looking forward to hear from you at the earliest. Thanks in advance.
Link Building | | KDKini0 -
Reciprocal links
Are they worth anything, if they are from relevant sites? I'm I better off avoiding linking back wherever possible?
Link Building | | littlesthobo0 -
Links from Real Estate Websites Link Page, Do or Don't?
It seems that real estate sites have at times been under heavier scrutiny from the search engines. But real estate agents get networking, which makes acquiring those links a little bit easier. Plus with localization of search, I think real estate sites may give off a good GEO scent. Should SEO's go for links from real estate websites? Does a reciprocal link devalue said links?
Link Building | | Thos0030 -
Total Links vs Ext. Followed Links
Hi I'm fairly new to SEO and SEOMOZ. I've created a campaign for my own site and I've added 3 competitor sites. There are 1,385 total links to my site and a massive 49,450 links to one of my competitor's site. However under "Ext. Followed Links", there are 1,045 to my site and only 911 to the same competitor site. Am I correct that it is the "Ext. Followed Links" which are more important from an SEO point of view as the other links have the "no follow" attribute set? Or have I got this wrong? Thanks James
Link Building | | avecsys0 -
How long does it take for crawlers to update links? As in number of back links
How long does it take for crawlers to update links? As in number of back links
Link Building | | tom14cat140 -
Link Farming
Are link farms still bad? I still am not sure about this question. I know that some people still do link farms. If they are bad, wouldn't a directory be considered a link farm? For instance I can get my site on a .EDU, but it will just be a list of links. Is that bad?
Link Building | | blackrino0 -
Link Building: Asking for links versus building links
I am currently delving into link building for SEO having started out from a social media marketing side. From that angle, it was always my belief building high quality links came from engaging targeted bloggers and sites in my market and related verticals for product reviews and/or providing expert advise and opinion for posts they are creating. As I am learning more the "technical" side of SEO, I've read a lot of posters on here talk about asking from links from websites. While I get the concept from a strategic stand point, are links really asking for or is better to continue to pursue the long term investment of pitching to get coverage from well known bloggers and sites?
Link Building | | joshuaopinion1