How to Reach Out for Links

Shopify SEO Course ↗️ > Unit 6 > Lesson 3 > How to Reach Out for Links

Depending on the type of link opportunity you are pursuing, you may have to reach out to the website owner or content author in order to attain that link. Effective link building outreach can be the difference between getting links or wasting a lot of time sending emails.

Effective outreach starts with personalization. You want the person you are asking for a link to feel like you have taken the time to get to know them, their website, and their audience. You want the person you are asking for a link to feel like you are trying to add value to their website as opposed to just getting something for yourself.

If there isn’t a specific process to getting a link on a website – such as purchasing advertising, creating a profile, or submitting content – you will need to send an email to a specific person to ask for your link. In most cases, the outreach should sound like this.

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Dear Jane,

How are you doing? My name is John and I found your blog post (their blog post link) recommending some great online stores where people can find their favorite vintage jeans. If your readers like the stores you listed, I thought they may also like my online store as well, since we have a large selection of vintage jeans to choose from.

If you like our products and think we’re a good fit, I’d be honored if you added a link to our main website (http://mystore.com/) or the category page specific to vintage jeans (http://mystore.com/vintage-jeans/) to your blog post so future readers can check us out as well.

Best regards,

John

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The key is the personalization – you have the person’s name, you know what page your link fits best upon, and you are asking them to add it to benefit their audience. At worst, you will not get a response or a polite no thanks. But at best, you will have demonstrated that you are a good fit for their audience and get the link you desire.

Most websites have a contact form you can use to submit your request. Be sure to note the difference between contacting a website owner and a contact author however – some website owners have different content contributors. Hence, you may have to contact the author of the page as opposed to the owner of the website to get your link.