Do you want to build a website that ranks high on search engines, receives plenty of traffic every month and has an impressive reach across all social channels? Well, getting tons of backlinks is the best way to achieve your goal.

A study analyzed one million search results from Google and found that backlinks are one of the most important factors in determining a site’s rank on search engines. In fact, they are more important than other factors like keywords.

Sites that have many domains linking to them tend to rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). If you want a website that continues to grow over time, ensuring that it ranks highly on SERPs is the easiest and most affordable way to make this happen.

Research shows that, organic results work a lot better than paid ads. What this means is that more people will click on results that show up on Google’s first page than on advertised links.

That is an important distinction to understand, especially since your site’s bread and butter lies in converting visitors into paying customers. If you have been in the marketing game for awhile, you know that customers do not want to feel like you are selling “at” them.

With that background in mind, you can now appreciate the importance of a first-page ranking on SERPs. You can optimize your content through using keywords and the right formatting, but nothing works better than backlinks.

Successful websites know this not-so-hidden secret, and that is why they spend so much time and energy building backlinks and making sure that they are easy to find on any SERP.

Modern SEO was born when Google introduced its famous PageRank algorithm, which ranked sites based on how many people used links to its pages. Today, this model is still the best way to gauge the quality of a website. And with all other search engines adopting this ranking signal, it certainly makes sense for upcoming content creators to think about how to get those sweet, sweet links.

Google has recently upped the ante with its recent update – Google Penguin. Now, the search engine does not just focus on the number of backlinks that you have on your site but also their quality.

Unfortunately, many people still believe in the “content is king” theory. That if they just write great content, the masses will come. Unfortunately for them, that is not how it goes in this SEO game. If you want your site to be a recognized big-boy within your industry, a passive digital marketing strategy will never work.

Fortunately, there is an easy way to get backlinks to your website: you just have to ask for them! It’s groundbreaking, right?

There are a lot of ways you can acquire backlinks without using any black-hat methods that will get your site docked. But the best way to do it is to simply use email outreach to approach other content creators and ask them for links.

It might not be the most innovative or exciting technique, but it does work. It actually works very well.

Despite knowing this, questions remain about how effective email outreach really is. If you are sending out 100 emails, you should be getting at least five links for your efforts. And if that is not happening, it might be because you are committing any one of these rookie mistakes:

Simply put, if people are not responding to your outreach emails, then you are not getting links. New link builders find email outreach difficult because it does take a lot of trial and error to find what works. But that does not mean that it is impossible. Here’s how you can build an effective email outreach program.

Even before you start writing any emails, the first step of your email outreach program should be to find the right websites to ask for backlinks. This should be the easiest part of the process. All you have to do is search for websites with resource pages relevant to your specific topic.

Focusing on a website’s ‘resource’ page is actually a pretty clever approach. This is where a lot of sites place links to their most popular or helpful posts. That way, readers do not have to search too hard to get to the most important articles on a site.

You can use this page to your advantage. A brief glance at it will tell you if a particular site is relevant to your niche. You will also be able to tell quickly enough if there are any information gaps that your content can fill. Sharing quality content on topics that a particular website already covers increases will increase your chances of getting a backlink.

To find relevant websites, just use the following search term to find resource pages in your niche:

“[keyword/industry term]” + inurl:resources

Here’s a great example of how you can use this command: let’s say your content focuses on different aspects of online marketing. If you are looking for websites that have posted articles on SEO – for example – you can use a keyword like “SEO backlinks” to get the desired web pages. Google’s search engine will then return results that are relevant to the specified keywords and also contain the term “resources” in their URLs.

You can then go through the returned results to narrow the focus down to specific websites. Look at their content and see if there are any gaps in information, or if you could offer a unique perspective on a topic that has been covered before. If you can offer value to the site’s readers, you will most likely get a backlink.  

To find more information on how to select websites to add to your email outreach program, you can read our in-depth post about it here.

Once you have identified sites where your content could be useful, you can now start the process of getting in touch with the owner of the website. If you are not sure about how to find their current email address, you can use a service like RooJet.

We will help you find all the email address connected to a particular website and add it automatically to your email outreach program. It will also help you automate the whole outreach process, making it easier to follow up and keep track of your progress.

There are many tricks to writing a great outreach email, but nothing trumps sincerity. If you reach out with an authentic desire to build a long-lasting professional relationship, the recipient will definitely recognize it and respond positively.

Even more importantly, you have to customize every email to the intended recipient. To do this effectively, you will have to do quite a bit of research.

What is the website owner about?

What topics interest them?

Which challenges do they face?

This kind of information can help you craft a relevant email that the recipient will appreciate. This approach will drive up your open and response rates in no time.

You also have to answer the question: what is in it for them?

We know that you want a link, a guest post in front of their massive audience, or a tweet. What do they get out of it? If you think that charm or humor is enough to get what you want, then the success rate of your email outreach program will be very low.

Make the outreach all about them by:

If your content covers something new or gives a unique and outstanding prospective, website owners will be chomping at the bit to get you on board. People that have a huge audience are constantly looking for ways to keep up a continuous flow of great content that is relevant to their fans. By showing them something of value, your chances of getting a link or guest post will improve dramatically.

How, then, can you do this?

It is simple, really. Just take the time to research your topic well. You can also reach out to experts to give you unique perspectives on a specific topic that have not been covered extensively.

Once you have defined what makes your content different, you can then start sending out those outreach emails. Also, make sure to clearly explain the unique angle you have covered in your email. This will make your recipients interested and excited to see and share your content.

Human nature makes it very hard for people to avoid checking out content that they know talks about them.

So, why not use this to your advantage?

If there is any way to feature a famous person in your niche (or their business) in your article, go ahead and do it. And to make sure you reap the full rewards of your efforts, make sure to tell them about in your email! You can add a line like this in your outreach email:

Your article on (relevant topic) was so mind-blowing, I just had to share it with my (friends/audience). Two of them have already checked out your post and say that they will subscribe to you immediately!

Here are some simple templates that you can customize and use for your email outreach program:

Subject: Loved your post on (relevant title or topic)

Hey (Recipient’s name),

I have been a fan of your site for the last three years. I just love reading your thoughts and insights on all things (relevant industry/field, like marketing).

In particular, your recent post on (relevant title or topic) really resonated with me. I was able to follow it step-by-step and it has led to some pretty impressive results for my (relevant mention).

The whole experience inspired me to do a post on (mention related topic).  You can read it here: (share the URL).

In my post, I share some of my thoughts on (mention relevant topic). They might be different from what you experienced, but I think your audience would really find them helpful! If you are so inclined, I would love for you this on your site.

Thanks for sharing your unique and insightful tips with the community.

Best,

(Your name).

This is a simple email that gets straight to the point without sounding too cocky or pushy. It also shows the content creator that you care about providing value to their audience – which is always a plus in your favor. If your content is up to par, odds are that you will get that backlink you were angling for.

Subject: Article idea: (interesting statistic or outline proposed article topic/title)

Hi (Recipient’s name),

I’ve been following your website for a while now. I really enjoyed your recent article on (relevant title or topic). I especially loved what you said about (explain one point from the article).

Since the article really resonated with me, I decided to do some research into the topic. Did you know ( relevant interesting statistic)?

That blew my mind too.

Based on this, I have an article idea that I think would appeal to your audience. It’s about (outline the proposed article).

Specifically, I would love to focus on:

•    Idea 1
•    Idea 2
•    Idea 3

Is this something that you would be interested in featuring on your site? Let me know and I can get started on it right away!

Best,

(Your name.)

How horrible would it be if the website owner was interested in your idea but could not reach you in time? Always ensure that your contact information (that is, phone number, email address, and URL to your site) appears in your email signature.

If your first email does not get a response, send another one! We cannot stress just how important it is to follow up on your prospects in the course of an email outreach program. People – especially those that run successful websites – are incredibly busy. They also get tons of new emails every single day.

So it is possible that they got caught up in fulfilling other duties and have not had the time to respond yet. It is possible that your email simply got lost in their inbox during a busy day.  They could also have simply forgotten to do reply to your email.

By following up, you give your pitch a bigger chance of success. Giving up and moving to the next prospect is incredibly easy, but remember that a non-response does not always mean rejection.

Don’t rehash all the information that was in your first email. Since you will send your follow-up email as a reply on the initial thread, there is no need to do this. Here is a great follow-up email template that you can use instead:

Hey (Recipient’s name),

Did you get a chance to look at the (article idea/additional research/broken link) that I mentioned?

If you have any questions or need me to clarify anything about it, please let me know!

Best,

(Your name).

As much as following up is important, be careful not to go overboard. There is no reason to pester someone constantly if they have not gotten back to you. If you still do not have an answer after one or two follow-up emails, you can let your pitch go for the moment and then contact them again in a few weeks.

One of the reasons why successful link building through email outreach usually takes so much time is because you have to write a personalized message every single time.

You cannot simply copy-paste any template and expect to generate positive results. Go ahead and use the tips outlined here, but never send any email that is not customized to fit the needs of a particular recipient.

Nothing will make a prospect less interested in responding to your pitch then bad grammar. If they can immediately spot a typo or grammatical mistakes in your email, rest assured you will be relegated to the trash folder pretty quickly.  

Always take the time to double-check your emails to make sure that you have spelled all names correctly, used perfect capitalization, and the punctuation is perfect.

This will also give you the chance to cut down your email even further. People would rather receive short outreach emails than long ones, so delete any unnecessary words or phrases.

Always avoid using complete sentences as your email subject line. If you tweet, then you know just how much you can accomplish with a short but informative snippet. You can stick to the important details and communicate as much intriguing information as possible, in as few words as possible.

It is very easy to tell when someone is being insincere via email. Avoid using flattery just for the sake of it. Instead, focus on aspects of their work that you genuinely enjoy. You can also praise their insights on a certain topic or focus on their past or recent achievements.

When you finally decide who you want to reach out to, take the time to do some basic legwork. Research what they have written in the past or even discussed on social media. Timing matters here too. If the prospect has just written about a specific topic, it would be better to approach them with your pitch immediately – when the topic is still fresh on their minds.

While backlinks are incredibly important, they are not a band-aid for poor-quality content. Never forget the basics – like research, using keywords and proper formatting – as you work on building links. While content may not be crucial as backlinks for SEO, it still has its place. If you generally turn out good stuff that people want to read, convincing bigger sites to link to your content will be a breeze.

It is clear that backlinks from a few “big” websites within your niche can propel your own site to incredible success. It is also true that building links through email outreach can be a long and involving process.

But do the results make up for these challenges? They certainly do!

Take the time to find out who you are emailing. If your message starts with “Dear Sir/Madam,” then you have already lost the email outreach war. A catchy subject line will also do wonders for your open and response rates.

Find out how to craft the perfect subject lines here.

Also, write your outreach emails as if you are speaking to a friend. Sincerity, enthusiasm, and genuine flattery will take you further than any experience or big-name brand backing ever could.

What else could explain how some relatively new websites gain popularity and recognition within the industry in such a short amount of time? Think about that for a second.

Do you have any link building tips or email templates that have worked particularly well for you? Please share them in the comment section below!