Anyone have a guest post outreach email template?

Josh MacDonald

9 years ago

Someone else has go to have something they have their VAs use...

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Josh MacDonald

Someone else has go to have something they have their VAs use...

This is exactly why I won't give out things like templates.

So I give you my template then you give it to your VAs? Come on. A/B your own stuff out. There's no silver bullet guest post template.

It costs time / money to test copy and you're asking for a template that somebody tested and gave to a VA to use... (I would never give untested stuff to a VA, that could lead to a gigantic waste of time and money...)

Do you want the recipe for Cocacola as well? Somebody posted one, so there's you're A, now go write B and test it. If you really have no idea how to write one, put some text on one of your sites saying you accept guest posts / contributing writers and see what kind of stuff you get.

It's not like you're asking for a template that flopped, just so you can get an idea of what to do.

Here's one off Quicksprout.com

It's not very good, probably because it contains a bunch of hard to believe statements.

Subject: you should blog about [insert your guest blog post topic]

[insert their first name], as an avid reader of [insert their site name] I would love to read about [insert guest blog post topic], and I think your readers would as well.

Your content on [insert existing post from their website #1, insert existing post from their website #2, and insert existing post from their website #3] is great, but I think you can tie it all together by blogging on [insert guest blog post topic].

I know you are probably busy and won’t blog on it, so I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. How about I write it for you? Don’t worry, I’m a great blogger and have had my posts featured on [insert previous guest post URL #1] and [insert previous guest post URL #2].

Let me know if you are interested. I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love as I am one.
Look forward to hearing from you,

[insert your name]

Thanks

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shubo

9 years ago

Guest Posting Email Template Structure

Hi,

This is "Your Name" from Site Name. I am delighted to find your website informative and impressive at the same time. I have recently published my own website which is on the same arena. Although I am not expert on this entire line but I am quite familiar with much of it and frankly I feel so highly of your website that I would appreciate if you could allow me as one of your guest writer. I would really love if I could add some value to your existing readers.

Best Regards,
(Your name)

Thanks

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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

You want to know the secret to getting links via email outreach?

Talk to the potential link source like they're a friend, get to know them, talk shop about the niche. That's what normal people do that don't care about SEO. After a few emails ask for a link without acting desperate.

I'm talking about generating quality/relevant links on same/similar niche domains, not half backed links that never rank pages.

Forget VAs unless you like to babysit.

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

Forget VAs unless you like to babysit.

Unless it's somebody you've worked with for a long time, ideally somebody you met in the real world.

If you pickup a random VA off one of the freelancing sites, I would recommend you limit their duties to be relatively repetitive stuff.

Step #1 locate a target site
Step #2 confirm the site allows contributors
Step #3 locate method to contact site owner
Step #4 Report all details in a spreadsheet
Step #5 Repeat

Send me the spread sheet so I can verify everything...
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- yukon Banned 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by irawr
  
  Unless it's somebody you've worked with for a long time, ideally somebody you met in the real world.
  
  I've never used a template while talking to family or friends.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  irawr Banned 9 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by yukon
  
  I've never used a template while talking to family or friends.
  
  Right if you're using a VA to do outreach you can't do that... Obviously corporate level agencies don't have the ability to be "friends." The copy would need to focus on things like professionalism, or value added, explaining how the two entities working together is mutually beneficial...
  
  Edit: I just noticed, a mod seriously deleted my signature?
  
  Thanks
  
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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Here's an example, just spotting it on CNN actually.

Code:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/beyond-resveratrol-the-anti-aging-nad-fad/

I highly doubt "David Stipp" emailed Scientific America and was like "Hey Scientific America, that post you did the other day was sick! Man I wish I could write a guest post to respond to that, I've got so much to say!"

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by irawr

Here's an example, just spotting it on CNN actually.

Code:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/beyond-resveratrol-the-anti-aging-nad-fad/

I highly doubt "David Stipp" emailed Scientific America and was like "Hey Scientific America, that post you did the other day was sick! Man I wish I could write a guest post to respond to that, I've got so much to say!"

That's not even remotely close to what I meant in my first post.

You're example comment is kissing ass which has nothing to do with talking shop about the niche. You went straight for the throat (Man I wish I could write a guest post...) which is guaranteed to get your email address blocked by any reputable source.

BTW, CNN is not a niche site, they cover everything under the sun which means you'll work way harder trying to get a link.

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

You're example comment is kissing ass which has nothing to do with talking shop about the niche. You went straight for the throat (Man I wish I could write a guest post...) which is guaranteed to get your email address blocked by any reputable source.

Of course it is, that's why I said I doubt that person did that. And I really do highly doubt it.

I know what you're saying, it just isn't going to work for a company.

All I'm saying is, depending on what entity you represent, the approaches are completely different.

Generally IMers are either "themselves" or an "avatar" they made up, which seems to be a real person, if that's the case, your approach is going to work much better. I generally try to generate some kind of awareness of myself, then after awhile (or if they engage with me), I will try to open some kind of communication channel. If I post a comment on their site and my link is to my Facebook account and I get a message that says "F off" and my comment got deleted, OK well, guess I <strike> that one off. (I do the article marketing technique, where I hand them a piece of content, I don't scrapebox a footprint. Edit: brand new site I'll do that a bit.) There's also generally some kind of trade going on here, like you publish this, I share this, email that, tweet this.

There's different approaches, I've seen people be very direct about what they want and it works for them. If you have a fanpage with 50k legit followers, I'm pretty sure there's something we can work out.

If I'm doing outreach and try to get "guest posts" or some other form of article/content marketing, and I represent Rackspace.com, anybody I contact and try to be friendly with is probably not going to respond. That's even worse, instead of a failed attempt to do outreach it seems like spam/some kind of scam.

If my bank emails me and wants to know about my website, I'm moving my account to another bank.

Were kind of getting a bit off topic here though (or maybe I am) outreach vs guest posting. Generally IMers go for targets that clearly disclose they allow guest posts/contributing authors and it's more about proving our worth, not a catchy template.

I'm actually working on a "case study" at the moment. I'm setting up a whitehat project, where I plan to get the site up and polished really well, without doing any link building or SMM to it. Start the case study, then attack the site with whitehat SEO and SMM, then see if I can hand this case study to somebody, hopefully I can find somebody to publish it.

"How one guy exploded his organic traffic by 7,215% with infographics!"

Edit: And I have no idea how to get a link on CNN. Tried and failed many times.

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by irawr

Of course it is, that's why I said I doubt that person did that. And I really do highly doubt it.

I know what you're saying, it just isn't going to work for a company.

All I'm saying is, depending on what entity you represent, the approaches are completely different.

Generally IMers are either "themselves" or an "avatar" they made up, which seems to be a real person, if that's the case, your approach is going to work much better. I generally try to generate some kind of awareness of myself, then after awhile (or if they engage with me), I will try to open some kind of communication channel. If I post a comment on their site and my link is to my Facebook account and I get a message that says "F off" and my comment got deleted, OK well, guess I <strike> that one off. (I do the article marketing technique, where I hand them a piece of content, I don't scrapebox a footprint. Edit: brand new site I'll do that a bit.) There's also generally some kind of trade going on here, like you publish this, I share this, email that, tweet this.

There's different approaches, I've seen people be very direct about what they want and it works for them. If you have a fanpage with 50k legit followers, I'm pretty sure there's something we can work out.

If I'm doing outreach and try to get "guest posts" or some other form of article/content marketing, and I represent Rackspace.com, anybody I contact and try to be friendly with is probably not going to respond. That's even worse, instead of a failed attempt to do outreach it seems like spam/some kind of scam.

If my bank emails me and wants to know about my website, I'm moving my account to another bank.

Were kind of getting a bit off topic here though (or maybe I am) outreach vs guest posting. Generally IMers go for targets that clearly disclose they allow guest posts/contributing authors and it's more about proving our worth, not a catchy template.

I'm actually working on a "case study" at the moment. I'm setting up a whitehat project, where I plan to get the site up and polished really well, without doing any link building or SMM to it. Start the case study, then attack the site with whitehat SEO and SMM, then see if I can hand this case study to somebody, hopefully I can find somebody to publish it.

"How one guy exploded his organic traffic by 7,215% with infographics!"

Edit: And I have no idea how to get a link on CNN. Tried and failed many times.

Well, you're wrong because it does work for businesses, I've done it. I'm talking about people that know the niche, live it, breathe it, own same/similar niche websites. Not CNN authors that could care less about the subject & only build pages because they're on the 9-5 clock. I'm not sure why anyone would make it difficult by trying to spam an inbox that's most likely already full of emails wanting the same thing (links).

I'm going after the easy same/similar niche domains that have authority pages. Forget CNN, Huffington, or whatever where the entry rate is probably 1 out of a million. That's like knocking on Elvis Presley's front door & waiting for him to acknowledge you.

Ain't nobody got time for that...

10 HOURS of Sweet Brown - Ain't nobody got time...

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

Not CNN authors that could care less about the subject & only build pages because they're on the 9-5 clock. I'm not sure why anyone would make it difficult by trying to spam an inbox that's most likely already full of emails wanting the same thing (links).

Doesn't hurt to try I guess? .. Like I said, failed. With that site specifically there is some kind of established channel that I don't know about. Obviously, because it works for certain companies.

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by irawr

Doesn't hurt to try I guess? .. Like I said, failed. With that site specifically there is some kind of established channel that I don't know about. Obviously, because it works for certain companies.

People don't want canned emails.

I've said this before, I once talked a competitor in the exact same niche into creating an affiliate network for me so I could sell his products. I also got a followed link in his sidebar on a site that's been around longer than mine.

The trade off was I had the exact traffic he wanted. If someone doesn't have something to bring to the table it makes email outreach even more difficult. The real challenge is to figure out what the other domain owner wants/needs & use that to your advantage for link building. Don't just show up with nothing to offer.

On the other hand there are some sites that allow same niche links on resource pages & that's probably the best place a noob can start for link outreach but those pages are shared with a bunch of other domains. Better than nothing but not the best.

Example:

"vintage cars" inurl:links.html
"vintage cars" inurl:links.php
"vintage cars" inurl:links.asp
etc...

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

On the other hand there are some sites that allow same niche links on resource pages & that's probably the best place a noob can start for link outreach but those pages are shared with a bunch of other domains. Better than nothing but not the best.

Example:

"vintage cars" inurl:links.html
"vintage cars" inurl:links.php
"vintage cars" inurl:links.asp
etc...

I hate that technique because it's tedious. I mean maybe if you completely automated it somehow.

Thanks
1 reply

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yukon Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by irawr

I hate that technique because it's tedious. I mean maybe if you completely automated it somehow.

It's not that tedious, I mean some even ask for other webmasters to submit links. I'm talking actual niche site resource pages, not stuff like directories. If you really need the potential link sources automated you could use Scrapebox and a few footprints.

One of the resource pages I did this on was a very small site when I submitted my link (followed), today it's a huge authority site. The guy turned it into a small business that manufactures physical niche products. My point is never turn down links on new/small sites because you never know how the site will turn out months/years later.
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Josh MacDonald

9 years ago

Glad you 2 are arguing it out so I don't have to argue both of you.

I already nailed Inc magazine, Elite Daily and MarketingProfs last week. Not including some bigger names I can't mention yet. I am just looking for something for my staff to use. I said VA, but this staff I have using it isn't virtual. I need to get some of that little DA 15-35 action to bump up the ref domains on a domain. I have enough DA80+ links.

Thanks
2 replies

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Josh MacDonald

Glad you 2 are arguing it out so I don't have to argue both of you.

I already nailed Inc magazine, Elite Daily and MarketingProfs last week. Not including some bigger names I can't mention yet. I am just looking for something for my staff to use. I said VA, but this staff I have using it isn't virtual. I need to get some of that little DA 15-35 action to bump up the ref domains on a domain. I have enough DA80+ links.

I don't consider what we are doing to be arguing, it's more like comparing opinions/experiences.

Originally Posted by yukon

It's not that tedious, I mean some even ask for other webmasters to submit links. I'm talking actual niche site resource pages, not stuff like directories. If you really need the potential link sources automated you could use Scrapebox and a few footprints.

One of the resource pages I did this on was a very small site when I submitted my link (followed), today it's a huge authority site. The guy turned it into a small business that manufactures physical niche products. My point is never turn down links on new/small sites because you never know how the site will turn out months/years later.

Depends what we compare that method to. Like to GSA...We could pretty easily build 100k links a day, compared to that, it's ULTRA tedious.

And I completely agree, it's way easier to get links when sites are smaller, some will blow up, most won't. I think some people screw that up, they know they need good links so they will avoid new sites.

Thanks

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yukon

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Josh MacDonald

Glad you 2 are arguing it out so I don't have to argue both of you.

I already nailed Inc magazine, Elite Daily and MarketingProfs last week. Not including some bigger names I can't mention yet. I am just looking for something for my staff to use. I said VA, but this staff I have using it isn't virtual. I need to get some of that little DA 15-35 action to bump up the ref domains on a domain. I have enough DA80+ links.

Are the links on new pages? If so they're weak pages right now, maybe not forever but for now odds are they don't have supporting links pointing at the backlink pages.
Are they followed links? I know inc.com has the 5000 list or whatever, last I checked they're nofollow links. They also restructure their site more than Facebook.

Don't worry about DA, it's about as helpful as ice cream in Siberia.

I agree with irawr, we're not arguing, this is just how SEOs talk to each other, lol (really it is).

Thanks
1 reply

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Josh MacDonald

9 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

Are the links on new pages? If so they're weak pages right now, maybe not forever but for now odds are they don't have supporting links pointing at the backlink pages.
Are they followed links? I know inc.com has the 5000 list or whatever, last I checked they're nofollow links. They also restructure their site more than Facebook.

Don't worry about DA, it's about as helpful as ice cream in Siberia.

They are contextual articles and the articles get hundreds of shares and hop onto first page of Google as soon as they are published.

Yes, they are contextual.

Really? DA isn't always accurate? Oh right, I knew that before I taught thousands of people how to manipulate it and cash in with fake domain authorities.

How to manipulate Domain Authority, Trust Flow...

Thanks
1 reply

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irawr

Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by Josh MacDonald

Really? DA isn't always accurate? Oh right, I knew that before I taught thousands of people how to manipulate it and cash in with fake domain authorities.

I'm not sure if that video counts, but self promotion is against the rules.

Also, dude nobody sits here and studies everybody who posts on WF. How were they suppose to know that you understand? You're making it sound like you don't know.

You can manipulate DA with sitewide links on an external site, all the SEO tools do is total the links up. They don't really weight the links out, as far as I know. I had a mozrank 4.5 domain I picked up awhile back. Got it for like 10$... 4.5! Riiight... The domain has like 50 linking domains and none of the links are very good and I knew that when I got it. It's probably getting C&Bed with a bunch of cloaked 302s to CPA offers and other stuff that definitely fail the "would I recommend this to my mother" test. I'm expecting it will get it round house kicked out of the SERPs on a manual review... Hopefully the manual reviewer has a sense of humor and will make the MA say "NOPE." I could probably make the picture on the about page be a person in a ski mask because the Google cops won't get that far.

About the only thing easier to manipulate then DA is ... Uh. Probably Bing. There's a couple really stupid Bing tricks.

Edit: Also...

Tip. You have a video about live journal.

Cut and paste the list into excel or some other spreadsheet dude. Put the mouse cursor to the right of the last username, then drag upwards to the left. Copy that, then go to your spreadsheet and select a1, then right click a1, and go to paste as plain text. Then set b1 to

Code:

=CONCATENATE("http://", A1,".livejournal.com")

Then mouse over the bottom right corner of B1, then click and drag it to the bottom of the sheet.

The process you went through involves an epic amount of jacking around...

vs

How to Find Expired LiveJournal Web 2.0 Domains -...

Thanks

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RS3RS

9 years ago

People who own decent quality blogs (ones worth your time to approach) have seen many variations of most outreach templates.

Just write an email. Sure, you can use a template for some basic ideas of what to say... But do you use templates when you talk to a person in real life? I doubt it.

Things that sound scripted are much less effective than just talking to someone. They are real people. Talk to them like you would in person.

That approach has been effective for me.

Thanks

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Anyone have a guest post outreach email template?

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