Some people build links by sending e-mails to webmasters who are on the same market. I received an e-mail from someone who demanded for a link... (and I didn't give him one). I wrote a post about it, and it's entitled Five Mistakes When Asking for Links What action will you take if you receive this kind of e-mail? Will you ignore him or bomb his inbox with annoying messages?
lol - what a perfect example. I simply ignore those mails, any reply doesn't do any good, just costs time... Rainer
I just notice that I wrote the perfectly matching article yesterday http://www.letspromoteit.com/2007/11/26/how-to-approach-a-top-ranking-site-for-backlinks/ Rainer
Yeah, you are right. It obviously depends. If I am starting a new site, I'd eventually do the same. But you can't believe how many of those mails I get for the established sites. And most of them are spam, never to be answered when you reply... at least this is my experience. But... as always, this could also be a link building opportunity. I just wonder if that gets me into a bad neighborhood... Rainer
Here is the one I have received that I thought was pretty good. I know I was looking for one earlier until I just received this one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: We are not spammers and are against spamming of any kind.We are sending this mail with sole intention of link exchange for mutual benefit.If you are not interested in Link Exchange then you can reply simply "NO", We will never contact you again. Dear webmaster, We recently came across your site through Google search and your active links page indicates that you are interested in link exchange. You have an excellent site and we would be delighted to exchange link with your site. So Taking initiative in this direction we had already placed your link here: http://www.***************.com/resources.html We have placed the URL, Title, and a suitable description of your web site which will definitely benefit your online presence. Please feel free to verify this information and let us know if you want to change your linking information. We will be glad to assist with you right away! We appreciate it if you will use the following information to link back to us: URL = http://www.************.com Title = Your Title Description = Get affordable health insurance quotes, compare plans and apply online. With one simple request for health insurance quotes you can be on your way to saving money with better coverage. OR You can also use our HTML coding to place our link at your site as below : <p><a href="http://www.**************.com"><b>Your Title</b></a><br>Get affordable health insurance quotes, compare plans and apply online. With one simple request for health insurance quotes you can be on your way to saving money with better coverage.</p> Once again, we look forward to become your link partner and appreciate it if you will send us the exact location of our link once you add it to your web site. We look forward to your prompt response. Many Thanks!
Ethically, you should not ignore it. You can check whether this link is relevant to your site and have good PR, if these are good then you communicate it on his term and conditions.
I'd be more tempted to look at the site provided with the sample. But if you run a quality site, a good sales letter alone doesn't buy you -- the page you should link to must be really relevant. This is very seldom the case with generic link exchanges. The second sample is still missing reasoning for me why I should link - rememeber, getting links is not my priority if I have a well connected site... Rainer
Here's an example of our link building letter: ------------------------------ Hey, I know your probably busy, but I just wanted to ask you about xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx page on your site, did you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? I'm working on something similar at xxxxxxxxxxxxx and am looking for xxxxxxxxxx. Thanks, ----------------------------------------- I don't even mention a link in the first email, I just talk about business. When they reply, I either suggest an article I could write for them that links to their business (again, not mentioning the link) or whether we could work on some content together, failing that... offer some cash. Either way, I look at this as 2 fold: 1) your building links and 2) your building contacts within your niche, which is sometimes more valuable than the links with new content/design/ideas you roll out in the future.
Some of the mails might be meaningful, it depends. I will respond to the ones useful and of course it might be a spam!
Nah I see spam as spam. Clearly the email was spam. And yes be personal on a business level. Address people properly. If you do it properly through some research of the domain name who is. You most likely can get the name of the owner, or just use the domain name in the greetings line. I agree with do not be demanding and choosy. You are in a exchange email format. Manners are always important. Please and thank you are important as well. Leave room to negotiate matters. Using phrases like "do not disappoint me" sounds like phrases used in the scam emails from Nigeria or the fake lotto winnings. And yes do spot read your emails. This should be as professional as possible. Kudos to a nice blog post.