A few of our sites have recently left the sandbox (w00t! ), and so we are planning a backlink campaign to boost the sites' SERPs. A part of this is email sites for possible link exchanges (recipricol, triangular, etc). I know that many members don't like or don't believe in link exchange emails (i know that many webmasters delete them immediately, etc), but I don't care if i get 1 positive response per 1000 emails, every bit helps in my view. Thus, what I want to know is, what tips do people have for writing link exchange requests, especially email templates?
When i get spam, i get pissed off. When i get pissed off, i usually ddos the servers promoted in the spam. Catch my drift?
You must think you're so l337 when you do that. Does it compensate and make you feel like a real man? No offense, but the way you phrased it made you sound a like a immature 12 year old phreak :/ Ddosing someone because they sent you an email requesting a link exchange (which could actually benefit your site too) is really stupid, and more illegal than spam (ie, more countries have legislation against ddosing than they do spam). If you really do that sort of thing, you deserve what comes to you Anyone else willing to actually help me instead of spouting off h4r|)c0r3 statements like Grazzy here?
Quoted for truth... omgz u r so leet and smartt yuo 31337 h4x0r plz dont h4x m3!!! Anyway, I have had the best response by actually adding their link to a page before I email them. I will give them the link to the page containing their link, and ask them if they would be interested in an exchange. Then I say something along the lines of "If not, then don't worry about it, I'll go ahead and pull your link". You'll probably want to be a little more indirect than that, you want to sound completely polite, not like "If you don't link back to me, I'm pulling your link, so if you want it up you'd better give me something in return". One of my ebooks points out a good idea: Offer to move their link to the top of its category/page once they link back to you. Also, a lot of webmasters are going to see it as spam.. There's no sure-fire way to get around that, but if can find the name of the person you're emailing, it helps to put it in the subject to seem a little less spammy (ie, "Bill, would you be interested in trading links?"). Pointing out a unique feature of their site in the email body helps to make it less spammy. Ie, "I really enjoyed your article on turtle spanking." Anyway, you get the idea: Be polite, to the point, say things a spam bot couldn't know, and offer them something in return for linking to you. It sounds like a lot of work, but once you get into it, it really doesn't take that long.
IF you're using an automated tool to send them, then they'll get viewed as spam - whether you think they are or not! - and people will get miffed. However, if you're going to go about this carefully, I recommend the following strategy: 1. Place a link from your site to theirs BEFORE sending any email! 2. Send an email similar to this: Dear Sir / Madam, I'm writing to ask if you be interested in exchanging links with my {industry} company website, at: {Your Home Page URL} Since your site also provides {industry} related content, our sites would both benefit from this exchange. I have already added a link to your site, using the following information: Link text: {Anchor Text} Descriptive text: {Description Test} Links to: {Destination Home Page URL} You can see your link here: {Your Links Page URL} Yes, I realize that my links page is currently a PR0 [or PR1, or whatever it is], but this will change soon as I am engaged in a heavy link exchanging excercise as we speak. [If you've bought some high-PR links, this is the place to mention it, e.g. I have already secured some PR6 links, and am currently negotiating some PR7 links too.] And please do not hesitate to contact me if you'd like me to edit the link - I'd be more than happy to oblige! I would really appreciate it if you would add a link to my site in return, using the following information: Link text: {Anchor Text} Descriptive text: {Description Text} Target URL for link: {Home Page - or desired - URL} I've taken the liberty of including the HTML source code that you'd just need to copy and paste on your site: ---- Start of Copy & Paste --- <a href="http://www.mydomain.com">My Domain</a> - This is My Domain! ---- End of Copy & Paste --- If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by replying to this email, or call me at {Your Telephone Number!} (M-F, 9am-5pm EST). Alternatively, I would be happy to give you a call - just email me with your phone number, extension, and best time to call. Best Regards, Tom Jones Of course, as indicated in the email body, one other thing you can do is to buy an inbound link or two to get some PR first, so your reciprocal links page is far more attractive to the webmasters you're emailing! Good luck!
Good point! This is too! Yup, and use that instead of Dear Sir / Madam... Dang, Sloth - I think we just gave ALL the tips away between us!
Uhhh... how would the webmaster know? I mean, to him it would look like you were sending the email only to him. Unless, of course, you unwittingly email two of his sites or more... Heh.
It's easy to tell between a bulk email and a personal request. The personal request mentions something specific about your site. The bulk email is from a guy who runs a laundrymat asking me if I'd like to link to him from my car dealership. (Just an example, of course, I don't actually own a dealership.) Anyways, all bulk emails start almost the same, and I delete them immediately. >>Ddosing someone because they sent you an email requesting a link exchange (which could actually benefit your site too) is really stupid.<< Yeah, er, no. Not if they have to bulk email people for links.
Potentially piss off 999 webmasters, I won't know till I start getting flames Some webmasters don't mind emails from relevant sites. I wont be using a mass email program for it, so the personalisation of the email will probably temper their 'righteous fury' a bit
I guess I'm one of the few who don't mind link requests. It's easier to have a webmaster contact me than it is for me to go and find them. The only ones that bother me are the ones that say "I'll add your link as soon as you add mine". Those get deleted right away. The emails that offer to move me to the top of the page get responded to allot quicker.
I run quite a few link exchange campaigns at the moment and I get tons of link swap requests each day. Honestly I dont really look at the form or language the author used in the email - i check what he offers, which is of real value: 1. what for a site does he offer (url, industry, quality) 2. what page is my link at 3. does he have a link back info included in the email i hate emails with long and dull speculations about why i need exchange links, how i will benifit from it, etc... I used template letters before untill i realized that personal aproach was what worked best.
I got one of those emails the other day asking if I wanted to trade links. The site that he wanted to trade with was my DIRECTORY. I guess he was just too lazy to submit it, or figured I would reject it because it was just pure spam
As many have pointed out, i get these lame link exchange requests from peoples stupid "content-pages" offering e-books and other worthless junk. Most pages I produce offer a real feature, a service, giving the user something. Not just luring them there from a search engine. Why would I even CONSIDER linking to something as lowly as a page selling e-books? Please. When I said DDoS i ofcourse didnt mean I try to take peoples servers offline if they are first offenders, but when someone sends the same email to all my sites for the fifth time, they have it coming...