Part #3. How to write ridiculously effective outreach emails
Let's go back once again to that article from Platinumseoservices.com.au that is linking
to Moz SEO audit guide.
What's the point of reaching out to these guys with our own guide to SEO audit?
I mean, what do I tell them?
"Hey there! The Moz article is bad, our article is awesome!
So you should swap that link to us."
Pretty sure this kind of outreach email will go directly to Trash.
But I think I see a pretty decent outreach excuse here.
This article from Moz is freaking six years old!
In other words, by linking to this article they're giving their readers an outdated resource.
Isn't that a compelling enough reason to send them an email?
Now, in all honesty, our own SEO audit guide is not super-fresh either.
It's 2 years old as of today.
So we'll have to update it first to be able to effectively pitch it as a better replacement
to that outdated article that they're linking to.
And my outreach email would probably look like this:
"Hey Ghan, I've noticed that you're linking to SEO audit guide by Moz from one of your articles.
But I'm afraid that Moz guide is dated 2012, which means it's 6 years old and, therefore,
massively outdated.
We've just published an awesome guide to SEO audit at our own blog and I invite you
to check it out!
It talks about some new tech that is being used in SEO audits as of today and gives
people rather clear instructions on how to audit and fix their websites.
And If you happen to find our guide useful, perhaps you would consider linking to it from your article.
Thanks, Tim"
I'm sure you agree that it's a pretty decent outreach email, that feels personal
and doesn't look spammy.
All because I'm using a good outreach excuse - the reason why I am reaching out them.
This is uber important!
If you don't have a compelling reason to reach out to a person, don't reach out to them!
Other than that, did you notice that my outreach excuse is focused around them, and not on myself.
They are linking to an outdated resource while they could be sending their blog readers to a fresher
and much better piece of content.
So your outreach email should be focused on the recipient, not you!
Why would anyone care about a random person who's reaching out to them out of the blue?
So you have to find a way to make your outreach email about them!
Just like I did in the example that I just shared.
And to fuel your thinking process let me give you three common outreach excuses.
#1. You know they are interested in the topic and your article provides a fresh angle that they
can't afford to overlook.
#2. You know they have a strong opinion about something and your article has some new and
unique proof that further reconfirms their stance.
#3. You've actually mentioned them in your article and featured their work.
As you can tell, the first two outreach excuses are very much alike.
And they rely on the "Fundamental Rule of Content Marketing" that I can't stop rehearsing
again and again.
If your content is awesome and unique, many people would be happy to get a personal heads
up about it.
You can use the first outreach excuse if you're 100% sure that your article talks about something
that your recepient doesn't know.
Just make sure to articulate that something in your outreach email, don't make them read
the entire article to find out what it is.
And the second outreach excuse is all about sending them some additional details or arguments
about the things that they already know.
This could be a new case study that proves their point, or maybe some relevant news.
Now, the third outreach excuse is entirely different.
This time you're not appealing to their knowledge, but to their ego.
Who doesn't like when others say good things about them and feature their work?
If you ask me - I surely do!
And whenever people reach out to me saying that some of my work was mentioned in their
article, I feel like a total ass if I don't check it out and reply them to at least say "thanks."
In marketing we call this strategy "EgoBait."
So whenever you mention the work of other people in your article, you should always
give them all the credit and you should always send them personal notes of appreciation for
doing such amazing work.
But like with any other strategy that I've shared in this course, it won't work unless
it's genuine.
If you try to shoehorn dozens of people in your article with a sole goal of EgoBait'ing
them, trust me, that won't work.
Ok, so these were the three general outreach excuses that I recommend you to use when
reaching out to people.
But what about backlinks?
So far we only discussed how to make people care about your outreach email and reply to you.
But how do you actually persuade these people to link to your article?
Well, I'm afraid there's no way to do it.
Unless of course you offer them money or... kidnap their cat.
Which is something that I don't really endorse.
But I just showed you a nearly bulletproof outreach excuse, right?
Linking to a six-year old outdated article is clearly a big issue that these guys would
care to fix, right?
Eh, not really.
There's a good chance that they don't really see this as a problem.
And even if they do, they might not use the replacement that we're offering them and swap
that link to something else instead.
I'm afraid there's no magic outreach excuse or a selection of words that would persuade
these guys to link to our article right there right now.
That's why I didn't even ask them to do it.
At least not in a direct way.
Remember how I framed my request?
"And if you happen to find our guide useful, perhaps you would consider linking to it from
your article.
I didn't say "could you please link to our article?"
That kind of request would cancel everything I wrote earlier to make my outreach email
about them.
And they would obviously ignore it.
Which is why I'm not being pushy with a link request.
Remember the "Fundamental Rule of Content Marketing?"
Well, I'm hoping that my content will do the job of persuading them to link to it.
Not my direct request.
And besides, based on my own experience, most people are very reluctant to go back and update
their old articles.
But if you manage to impress them with your content, many of these people will gladly
link to it from one of their future articles.
So this is how you write ridiculously effective
outreach emails without being pushy or ruining your reputation in the industry.
One last tip: follow-ups.
I don't know who was the first one to say that it's a good idea to send follow ups,
but from my own experience they do more harm than good.
So I don't advice you to send follow ups!
OK, maybe just a single one.
I mean, have you seen any case studies where people got a lot of positive replies
on their third of fifth follow up?
I haven't.
But I've seen quite a few cases where people publicly ridiculed bad outreach emails and
those nagging automated follow ups.
And that was my last outreach tip.
But in all honesty, I could easily record another long lesson about outreach because I have
quite a bit of experience being both the sender and the recipient.
And I actually published two articles on the topic of outreach which I highly recommend
you to read.
And that's the end of this lesson as well as the end of this entire course.
I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it and that you're going to put all those tips, tricks, and strategies
into action and grow the traffic of your blog and the revenue of your business.
And should I even mention that you would totally make my day if you tweet me @TimSoulo
and say what you think about this course now that you've finished it.
It took me nearly a year to put this whole thing together and if you've learned something
cool from me, please let me know about it!
That's it!
Signing off now and hoping to hear from you soon!
Bye!