Why are these emails so annoying? Why do they end up in the trash without a second glance? Aren’t link exchanges important, how else am I going to reach out if not by email?
All good and valid questions. The first is simple, the majority of these link exchange emails are from automated emailers. They are not personal, are often rife with mistakes and very rarely have anything worthwhile to offer.
A classic example goes a little something like this:
Hello Webmaster,
I have looked at your website, http://www.myrealestatesite.com/html?em&e=95e5db7dede and really liked what I saw. I think my site, http://www.somekindofmaleenhancement.com would benefit with yours. As you know, link exchanges are a great way to boost your search engine results…
And so on…
There is nothing personal or sincere about this and there is absolutely no relevancy between the two sites. As you become more familiar with this particular type of email, you will develop a sixth sense about them, you wont even have to read the whole subject line before you can pick one out. Hence the reason that they end up in the trash so fast. There are two lessons here: 1. Automated link software does not work well, and more often then not creates food for email trash cans. 2. Manual linking, while time consuming, boring, labor intensive and at times mind numbing, generates powerful results that soundly trounce any automated program.
So the burning question is how to request a link exchange in such a manner that does not get your email deleted instantly. If nothing else, you want the recipient to open the email and take a look. So, the first step becomes putting something real into the subject line. Now, to do this effectively, think about the emails you like to get. They need to be genuine, friendly and to the point.
The next very important element of the email is the body. Your body text needs to be clean, to the point and it must convey a fair amount of information. Some pointers:
*Stick with “hello” for the salutation. It works well and it saves you trying to find out who the webmaster is and any mistakes that may go along with that.
*Be sincere and be honest. State your claim and your linking information and wrap it up. Don’t waste anybodies time with excess verbiage.
An example may look like this:
Hello,
We have recently come across your site by searching through link directories relating to real estate. I took the time to visit your website to determine if you had a resource page for links. I too have a real estate related product and I would like to exchange links you. I could put your link on a PR 3 page or if your interested in a more substantial link exchange (you can get on 25 of my pages),
just let me know.My linking information is…
Title: Real Estate Company
Desc: Selling Real Estate Is What We Do
URL: http://www.myrealestatesite.comI look forward to the prospect of establishing a business partnership
with you!Thank you,
Rob
Again, the idea is not to write a glamorous literary marvel, but instead to impart critical information, quickly. How well does this work? Well, the best I have seen is about 20% or about 1 out of 5. Not bad considering the typical webmasters predisposition to trash anything link related. The thing is, there is no sure fire way of doing this, you need to be able to test and augment your request email until you start to see results.Setting up a test bed is the most effective way to do this.
Step 1. Collect a batch of 100 email addresses. To do this, do a search for a keyword that is similar but not directly competing with you. For example, if you deal with New York Cottages, try searching for Vermont Cottages or Quebec Cottages. Then go through each site, making note of the url, the quality of the site and of course the email address or contact page.
Step 2. Once you have 100 or so email addresses, compose your first draft, complete with subject line and body text.
Step 3. Send out 10 emails. It is key here to actually send out ten emails. Do not list multiple addresses in the address bar, do not use the BCC field. These elements will be displayed and once seen will hasten your email to the trash. Send out ten emails to ten addresses. And then change it up. Try altering your subject line. Send out the next batch. Keep a record of your trials and keep going until you have sent out all 100 emails.
Step 4. Wait for a 24-48 hours.
Step 5. Check your results. See which batch of emails prompted the most responses. It is safe to say that your results will be slightly skewed as the test bed is small, but at least you will be pointed in the right direction. Further refinement will enable better results.
Step 6. Repeat until you are comfortable with your results. Then go out and harvest as many email addresses as possible and send them out with your newly crafted email.
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