Best way to approach a contributor.
-
Hello, Let's say I have got contact details of a contributor of ABC.com and the domain authority of this domain is 83 and the website is very relevant to my website. What sort of words I need to use to approach the contributor? Last time I sent the following message to a contributor and never heard from him.
Hello John, My name is Blah blah, I have been reading some posts that you have written on ABC.com and was very impressed with your work. I was just wondering if you are able to write about our website on ABC.com and let me know what will be the cost of this project?
Is that not a good approach? If not, what you reckon is a good approach and please mention the words.
Thanks!
-
LOL Paul - I don't know you as well as I hope to in the future, however you have already through the multiple interactions we've had, proven you're trustworthy, friendly and a good person by nature (your actions have spoken).
So yes, this is a great example of how to build a valid professional relationship. Because even if you hadn't made that referral, the interactions themselves beyond that have been high quality and "trustworthy". So I am already inclined to be of help should the situation arise.
-
See Alan's points. The answer is, it depends.
Ironically, when I think about it, Alan is a good example of the type of person you are wanting to connect with. He talks at all the conferences and has a great client list. He is one of "the top people" for website SEO audits. He is an expert in the field with a great reputation. I would like to make more professional connections / mentors in the SEO world, with folks such as Alan, how could I connect with him?
I do follow Alan on Twitter. I even referred a client to him here in Dallas. I went to PubCon this year and attended a site review where he reviewed my site and went up and thanked him for his input and also introduced myself as the person who gave him a referral. Today, I end up answering a question on Moz that he chimes in on and I get to engage with him again. Funny how that works out.
My opportunity here is that I am learning a lot about SEO audits in the process and potentially make a professional networking connection (notice the order there). Does Alan know who I am? heck no! This whole post is probably even creeping him out a bit. That said, it has opened up another opportunity for me to have another conversation that can help me be better at what I do in working in the SEO area.
Good luck!
PS - Alan happy to buy you a beer anytime and talk shop. Promise I will not suck the life force out of you - HA!
-
CleverPhD has great tips - and is 100% spot on with regard to establishing a connection first. I have found its vital to first establish a trust basis - proving through action that I am a respectful human being.
For me it starts out with social media - following someone on Twitter, sharing their content when I genuinely find it valuable, engaging in dialogue politely and not in a forced "doing this for a future link" manner, being helpful...
If I can connect with them at a conference or meetup where we both have a valid reason to be at the same place in person separate from "going there to get a link from that person", it allows the POTENTIAL for in-person real world reinforcement of that genuine connection.
NOTE - I have had people do that with me but then when they heard I was going to be at such-and-such conference, invited me to dinner. I played along out of respect, and it turned out they were just looking to suck my life-force, it wasn't as genuine as they led on to believe.
Don't be that person.
-
CleverPhd, Thanks for the nice ideas! Really makes sense and worth trying. Any advice, at which point do we need to mention about price?
-
I think of getting contributors like dating, you can't just reach out in an email and expect a lot of hits, you gotta woo them. Get to know them. My suggestions.
-
The phone. If this person is that important, don't send them an email. Talk to them on the phone. If the DA is 83 and they are that important you may also consider ...
-
Food / beer. Nothing beats a meeting in person. Take them out to lunch. If they are related to your website, try and connect with them at an industry conference.
-
Friends of this person. The person you want may be just unapproachable. I bet they have people like you sending emails like you just did all day long. If they have a colleague, buddy up with them and get an introduction. On one of my sites, we actually paid "Associate Editors" on a contract basis not to edit, but to help us connect with the top tier folks.
-
Do #RCS and eventually this person will notice you. You may have to show off and then get thier friends to brag about you, but word will get around.
This is not always easy stuff, but eventually it all pays off!
Good luck!
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
My site backlinking search came back with 19k results, that's WAY above the usual number
Looking into the results I found over 18,000 instances of the same 2 websites having links in every single page, staging version of their site. How do I get rid of these? Are they damaging my SEO?
Link Building | | dynastymedia1 -
Do .ac.uk (UK education / university sites) count in the same way as .edu backlinks
With regards to link trust are backlinks from .ac.uk (wiki on .ac.uk) count in the same way as .edu backlinks ?
Link Building | | jpeg801 -
Google and Pinterest which way to verify
My objective (I think) is to let Google know I have a Pinterest Business page and see the links going from Pinterest to my website. Pinterest has provided me with a meta tag to verify my site but I'm thinking I need to be going the opposite direction. I should be placing a meta tag provided by Google on my Pinterest page. Is it possible to add a meta tag to my Pinterest Business page? Or does it really matter whether Pinterest verifies my website or Google verifies my Pinterest Business page?
Link Building | | gsam0 -
Should I find a way to archive high authority product pages for an e-commerce site?
One of the sites that I work on has a high turnover of products as it sells cutting-edge technology products that quickly become outdated. For each product it is important to build a strong link profile as the competition is very high. I am therefore reluctant to remove pages once products have been discontinued (typically after 6-12 months). However, I do not want discontinued products to appear alongside the latest products as this will hinder the customer experience. Is it worth me finding a way to archive the old products, so as to maintain the links that have been built up?
Link Building | | pugh0 -
What is the best company to use when building links to feature on multiple directories online?
I am looking to build links for my clients who are in a very competitive industry 'airport parking', can you advise where I can submit their URL to generate good quality links without being penalised?
Link Building | | shami0 -
Best way to index backlinks
We have created many high authority back links for our clients and after several months we have noticed 10% or so have actually been indexed (via multiple sources). I am trying to find a way to easily get these backlinks indexed. There is a bunch of software out there, some create RSS feeds and others social bookmark these pages. Any suggestions?
Link Building | | waqid0 -
Best SEO Bang For Buck from $1000
I'm a developer with little SEO / Marketing skills. I've recently redesigned my site ( www.habitmix.com ), I think the site is great but it doesn't get a lot of organic search traffic (about 30 visits a day). I have $1000 available to spend in next couple of weeks and am wondering what the best way to use the money would be. I realize SEO is a long term process not a one time job, and I realize $1000 isn't a big budget. So far I am considering : Finding someone on ODesk to create blog content, say a post a day for a month Finding an SEO company to analyse the site and create a link building strategy for me to execute. Surely there are a lot of other ways I could spend my $1000 that would help grow organic traffic. Any suggestions appreciated. Cheers Sam
Link Building | | samh0 -
What is best way to evaluate external links to my site?
What is the best way to evaluate external links coming in to my site? I have been working on trying to build links by commenting on blogs/forums and adding to directories, etc. I've run link reports through Open Site Explorer and Yahoo and they never seem to show the same links coming in. For example, i run link eport on Open Site Explorer and it will show links coming into my site that Yahoo doesn't show, and vice versa. I guess I'm trying to figure best way to monitor each week new links coming into my site to determine if my efforts are fruitful. Also, is there a certain period of time that should pass from time I put my link on another site (ie, a blog) until it will show up in OPen Site Explorer? Thanks! Oh, and I use the NoDoFollow Add-on for Firefox to only comment on those sites that do follow. Not sure if that's really effective or not.
Link Building | | leonenobleseate0