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
-
Anchor Text, best practice for internal links?
Hi, We have a news article on our site that describes currents status/news concerning 2 "major" topics for our business. Now we also have separate pages dedicated to these topics and try to target links/traffic here. This news article has obtained a few "natural external links", but to my question: Within the news article we mention these two keywords naturally about 10 times each. Should we "anchor text" -link each of these mentions to it´s dedicated/in depth -page? Or perhaps only the first mention? Or not at all and perhaps instead put text at the bottom of the article pointing/explaining where they can find more info on each subject at our site? Thanks!
Link Building | | Agguk0 -
What is the best way to pass link juice?
We have an e-commerce site that, according to Moz, has too many on page links. The main navigation has top level links and about 45 sub-category links. Our question is -- Should we keep the main navigation and top level categories as do follow and change the sub-category navigation to no follow? Or, should we make the top level categories no follow and keep the sub-category navigation do follow?
Link Building | | MountainMedia0 -
When placing content on external sites, what are some best practices for back links?
Hi there, I am working on a content strategy that includes placing content (i.e. bylined articles, how-to's, guest blogs, etc.) on other web sites and embedding links back to our site. In some cases we're very limited to what we can do with our bank links (i.e. just a company url), and in other cases we are free to place multiple anchor links within the content. In cases where we have no limitations, what are some best practices for implementing back links? I understand it's important to link to deep pages (not just our home page), have diverse anchor text, and make the anchor links relevant to the surrounding content. Are there other things I should be thinking about in order to maximize the SEO value of such placements? For example, is it better to have just one anchor link per placement? Or should I aim to embed multiple anchor links within a single placement? Any advice would be much appreciated! Sincerely, Debra
Link Building | | Cherwell-Software0 -
Anchor Text Distribution and Link Profile Best Practices
Hi, Since Penguin is about regulating link building, here are my questions: How many percent of a site's overall links should be branded terms? How many percent of a site's overall links should be related to the site? How many percent of a site's overall links should have nofollow? Any recommendation on anchor text distribution? Lastly In your opinion, which e-commerce site you think has the best link profile? Thanks!
Link Building | | WizardOfMoz0 -
Best way to promote an infographic
What are the forums views on the best way to promote an infographic? Other than tweeting to fans, sharing on facebook and using stumbleupon - unless anyone's got some great tips for getting the most out of these? Thanks
Link Building | | PeterAlexLeigh0 -
What Are the Best Practices for Ranking for Synonyms?
This topic has me entirely confused, and unsure if we should keep a website focused on one keyword group, and using synonym contextual links to rank it for other keyword synonyms. We simply have not seen enough data or run enough tests to find our answer, and wanted to reach out to the community to see if anyone has. I have seen Google rank a synonym to my search query on the first page, and is why we are confused. Let's use an example: We'll use "Industry" as the main keyword for our page. "Company" or "Companies" is viewed as a synonym by Google of this keyword. When we query "Industry", "Company" and "Companies" are also found in bold. 1.) Is it best practice to also create a unique page targeting synonyms? Our thinking is that it would be best to try and target exactly what the user is looking for rather than having a synonym to their search for better conversions, but as mentioned above we feel it's best to hit exactly what they query because that's their way of thinking. That they're looking for that exact match. 2.) Have the page "Industry", but do some link building using contextual links "Company" or "Companies" pointing back at our "Industry" page. Would this help rank our "Industry" page for "Company" or "Companies" even though the main page is "Industry"? Just not sure we want to do this as the reasoning explained in #1. Thanks for your help!
Link Building | | cyberlicious0 -
I was looking for the best practice to use anchor tags...
Seomoz says NOT to use your anchor terms on other external pages as you will cannabilize your main page - this is news to me. Appreciate any input on this.
Link Building | | impressem0 -
Article spinning - is it a spam or legitimate way to build SEO
I am being told by one SEO company that article spinning is the best way to achieve best rank on google. They use software that modifies articles and then submit them into lots of blogs and directories. I am worried that this is not a good long term strategy vs manually writing articles and put them into directiries
Link Building | | bfurman0