Once you have set link building goals then prospected, qualified and segmented your influential link prospects you must begin the actual work of link acquisition. Though tedious, the link acquisition phase provides much of the emotional highs and lows of large scale link building. It is at this stage that you finally test the theories, perceptions, pitches and subject lines of your overall link building strategy.

This article provides 9 tips for effective link building that will improve your efficiency and link conversion rates as well as the overall value that your link building efforts produce. At the end of the article you’ll find a checklist of 27 information items we recommend having on hand as you begin your work.

Please contact us today to begin our large scale link building service.

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Once you’ve gathered and qualified your list of link prospects you must segment them according to the offers of exchange you’ll make. For some of your link prospects these offers will be quite simple – an attractive badge, a tshirt or a discount coupon. For other segments of your link prospect list you’ll have to expend more resources.

This list of 12 link exchange offers provides a starting point for strategically aligning your offers with the segments you’ll find in your link prospect list. It’s ordered by our assessment of resource expenditure, from least to greatest.

1) Offer Visually Appealing Link Badges
Sometimes the offer of an attractive, appealing logo badge will be enough for your link prospects to add your link to their site. Include the badge in an html email, as well as on a page of your site. Ideally this is a unique badge you can offer exclusively to the people in your outreach campaign.

2) Offer an Exclusive Coupon or Cost Reduction on Next Purchase
Savings can be a powerful incentive to some segments of your link acquisition group. Whether it’s free shipping on the next order, a month of free service or percentage discount never underestimate the power of offering savings in exchange for a link.

3) Offer Exclusive Free Tshirts, Stickers, Tote Bags, Etc…
Free tshirts. Free stickers. Free tote bags. These time-tested offers consistently incent people to take action. Send these offers to the proper segment of your link acquisition list and they will link to you. Ideally you offer exclusive schwag to this segment of your link prospect list.

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During the acquisition phase of your link building project you will receive many rejections. Because the majority of your rejections will occur through non-response, it’s vital that you grow any written “no” you receive by email into an opportunity to educate yourself. These written rejections represent an opportunity for you to improve your site’s content, your future link building efforts and to better connect yourself to your media space influencers.

In the process of uncovering their main objections you will find yourself building a relationship that will help you in earning links in the future…

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In many cases your cold link request email is an unsolicited criticism of your link prospect’s website.

How so?

It’s unsolicited because your link prospects didn’t seek you out and ask you how to improve the value of a page on their websites.

It’s a critique because you imply that your link prospects’ omission of your link forces their site visitors into a substandard experience.

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Customer acquisition costs more than maintaining and growing business with customers you’ve already won. The same goes for your link acquisition efforts and expenses.

It’s helpful – and ultimately more profitable – to see any new link acquisitions as the beginning of a relationship rather than the end. Remember – by linking to you they have acknowledged that your site is valuable to their visitors. Exactly how you grow the initial link relationship will depend on how you bring value to the community.

1) Send A “Thank You for Linking” Email
Always send a “thank you for linking” email. Avoid smothering your new linker – a few lines are plenty. Do ask if they can think of any ways that your two sites could benefit each other. Also, consider asking this linker to connect with you on Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc if you operate profiles on these social media sites.

2) Request an Interview That Highlights Their Expertise
If you have writing resources and a publishing platform on your site consider asking for an interview with one of their experts. This quickly puts them in your debt and is likely to secure a link back when they publicize how they contributed to your site.

3) Design Widgets that Target Your Current Linkers
Target your existing linkers with a creative widget (personality quiz, survey, test, etc) that resonates with their passions. When possible, ask them for input on the widget you’re creating. When it’s done send it to your current linkers first.

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Q1: Why does your link prospect operate a website?

A: He’s providing value to his site visitors either for his profit, his passion or both.

Q2: Why should your link prospect STOP his current task – obviously related to providing value to his visitors – and add your link to a page on his site?

A: Because by including your URL on his page he INCREASES that page’s value to his visitors.

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