Many marketers and SEOs cringe at the thought of link building due to how monotonous and labor intensive it can be. Not me though. Since it can be much harder and not everyone has the patience for it, it’s an excellent opportunity that some of us can capitalize on. I understand that some people still think link building is sketchy or unnatural and the only way you should get links is by earning them, but if that were the case, most businesses online would never be able to compete in organic search. Links are an important factor in organic search and hold real value for your ranking ability.

Regardless of your experience level, outreach is the most difficult part of building good links… Link prospecting isn’t easy either, but it is pretty straight forward: It’s mostly about building out a list of qualified targets, something most marketers have solid experience in.

Once you have that list of prospects, comes the sweating and pit stains. Finding who to email, what to say to draw them in, how to “sell” your link to be included on their site, and ultimately getting links is truly what separates the amateurs and the pros. Having your emails simply opened can be a tough task, so taking it a step further and actually getting a new link placed on a page gets pretty tricky. Continue reading →