Today with blog pitching for link building and awareness you just can’t say straight what you are actually up to: a link back to your site. Even if you are approaching bloggers with an awesome unique resource that is most likely to appeal to them and that clearly deserves a link back, you should carefully mind your language.
Bloggers and webmasters are so often pitched with link request that unless you pick up words carefully, you risk to trigger an immediate reaction:
- as soon as a blogger sees a “familiar” phrase (”review this site“), he deletes the message;
- as soon as a blogger sees a “familiar” word (”link back“), he wants to earn money (and thus you miss the free link opportunity).
To avoid these, I usually take advantage of “link building euphemisms” (the term invented by me :) ).
Euphemism is a word play technique that stands for intentionally using a word or phrase with a softer, more polite tone over one with a harsher tone.
In other words, I tend to use less widely used terms to express the generally understandable idea: to ask for a link.
Now let’s list some commonly blog pitching terms and think what we can change them for:
- “Please review my site / resource / application / tool…”
Since paid-for-review services have become a well-known method to monetize a blog, the only word “review” may sound as “money opportunity”. On hearing it, some will be insulted (those passionate bloggers who have grown a very popular resource but think earning money from it would mean to betray its audience), others will be ripped off and there will definitely be those who will want to sell it.
To avoid those first-minute associations that will prevent you from making a good connection, choose softer wording: “I wanted to “offer you a post topic idea for your blog” (bloggers are in constant quest for new unique topic ideas and these magic words are most likely to work).
- “Please link back to my site…”
Oh, it’s even worse than the previous one. ‘Links’ have now become synonymous to something that is sold, bought and traded, and to give it for free may sound like a missed money opportunity. Don’t let the person think in this direction, better avoid the word overall. “You might want to share my resource / tool with your readers” - sounds much better, I guess.
- “I wanted to share my newly launched project with you”
While the sentence itself sounds non-promotional enough, the word ‘project’ should be avoided I guess. “Project” does sound like it has some money connotation. “Useful / relevant resource” would be a good alternative for “website” or “project”.
- “Is there any way I can buy a link / advertise at your blog?“
Even when you want to pay money for the link / review, there is a good chance a blogger (especially the one who knows paying for links is against the rules) might be insulted. To avoid this negative coloring, use the word “sponsor” instead - it sounds much more innocent.
All in all, my idea is simple: when creating a blog pitching template, think what immediate association each word is going to trigger and try to avoid too evident promotional coloring in order not to miss a good link and networking opportunity.
Comments
12 responses so far ↓
Nicole on Nov 19, 2008 at 9:37 am
Great - this post was so timely for me. I have been in touch with hundreds of blogs recently and although I have an English degree and consider myself quite able to spin some “creative English” when marketing via email, I was having issues getting through to bloggers, so this will be helpful.
Matt Gio on Nov 19, 2008 at 11:00 am
I have been going around looking for the best pitch for link building. I have a few great sites but I don’t believe I’m selling myself correctly. No one will respond to my request. This post kind of puts things into perspective for me. I appreciate it!
SEO company on Nov 19, 2008 at 12:11 pm
That’s something i need to try!
Michael Martinez on Nov 19, 2008 at 6:06 pm
People have to use a comment form to reach me through my personal sites. I have included filters in the form’s script to toss out a lot of link requests.
You just made my script’s job a little more challenging.
It would be better if people stopped asking strangers for links and thought of more productive things to do with their time.
Nicole on Nov 19, 2008 at 11:15 pm
We’re all strangers until we correspond and build relationships, Michael. If my co-workers and I “stopped asking strangers for links” we’d go out of business. I took a look at your website and, frankly, I’m confused as to why you’d make a comment like this, being that you understand the object of SEO and the importance of building links…
Jaydip on Nov 20, 2008 at 3:55 am
Wonderful Info. and good invention. Kindly keep sharing this kind of info.
Dwight Zahringer on Nov 20, 2008 at 8:38 am
Great article. Those of us that do traditional link building can appreciate this article. It is a hard service to perform anymore but the tips in here can make it easier for many to achieve more backlinks through traditional marketing methods.
Eric Ward on Nov 20, 2008 at 9:54 am
Having been sending link requests for 14 years, I agree in principle with the ideas presented here. However, the facts I see based on my daily work are loud and clear. Those of us in charge of content of merit who are also pestered for links day after day after day are putting layers in place to keep people away from our inbox. Michael M. uses a form with filters, as do I. I still get form spam. And don’t even get me started about my blog. I get 20 email pitches a day, all of them very polite and well meaning, each sender apparently ignorant of the fact that I do not give out links in the first place. Ann, you are one of my favorite reads, but each time you give out good advice like this, remember that it is used by people on behalf of content that is good, but more often, bad. And no matter how clever and polite, if the content isn’t linkworthy, it’s still just spam. :)
Ann Smarty on Nov 20, 2008 at 10:17 am
Completely agree, Eric. I tried to stress it out in the post (and in the previous one also) that pitching bloggers makes sense only with good linkworthy resource. And the only reason we have to use the above tactics is that we need to avoid the blogger’s immediate reaction (he is most likely to be tired of spam pitching and we need to make our best to read further)…
Outlet on Dec 20, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Thank you very much for this useful list. It really helped me!
Hediye on Jan 7, 2009 at 6:23 am
Cool work! Thank you so much…
Ned on Mar 13, 2009 at 7:47 am
I always sent link requests individually and to specific, relevant web sites. The subject heading link suggestion seems to work quite well, as it is not an order but merely a request to consider the link.
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