Comments on: The (Previously) Unwritten Rules of Outreach

By: Thomas S. Moore

Thomas S. Moore — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:54:23 +0000

I actually never really do blog outreach until I have followed the site/blog for a few weeks – months and have read and commented on a few of the posts. I think it makes it a lot easier to approach a site that sees your offering insightful information to their site. By addressing them by name and referring to a couple of posts that you commented on or read makes the conversation natural and you have been giving something to them first. The would found has gotten me in a lot of trash bins I could only imagine.

By: JR Oakes

JR Oakes — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 03:17:37 +0000

Thanks as always Jon. I would throw a couple of tips in there

Make the Subject line professional >> targetsite.com: Found a broken link on your site

For organizations or when forwarded to a department it helps out the IT team to know the site in question.

Tell them what you were doing >> I was researching an article I am writing for website.com (Great Article Topic relevant to the site) and noticed a broken link on blah pointing to blah. let me know if you need help locating the link.

Your Name
website.com << Important.

This worked very well for me because it gets away from having to parse words with how you got to the page.

Best!

By: Chris Weber

Chris Weber — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:49:54 +0000

I would say that the unique stuff is the best way to go about it because not everyone out there has already tried that. Sometimes I will write things that make people scratch their heads even to wake them up.. haha Big fan of yours Jon!

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:33:24 +0000

Thanks for the post Jon. This is definitely the area I know my team can make the most impact on our conversion numbers.

Do you use a CRM? Or just the Followup.cc tool?

By: Devin

Devin — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:16:01 +0000

Webmasters have seen it all and are probably burdened by more pet peeves than anyone on the net, so their stubbornness is what it is. It certainly takes creativity and selflessness to get through to them so I appreciate these tips!

Any advice on the subject line? What has worked well for you Jon? I’m anxious to hear from others as well.

By: Peter Attia

Peter Attia — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:30:43 +0000

Great post John!

Along the lines of keeping things personalized like Razvan mentioned, I found it pretty useful to offer personal incentives that don’t match their blog topic. For example, buying a business blogger tickets to a show they tweeted about. However, that depends on your position in offering incentives I know some consider this equivalent to paying for a link.

-Peter

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:29:10 +0000

Agreed! Since the goal is to seem as real as possible, as you said, might seem suspicious and template like. Thanks Johann for dropping that tip!

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:27:53 +0000

That’s solid Steve, might starting using that in an upcoming campaign of mine. Love it!

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:26:14 +0000

Totally agree Razvan. That should be your priority from day one; if you didn’t get the message on that one, none of the above matter.

Thanks for stopping by!!

By: Johann

Johann — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:12:07 +0000

Nice ! I like those tiny details that can have huge effects.
I might add also not to promise the moon, because it can look suspicious.
Cheers.
Johann