Website Promotion – Are You Asking for Free Backlinks?

Everyone who is trying to improve their website rankings wants backlinks. This is an essential ingredient for your website promotion strategy. Some happen because the right person (a webmaster) came across your website and liked your content. But he can get a lot more links on other websites pointing to his, if he just asks them. One-way links (where they link to your page but don’t need to be linked back) are much more valuable to promoting your website than link exchanges, and often require the same amount of effort to obtain. Search engines rate them higher when they rate your website. These free backlinks can be obtained by politely asking the webmaster to add the resource to their website.

Only if a webmaster requests a link exchange do I consider doing it. The website promotion strategy that I usually use is to start by asking for what I really want.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Above all, courtesy and the personal touch are a must with these emails. Don’t make these requests seem too cold or canned. Don’t be pushy or proud.

GOOD WEBSITES TO REQUEST A FREE BACKLINK FROM:

Many times when you submit a request, even if you are polite, you may be ignored. To minimize this scenario, use the following website promotion trick: Find out who has given backlinks to your competitors. Then ask these webmasters to link to your website. There are a few different tools that can help you with this. I would recommend using the Submit Express backlink checker http://www.submitexpress.com/linkpop/. You can also use it to monitor your website, as you will rarely be notified if they follow your suggestion and link to your site. A good backlink checker is an essential tool for any webmaster interested in promoting a website.

FIND WHO TO CONTACT:
Most websites have a contact page or email link to the webmaster. Search around. (The following assumes that the website you are investigating is http://www.yourwebsiteurl.com)

Then try to go to the “info.txt” file (yourwebsiteurl.com/info.txt). This is an information page on the website that many webmasters have. Also, try looking up Alexa information for your website. Many websites have information on who to contact in your Alexa account. Here is the format: info.alexa.com/data/details?url=http://www.yourwebsiteurl.com/ If you still can’t find it, you can always make an educated guess. Many websites follow [email protected] Prayed [email protected] pattern for the webmaster.

Also look for an “add your link” section or page. This may be on a links page or it may be somewhere else. If a website has a set procedure for requesting backlinks, you will always want to follow it. That is a courtesy they will expect.

WRITING THE EMAIL:

The email subject should make them want to read your email. Don’t misrepresent the purpose of the email by pretending to be a long-lost friend or saying “lottery winner.” Nobody likes to be cheated on. You might want to put in a short comment like “I love your website! Can I ask you a question?” You want to attract their interest in a courteous way and not seem like you’re being sneaky.

THE BODY OF THE EMAIL:

The first part of the body of your email should complement your website in some way. Make this a couple of sentences. This is the most personalized part of the email. It also prevents your email from being automatically deleted. Those who preview the top 2-3 lines of an email will see a plugin, and can continue reading. If they don’t read it, your website promotion efforts won’t work.

Then you need to tell them how you found your site (what search engine and what keywords you used). Many webmasters find this information valuable as it tells them what is working for their own website promotion.

THEN you should politely request the honor of a link to your website. (Or you can suggest their website as an additional resource…if their website has good resources or tools.) TIP: Not everyone you contact will understand the term backlink. Just use the term “link”. And especially don’t mention the phrase “free backlinks”. It does not mean to imply that they could or should charge for them.

When you send an email to other webmasters requesting backlinks, you must include the following:

• The URL where you want the link to go
• The suggested text for the link. This would be what you want the link to look like to visitors to that website. Make sure it encourages people to visit your website and properly represents what your site is about. Having a keyword phrase here is good, if you think the webmaster will accept this.
• A suggested description for the link.. You can use this next to the link or in the title attribute of the link.
• The suggested HTML for the link.
• The page you want the link to be on. Typically this would be a page relevant to your product or service. Sometimes it’s in their link list on a separate link page. Only rarely will this be the home page.

The last part should thank them for their time and encourage them to contact you if they have any questions. It is a requirement! They did you the favor of reading the email.

In your signature, put your full name, your email address, and your title (such as Webmaster).

THAT’S IT!

Ideally, I would recommend sending the emails as you find the websites. This prevents you from forgetting to lose interest in that site. Have fun with promoting your website!