What is Blogger Outreach?
I can hear some of you asking “Forget about the details, what is Blogger Outreach?” Blogger Outreach is communicating (using your choice of methods) with bloggers and asking them to help you by promoting you/your client/products. The final results are blog entries (maybe a few, maybe a slew) on the web talking about your stuff. Sounds simple, I know. And the concept definitely is. The execution takes more finesse and attention to detail than anything else. But the payoff is significant if you do it correctly.
The Basics of Blogger Outreach
- Determine your goal first: What is most important to you with this execution? Do you want to focus on getting bloggers who are highly influential to participate and get the most bang for your buck through their social influence? Or do you want a large quantity of links from blog posts?
- Research and compile your list of bloggers: Your goal will guide your research. Use the internet to acquire as much information about them as possible. Examine their blogs and social profiles. Are they experts in their fields? How influential are the bloggers you are finding? What is the PageRank for their blog? Once you have contacted them you can find more information, such as unique visitors and subscribers to their RSS feeds.
- Contact the blogger: Here is where finesse plays a role. Paying attention to details about their blog and their social profiles will enable you to customize your contact with them, whether it is through email, a phone call, a contact form or a private message on Facebook or Twitter. Let them know who you are if you are a representative of a client company and the importance of the outreach.
- Show them your appreciation: Make sure to tell them what is in it for them. Most bloggers are happy to get content so make sure you have information and assets to share with them. But many bloggers are being bombarded with requests to participate in Blogger Outreach programs these days. To sweeten the pot or you won’t get many bites. Offers can range from a free copy of the book you are promoting to an Amazon gift card. This will make a big difference in the number of bloggers you get to participate!
- Maintain a relationship: Don’t drop the ball after you have worked with them. You have a relationship now. Connect with them on LinkedIn, and check-in with them every month or so. You never know when you may have another opportunity to work together.
The Benefits of Blogger Outreach
Some SEOs count Blogger Outreach in their arsenal of link-building strategies. There is a very good reason: a successful Outreach will provide a large number of links (the PageRank of the bloggers’ sites plays a role here…the higher the better!) back to the client website. The unique content about your topic will benefit your SEO process. Not only that, but when the blogs are crawled they will often begin to show up in the ranking results for certain client keywords. Now the client is “owning more real estate” on the SERPs (search engine ranking pages) for their keywords if they were targeted in your conversations with the bloggers. Finally, you are gaining trust by having so many experts, influential bloggers discussing you/your client/your product.
So are you ready to get started? Congratulations! Let us know if you decide you need any help.