Good Link Exchange Request Email

thebassman · 09-12-2004, 04:12 PM

I need to do a good push for my photography forum site to get it further up in the SERPs, and I was thinking of just emailing photographers and other photography site owners to initiate the exchange. Generally, I understand, I would like to keep the email short. What's the best way to organize something like this, and what would an ideal email look like?

awall19 · 09-12-2004, 07:21 PM

my opinion is that there should be no prototype email

sections will be exceptionally similar, but the emails themselves...you should try to attach to the empathy or driving force each person exibits on their site...

-------

hello <actual person>

I have been browsing around photography sites for hours now and just ran acrost yours...its awesome (stroke their ego)

wow your pictur of that dove, bla bla bla...bird photography is one of my bla bla bla
(be specific)

I took this pic or a flying mongose here: (look we are the same)

<optional>I have already added a link to your site on my cool sites page</optional> (pay them if you feel you need to... link or cash or whatever other offer / show benefit to them. if you feel a phone call is necissary then you may want to give them your number or call them up vice send an email.)

if you like my site please consider linking to it however you like (let them know they have choices)

or with this code (make it easy for them)

I think my site matches well with the theme on this page

either way thanks for reading this and keep posting the awesome photos (reminder ego stroke)

thanks
me
me at myemail.com
http://www.mywhateversite.com

thebassman · 09-12-2004, 07:25 PM

Hehe... yeah, I guess something like that should work. I do want to standardize it a bit, though, as I've come across 1000's of sites I would probably do this for... I guess I should customize each one as much as possible. Do you think it's a good idea if I link to them ahead of time - or make it seem like I have the upper hand, and if they link to me, I'll return the favour?

awall19 · 09-12-2004, 07:31 PM

only link to them if they are worth linking to.

if they are worth linking to there is no harm in doing it first.

thebassman · 09-12-2004, 07:43 PM

I guess.

Hehe... do you think I should wait for a PR update so my links section has PR or does it really matter?

Ferre · 09-12-2004, 07:49 PM

With the current "pr update" situation I wouldn't wait, you might end up waiting endlessly.

thebassman · 09-12-2004, 07:53 PM

Hehe... true enough.

I, Brian · 09-13-2004, 12:56 AM

Aaron's suggestion is very good.

I guess if you really want to try make the e-mail more sucessful, you use the old marketing wisdom of selling the benefits to the customer.

In this instance, don't go for the premise of: "I would like a link from your site to mine" but instead something like: "I would like you to benefit with a prominent link on a photography forums I am promoting, so that people interested in photography can click through to find your site." Then ask for a small and unotrusive link back to you.

thebassman · 09-13-2004, 03:10 PM

Good idea, Brian... I'll try to work something like that (though without the word prominent in it... ) in there.

ferret77 · 09-14-2004, 04:06 PM

That doing it for your benefit stuff is corny as hell

that just screams I'm trying to get over on you

i think just being honest would wor the best

offer to trade on all your sites so it makes it more worth someones while to fire up their ftp program

thebassman · 09-14-2004, 04:22 PM

Quote:

offer to trade on all your sites so it makes it more worth someones while to fire up their ftp program

What do you mean?

I, Brian · 09-15-2004, 02:23 AM

ferret has great experience with link exchanging - makes sense.

thebassman · 09-29-2004, 12:51 AM

OK, I've sent out about 75 emails over the past week (trying to do 5-10 a day), and my response rate is really low... like 5%-10% Any ideas? What should one use for a subject for the email? I was just using "Link Exchange" - maybe I should personalize the subject more?

Any advice?

altyfc · 09-29-2004, 01:58 AM

This response rate actually sounds reasonably high to me. We get inundated with link exchange requests on a daily basis, and they all just get deleted. I'm meaning over a hundred per day... they just amount to spam as I see it, particularly when we have add url pages on the sites they keep emailing...

Aaron

awall19 · 09-29-2004, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebassman

OK, I've sent out about 75 emails over the past week (trying to do 5-10 a day), and my response rate is really low... like 5%-10% Any ideas? What should one use for a subject for the email? I was just using "Link Exchange" - maybe I should personalize the subject more?

Any advice?

my favorite subject line is "theirsite site suggestion"

Alan30 · 09-29-2004, 03:17 AM

Post the E-mail you are sending out and we can have a look at it.

My best suggestion is to always add sites at the top of the page, also you response rate will be higher if the page you add their link has PR. I usually get about 30% responce rate.

bcombs · 09-29-2004, 11:23 AM

I've received numerous link exchange requests, and unless it looks like someone has actually been to my site (as Awall19 suggests), they go right to the bit bucket.

Brian

thebassman · 09-29-2004, 04:19 PM

So maybe it would be better to add their site name to the subject? I try to personalize each one similar to the one above in this thread... My sponsors page doesn't have PR, but the main page of my site is a PR6, which is higher than any site I'm trying to exchange with... it will get PR whenever PR updates again... probably at least a 4.

Alan30 · 09-30-2004, 03:49 AM

If your site is PR6 then put that in the subject. Somthing like "swap links with PR6 site".

Your sponsors page should be PR5 if you have a site map.