Do people still give links?

[crelding]

I run quite a blog in the UK, and I am the sole writer for it. It does well, and we get lots of requests from SEO companies wanting to guest blog etc (basically wanting a link). I really like the idea of getting some good guest posts, and have asked some of the SEO'ers to send me the document they want me to publish, and every time it is absolute rubbish. Full of links, and poor content.

Needless to say, I never publish them, but do people still give out links this way?

I ask, because I would love to guest post on others sites for some backlinks to mine, but I now delete all the emails asking me to accept guest posts, so assume everyone else does the same?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

If you are a genuine blogger looking to get guest posting for others, then build a relationship with those bloggers. you should start by commenting on the posts that interest you, and get interaction. You can then move on to a direct interaction with the blog owner, who will know your ability etc and in many cases are agreeable to a GP

 

[PIers Ede]

Blog outreach is still widely conducted. But these days those that know what they're doing phrase the request very differently. Secondly, they contribute content of exceptional quality and relevance if they expect it to be published!

 

[crelding]

Maybe its just the type of SEO people my blog attracts its all tat. lol

Thanks for the responses

 

[Matt Thorpe]

The problem you have is that people are still hiring these companies to get them cheap links. In most cases these companies are based in across the other side of the world and the person writing the content doesn't understand what they are writing about. How can a junior writer in a marketing agency possibly have an in-depth knowledge of a client's business or industry?? In short, they can't, because they have never worked in it.

With link building, you get what you pay for. It isn't quick, it isn't easy and you need to give bloggers something of value. In my opinion, the business owner or employees need to create the content because they live and breath it. It will then be more accurate and believable!

Bloggers are also more protective over their sites these days because they know they have something of value. If you publish poor content then it reflects badly on your own content and you could lose followers and potentially income.

If you are going to approach other sites then simply offer them something exclusive or something of value. Also, make sure you explain in your email, who you are and why you are an expert in that area. Commenting on their blog posts (as Old Welsh Guy suggested) is also a good tactic.

 

[ADNattan]

I ignore any guest blog pitch that doesn't use my name, mention my niche, or have any understanding of my audience. That filters out all of the crap. But I've still published guest posts in the past, and had my posts published.

When you post on someone's blog, you're responsible for not alienating their readers. It's a matter of trust. So the first step is to build that trust.

I echo what's said about commenting, but you need to go further. Have a real conversation via email, social media or phone call with the blogger you've targeted, and make sure you've got a feel for what message they want to put across. Then put a personalised pitch in.

 

[UKSBD]

I echo what's said about commenting, but you need to go further. Have a real conversation via email, social media or phone call with the blogger you've targeted, and make sure you've got a feel for what message they want to put across. Then put a personalised pitch in.

If only the business owner appreciated this.

I have someone who I help out a bit, he is an expert in his field, can write good stuff, has great photos and is in a sector that has thousands of bloggers who would love his content.

Will he make the effort to take advantage of this? - no, he would rather just take a shortcut and pay link builders.

 

[ADNattan]

It's the same everywhere. You've got people cutting corners everywhere and wondering why the results are crap. If you pay pennies for a blog post, a couple of quid a month for SEO, and use a free sitebuilder, you're going to get awful results.

It's amazing how many people haven't sussed that out.

 

[Audrey Wright]

If you ever want to get a link that way, you need to kill it with the content. I'm currently frequently doing outreach and by my own experience, people don't even open my emails.
So, no matter how good your content is, if they never get to see it, they don't know what they're missing.
A better way (and a time consuming one) is before you email a given blogger, find a different way to interact with them online, whether blog commenting, social media, mentioning them or even giving THEM a link first. The latest one will surely tip the scale in them returning the favor.

 

[PhilipsEl]

but I now delete all the emails asking me to accept guest posts, so assume everyone else does the same?

That's not nice! May be there are some real guest bloggers who just don't write absolute rubbish contents but excellent niche contents like you!

We do have a blog but we are not very targeted in blog marketing as we build software/product for the end users and basically we are busy with all new projects. But we have a plan to hire some guest writers on our team who could write great quality contents on our blog and we welcome any guest blogger who could provide unique and fresh articles on our site! We don't mind giving them 2-3 do follow links...

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Just start a process to find quality partners that works, e.g. find people on LinkedIn, meet them at conferences.

I get lots of those content share requests and they just get binned fast.

 

[stevebrownlie]

Luckily for brands, thousands and thousands of sites are still really happy to enter into content collaboration arrangements or share content of interest to their audience.

That's the key, though. In the past people could send any old guest post over and it would get published a lot of the time.

Success now depends on taking ore of a 'PR' approach and treating bloggers in the same way you treat the traditional media - understand them, their 'beat', their audience and craft a topic and content that really touches on those. The beauty is that sometimes you don't even have to write a guest post - if you hit those things hard, they'll write about your brand because your research, report, charity event etc is so interesting to them, they want to cover it anyway.

 

[SEOpremo]

I Just picked up 90+ links this morning, Manually by working through a list of my competitors backlinks.

I paid five $ on fiverr for access to a majestic shared account, then downloaded a couple of competitors links and sorted by domain authority in .csv then just start working down the list hitting the most authoritative first. Just manually checking them visually gives you n idea of quality. Surprised how many are from high value domains that are giving links away and also helping with your link IP diversity.