9 Steps to Getting a Link-back from a Top Blogger

Admit it, your content is fairly boxed in by the size of your list – unless in the off chance, you write something life changing, emotive and somehow educational and a single post goes viral by “word of twitter”.  Not terribly likely.  But today we’re teaching you how to expand beyond your list, to harness the power of somebody else’s.  You may be a ‘nobody’ in the blogging world, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to attract top bloggers for a link-back, with these 9 steps.

The basis of these pearls of wisdom were acquired at the New Media Expo conference in Vegas at the start of this year, in which Jon Morrow of Copyblogger, highlighted the process in a punchy talk on how to make a post go viral.

Build a Relationship

You can’t expect a link-back out of nowhere.  The top blogger you’ve chosen probably isn’t going to pay attention to your anonymous email in the sea of emails s/he gets each day.  You need to become un-anonymous. You need to build a relationship, and to do so, you need to get noticed.

1. Make thoughtful comments on their blog posts. They will read them, and they will respond, because responding to each comment doubles their comment number (if for no other reason). Stand out, but don’t advertise yourself.

2. Re-post their work on your blog.  Include a poignant introduction, and link back to their original post.

3. Buy their products.  But not just any products – only those products that give you direct time with the blogger.  E-books are almost worthless in this respect – they won’t notice you.  Pay for business coaching, webinars, anything that will put your name and face and work in front of them.

4. Interview your top blogger for your own blog, once you’ve been noticed.  Come up with intelligent, provocative interview questions, and you’ll be remembered.

The Email Request

After you have laid the groundwork for building a relationship, and after they know your email address and your name, it’s time to make contact for a link-back.  The reason is that awesome bloggers receive a lot of mail, and they don’t have time for it all.  They’ll open first, the emails that they recognize. Otherwise you will most likely (however innocently) be ignored or forgotten.

5. Be on topic.  Or no matter how good your article is, they’ll ignore the request.  Explain in 1-2 sentences why your post is perfectly on topic for their audience.

6. Be brief.  They’re busy. They don’t have a lot of time.  Make your request in a maximum of 4-5 sentences, or they’ll plan to ‘get back to you later’ (yeah right).

Is Your Blog Post “Link Worthy”?

Now, let’s talk about that bit of writing you want a link-back to.  Top bloggers know a good article, they know the kind of posts that will generate greater engagement.

7. Lists, not “how-to’s”.  “How to” posts have low engagement, but lists easily go viral – people don’t even read ¼ of the post before they share.  You’re more likely to get a link-back if your post is likely to increase readership.

8. Be emotive.  If you’re writing instructional content and want to bond with your audience, tell a story.  Most viral posts are not instructional at all.  People like to relate, they like to be moved.  You can have an educational post that’s also emotive.

9. For God’s sake, write well.  If you’re reaching out to have a top blogger link to your post, it better be well done.  Put serious time into it, perfect it, mold it into your shining star, and then, promote the hell out of it.

Yes. This is a lengthy process, but well worth it – once you build the foundation for these relationships, they continue to grow.  You’re going to build up a list of top bloggers who promote your awesome blog posts when asked.  You’ll have the power to make your posts go viral by saying ‘please’.  That’s worth it.  Now go lay the groundwork.

9 Steps to Getting a Link-back from a Top Blogger