Yesterday I talked about the things you should NOT do when addressing site owners (like me) in the hunt for links (please Sphinn that if you liked it). But off course that also asks for answers about what you SHOULD do to attract my attention and get the links. Here are a six pointers to get my (or any bloggers) attention.
On my blogs I write articles, I don’t have a list of links to sites I like, not even a blogroll. Therefore, if I want to put up links to a specific site, I need a story. And since I only want quality content, it should be a story which fits into all the other stuff I write 
about. This means that if you do want me to link to you, you should get me a decent story. You don’t have to write it yourself, but I do need to see what the interesting part of your product or site is so I will write about it. A good example is History Pin. They got a link, not because they asked for it (I have never talked to them) but because it was a product which caught my eye. So get me a story, either a news one or just a great product.
A good way of getting links is getting a review done by either me or one of the other bloggers. We always like to test out new stuff. And if we like it (or not) we will write about it, with a link off course. I must admit though that I’ve gotten more careful with that. Writing reviews takes time and I don’t always have that, so do give me some time to write it and test it and don’t worry if I say ‘not now’ this time, it might just be a time issue.
If you want to grab my attention you need to get in touch, but don’t “just” follow me on Twitter. Sure, that helps a little, but if you really want the attention and the eventual story, I need to have confidence in you. Which means I need to get to know you. If you’re at a conference, come up to me and talk to me. Get in touch using Twitter and Facebook, but be careful. Don’t “just add me” on for example Linkedin. If I don’t know you chances are I won’t accept the Linkedin invitation right away.
If you get in touch with me, be careful about one mistake many people make: becoming too friendly, too fast. Sure, we might be in touch, but that doesn’t mean we are best friends right away. Hang out and have fun, that way we will become best friends (maybe) 
.
If you have a product which you are excited about you will have passion and you will show that passion to anyone who might go and write about your stuff. Passion makes that people notice. Even if your product isn’t that good, if you show your passion people will notice.
I told you yesterday that I don’t sell links on State of Search. That doesn’t mean I can’t be ‘bought’ however . No, seriously, I’m not literally saying you should buy me an iPad (though I wouldn’t mind off course, who knows what it will get you ), but the trick here is to get me to talk about your product. I was once sent a phone, anonymously. That got me writing and once I knew who it came from I off course linked to them, just because it was a smart move.
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Awesome post, I like the “Buy me an iPad” part
. I’m curious how many ipad’s he gets.
But there are really good ways described to get a backlink. thnx!
I’d add – make me aware of a problem on my site… sometime you see images that are miss placed – words spelled wrong… sometimes i even resort to IE6 just to see if the site works… I like to tell the webmaster about this – then even if they dont link – least your visit wasnt a total waste of time for all parties.
[...] Linkbuilding: link exchange requests: what you SHOULD do | State … [...]
Why do you choose that disgusting photo for this good article? I don’t see the point. It made me feel the article was not serious, professional.
@Awei, because some humor helps making a point. I don’t see why its disgusting, it shows a busy blogger, it doesn’t show anything. Sorry if you’re offended by it.
[...] trying to get a link on them, but that in most cases is a lot of work, plus you really need to do that right, doing it wrong is a waste of your valuable time. Other options are off course doing [...]
Bas, you are asking for much too little in an iPad. We have received requests for $1000 for a link exchange to websites that don’t even exist!
Hi Greg, LOL well, I wasn’t really phishing for an iPad to be honest, just trying to make a point here
. But that is funny, link requests from websites that don’t exist, want to guess where the redirect is going? 
Great post! I am currently linkbuilding for my website and am trying to get people (more specifically blogs about interior design) to write about us. This definitely helps me! Especially, the part on story and feedback! Made me think in a completely different direction. Thanks!
[...] Infographics No Comments Bas van den Beld I once wrote two articles explaining what link builders should and more importantly should not do when trying to get a link from a blogger. I still think many [...]