Building links is an important means to running a successful website. Incoming links improve your relationship with Google and influence your placement amongst the search engine results pages (SERPS). After you have exhausted any directories and other submission-type links with value, the next step is to begin building relationships with other websites in an attempt to earn yourself links. Below I have outlined nine top tips for writing link building e-mails.

1. Spend time targeting your desired audience
Begin by compiling a list of potential targets that you believe you could either negotiate a link from or who you believe you can offer something of value. Do not mass e-mail or spam people, it is important to research and contact other companies that are related or would have a reason to want to link to you. Consider bloggers – if you have interesting information or value to offer them, this could lead to them linking to you.

2. Keep your email short and sweet
Do not make your e-mail a daunting task to read or it will end up straight in the Trash. Get to the point and include only vital information and you stand more chance of your recipient actually reading it. Whether they reply is another matter, but getting them to read it is the first successful step.

3. Key information – who/why/what
Begin your e-mail by introducing yourself as a person rather than a company, and move quickly to informing them with why you are contacting them and what you propose.

4. Write the email with a personal touch
Try beginning your letter by describing why you like their site and use their names if you know who you’re writing to. It is important to the recipient that it does not feel mass produced and batch e-mailed as a personally written e-mail is much more likely to survive the trash. Mention individual content they have produced to personalise further.

5. Don’t ask for anything at first
If you go straight in asking for a link without offering anything first, the only thing you’ll get back may be an impolite response suggesting you do not contact them again. Instead suggest/offer something, such as interesting or related content or offer to write some unique content for them in the form of articles or blog posts. Also, iff you can generate interesting material, ultimately people will want to link to it.

6. Sign the e-mail off
Finish your e-mail off with your full name, contact details (including phone number) and company address as this looks much more professional, and gives greater credibility.

7. Be flexible
Be prepared to offer more than you originally offered. The person may come back to you with a slightly different proposition that you originally had not enquired about. However, if you are serious about securing links from external sources then you may need to meet them half way.

8. Build on your relationships
If you have successfully had a positive response, ensure that you continue to build on that relationship as this may help develop more links in the future.

9. Do not give up (but do not harass)
Try offering a product that they could review, or offer a product as a prize that could be presented as part of a competition on your targets website. This could lead to you ensuring a link on your targets homepage.

Right, now you are fully equipped to start building contacts with other websites.

Go get your writing hat on and good luck…

Do you have multiple links from a single page of your website, all pointing to a single other page?

If so, be aware that Google will only pass link juice through the first link, so make sure that the first link has the anchor text containing the target page’s keywords.

Do you have umpteen links to a single web page from any one single domain?

If so, read this very carefully:

Google places almost complete value on the first link from a single domain to your web page, but every consequent link from that domain to your web page is devauled massivley (if not completely).

So, remember to diversify your link sources accordingly rather than placing all of your links ‘in one basket’.