What should we call ourselves when we request links?

[Marcia]

There's a lot of discussion about finding and requesting links, how to judge which are good ones, and even what to put in the subject line. But I got a request today from someone calling himself "Sales Manager" in his signature and started to think about what people call themselves when they make link requests.

Some are from site owners or people in a company for their own sites, while others are plainly seen as from people working on behalf of other people's or companies' sites - some SEO companies, some independent link hunters, some webmasters.

Assuming the email requesting a link, either one way or reciprocal, will be opened and read, would it make a difference how the email is signed and who it says it's from?

What do you think, does it matter? How do you identify yourself, and what do you call yourself when you request links?

[St0n3y]

That's a great question. We do quite a bit of link building for our clients so I just talked to the crew to see what they use. Currently they are simply using their first and last name as the "from" with the email address using an alias such as clientbusinessname@mybusinessname.com.

We are getting pretty stellar results from that, but now we are going to try and test some alternatives such as:

From: Full name @ Client Name

with the aliases remaining the same.

If we find anything definitive in the coming weeks I'll post back here.

[I, Brian]

The main problem with reciprocated links is the automated side of it. What I get in my e-mail box is often completely untargeted.

The sites I do allow link exchanges with usually get link requests from entirely unrelated industries - my religious lit site, and your computer components site, are not related, whatever your link builder/manager account says.

While sites I do no exchanges with get the e-mails anyway, though there's nothing inviting it.

Ultimately, Arelis is your friend if you use it properly - that means actually looking at the sites to see if it's appropriate.

I never did the first time, and accidently sent link requests to my ISP and the Whitehouse. :o You learn.

[St0n3y]

Targeting is one of the most essential elements but we also know that a large number of our emails get trashed by spam filters. We try to craft our messages first to get past filters and then second to get opened by the addressee.

Most of our messages start out explaining who the sender is, for example...

Hi,

I'm the web marketer for site.com

We've gotten a few positive responses from this approach.

[mcanerin]

<rant> I think that if you have not bothered to check out the site personally and send out an email starting with "Hi, I found your site while surfing the web today and think it might be...I'll keep the site a confidential for now unless you show interest..." you should sign yourself as "spammer" </rant>

Otherwise, I think the request should be customized, personal and, most importantly, specific. I need to know what the site is before I'll even consider it. Why would you hide that information? The only reason I can think of is that you are spamming the masses and anticipate tons of angry responses.

Typically, if you feel a need to put on a mask or work from the shadows you are doing something wrong and know it.

Be open, honest, and clear. Don't talk about PR benifits and rankings. It's insulting and crass, not to mention comes across as mercenary. Someone interested in linking with you will either already know what PR is or not care, in the majority of cases.

Usually only very low ranking, small business type sites are run by people who don't know about links and rankings. If you find one like that, then perhaps you can mention it, but chances are if you found them from a search engine and thought they had enough PR to be worth trading links with, they already know what a link is.

My personal opinion,

Ian

[St0n3y]

I agree completely. One thing we have deliberatly decided to do is to keep our full email signature in each message. This provides full contact info, addresses, etc.

Some time back we tested conversion ratio by reducing our pre-qualify standards. Almost immediatlly our web host got complaints about spam coming from our address, and we even received a few angy phone calls.

Test complete. We maintain VERY strict pre-qualification standards and by doing so have a very decent link/hour ratio.

[David Wallace]

Great post Ian!

Definitely make it personal and say something to the effect that "I think that our particular site might provide a benefit to your visitors if you link to us" as opposed to things like "we want to increase our PR or help you increase yours". Rather encourage the site owner that by linking to your site, they will benefit by providing a valuable resource to their visitors. Then sign with your own name and your company - no need to hide anything.

My personal rant is when someone wants me to link my "SEO" site to their "aluminum siding" site because "they are so related to one another". Yeah right! You know this person is simply mass spamming people as I don't think there is anyone that is so dumb that they don't know the difference between "SEO" and "aluminum siding" (or whatever other contrast there exists). ;)

[seojob]

I am currently building links for a Internet Promotion site. I have received a link request from <someone>However, after reading the e-mail, I find it was from another seo firm. I asked for clarification, but did not receive any reply.

However, while requesting for a link I call myself a Link Coordinator and never ever mention the PR benefit. I try to point out the relevancy, give some feedback to prove that I personally visited the site . The response is good normally.

But, at the end of the day it all depends on the quality of the site. From my experience.

[seobook]

I like trying to be as personal as possible. If its my site I just use my name. If it is somebody elses site I just say I am trying to help my friend or something like that. I try hard not to look automated or overtly business driven most of the time.

[sugarrae]

Personal signatures seem to work best for me. Just my name with the url underneath. If it is for a client site, same thing unless the client requests something else specifically. I have the best response rate when I look like I sent an email person to person.

[debraM]

How do you identify yourself, and what do you call yourself when you request links?

I always refer to myself as a link building specialist, regardless of the correspondence sent. It's an easy to understand term and fully explains my job function. Depending who I'm working for, I use my company name or theirs, and of the two, I use the name of the company I'm working for - more.

Usually only very low ranking, small business type sites are run by people who don't know about links and rankings. If you find one like that, then perhaps you can mention it, but chances are if you found them from a search engine and thought they had enough PR to be worth trading links with, they already know what a link is.

In my case, the type of link work I'm doing now and what I used to do 18 months/two years ago is TOTALLY different. Gone are the days of sending link requests to swap or add links. Now I broker more link promotional deals, or construct viral link campaigns, so the need for the typical link letter is gone.

However, there are some segments of business where the one-on-one link request still works, mostly in the smaller niche's like Ian mentions. I find it's not that people don't know about link building or its benefits, it's more about just being asked. Sometimes you have to extend a link branch and make the suggestion for a person to act - or react.

They need someone to turn a light bulb on for them! In those cases, I agree that an email with some personalization is good. I also look for a name and address the email with it whenever I can, even going to whois to pull one. Sometimes, people write back and say " Johnny isn't here anymore, I am" opening a door for further communciation. Basic human fact - everyone loves the sound of his or her own name, take advantage of that!