Link Building Through Press Outreach

Presented by:Rob Woods

@robdwoods

Who Am I?

• 12 years of experience in e-commerce and affiliate marketing

• SEO, Social, and Content• 2 years with Reinvent one of the largest

domainers in the world• Run my own consulting business

Why Do Press Outreach?

Why Do Press Outreach?

• One of the few true good links left• Press sites have good link equity• One link can lead to many links• Don’t just focus on link equity,

traffic is good too, so are citations• Not just for big, national sites

Caveats

• It’s hard work• It’s lots of work and/or money• You are going to face rejection

The Scenario

• Almost no budget (but had people)• No other link building• Passive press relations• No one internally with experience

Getting Ready

• Have something to say• Be newsworthy• Be helpful• Know your stuff• Build a decent press page

Press Page

• Basic explanation of who you are• Proof of why you are an expert• “Social” proof you are worth it• Assets writers might need• Contact info

What to Talk About

• Leverage current events• Leverage seasonal events• Know deadlines• Site/app launches• Major events

Finding Prospects

If you have $ … • Vocus

– Does lots of other stuff– Good for finding journalists,

contacting, seeing editorial calendars– $800 + per month– www.vocus.com

Finding Prospects

If you have $ … •Cision

– Also good for finding journalists and being able to contact them directly

– About $1K / Year – www.cision.com/

Finding Prospects

• If you don’t have $...

• SERPs• Twitter• Backlinks

Finding Prospects - SERPs

• Simply search for your KW• Comb through at least 10 pages • Look for articles about your subject• Automate or Outsource• oDesk • Scraperr.com• Scrapebox

Finding Prospects – Google News

Finding Prospects - SERPs

• Given the huge number of results in Google narrow down by site

• “ keyword phrase” Site:example.com – eg. “Black Friday” site:cnn.com– “cyber Monday” site:mashable.com

Finding Prospects – Back Links

• One place where looking at competitors back links is useful

• Lots of good tools• Moz Open Explorer, Majestic,

Ahrefs, LinkResearchTools• Look for same info as in SERPs

After You Find the Lead

• Is the article a good lead?• Check the date of the article • Check if the article is original or a

reprint• Look for contact info on page• Order of preferred contact: Email,

Twitter, LinkedIn, phone, G+

After You Find the Lead

• If no contact info on page, search for author archive on site

• If no visible author archive search “author name” Site:example.com

• If no author archive is available search Google for “author name”

• Make sure the author still works that beat

Information on Sources

• Find as much information as possible on each potential contact

• Journalists or popular bloggers get tons of inquiries

• More info lets you personalize the contact

Info to Capture

• Name• Publication(s)• Website(s)• Beat(s) – Shopping, Tech, News,

Business, etc.• Email

Info to Capture

• Phone• Twitter profile page• LinkedIn profile page• Notes/Bio: Twitter bio, author

page, or just general notes

Finding Prospects - Twitter

• You’ll find many Twitter handles as you go

Finding Prospects - Twitter

• Several good Twitter tools• Muckrack

– $99 – 4495 / mo– Find journalists by “beat” – Save lists, create alerts

Finding Prospects - Twitter

• Followerwonk (from Moz)– Free– Search twitter bios by keyword– Export your own Twitter followers

Followerwonk

• Search Twitter Bios

Followerwonk

• Search for phrases in quotes like “retail reporter”, “consumer reporter”, “consumer affairs”

• Export to Excel• Sort• Prune

Followerwonk

• Exports just the username• Use “concatenate” function in

Excel to add Twitter URL to make link to profile

Followerwonk

• Follow reporters• Tweet, Retweet, Engage• If they follow back use this to DM• Check bios for email addresses –

add to “email” list

Followerwonk

• Mine your own followers (if you have a lot)

• Export to Excel• Search for KW in bio – reporter,

writer, etc.*• Search the URL field - abc, nbc,

cbs, fox, press, times, news, etc.

Other Sources of Leads

• All newspapers and TV affiliates www.abyznewslinks.com

• Media Type, Media Focus, Link, Geo Region – Country, State, City, County, Region

• Go to each site and look for best contact

Other Sources of Leads

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_States_by_circulation

• http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites

• http://latinocommunication.pbworks.com/w/page/15117416/Hispanic%20media%20in%20the%20United%20States

Organize Your Lists

• Organize by type of outreach• Good target is the most syndicated• High value = individual email,

letter, call• Lower Value = bulk email• No email = Twitter only -> DM or

engage

Doing the Outreach

• Be useful• Be timely• Be pithy• Be available• Don’t be afraid to give away the

farm• Respond quickly

Doing the Outreach - Email

• Intro email – 4-5 weeks out• Second email – 3 weeks out (ish)

– More info– Help them write the story– Goal is for them just to need a “sound

bite”

• Third Email – 7-10 days out

Pitchbox

• www.pitchbox.com• Research and outreach• Project management

The Interview(s)

• Be prepared for written, phone, Skype, even live

• Make (and use) notes• Know your stuff• Be professional• Be flexible with your time• Have a place to conduct interviews

The Interview(s)

• Get media training or public speaking experience

• PRACTICE• Bend over backwards • Have unique data or insight they

can’t get anywhere else

The Interview(s)

• ASK FOR THE LINK

Follow Up

• Check for the link• Ask again if you didn’t get it• Search for syndication• Record when, where, who, etc.• Save articles (screen cap, PDF, etc)• Use Google alerts, monitoring to

watch

Press Releases

• Still a legit way to attract the press• Don’t do them for links, do them

for attention• Same type of info as email

outreach• Must be newsworthy

Who Shouldn’t Do PR?

• Kinda like other link building now• Be remarkable, valuable, insightful

first• Have something worth writing about• Have enough time• Be able to make the writer look

good

Did It Work?

• Last year resulted in at least 40 interviews and 80 links

• CNN, WSJ, Today.com, CNBC, Fox News, LA Times, Toronto Star, Chicago Tribune, ZDNet

• Many local radio and TV• Green Bay Press Gazette,

Sacramento Bee…

Summary

• Have something to say• Invest $ or time in good research• Organize your outreach• Give a great interview• Follow-up

Thank You!

Bonus Slides

Tools and Resources•www.scraperr.com (promo code pubcon2013)•www.pitchbox.com •www.moz.com•www.majestic.com•www.ahrefs.com•www.linkresearchtools.com•www.muckrack.com•www.followerwonk.com

Bonus Slides

• www.abyznewslinks.com • www.vocus.com• www.cision.com• www.odesk.com• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_States_by_circulation

• www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites • latinocommunication.pbworks.com/w/page/

15117416/Hispanic%20media%20in%20the%20United%20States

Contact Me

Rob Woodsrob@robwoods.org

@robdwoods