Pubcon Liveblog: Link Building through Press Outreach

Pubcon Liveblog: Link Building through Press Outreach was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Rob Woods, SEO consultant, will share insights on press outreach that leads to strong links in this Pubcon Las Vegas 2014 session.

Rob Woods at Pubcon Las Vegas 2014

Why do Press Outreach?

One of the few authoritative links left that are guaranteed to stay safe for the foreseeable future
Press links have good link equity
One link can lead to many links
Don’t just focus on link equity – traffic is good, too, as are citations
Press links are important for small, local sites as well as big, national sites

Caveat: Going after press links are hard work, take time and money, and you are going to face rejection from reporters.

Getting Ready

Have something to say. A lot of people think they can reach out to the press without having something to say. Whatever you’re pitching must be newsworthy. You have to be helpful, know your stuff, and build a decent press page.

Press Page Must-Haves

Basic explanation of who you are
Proof of why you are an expert
Social proof if you have it (we have 100,000 Twitter followers, etc.)
Include the assets a writer would need (logos, infographics, images)
Contact info

What to Talk About

Leverage current events
Leverage seasonal events
Site or app launch
Major events

Finding the Right Journalists

Search for your major keywords and comb through the SERP results (10 pages deep even) and find articles on your subject. You can also comb through Google News results.

Find out as much as you can about the journalist. Journalists and bloggers get a ton of inquiries – differentiate yourself by knowing how to get their attention by getting to know what they write about, what they’re interested in.

Look at their Twitter, their LinkedIn, their bio pages, etc. Maybe you’ll find a commonality that you can mention in your initial correspondence (for example, perhaps you went to same college or root for the same sports team).

Associated Press and Reuters should be your top targets. If you’re reaching out to them, make sure to write custom, carefully crafted emails.

Remember:

Be useful.
Be timely.
Be available. Reporters work weird hours. Be there for them when they want you.
Don’t be afraid to give away the farm. Give them lots of information up front.
Respond quickly.

Tools

Muckrack: a good place to find journalists on Twitter, searching by “beat” or niche. Through Muckrack you can save lists and create alerts
Followerwonk: search Twitter bios by keyword
Use Vocus or Cision to find journalists and their contact info

Acing Your Interview

Be prepared for written, phone, Skype or live interviews
Make and use notes
Know your stuff
Be professional
Be flexible with your time. If they want 8 p.m. … be there at 8 p.m.
Get media training of public speaking experience
Practice
Bend over backwards
Have unique data or insight they can’t get anywhere else
Don’t be afraid to ask for the link