Launching a Guest-Blogging Link-Building Campaign

Before you start

You’ll need to be familiar with how to perform keyword research and possibly have a keyword strategy already. Check out SOP 011 (web version) to learn how to do that

Key steps 40 steps

1. 1 Install the SimilarWeb Chrome extension
2. 2 Install the Mail Hunter Chrome extension and set up an account
3. 3 Create a Buzzstream account (or get access to it if your company already has one.) We recommend the Group plan since it allows you to send bulk email campaigns—you get access to a 14-day trial.
4. 4 If you will not write the guest posts yourself, create a Text Broker account.
5. 5 Determine the topic/searcher intent that you want to build links around. Each of these link-building campaigns will be limited to a single searcher intent.
6. 6 Create a list of all the keywords associated with the searcher intent you selected.
7. 7 Open the Template 003: Guest Blogging Link Building Campaign Control Sheet (web version).
8. 8 Go to “File → Make a copy” and make a copy of the spreadsheet.
9. 9 Update the name of the file by changing “[Searcher Intent]” with the searcher intent you selected for the campaign.
10. 10 In the “Keywords” worksheet, add the list of keywords associated with your campaign to column A.
11. 11 Verify that columns B, C, D, and E were automatically populated/updated (as shown above.)
12. 12 Open Google
13. 13 For the first keyword, copy the cell under the “Query #1” column, and paste it in the Google search field.
14. 14 Visit the first 50 search results (pages 1 through 4 of Google’s search results) and use the following criteria to qualify an opportunity:
15. 15 After you’re done with a query, move on to the next one on the same row. After you’re done with all the queries in a row, mark the keyword as used in column F, and move on to the next row.
16. 16 Open Buzzstream and create a new project
17. 17 Set up your project:
18. 18 Add the URL you are building links to.
19. 19 Choose to track links only to the specified URL. Note: This is the preferred option for this type of campaign (guest blogging) because you will be the one placing the links in the post.
20. 20 Make sure that the option to receive a backlink report is selected.
21. 21 Click on “Create Project”
22. 22 Go back to the campaign control sheet, navigate to the “Prospecting/Outreach” sheet, and click on “File → Download as → Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet)” to download a .csv file.
23. 23 Go back to Buzzstream and click on “Add Websites.”
24. 24 Choose to upload a CSV and select the “Match My CSV” option.
25. 25 Once you have uploaded the .csv file, you will have to match your columns with the content in each of them. This allows BuzzStream to pick up the information and use it to customize your emails, according to your instructions (as you will later on see).
26. 26 When your data is imported, you can move on to creating a sequence of emails that will be sent according to the aforementioned data and your specific instructions.
27. 27 Name your sequence. Our suggestion is that you name it: “Guest Blogging Campaign” + the search intent you want to work on (e.g., in our example, this became “Guest Blogging Campaign - Who creates emojis”).
28. 28 On the right side of the screen, you will see the dynamic fields BuzzStream provides. You can use these fields in your email templates to automatically add data you imported with your .csv file (e.g. the names of the editors).
29. 29 Once done with the first email, you should add two follow-up emails as well. BuzzStream allows you to do this easily and even set up very precise parameters (e.g. sending the first follow-up email if the recipient doesn’t reply in 3 days).
30. 30 The process stays the same as with the first outreach email, but the text should change, so that it’s adapted to the situation. Following, you will see the texts we used for the first, respectively for the second follow-up. Again, same as with the original email, our suggestion is that you use texts created by yourself, as this will make the entire campaign more credible.
31. 31 When your email templates are all set up, it is time for you to begin the actual outreach. You can do this two ways:
32. 32 Bulk Send. This is an easier, less time-consuming method, but it is generally recommended if you are already familiar with your campaign and/or BuzzStream. To go on this path, follow these steps:
33. 33 Reply to emails as soon as you receive them. You want to show editors and site owners you are genuinely interested in working with them. Plus, leaving these emails “for later” can be quite risky—chances are they’ll soon get lost in a sea of random newsletters and chain emails. :)
34. 34 Most of the times, the replies you receive will fall into one of the following categories:
35. 35 Update the tracking sheet based on their replies (the “Status” and “Notes” columns in your tracking spreadsheet).
36. 36 Go to Text Broker and log in (create an account if you haven’t yet.)
37. 37 Create an open order for a blog (click on “Place Order” under the “Open Order” column, then click on “Blog” from the options that appear on screen.
38. 38 Create a folder for the project and name it. Our suggestion is to name it “Guest Blogging Campaign - [Searcher intent]” and follow the same structure for the future as well.
39. 39 Select the category your blog post belongs to.
40. 40 Enter the order title. Our suggestion is to use a standardized nomenclature that will allow you to organize all of your future guest blog orders. For example, you could use “Guest Blog - [Name of site]”.

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