The Psychology of Link Building

1. The Psychology of Link Building Mike Essex

2. How We Got Coverage In:

3. You’re Not Getting Links Here:

4. You’re Getting Them Here: Charles Arthur Graeme Wearden Imogen Fox Heather Stewart Technology Editor Business Reporter Deputy Fashion Editor Economics Editor

5. People Give You: • Free links from high authority sites • No “Sponsored” or “Advertorial” tags • Contacts you can rely on again and again LESSON: Think people not websites

6. ?HOW CAN I GET PEOPLE’SATTENTION?

7. You are competing with:

8. “ Mike Butcher ” TechCrunchSource: http://www.slideshare.net/mikebutcher/how-to-deal-with-tech-media-by-mikebutcher

9. Use The Halo Effect (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977)We make assumptionsabout people instantlyuntil proven otherwise.Your email mustSTAND OUT

10. Flat Information (Howard Leventhal) An email with no passion that just lists your content doesn’t STAND OUT

11. Specific Instructions (Howard Leventhal) Why Your Content is Great Why They Should Cover It Where They Should Link Why They Should Link

12. High Fear Information (Howard Leventhal)Information with urgency and fearreally STANDS OUTFEAR“What Every SEO Must Fight For”URGENCY“Action must be taken right now”

13. We Made People Scared: 160 Links Including:LESSON: Fear is a great motivator.

15. Cognitive DissonancePeople contradictthemselves and changetheir mind or do thingsthey wouldn’t have donenormally, if you canpresent a reasonableargument.LESSON:Use Your Emailto change their mind!

16. Obedience Stanley Milgram In this study people were asked to give electric shocks to others (who were in on the experiment). The majority of people gave a lethal dose. There are 2 reasons why: 1- Someone else asked them to do it, so they could shift blame. 2 – The doses went up very slowly in 25 volt increments.

17. 1 • Interact with people on Twitter2 • Leave comments3 • Learn about the person4 • Then ask for the LinkLESSON: Small actions lead to BIG results

18. The Door in the Face Phenomenon

19. The Solution ?• Think like your outreach target!

20. Social Identity Theory Henri Tajfel and John Turner People are more likely to behavepositively to otherswho are the same.

21. Become an ExpertThe BBC didn’t feature uswhen we emailed them as“Digital Marketing Executives”They did when we changedthe job title to “Social Media Expert”LESSON: Change your job title to best representyour key area of knowledge.

22. Be or Become a Woman

23. Which Line is the Same?

24. It’s C (Unless you’ve been to the free bar) Yet in the study most people gave wrong answers. This was because people around them (who were in on the experiment) also gave the wrong answer.

25. 1st Wave of Coverage (Two high profile blogs) After this point no more outreach was carried out, but… Thanks to Patrick Hathaway for this example

26. 2nd Wave of CoverageMany more sites linked as they saw it on the high profile sites Plus 15-20 More Sites!

27. Even Worldwide!LESSON: One good link can easily be turned in to more

29. Hedge If you bet on every horse in a race you willYour Bets always win.

30. So when link building, ensure you contacta wide range of people to give yourselfmore chances to win.

31. We Emailed:

32. And Got A 33% Conversion LESSON: Send Similar People Similar Emails

33. Profile Websites

34. People!Profile Websites

35. Go Get Those Links!

36. Image Sources• Slide 6: http://www.free-extras.com/search/2/football+chalkboard.htm• Slide 13: http://www.gamewallpapers.com• Slide 17: http://worldofdiscovery.info/• Slide 19: http://www.jwwilliamsandsons.co.uk/Door_Fitting.htm• Slide 21: http://www.nataliedee.com/• Slide 24: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/putting-guest-post-outreach-theories-to-the-test-with-some- real-world• Slide 31: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/derren-brown-reveals-how-he-guessed- 418167• Slide 32: http://www.1stclassshows.com/testimonials/prize_every_time.jpg&w=370&h=282&ei=VrYzT76BBs ai8gPiwLTCAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=180&vpy=155&dur=2106&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=129&t y=99&sig=106407779831255233410&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=176&start=0&ndsp=24&ve d=1t:429,r:0,s:0• Slide 37: http://johnbrodie.wordpress.com/

37. Mike Essex @Koozai_Mike Mike.Essex@koozai.com /Koozai /Koozai