SEO and outreach develop very swiftly in the digital marketing world, which whilst exciting, can lead to misinformation online as everyone tries to keep up.
If you’re thinking about outreach as a possible campaign for your site to increase visibility in Google and gain referral traffic, here are five things you shouldn’t think:
It’s all about links
Outreach is closely tied to content and PR, as much as it is to SEO. It’s main aims should be about increasing brand awareness and brand reach, by going out into the market and making yourself known.
When you approach a relevant site with a great article, it’s good PR when it goes live and mentions your company. You’ve just increased your audience, and if you also gained a link, you’ve helped improve your visibility in Google and other search engines. Win, win!
It’s just another SEO tactic
Sometimes, SEOers aren’t the most popular people for online publications as they have a history of spammy tactics, if you go back five or so years, so it’s a good thing outreach (and SEO) has distanced itself from that mindset. Whilst very useful for SEO, outreach stands on it’s own two feet and can be a powerful force in getting a site more traffic and more sales.
It’s actually about knowing your market and niche, and actively finding your own contacts and building relationships with key influencers. A difficult process to master, you must then be able to provide high quality, useful content to other websites which will boost your reputation as a creative, trustworthy professional who other companies want to work with. This is key for successful online and offline campaigns, for example in print media.
Content is King
A phrase uttered at every SEO and content marketing conference for as long as I can remember, it’s now in fact getting a bit old hat. if you focus solely on the content, then you’ll miss opportunities. For example, you could write the best bit of content the Internet has ever seen, but if you haven’t taken the time to make contacts, speak with editors and do market research on your audience, then it won’t benefit your company.
It’s more beneficial to look at all the processes involved and put 100% into each, rather than prioritising one aspect over another.
My market is too niche
The Internet is a huge place that’s constantly growing, so there’s no niche too niche for online outreach. If it’s a business, then there’s a relevant space for it online. At first, it may seem there aren’t many sites directly covering a niche, whatever it may be, but the deeper you go into your search results, the more you’ll uncover. It’s also a good approach to brainstorm around your niche and find relevant sub-topics you can use to pitch, as it may have a bigger scope than you first thought.
If you’re rejected, you did something wrong
One of the most frustrating aspects of outreach is an unsuccessful pitch, where in the aftermath of review, you simply can’t find anything you did wrong to improve for next time. Sometimes, this is just the case as editors of websites get the final say, after all, it is their site and they’ve got their own aims and plans.
If you get rejected after having a great idea, contacting relevant influencers and catering each communication to the individual, then it has to be chalked up to being just not the right time. Perhaps it can be used again in the future with a bit more research?
Outreach is a difficult process, but the benefits make it worth the investment of time and skills, especially when it comes to learning what is best practise for now, rather than a few months ago.
To find out how we can help you run successful outreach campaigns, please contact our Outreach Manager on [email protected], or call our team on 01403 261491.