The Psychology of Link Building
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The Psychology of Link Building Mike Essex
Transcript of The Psychology of Link Building
The Psychology of Link Building
Mike Essex
How We Got Coverage In:
You’re Not Getting Links Here:
You’re Getting Them Here:
Charles ArthurTechnology Editor
Graeme WeardenBusiness Reporter
Imogen FoxDeputy Fashion Editor
Heather StewartEconomics Editor
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
HOW CAN I GET PEOPLE’S ATTENTION??
You are competing with:
Mike Butcher TechCrunch
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mikebutcher/how-to-deal-with-tech-media-by-mikebutcher
“
”
Use The Halo Effect (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977)
We make assumptions about people instantly until proven otherwise.
Your email must
STAND OUT
Flat Information (Howard Leventhal)
An email with no passion that just lists your content
doesn’t STAND OUT
Specific Instructions (Howard Leventhal)
Why Your Content is Great
Why They Should LinkWhere They Should Link
Why They Should Cover It
High Fear Information (Howard Leventhal)
Information with urgency and
fear
really STANDS OUT
FEAR“What Every SEO Must Fight For”
URGENCY“Action must be taken right now”
We Made People Scared:
LESSON: Fear is a great motivator.
160 Links Including:
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Cognitive Dissonance
People contradict themselves and change their mind or do things they wouldn’t have done normally, if you can present a reasonable argument.
LESSON: Use Your Email to change their mind!
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.
1 •Interact with people on Twitter
2 •Leave comments
3 •Learn about the person
4 •Then ask for the Link
LESSON: Small actions lead to BIG results
The Door in the Face Phenomenon
The Solution
Think like your outreach target!
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Social Identity Theory Henri Tajfel and John Turner
People are more likely to behave
positively to others who are the same.
Become an Expert
The BBC didn’t feature uswhen we emailed them as “Digital Marketing Executives”
They did when we changed the job title to “Social Media Expert”
LESSON: Change your job title to best represent your key area of knowledge.
Be or Become a Woman
Which Line is the Same?
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.
Thanks to Patrick Hathaway for this example
1st Wave of Coverage
(Two high profile blogs)
After this point no more outreach was carried out, but…
2nd Wave of Coverage
Plus 15-20 More Sites!
Many more sites linked as they saw it on the high profile sites
Even Worldwide!
LESSON: One good link can easily be turned in to more
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HedgeYour Bets
If you bet on every horse in a race you will always win.
So when link building, ensure you contact a wide range of people to give yourself more chances to win.
We Emailed:
And Got A 33% Conversion
LESSON: Send Similar People Similar Emails
Profile Websites
Profile WebsitesPeople!
Go Get Those Links!
Image Sources
Slide 6: http://www.free-extras.com/search/2/football+chalkboard.htmSlide 13: http://www.gamewallpapers.comSlide 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-worldSlide 31: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/derren-brown-reveals-how-he-guessed-418167Slide 32: http://www.1stclassshows.com/testimonials/prize_every_time.jpg&w=370&h=282&ei=VrYzT76BBsai8gPiwLTCAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=180&vpy=155&dur=2106&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=129&ty=99&sig=106407779831255233410&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=176&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0Slide 37: http://johnbrodie.wordpress.com/
