Five Mistakes When Asking for Links
Posted by Mike | Filed under Link BuildingI was scanning through my e-mail’s inbox a while ago and I noticed this very weird (and somewhat funny) e-mail from a seemingly SEO expert… Well, he runs an SEO site, so I assume that he considers himself an SEO guru or something. Apparently, he was asking for some backlinks for his new website. His e-mail contained a lot of mistakes that you must NOT commit when you’re asking (or begging) for links from other people.
Take a look at his e-mail. Be sure to read it so that you can relate once I discuss the mistakes that he made! 
Done reading? Perfect. Now, let’s go through five (5) wrong moves that he did.
1. He used the word “Webmaster” instead of my name in the greeting. Well, he could have used “Juggler”, “The WWW Observer” or something. But no, he did not. He used “Webmaster” which makes me think that he sent this e-mail to plenty of webmasters in the same niche. If you’re asking for links, treat the webmaster as your friend. Send a personalized e-mail and hope that he does the favor for you. Strike one…
2. He was too demanding and choosy. If you read the letter, you would have noticed that he doesn’t like footer links, he only wants blogroll or in-content links. If you’re just ASKING FOR SOMETHING, don’t be too picky. It’s okay if you paid for the link, you have the right to choose the spot. But… he was just asking, so he shouldn’t have been too demanding. Strike two, my friend.
3. He wanted me to use his desired anchor text. If I were to link to some website (without being paid or something), I would choose the anchor text that I would use. The link would be displayed on my site, so I have the right to select the anchor text. Pfft… the guy sounded like he was my boss and he can order me around. Now that’s strike three. He’s out! Nope, there are still two mistakes left.
4. He had to add the sentence “Do not disappoint me!”. LOL… that was so threatening that it made me laugh out loud (literally!). 
And why shouldn’t I disappoint you, mister? You’re not my boss, you’re not someone who knows me. You’re just one of those spammers hoping that you’ll get some links by sending crappy e-mails. Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t impressed with your e-mail. Oops, looks like I just disappointed you.
5. He OBVIOUSLY didn’t proofread his e-mail. If you carefully read his e-mail, you would have spotted two spelling errors. He spelled “website” and “positioning” incorrectly. Very unprofessional… What a shame! When writing an e-mail, be sure that you proofread it before you send it. It saves you from the embarrassment and the very bad first impression.
If you can’t see the mistakes, here’s an image which has the misspelled words highlighted.
And there is this one REALLY BIG MISTAKE that he committed… He started an SEO site (an SEO company, actually) but he doesn’t know the right way to build backlinks. He could have used one of the link building tactics, but he decided to use a rather sloppy trick.
Now, I know that some of you will ask… “Did you give him a link?” Well, I would have given him a link, but because of the mistakes, I did not. So make sure that you don’t commit the same mistakes as he did if you want someone to give you a link! 
Just remember to ask nicely, be polite and be professional.
That’s hilarious. Give me what I want and give it to me now!
No personalization at all! I delete those emails as soon as I see “webmaster” - never go further, or Dear Sir… LOL
And for being a demanding guy, he didn’t get what he wanted.
Nice post, that is clearly a bad attempt at building links. Thanks for sharing.
Cool lesson on how to ask for help.
So, you are saying the email should look like:
“Dear Juggler,
I have a […]
I would like to ask you to put my a link to my site in whatever place you want […]
My site’s URL […]
[…Some other info…]
Use the information above to link to me. I look forward to your reply.
Regards,
[…]”
Maybe I should do that some day.
Then again, (almost) no one cares about such mails.
Not really, I would just like the sender to be polite… And I agree, sending e-mails to gain links is kind of useless nowadays.
ROFL … what a perfect sample. I’ve just written a bit about how to ask for backlinks (oops, did I now ask for a link… ;)). If you delete my comment or not, I’ll definitely add a link to your page as a good sample of what not to do. So sweet…
Rainer
[…] just found a perfect example of how NOT to ask for a link. I am sure you will enjoy reading that one […]
That’s hilarious. The nerve of some people never amazes me. Thanks for posting that.
You should ask him for a link back to this blog post… and I hope he does not disappoint you and links with the anchor text you tell him.
Nice one there.. He didn’t even offer a link back. Who dares wins?
You have to ask whether he’d keep doing this if he wasn’t getting links. It makes me suspect there are people out there that this sort of tactic works on. Sad but perhaps true.
[…] and make sure to read this post from Todd Mintz (and these posts as well) if you’re planning on sending out emails for link building, press releases or […]
That seems to be a LINK DEMANDING request rather than LINK BUILDING REQUEST
Regards,
Joshua
I have received fairly similar requests in the past.
I have also received several reciprocal link requests. Most of the time, the emails mean “put my link on your page first, then I will CONSIDER putting your link on my page”. Makes me wonder - if they are not sure whether my site is good enough to link to, why did they write to me??
Then there are those who insist that you must link to them from at least a PR 2 page - when their own link page has PR 0 !
I actually spend a lot of my day working for a company as a link strategist, and when I first began sending out link requests my e-mails were pretty poor in quality; not as sad as this example, but pretty close. The sad thing was: there are millions of quality websites out there that DO respond to this type of e-mail. It’s sad, but true.
A big LOL for the email! i enjoy the “Do not disapoint me!”. He probably wont get any link with that atittude!…
About the post, i loved! Very original of yours using the email as inspiration to post about this matter!…
Cheers
Hiya, thanks for dropping by. I actually laughed at the e-mail, too.
I’m glad that you enjoyed it!
If you don’t know their name, what do you call them besides “dear webmaster”? Also, both you and they know you’re ultimate objective so why not ask particular anchor text?
When asking for a link, most webmasters expect that the person asking for the link would have done a little research (and it is an added bonus that you get the name of the site owner right).
Providing anchor text might be good, but it should only be as a suggestion and not a request.
[…] you are going for link request via email then you should know how to request via email. If you are not writing in the proper manner then you may not get link. The proper presentation of the mail may assure the link from recipient. […]
[…] like to share yet another e-mail with you. It seemed to me that it was written by a very professional scammer. Take a look […]
Seems like he’s not going to reward you in exchange for your link, while still demanding you to put his link on the place he desire…I really like this funny guy lol
He just invented another link building tactic. Just don’t disappoint him.
Biggest mistake of all is asking for a link when you don’t provide much value at all.
What an jerk. Does someone like this really expect to get someone to assist them with a link exchange by being pushy and demanding. I sure as heck wouldn’t even bother responding to an email like that.
nice recommendation huh?! but it depends on the webmaster who will accept or add. For more building links, try this…
I was laughing when I read this post. I was searching for a sample letter that I might use, I am about to send an email requeting for a link, but because I am too afraid I might make a mistake, like being so unpolite, things like that, then I stumbled to this post. Hahahahaha! I cant believe this letter. And to think it came from someone who knows SEO.
Anyways, thanks for sharing these tips, I might make a post about this and link to your blog if it is okay.
Thank you very much. Got an idea on how to compose my email.
hehe.. actually i think the relevancy of reciprocal links do matters, right? if one were selling hotel services, another one were promoting car rental services, do you think it helps in SEO?
This is really funny but maybe true . I am about to send this article to some of my friends