{"id":35272,"date":"2020-04-16T08:26:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T13:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=35272"},"modified":"2025-12-18T08:56:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:56:23","slug":"fast-link-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/fast-link-building\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start a Link Building Campaign Fast (and Systematize Everything)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">Do you know the basics of <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/link-building\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-building\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link building<\/a>, but struggle to get a campaign off the ground? This advanced guide will show you how to do that\u2014fast.<\/div>\n<p>Link building outreach can be broken down into three&nbsp;tasks:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Finding prospects<\/li>\n<li>Finding contact information<\/li>\n<li>Sending emails<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Most of the information you read online is focused on that last part: sending emails. But if you\u2019ve ever done <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/blogger-outreach\/\">blogger outreach<\/a>&nbsp;before, you\u2019ll know that the real bottlenecks occur when finding prospects and contact information.<\/p>\n<p>Get those right, and sending emails is&nbsp;easy.<\/p>\n<p>In this actionable tutorial, we\u2019ll focus on how to make the first two parts of the process more efficient. And we\u2019ll also talk about how to systematize, automate, and scale your outreach.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s dive straight in.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hub-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Beginner's guide to link building\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/backlinks.png\"><div class=\"hl-title\">New to link building? Check out&nbsp;our<\/div><div class=\"hl-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-building\/\" target=\"_blank\">Beginner\u2019s guide to link building<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"The process\" data-section=\"link-building-process\">\n<h2>The process<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Before we do anything, we first need to choose a type of campaign to&nbsp;run.<\/p>\n<p>To keep things simple, let\u2019s opt for a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/guest-blogging\/\">guest posting<\/a>&nbsp;campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Before I lose you, let me just say that I know guest posting is far from exciting. It\u2019s boring, and it\u2019s old news. The reason I\u2019m using it to demonstrate this process is because it\u2019s a straightforward example. I\u2019ll explain how you can apply it to other <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-building-strategies\/\">link building strategies<\/a>&nbsp;later.<\/p>\n<p>Ready? Let\u2019s&nbsp;go.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 1. Finding prospects<\/h3>\n<p>The first piece of the puzzle is to abandon the usual approach of using Google to find prospects.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t get me wrong, Google is excellent for finding prospects for all types of campaigns, but it\u2019s a massive bottleneck when speed is the aim. You have to extract results, bulk-check SEO metrics with a third-party tool, and, well, it just takes too&nbsp;long.<\/p>\n<p>So instead, we\u2019ll use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/content-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Content Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Content Explorer is a searchable, filterable database of around a billion web&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n<p>Now, what we\u2019re <strong>not<\/strong>&nbsp;going to do here is use search operators to find \u201cwrite for us pages\u201d\u2014even though it\u2019s possible with Content Explorer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1109\" class=\"wp-image-35261\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1-write-for-us-content-explorer.png\" alt=\"1 write for us content explorer\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1-write-for-us-content-explorer.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1-write-for-us-content-explorer-613x425.png 613w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1-write-for-us-content-explorer-768x532.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/1-write-for-us-content-explorer-1536x1065.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Instead, we\u2019re going to use it to find sites that are writing about relevant topics.<\/p>\n<p>There are three reasons for&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Most people are open to guest posts\u2014even if they don\u2019t have a \u201cwrite for us\u201d&nbsp;page.<\/li>\n<li>If websites have already published content about relevant topics, then we know they\u2019re suitable prospects.<\/li>\n<li>It gives us two key pieces&nbsp;of data (post URL and author) to make finding contact information easier.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>To get started, we\u2019ll go to Content Explorer and run an \u201cIn title\u201d search like this to find blog posts about relevant topics:<\/p>\n<p><code>(How OR why) AND ([keyword 1] OR [keyword 2])<\/code><\/p>\n<p>For example, if we have a site that sells health supplements, we can search for something like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"245\" class=\"wp-image-35255\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2-ce-blog-post-search.png\" alt=\"2 ce blog post search\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2-ce-blog-post-search.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2-ce-blog-post-search-680x104.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2-ce-blog-post-search-768x118.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2-ce-blog-post-search-1536x235.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Just to explain how this search works:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The brackets group words together.<\/li>\n<li>The OR operator says to return results containing either of the words in the brackets (e.g., how or&nbsp;why).<\/li>\n<li>The AND operator says to return results with at least one of the words from the first group (how or why) and from the second group (muscle or&nbsp;gym).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Put this all together, and what we\u2019re effectively searching for are pages with the words \u201chow\u201d or \u201cwhy,\u201d and \u201cmuscle\u201d or \u201cgym\u201d in their <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/title-tag-seo\/\">title tags<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Most of these will be blog posts related to building muscle or going to the&nbsp;gym.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here are just a few of the results from our search:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" class=\"wp-image-35253\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/3-ce-results.jpg\" alt=\"3 ce results\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/3-ce-results.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/3-ce-results-680x383.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/3-ce-results-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/3-ce-results-1536x866.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>From here,&nbsp;we need to filter the results for only pages that&nbsp;are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>English. <\/strong>Content Explorer stores pages in many languages, but we only want English pages because we\u2019re doing outreach in English. People who\u2019ve written content in another language might not be able to read our outreach email.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Live.<\/strong> Content Explorer stores live and dead pages. It doesn\u2019t make sense for us to reach out to the authors of dead pages because they\u2019ll question how we found that page, and why they\u2019re receiving an email from&nbsp;us.<\/li>\n<li><strong>On DR 20-95 websites. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/domain-rating\/\">Domain Rating (DR)<\/a>&nbsp;is an Ahrefs SEO metric that measures a site\u2019s \u201clink authority.\u201d It probably isn\u2019t worth spending a lot of time and effort writing guest posts for most low DR websites. And domains with super high DR scores are almost always websites like Facebook, Google, etc. We want to filter both of these out to avoid wasting time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to apply these filters in Content Explorer:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1162\" height=\"709\" class=\"wp-image-35256\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/content-explorer-filters.gif\" alt=\"content explorer filters\"><\/p>\n<p>We also need to filter out multiple pages from the same domain as we only want to contact each website once.<\/p>\n<p>To do that, we can use the \u201cone page per domain\u201d checkbox.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"418\" height=\"111\" class=\"wp-image-35263\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/one-page-per-domain.gif\" alt=\"one page per domain\"><\/p>\n<p>2,685 prospects. Not bad for two minutes of&nbsp;work.<\/p>\n<p>All that\u2019s left to do is export the results to CSV, and import everything into a Google Sheet. Don\u2019t use Excel for this. The reason why will become clear in the next&nbsp;step.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;You can export up to 2,000 results from Content Explorer when using the \u201cOne page per domain\u201d toggle. If there are more than 2,000 results for your search, adjust the DR filter, and export the results in batches. For example, if you have 3,500 results when filtering for pages on DR 20-95 sites, you could instead filter for pages from DR 20-50 sites, export the results, then repeat the process for pages from DR 51-95 sites. All you then need to do then is merge them in Google Sheets.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<h3>Step 2. Finding contact information<\/h3>\n<p>Before we can reach out to any of these sites, we need to find some contact information\u2014namely, the first name, last name, and email address of an appropriate person.<\/p>\n<p>This is usually a huge bottleneck for two reasons:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>It\u2019s a manual process. <\/strong>You have to visit the sites, find the name of the person to contact, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/find-email-address\/\">hunt down their email address<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It\u2019s easier to find some sites\u2019 contact information than others. <\/strong>Sometimes you can easily spend 15+ minutes looking for just one email address.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So here\u2019s the solution:<\/p>\n<p>Instead of finding emails manually, we\u2019re going to let <a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter<\/a>\u2014an email lookup tool\u2014do the hard work for us. We just need to feed it a first name, last name, and domain name.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if we put my full name&nbsp;and \u201cahrefs.com\u201d into Hunter, it finds my email address:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1562\" height=\"766\" class=\"wp-image-35259\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/4-email-hunter.png\" alt=\"4 email hunter\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/4-email-hunter.png 1562w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/4-email-hunter-680x333.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/4-email-hunter-768x377.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/4-email-hunter-1536x753.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1562px) 100vw, 1562px\"><\/p>\n<p>But how do we get names and domains of our prospects?<\/p>\n<p>Well, if we look at the export from Content Explorer, we see that there are already author names for some prospects.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1594\" height=\"472\" class=\"wp-image-35252\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5-author-names-ce.png\" alt=\"5 author names ce\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5-author-names-ce.png 1594w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5-author-names-ce-680x201.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5-author-names-ce-768x227.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5-author-names-ce-1536x455.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1594px) 100vw, 1594px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;I replaced all the names in the export with fake names for privacy reasons.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>If we feed these to Hunter, along with the \u201cContent URL,\u201d it\u2019ll pull out the domain and try to find that person\u2019s email address. If it finds it, we know that they\u2019re somehow associated with the site. If it doesn\u2019t, we can just assume that they\u2019re a guest blogger and ignore them for&nbsp;now.<\/p>\n<p>So here\u2019s the process:<\/p>\n<p>First, we\u2019ll filter out the pages without author names.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"797\" height=\"727\" class=\"wp-image-35258\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/filter-google-sheet.gif\" alt=\"filter google sheet\"><\/p>\n<p>Second, we\u2019ll get rid of all the columns except for Content Title, Content URL, and Author.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1526\" height=\"556\" class=\"wp-image-35262\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/6-filtered-ce-export.png\" alt=\"6 filtered ce export\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/6-filtered-ce-export.png 1526w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/6-filtered-ce-export-680x248.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/6-filtered-ce-export-768x280.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1526px) 100vw, 1526px\"><\/p>\n<p>Third, we\u2019ll add two more columns (D and&nbsp;E):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35284\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/7-new-columns.png\" alt width=\"2014\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/7-new-columns.png 2014w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/7-new-columns-680x132.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/7-new-columns-768x149.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/7-new-columns-1536x297.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2014px) 100vw, 2014px\"><\/p>\n<p>In cell D1, we\u2019ll enter this formula:<\/p>\n<p><code>=IFERROR(ARRAYFORMULA(IF(C1:C=\"Author\",\"First name\",IFERROR(IF(search(\" \",C1:C),LEFT(C1:C,FIND(\" \",C1:C)-1),C1:C),C1:C))),\"\")<\/code><\/p>\n<p>In cell E1, we\u2019ll enter this formula:<\/p>\n<p><code>=IFERROR(ARRAYFORMULA(IF(C1:C=\"Author\",\"Last name\",IF(LEN(D1:D) &lt; 1,\"\",IFERROR(IF(search(\" \",C1:C),TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(C1:C,\" \",REPT(\" \",100)),100)),\"\"),\"unknown\")))),\"\")<\/code><\/p>\n<p>This splits the first and last&nbsp;names.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"611\" class=\"wp-image-35266\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8-split-names-ce.png\" alt=\"8 split names ce\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8-split-names-ce.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8-split-names-ce-680x260.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8-split-names-ce-768x293.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/8-split-names-ce-1536x587.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>This is important because we\u2019re not going to use Hunter\u2019s web tool to find email addresses; we\u2019re going to use <a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.io\/sheets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their Google Sheets add-on<\/a>&nbsp;to check them in&nbsp;bulk.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re following along, then you need to sign up and get an API key for this, which gives you 50 free searches a month. Once you\u2019re ready to go, load it up in Sheets and use the email finder option.<\/p>\n<p>Tell it where to find the first name, last name, and URL. Leave the company name&nbsp;blank.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"589\" class=\"wp-image-35264\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9-hunter-google-sheets.jpg\" alt=\"9 hunter google sheets\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9-hunter-google-sheets.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9-hunter-google-sheets-680x250.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9-hunter-google-sheets-768x283.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9-hunter-google-sheets-1536x565.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Hit find email addresses, and it\u2019ll start working its&nbsp;magic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"393\" class=\"wp-image-35247\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/hunter-google-sheets.gif\" alt=\"hunter google sheets\"><\/p>\n<p>Note that this won\u2019t find email addresses for everyone. The name has to be from someone associated with the website (meaning they have a personal @domain email), and it has to be in Hunter\u2019s database.<\/p>\n<p>The final step is to verify the emails Hunter finds using a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/neverbounce.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Neverbounce<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, we\u2019ll go to Neverbounce\u2019s bulk tool, upload the list, then clean the&nbsp;list.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"773\" height=\"507\" class=\"wp-image-35265\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/neverbounce-bulk.gif\" alt=\"neverbounce bulk\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;You will get 1,000 free credits when you sign up for Neverbounce. If you need more after that, it\u2019s quite cheap\u2014between $3-$8 per 1,000 emails.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>Finally, we\u2019ll export the valid emails and use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-sheets-formulas-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a VLOOKUP formula<\/a> to bring them into our&nbsp;sheet.<\/p>\n<p>Now we have a bunch of prospects pretty much ready to&nbsp;pitch.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"147\" class=\"wp-image-35248\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/10-final-result.png\" alt=\"10 final result\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/10-final-result.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/10-final-result-680x62.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/10-final-result-768x71.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/10-final-result-1536x141.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s export these to CSV, and we\u2019re ready for the final part of the process.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 3. Sending emails<\/h3>\n<p>Good news: Most of the hard work is done. All that\u2019s left is to upload the prospects to an outreach tool like Mailshake, Buzzstream, or Pitchbox.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s then just a case of writing an outreach template using merge fields.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1295\" class=\"wp-image-35260\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/11-mailshake.png\" alt=\"11 mailshake\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/11-mailshake.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/11-mailshake-525x425.png 525w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/11-mailshake-768x622.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/11-mailshake-1536x1243.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Please write a better outreach email than the example above. I kept that intentionally simple for demonstration purposes. It\u2019s not a good&nbsp;pitch.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>Now, at this stage, you could start blasting out emails left, right, and center with no personalization\u2014but we really wouldn\u2019t recommend that. Personalizing your emails is pretty much the only differentiating factor between a spammy and a non-spammy approach here. Just because we\u2019re automating things doesn\u2019t mean that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/outreach\/\">the rules of good outreach<\/a>&nbsp;no longer apply.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the way I see it: we\u2019re automating the boring stuff so we can spend more time on the things that matter, like personalizing emails and double-checking that our prospects are&nbsp;sound.<\/p>\n<p>Does this slow things down? Of course, but even if it takes five minutes to personalize each email, that\u2019s still 12 emails an&nbsp;hour.<\/p>\n<p>If we assume a low 8% conversion rate, that\u2019s still one link per hour of&nbsp;work.<\/p>\n<p>But, if that still sounds like a lot of work for one link, the next section might interest you.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to systematize, automate, and scale this process\" data-section=\"systematizing-automating-scaling\">\n<h2>How to systematize, automate, and scale this process<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Finding someone to send outreach emails for you is simple enough: just post a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-job-description\/\">job&nbsp;listing<\/a> on a freelancing website like Upwork.<\/p>\n<p>But why stop there? It\u2019s entirely possible to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Systematize<\/strong>&nbsp;and delegate almost every part of the process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Automate<\/strong>&nbsp;things to reduce moving parts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scale<\/strong>&nbsp;and reach out to more prospects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s how to do each of these things:<\/p>\n<h3>Systematizing<\/h3>\n<p>What we have above is a process for link building, but processes aren\u2019t the same as systems. A process is a series of steps to achieve an end goal, whereas a system joins those steps together.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, with systems, once you set the wheels in motion, everything takes care of itself.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a simple way to turn the process above into a system:<\/p>\n<p>First, set up a Trello board with lists for each part of the process.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"267\" class=\"wp-image-35249\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/12-trello-board-setup.png\" alt=\"12 trello board setup\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/12-trello-board-setup.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/12-trello-board-setup-680x113.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/12-trello-board-setup-768x128.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/12-trello-board-setup-1536x256.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>Second, create documentation for each&nbsp;step.<\/p>\n<p>I find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/docs\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Docs<\/a>&nbsp;best for this because you can easily share them with other members of your team. So for the process above, you\u2019d create three documents: one for prospecting, one for finding contact information, and one for sending emails.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1012\" height=\"1008\" class=\"wp-image-35250\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/13-documentation-docs.png\" alt=\"13 documentation docs\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/13-documentation-docs.png 1012w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/13-documentation-docs-427x425.png 427w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/13-documentation-docs-768x765.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1012px) 100vw, 1012px\"><\/p>\n<p>Third, create a new list on the Trello board and add links to the documentation there.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1164\" height=\"868\" class=\"wp-image-35254\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/trello-documentation.gif\" alt=\"trello documentation\"><\/p>\n<p>Now, whenever you start a campaign, you just need to create a new card, tag the person responsible for carrying out the first task, and point them to the documentation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1160\" height=\"816\" class=\"wp-image-35270\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/trello-task.gif\" alt=\"trello task\"><\/p>\n<p>However, you might be wondering what happens when the person completes this task? Don\u2019t you have to keep an eye on things and keep assigning steps to the next person?<\/p>\n<p>Nope. Just make assigning the next step part of your documentation.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"1138\" class=\"wp-image-35257\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/14-final-instruction-docs.png\" alt=\"14 final instruction docs\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/14-final-instruction-docs.png 736w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/14-final-instruction-docs-275x425.png 275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\"><\/p>\n<h3>Automating<\/h3>\n<p>Having a system where all the cogs keep turning is fantastic, but wouldn\u2019t it be even better if you could reduce the number of cogs that need turning?<\/p>\n<p>This is where automation comes into&nbsp;play.<\/p>\n<p>Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HyIXvIaUlLk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this video<\/a>&nbsp;to learn how to automate the bulk of the process above with Zapier:<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-hyixviaullk\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-hyixviaullk\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/HyIXvIaUlLk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/HyIXvIaUlLk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Scaling<\/h3>\n<p>Reading through this guide, you might have noticed that although this process is fast, systematized, and can even be semi-automated, it leaves a lot of prospects on the&nbsp;table.<\/p>\n<p>After all, Content Explorer only finds names for <strong>some<\/strong>&nbsp;pages, Hunter only finds email addresses for <strong>some<\/strong>&nbsp;prospects, and Neverbounce only verifies <strong>some<\/strong>&nbsp;emails.<\/p>\n<p>If you start out with 1,000 prospects, then you might only have 100 ready to go at the end of this process.<\/p>\n<p>As there are only a finite number of prospects for any campaign, it doesn\u2019t make sense to leave 90% of them on the&nbsp;table.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing:&nbsp;I\u2019m not telling you&nbsp;to.<\/p>\n<p>The point of this process is to get a link building campaign off the ground as quickly as possible\u2014not execute it to perfection.<\/p>\n<p>Doing things this way lets you quickly get a sense of whether a campaign has legs or&nbsp;not.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If it doesn\u2019t have legs<\/strong>, knock it on the&nbsp;head.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If it does have legs<\/strong>, then it\u2019s time to&nbsp;scale.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve already got a system in place, so scaling things is as easy as creating an additional piece of documentation for finding names and email addresses manually.<\/p>\n<p>However, this isn\u2019t the only way to scale. You can&nbsp;also:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Run more campaigns.<\/li>\n<li>Apply these principles to more link building tactics.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk more about option B.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Using this process for other link building tactics\" data-section=\"other-link-building-tactics\">\n<h2>Using this process for other link building tactics<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Everything we\u2019ve talked about above can be applied to pretty much any link building tactic\u2014as long as your prospecting process gives you first and last&nbsp;names.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing: most prospecting processes don\u2019t give you&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say that you find a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/broken-link-building\/\">broken link building<\/a>&nbsp;opportunity in Site Explorer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"853\" class=\"wp-image-35269\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/15-broken-link-opportunities.png\" alt=\"15 broken link opportunities\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/15-broken-link-opportunities.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/15-broken-link-opportunities-680x363.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/15-broken-link-opportunities-768x409.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/15-broken-link-opportunities-1536x819.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"908\" class=\"wp-image-35268\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/16-backlinks-report.jpg\" alt=\"16 backlinks report\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/16-backlinks-report.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/16-backlinks-report-680x386.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/16-backlinks-report-768x436.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/16-backlinks-report-1536x872.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/p>\n<p>If you export the backlinks report for this opportunity, you won\u2019t see author names.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a big issue. As long as your list of prospects is a list of web pages (not websites), you just need to add one additional step to the process: use <a href=\"https:\/\/urlprofiler.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">URL Profiler<\/a>&nbsp;to pull&nbsp;names.<\/p>\n<p>How? Just paste the prospects into URL Profiler and check the \u201cReadability\u201d checkbox.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35282\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/17-url-profiler-2.jpg\" alt width=\"1672\" height=\"1380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/17-url-profiler-2.jpg 1672w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/17-url-profiler-2-515x425.jpg 515w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/17-url-profiler-2-768x634.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/17-url-profiler-2-1536x1268.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px\"><\/p>\n<p>This will pull author names from the pages where possible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;URL Profiler isn\u2019t free, but there\u2019s a free 14-day trial.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>Does it find as many as Content Explorer? In my experience, not quite\u2014but it\u2019s not a million miles&nbsp;off.<\/p>\n<p>Merge this with your existing data using VLOOKUPS in Google Sheets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Using Google to find prospects?<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>You can also pull Ahrefs\u2019 SEO metrics like DR, UR, and organic traffic with URL Profiler.<\/p>\n<p>Just check the appropriate boxes for the data points you want to&nbsp;pull.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"936\" height=\"354\" class=\"wp-image-35271\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/18-url-profiler-ahrefs-metrics.png\" alt=\"18 url profiler ahrefs metrics\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/18-url-profiler-ahrefs-metrics.png 936w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/18-url-profiler-ahrefs-metrics-680x257.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/18-url-profiler-ahrefs-metrics-768x290.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>From there, we pretty much run through the same process as before: find emails, verify them, do outreach.<\/p>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Getting a link building campaign off the ground doesn\u2019t have to take days\u2014or even&nbsp;hours.<\/p>\n<p>Using the process outlined in this guide, it should be possible to at least pitch a few guest posts within 30 minutes or so\u2014even if you don\u2019t have a lot of link building experience.<\/p>\n<p>Got questions? Didn\u2019t understand something? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuachardwick?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ping me on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Link building outreach can be broken down into three&nbsp;tasks: Finding prospects Finding contact information Sending emails Most of the information you read online is focused on that last part: sending emails. But if you\u2019ve ever done blogger outreach&nbsp;before, you\u2019ll know<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":35275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"coauthors":[336],"class_list":["post-35272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-link-building","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Start a Link Building Campaign Fast (and Systematize Everything)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This guide teaches you how to find link prospects and their contact information\u2014fast. You&#039;ll also learn how to systemize, automate and scale your outreach.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/fast-link-building\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Start a Link Building Campaign Fast (and Systematize Everything)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Struggling to set up a link building campaign? 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