Blogger Outreach: The Definitive Guide

This is the definitive guide to blogger outreach.

In fact, I’ve used the exact process in this guide to grow my blog to over 740K visitors per month:

My secret?

I strategically reach out to bloggers in my niche.

And in this post I’m going to show you exactly how I do it, step-by-step.

About The Author

Hey, I’m Brian Dean.

I launched my blog in early 2013.

And despite publishing LOTS of content, I struggled to get traffic:

That’s when I decided to try blogger outreach.

And it worked!

Thanks to outreach, influential bloggers shared my content:

Left comments on my posts:

And linked to my site:

Which led to a dramatic increase in my blog’s traffic:

With that, it’s time for me to cover the steps that I used to get these results…

…and show you how you can do the same thing.

Step #1: Find Influential Bloggers

Your first step is to find a blogger to reach out to.

Here’s exactly how to find them:

First, find popular blogs on AllTop.

AllTop is a hand-curated directory of blogs.

For example, let’s say you run a blog about health and fitness.

Just head over to AllTop and you get a list of blogs in that space.

The best part?

Alltop has lists of blogs in EVERY niche, from SEO…

…to Formula 1.

Next, do a Google search for keywords in your industry.

Because there’s no fancy tool involved (just Google), lots of people sleep on this technique.

But I can tell you from experience that Google can be a GOLDMINE.

Here’s how to do it:

Search for informational keywords in your niche.

For example, let’s say that you run a blog about The Paleo Diet.

Information keywords around that topic would be things like:

• Paleo diet dessert recipes
• Losing weight on paleo
• Are avocados Paleo?
• Paleo cheat days

When you do, you’ll get a mix of blogs and “authority sites” (like Healthline).

For the sake of outreach, you can ignore any authority sites that you find.

Instead, focus on blogs that show up in the search results:

Third, use BuzzSumo to find key influencers.

To do that, just search in BuzzSumo with a broad keyword that describes your blog.

For example, if you ran a cooking blog, you’d search for broad terms like:

• Baking
• Cooking
• Desserts
• Recipes

And BuzzSumo will generate a list of bloggers:

If you want to get fancy, you can sort the results by number of followers, Domain Authority and more.

Instead, I recommend focusing on one metric:

Retweet Ratio.

This number tells you how often a blogger retweets someone else’s content.

Why is this important?

It helps you zero-in on relevant bloggers that are likely to share your stuff.

(More on that in step #3.)

So I recommend focusing on bloggers that have a Retweet Ratio of at least 5%.

Finally, check out “Best of” blog posts.

“Best of” blog posts lists the best blogs in a specific category.

Here’s an example:

I hope you can see why this is so powerful.

You get a list of high-quality and relevant blogs handed to you on a silver platter.

How do you find “Best of” blog posts?

Here are some search strings that work REALLY well:

• Best blogs [keyword]
• Best [keyword] blogs [year]
• My favorite [keyword] blogs
• [keyword] blogs to follow

This approach can help you uncover gems that you couldn’t find any other way:

With that, it’s time to…

Step #2: Research Your List of Bloggers

At this point, you should have a list of 20-50 bloggers to reach out to.

The question is:

WHO you should actually email?

Enter: blogger research.

Most outreach newbies skip this step… which is a HUGE mistake.

(Why? A lack of blogger research leads to wasted time, deleted emails and burned bridges.)

But when you take a few minutes to research the bloggers on your list, you’ll have much more success when you actually DO email them.

(More on that in step #5)

To get started, you’ll need to create a spreadsheet.

I like to keep things simple. So my spreadsheet has 6 total fields:

• Name
• Website
• Social media followers
• SEO authority
• Average comments
• Notes

Here’s an example:

If you use a tool like BuzzStream, you can skip the spreadsheet. Just create a project and add your influencers there:

At this point, you can already fill in: “Name” and “Website”.

Now it’s time to fill in the rest.

Social Media Followers

This couldn’t be simpler.

Grab the first blogger on your list… and see how many followers they have on ONE social network.

In other words, you don’t need to add up their followers on 10 different sites.

Instead, focus on the social network that’s most important for your industry.

So if you run a tech blog, that’s Twitter.

But if you’re on a health and fitness blog, it might be Pinterest or Instagram.

Either way, head over to their profile and add their follower total to your spreadsheet:

Domain Authority

If you’re using blogger outreach for link building, this step is a must.

I personally use Semrush Domain Authority Score to size up a site’s SEO authority.

But you can also use Moz’s Domain Authority.

Either way, this metric lets you know how much a link from that site will help your search engine rankings.

Number of Comments

There are plenty of bloggers that have a bazillion social media followers.

But when they publish a post…

Crickets.

Why is this important?

Comments tell you if a blogger has a strong, loyal community.

Which is especially important if you want to guest post on their site.

I’ll explain…

A while back I published a guest post on a well-known digital marketing blog.

This blog was a “household name” in the marketing world. But its best days were behind them.

(Some of their posts only got 2-3 total comments.)

Despite all that, I decided to write a guest post for that blog.

How many visits do you think that guest post brought in?

37!

A few months later I published a guest post for a MUCH smaller blog.

But this blog tended to get lots of comments on every post.

Because that blog had an army of loyal readers, that guest post brought me 981% more traffic than the “authority” blog:

So:

Now that you’ve researched your list of bloggers, what’s next?

Separate Your Bloggers Into 3 “Levels”

Level 1: These are elite bloggers that you dream about working with. The handful of heavyweights in your industry.

Level 2: Bloggers that have a strong following and get a decent number of comments on their posts. They’ve probably been blogging for a while.

Level 3: These are bloggers are just starting out… or who never hit the big time. They still regularly publish content. But they’re 50% smaller than Level 2 bloggers. In fact, your blog might be bigger.

Now that you have all the data in front of you, sorting your list of bloggers into levels should be pretty simple.

Either way:

Levels will help you A LOT in the next 2 steps.

Why?

Level 1 bloggers will require A LOT more warming up than Level 3 bloggers.

(In fact, you can sometimes email Level 3 bloggers right off the bat.)

With that step in the books, let’s move on to step #3.

Step #3: Get On Their Radar

As someone that’s sent over 5k outreach emails, I can tell you one simple truth:

If someone’s heard of you before, they’re MUCH more likely to respond.

And that’s where this step comes into play.

It’s a simple approach to get you on a blogger’s radar screen… BEFORE you email them.

Here’s how to do it:

Follow Them On Social Media

This is simple:

Just follow each blogger on all of the networks that they’re active on.

This is especially important if you say: “I’m a big fan of your blog” in your outreach emails.

And when they see that you follow them, they’ll know you’re a legit fan.

Comment On Their Stuff

Most bloggers (even Level 1 peeps) read comments.

So don’t be afraid to leave helpful, insightful comments on social media…

…and on their blog posts.

What do I mean by “helpful”?

Basically: a comment that adds to the discussion.

(Not: “Great post!”)

Here’s an example of an awesome comment that someone recently left on my blog:

Needless to say, that comment put David on my radar screen.

şr

This is another GREAT way to get on someone’s radar.

That said:

Most Level 1 and Level 2 bloggers get lots of shares on every post.

So you might need to share their content 3-4 times before they notice you.

Send an “I Love Your Blog!” Email

This is a more direct approach… but it can work REALLY well.

(In fact, this is how I got in touch with a handful of Level 1 bloggers in the early days of Backlinko.)

Here’s an example:

Notice how I don’t ask for anything.

That’s KEY.

Just say you appreciate their work.

If they reply, great.

If not, no worries.

Either way, you got your name in front of a big-name blogger.

Step #4: Find Contact Information

A lot of other blogger outreach guides skip this step.

Not this one 🙂

Here are 3 ways to find a blogger’s email address:

Hunter

Hunter has quickly become my go-to tool for finding email addresses.

Not only is the data super accurate… but you can use the handy Chrome Extension to find email addresses within your browser:

Voila Norbert

Similar to Hunter.io… but doesn’t have the awesome Chrome Extension.

Outreach Tools

Most outreach tools (like BuzzStream or GroupHigh) have some sort of email finder built right into it:

And if all else fails, you can always send your message through the blog’s contact form.

Step #5: Reach Out to the Bloggers On Your List

It’s finally time to start the actual email outreach process.

Now, to be clear:

The exact process depends on the type of outreach campaign you’re doing.

For example:

Outreach for a guest post pitch is MUCH different than asking for a share… which is MUCH different than an influencer marketing campaign.

With that, I’m going to show you how to execute the 4 most common types of outreach strategies:

• Guest blogging
• Share request
• Link request
• Partnerships

Let’s get started…

Get Your Guest Post Published

First, find blogs on your list that accept guest posts.

They might have a “write for us” page…

…or the occasional post from a guest author.

Next, look at what content has already worked well on that blog.

(In terms of topic, format, etc.)

For example, “Definitive Guides” (like this one) tend to work best on my blog.

Finally, reach out with your pitch.

(You can send from a company email or a Gmail account. It doesn’t really matter.)

Here’s a script that converts really well. Feel free to modify.

A few notes about this script:

• It’s VERY brief and to the point. No fluff or filler.
• It specifies the type of content that does best on their blog. This shows you did your homework.
• You’re only asking to look at your outline. This is a much smaller commitment than asking someone to agree to publish your post right off the bat.

Get Influential Bloggers To Share Your Content With Their Audience

First, take a look at the type of content that the blogger already shares.

Is it industry news? A case study? A guide?

Matching the content you promote with what a blogger already shares can 10x the odds that they’ll share it.

Next, send them this script:

A few notes about this script:

• This version doesn’t start off with “I love your blog”. But you can add that if you think that will butter them up.
• This script gives you a chance to let them know WHY you’re sending them a link to your post (specifically, it ties in well with what they already write about or share).
• Note how you don’t ask for a share. This is a Judo move that works wonders. People aren’t stupid: if they like your content they’ll share it.

Get Backlinks From Authority Blogs

Your first step is to find a specific place on their blog where your link makes sense.

In other words, DON’T ask someone to “link to you”, like this horrendous email I got a while ago:

For example, a while back I got a link from this list of link building resources on a popular SEO blog:

Considering that this page was literally a list of links, a link to one of my blog posts made perfect sense.

Here are other posts and pages that might be a good fit for your link:

• Top 20, 50 or 100 lists (for example: “50 Best Paleo Dessert Recipes”)
• Resource pages (for example: “Paleo Baking Resources”)
• Old blog posts (they usually have a broken link that the blogger can replace with your content)
• Content roundups (for example: “The best content I’ve read this month”)

With that, here’s a script you can use:

A few notes about this script:

• You’re making it easy for the person to add your link. You’re literally telling them EXACTLY where it should go.
• There’s no hard sell.
• Brief and to the point. No one likes 500-word emails. They’ll appreciate that you didn’t beat around the bush (whether or not they decide to add your link)

Partner With Big Name Bloggers

To be clear:

The exact approach here depends on the type of partnership you’re looking for.

(For example, outreach for a product review will be a lot different than collaborating on a video.)

With that out of the way, here are the steps:

First, be VERY specific about your ask.

I get tons of emails from people that ask me to “work with them” on vague projects.

And I always say “no”.

So before you send your email, get super specific about your project.

Next, identify the “next step”.

This makes it easy for the blogger to know their role in the project.

If you just say: “What do you think?” or “Want to hop on a call?”, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Instead, figure out exactly what you want them to do next.

For example, let’s say you want to work together on a video.

The next step might be deciding on a topic. Or creating an outline. Either way, have the next step picked out BEFORE you email them.

Finally, email them.

A few notes about this script:

• The first line gets straight to the point of your message.
• You let them know what they’ll get by partnering with you. This can be more traffic, exposure to your blog audience or a free product to review.
• The next step is laid out so the blogger doesn’t have to think: “If I agree, then what?”

Bonus Step #1: Pro Tips and Advanced Strategies

Here are a few advanced strategies and tactics that I’ve picked up over the years.

Expand Your Blogger List With Semrush

Semrush has a cool feature called “Competitors”.

Here’s how it works:

First, pop a site into Semrush.

And scroll down to “Main Organic Competitors”:

Click on “View details“.

This will show a huge list of websites that are competing for the same keywords:

Many of which make GREAT blogs to reach out to.

Create Content Bloggers WANT to Share

This is a step a lot of people skip.

And it hurts them.

In fact, you should study what other bloggers share… before you write a single word of content.

For example, a while back I noticed that lots of SEO bloggers were sharing content about optimizing your site for mobile SEO.

So I decided to create a guide dedicated to mobile optimization:

And because my content aligned with what people already shared, my post now has over 3,000 shares.

Personalize Your Outreach Emails

When I first started with cold emails, I relied 100% on email templates.

And I’d ONLY change the person’s name and the name of their site.

This led to generic messages, like this:

That’s when I decided to try VERY personalized outreach emails.

And it worked!

My reply rate increased by 50%+.

Yes, I still use scripts. But the scripts leave room for LOTS of personalization.

(That way they don’t look like a script.)

Don’t Follow Up

Can following up 18 times lead to more replies?

Yes.

But it ALSO leads to annoying the crap out of people.

(People that you want to build relationships with.)

That’s why I never send annoying follow up messages like this:

I email the person once.

If they get back to me? Great.

If not, no worries. I’ll try again in a few months.

Find People That Are SUPER Likely to Share Your Stuff

First, log in to BuzzSumo and find a piece of popular content in your space:

Then, hit the “View Top Sharers” button:

Boom!

You have a list of bloggers that shared that post on Twitter.

And if you publish something similar (but better), these folks are super likely to share your content too.

Speaking of…

Bonus Step #2: Blogger Outreach Case Study

Now it’s time to show you a case study of these strategies in action.

Specifically, you’re going to see how I got influential bloggers to share this post from my blog:

First, I grabbed my list of bloggers from Step #1.

And I pulled out bloggers from my list that talked about building an email list.

Next, I used BuzzSumo to find people that recently shared content about list building.

(This is the “View Top Sharers” tip I showed you before.)

And I downloaded that list into a spreadsheet:

Finally, I emailed each of them a personalized version of this script a few days before my post went live:

Why before?

Two reasons:

First, it shows that you’re not desperately trying to promote a piece of failed content.

Instead, you’re offering bloggers in your niche a sneak preview of your post…. before it even comes out.

Second, there’s no pressure to share your post.

Your post isn’t even live yet. So they can’t share it… even if they wanted to.

Anyway, because I only emailed people that were legit interested in my topic, they were happy to hear from me:

And I sent a link to anyone that replied to my first email:

Which led to a handful of shares from influential people in the content marketing space:

In the end, that post has over 13,000 shares and 300 comments.

Not bad.