BuzzStream Weekly Newsletter - Oct 17
We are a few weeks from Halloween, and I expect to see some spooky good content in the coming weeks!
This week’s newsletter features a link cost analysis, targeted outreach tips, and an interview with a second guest who has gone viral in the news: The PR Insider’s own Thea Chippendale. (Mark Rofe being the other, of course.)
We’ve also launched the 2024 State of Digital PR Survey and are collecting responses from digital PR professionals, which you can see below.
Enjoy!
?? 2024 State of Digital PR Survey
We’re collecting responses for our 2024 State of Digital PR Survey.
If you have done digital PR in the past 12 months, we’d greatly appreciate it if you could take the survey below.
It should only take a few minutes of your time.
?? The Cost of Link Building in 2024 (Analysis)
Whenever someone sends me a guest post or link insertion offer, I throw it into a spreadsheet.
Eventually, after the Helpful Content Update, I analyzed the data to get some average prices for building links.
The results may surprise you.
?? Freelance PR Tips from Thea Chippendale (The PR Insider)
Thea Chippendale runs the popular newsletter, The PR Insider .
She’s also gone viral twice.
And for the past year, she’s been a freelance PR.
I got to talk with her about what it takes to go freelance, how to build a support group, where to get ideas, what tools to use, and much more!
?? In Case You Missed It
Check out some recently posted content that you might have missed:
领英推荐
I was also part of a fantastic panel on Digital Olympus that discussed which links are making the biggest impact.
You can watch the replay on the link below:
?? Weekly Outreach Tip
Many say you have no control over the links you get from digital PR.
I'm afraid I have to disagree.
You have a great deal of control when you pitch to journalists, and you also have control from the start of the content ideation process.
Since people are usually paying you to build links, you should be laser-focused on the sites you contact so that they get the best value.
Here’s how:
1. Create content that is relevant to your brand
Starting from the top, this isn't precisely an outreach tip, but the further away from your brand, the less relevant your links will be.
So, in the ideation phase, you need to ensure your topic will bring in relevant links.
If you are a suitcase brand, you want links from travel sites, not sports sites.
2. Choose contextually relevant sites
When you evaluate a site to pitch, the first thing you should do is gauge its relevance.
High-end news sites should have strong enough category relevance.
If you don't see many articles written about your topic or the site buries the category, your link will likely not carry that much value.
3. Avoid sites that offer nofollow links
If your goal with digital PR is to boost your SEO, nofollow links provide little direct value. (They can send you traffic, but the post needs to feature your link prominently.)
If unsure, use a Chrome plugin like Nofollow, which highlights Nofollow sponsored links.
4. Avoid sites with affiliate links
Similarly, you've probably encountered sites with affiliate partnerships.
The best way to avoid this is to find out which sites you or your client has partnerships with.
Yes, you can lose some control
Of course, if your piece gets picked up and spread, you lose control. But that’s a good problem to have, right?
More links!
And since you’ve solidified the relevance, you should continue to pick up relevant links.
Rarely will you get organic spammy links that will hurt your SEO efforts. (And if you do, you can disavow them.)