When outreach gets out of hand

We get a lot of nice links for our clients and I am sure the other individuals contributing to this piece will provide lots of good stories about how they got great links for themselves or their clients as well.

However, my favourite link building story serves as more of a cautionary tale. I can look back and laugh about it now but at the time I was seriously frustrated about the whole thing…

Back in 2012, I had a client who I was helping to connect with sports and outdoor activity publishers. The relevance was there and by and large the response was positive (and very effective).

There was one publisher though that I really wanted to get a link from because I knew there would be that gravitas for the client of being featured and there would almost certainly be some ongoing referral traffic.

This publisher was based in the US but covered their sport internationally. Now I knew I was chancing my arm to a certain extent offering to contribute a piece to their website (and magazine) about goings-on in this sport local to me since I certainly wasn’t proficient in the sport BUT I was local and figured I’d be able to research the rest and still be providing value that way.

The initial response to my outreach email was positive. They were delighted I’d got in touch and wanted me to write the initial coverage for an upcoming event that was taking place about an hour from me. And they were offering to pay me to do it.

I kicked back feeling like the smartest guy in the room; “I’m going to get a link for this client and then not even have to charge the client because the publisher is going to pay me.” I paused, double checked, then triple checked that the publisher would be happy to include details of the client I was working on behalf of because I felt there was definitely a strong relevance – they agreed.

The paperwork arrived and also entry passes for the event itself, I though “Oh they’ve sorted me a media badge or something”… Nope, it was a participant’s entry badge. Apparently agreeing to cover event meant I was going to take part and write it up afterwards.

I thought well it is a good link, they’re paying me, it’ll be a bit of fun and frankly I’ve come this far. How hard can this event really be?

Now I’m a fit and healthy guy but let me tell you it nearly killed me.

The event covers a distance of about 400 miles and obviously it is split into different legs with different team members tackling the different challenges.

It was brutal.

Anyway, we finished, I wrote up the adventure and submitted the piece. It was due for publication about a month afterward I believe. They sent me a copy of the magazine. Not a single mention of the client. I must have re-read the article 10 times to check I wasn’t missing something, I even flicked to the back to see if there was a mention elsewhere. Nada.

Later that week I got an email to say it had been cut from their online publishing schedule as well due to lack of space (do websites have a fixed amount of space for editorial?!!). Gutted.

Were they trying to screw me? No not at all. They paid up as agreed, I had a bit of fun, they got their piece and it is just the way old-school publishers work, things get cut, the person you deal with doesn’t necessarily have the authority to approve your requests and it’s the nature of the beast.

Let this serve as a cautionary tale though that when you are going for the big links, talking to ‘real’ publishers, the dynamic is very different – they don’t always understand what you are trying to achieve and many know they hold the cards since you are playing in their kingdom.

It hasn’t put me off reaching out to these kinds of publications or encouraging my team to do so but be VERY careful what you sign yourself up for!