Todd, Stuntdubl, does it again with this outstanding thread he coined Increase Your Link Request Conversion - Don't Do This! at Search Engine Watch Forums.
Ready for the bulleted list of do's & don'ts? If you do not do any of the following, then expect your link requests conversions to be lower then they need to be.
As a link request recipient, you can guarantee you'll be hitting my recycle bin if You:
- Don't use an e-mail from the site you are requesting a link for
- Write an e-mail that sounds like it could have been sent to 500 people
- Don't give your phone number
- Don't give your full name
- Obviously scraped a search result I know I rank for
- Mention PageRank
- Have to TELL me that your link directory is a resource
- Try to give me a reciprocal link on a links page
- Request a link on a page there are no other links outside of the site
- Canta speaka very good English or spel corectly
- Don't understand the value of a link
- Can't write more than a sentence long request
- Sent the e-mail to a "catchall" e-mail address
- Can't address me by my first name
- Call me "Dear Webmaster"
- Name any of your pages "links.html"
- Try to get 3 links from me the first time you talk to me
- Are not even CLOSELY related to my site
- Have nothing to offer in return
- Only TAKE from the wonderful world wide web
Do check out the thread for more helpful advice on Increasing Your Link Request Conversions.
