Why SourceBottle Is a Must-Have For MSPs
Having an effective marketing scheme is crucial to the success of any MSP. However, the most important question is: How to create an effective marketing plan? When it comes to generating reliable, organic traffic, nothing can surpass SEO. In most cases, whether your SEO campaign is successful or not depends on the quality and quantity of backlinks you are able to build.
There's no shortage of information online regarding link building. However, in this blog post, we'll delve into a unique, fresh, and creative ways for MSPs to get high-quality backlinks, without incurring any cost on our part.
What Is SourceBottle?
SourceBottle is a service that connects journalists and writers with sources in a completely free manner. Most journalists need to find quality, verifiable sources to back up their stories or give them ideas to write about. Instead of having to do an online search for businesses in the niche they are writing about, then narrow down to a list of preferred contacts and then personally reach out to those sources, journalists can save time and effort using SourceBottle. SourceBottle is the middleman that connects both sides of the equation.
How Does SourceBottle Work?
How SourceBottle works depends on which side of the equation you are on. Even though most of us here are MSPs looking to be quoted, we'll look at both sides to have a clearer idea of how the system works:
For Writers and Journalists:
- Post a call out for sources completely free.
- Select the kind of sources you want: topics and source countries.
- Select how you want to be contacted (SourceBottle may forward all responses to your email on file without storing them on their system).
- Select a deadline for your call out (your post will be removed 24 hours after the deadline passes).
- Sit back and wait for sources to come to you.
For Businesses and PRs:
(All the services for businesses and PRs involve a recurring monthly fee. There are two ways business and PR agencies can participate in SourceBottle)
- Subscribe to 'Find a Case Study'.
- Post a call out for case studies to receive pitches from journalists and bloggers.
- Select source countries and method of distribution.
- Select your deadline.
- Decide your preferred contact method.
- Sit back and wait for leads to come to you.
Or you can:
- Sign for 'Find Giveaways" alerts.
- Post your own Giveaways request.
- Select source countries and method of distribution.
- Select preferred method of contact.
- Choose a deadline (like in all cases, requests passing the deadline will be removed 24 hours after).
- Sit back and wait to receive leads.
For Sources:
- Create an account for free and set up preferences such as source countries and call out topics so that SourceBottle can better match your profiles with available requests.
- Sit back and wait to receive Drink Up! emails which contain a summary of available call outs for sources related to your chosen topics.
- Access the call out by following the link in the email.
- Respond to the request online if you are interested.
Their email alerts are usually sent out once a day, on weekdays, so you don't have to worry about inundating your inbox with a ton of alerts from SourceBottle.
Apart from waiting for their email alerts, you can view a list of current call outs in your dashboard and respond to them directly on the site.
How Will SourceBottle Help You Market Your IT Service?
We all know how competitive the managed service sphere is. To stand out and win more clients, you need to establish yourself as a trustworthy leader in the field. In an online world, many times being a leader in a niche all comes down to how many times people mention you or link back to you. That's the power of backlinks. Google and other search engines use them to determine your organic rankings.
Just like in a real world where a person which many people know or who has a lot of connections is an important person, your website will enjoy a boost in organic search results if you manage to get high-quality backlinks. Keep in mind the word "high-quality". We don't mean just any mention or backlinks from anyone. Getting mentioned in a national newspaper is surely more prestigious than getting mentioned in a local one.
Since SourceBottle works with many journalists and bloggers looking for sources for their next article/post, it can help get you mentioned in prestigious publications without much effort on your part. You don't have to do your own research and personally contact every news agency/publication in the area to introduce yourself. Getting coverage becomes a lot easier when you let opportunities come to you, at the right time. Since these journalists are already working on the assignment, that's why they put a call out for sources to include in it. You'll get a quality backlink from a prestigious publication that Google loves. What's more, readers might find out about your service reading the article and since you are already quoted as an expert in the field, they are more likely to contract your service.
How to Present Yourself in Your Response
Whether the journalist will reply to your response is not guaranteed, however, how you present yourself in the response has a lot to do with the reply rate. Make it a formal elevator pitch that you can proudly use anytime you want people to learn about your business without getting too wordy. Journalists need to have a feel that you are an expert in the field and have meaningful thoughts to share to decide to use you as their preference point.
As you can see, SourceBottle is a powerful tool in the MSP's marketing arsenal if used correctly. If you are new to marketing or don't know how to apply this new-found knowledge to your existing campaign, don't hesitate to contact us. We are here to help you step up your marketing plan so that you can surpass your business goals and aim for even more.
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