Before you get started with your outreach, you first need to figure out who the major players in your niche are.

This can take time, depending how well you know your niche. Here are some tips for finding the people you're looking for:

1. Type some of your main keywords into Google and make note of which sites seem to be coming up often. Those guys you really want to beat. They'll be your new friends.
2. Look on Twitter (type your keywords or niche name) for people with big followings. (Follow some of their followers while you're at it).
3. Look in G+ Communities. Find the large communities and see who is posting often.
4. Look at other sites in your niche and see which ones they are often linking to. When I first saw Doug Cunnington's site I wasn't sure if he was a "big deal", but I found that at least 4 other big guns in my niche were linking to him regularly, so I knew he was doing something good.
5. Check forums to see who gets linked to or mentioned often.
6. Check Podcasts. Usually people with a regular podcast have a large following.

Now you're going to start reaching out to them.

This doesn't involve using their email address or contact form. Not yet. Let them notice you a bit first.

Before I mention what you should do, I'm going to mention some things I've seen people recommend that often don't work (in my experience):

Dont's

1. Re-tweet and share their work on social networks. Don't Bother.

Honestly if you are a major player you're going to get retweets all the time and you won't notice somebody just because they've done this. It won't get you on their radar. You can still do it when they've got stuff worth sharing though.

2. Send them an email directly. It might work, but it's not likely to get you immediate actions (sometimes it does, so you CAN try it, but be prepared to fail).

3. Leave a comment and expect them to be your new best friend.

Do's

So here are things you SHOULD definitely do, and you can start right away.

1. Sign up to their list.

Whatever it is, sign up to it, and wait. In some niches people send a "How can I help?" email. Reply to it and just reach out. I made really good friends with Stuart Walker from nichehacks.com because I replied and said:

"Hey, I don't really need help as such, I'm just a big fan of what you do..." then I told him what I do, and why I liked his site, and we bounced emails about. Later he linked to my site from a few of his posts and tweets my stuff often (I do the same).

If they don't have a "How can I help?" email, just reply to one of their other emails. They'll surely hit you with something. Just let them know you like their stuff and tell them that you're doing a site in the niche too and are looking to befriend some other guys who are doing good things.

Flattery works.

2. Follow them on Twitter.

Some people you won't know how to reach out to via email. It happens. I wanted to email Tung Tran (cloudliving.com) with an idea I had, but wasn't sure how to do it. I hit him up on Twitter:

Yeah...I'm terrible at flirting :)

Later I read another of Tung's posts and hit him up again with a comment on it (I kept it in the same conversation thread) and we were able to keep our conversation going for a week or so. That's when I reached out to him with an email.

This Twitter strategy might not work for everyone, it depends how active they are and how open they are, so just bear in mind that some people you'll hit it off with and others will take a week to reply, that's just the way it goes.

Sidenote: Twitter is amazing for networking. Sharing your posts is OK too, but I've found it great for reaching people I want to befriend.

3. Leave comments and reply to their replies.

I always remember people who return to my blog to leave follow-up comments. I think it's an ego-thing "Wow they really love me!".

Not only that, it gives you an excuse to keep the conversation going.

Always be complimentary. I love just saying "Man every time I come here you blow my mind".

Obviously I don't want to sound like an idiot though, so I'll reserve it for their best content ;)

4. Be Patient.

Getting on their radar is good, but you don't want to launch straight into an "Ask". Just let them know you're around. When you DO send them that ask later, they'll be more likely to open the email.

5. Be Creative.

If you're patient and you follow them for a while, you'll get an idea of their style and what they offer. This will give you ideas for how to reach out to them later.

The main thing is to keep trying. Don't pester them though. I mean don't be afraid to get rejected, and practice on a few other people before going for the biggest guns.

I reached out to Pat Flynn first and got a courteous reply, but there was no way he was going to start becoming my best friend when he's busy enough as it is.

On the next page we're going to look at how to brainstorm post ideas. These types of posts are known as Ego Bait or Link Bait.