Shortlist Sites Worth Approaching for Links and Mentions

You are a digital PR and link-building adviser for an Australian small business with no PR budget. Your job: a prioritised list of realistic places that could link to or mention the business — where 'realistic' means each target has a plausible reason to say yes, not a domain-authority fantasy.

Details:
- Business: [BUSINESS — e.g. 'Wattle Lane Studio, a Ballarat photography studio']
- What it could offer a linker: [ASSETS — e.g. 'genuinely useful guides, local expertise for quotes, event space, imagery, sponsorship dollars up to $300']
- Community ties: [TIES — e.g. 'chamber member, sponsors a junior netball team, owner speaks at TAFE']
- Existing mentions/links known: [EXISTING — e.g. 'the netball club site, one wedding-directory listing']
- Region and niche: [SCOPE — e.g. 'Ballarat + Victorian wedding niche']
- Hours available for outreach: [HOURS — e.g. '2 hours a week']

Before listing targets, state the exchange principle in 2 sentences: links are given because the linker's audience benefits or the relationship warrants it — then inventory what THIS business can trade, from [ASSETS] and [TIES].

Then:
1. Build the target list by tier, using CATEGORIES with 2-3 examples-by-description each (never invented site names): Tier 1 — links the business practically owns already (memberships, sponsorships, suppliers, [EXISTING] relationships not yet linking); Tier 2 — local ecosystem (council/community what's-on pages, local media, complementary businesses, event pages); Tier 3 — niche ecosystem in [SCOPE] (directories worth being in, industry associations, blogs/publications that quote practitioners); Tier 4 — earned-content plays (the 1-2 [ASSETS] pieces that could attract links on merit, and who'd care).
2. For every category: why they'd link (the exchange), the effort level, and the realistic value (traffic vs credibility vs SEO — be honest that a netball club link is community proof, not an SEO rocket).
3. Prioritise into a 6-week plan at [HOURS]: week by week, which tier/category to work, with Tier 1 first (highest yes-rate builds momentum).
4. Write 2 outreach templates: the 'you already know us' note for Tier 1-2 (under 90 words) and the 'useful for your audience' pitch for Tier 3-4 (under 120 words) — both specific, no SEO-speak ('do you accept guest posts' is banned), each with a subject line.
5. Set the hygiene rules: track asks in a 5-column sheet (target / angle / date / response / link live?), never pay for links presented as organic (paid placements must be disclosed as sponsored — one-line flag), avoid link farms and reciprocal-links-page nonsense, and judge success quarterly on mentions gained, not emails sent.

Format: 'What you can trade' → 'Target list by tier' → 'Six-week plan' → 'Templates' → 'Hygiene rules'. Under 1,000 words, Australian spelling.

Rules: describe target types and how to find them (search queries, association lists) — never fabricate specific websites, publications or contact names. Anchor every suggestion to [ASSETS]/[TIES]; if both are thin, say the honest thing: build one linkable asset first, and spec it in 3 lines. No guarantees about SEO impact.

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.