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How Not to Pitch a Guest Post: Four Mistakes and Five Things to Get Right - DailyBlogTips

How Not to Pitch a Guest Post: Four Mistakes and Five Things to Get Right - DailyBlogTips

How Not to Pitch a Guest Post: Four Mistakes and Five Things to Get Right

Posted: 15 Oct 2013 03:37 AM PDT

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If you've been around the blogosphere for more than a few weeks, you've probably come across the idea of guest posts.

A guest post is a piece of content that you write for someone else's blog. You'll normally get to have a short "bio" at the start or end of the post, which introduces you briefly and links back to your blog (or Twitter account, Facebook page or whatever you want).

Guest posts are a great way to:

  • Get your ideas in front of a bigger audience.
  • Bring new readers back to your blog.
  • Get high-quality links to your blog or website.
  • Build relationships with big-name bloggers.

You might be hesitant to guest post, especially if you're still quite a new blogger. In fact, you're almost certainly more ready than you think.

The first step to landing a guest posting opportunity is normally to write a pitch. Want the good news? Most guest post pitches are so poorly done that yours has a great chance of standing out.

Here's a guest post pitch I received a few days ago, for my blog Aliventures (which is about writing). It's typical of ones that come into my inbox. The sections in square brackets are where I’ve removed identifying details:

Heya!

Hope you are having an awesome day!

I would like to express my interest to submit a compelling  guest post.

All our articles are visually appealing & written with care and love and detailed research.

To get a feel for how I write, see the below posts I did for some quite authoritative sites:

  • [link to a post about iPhone models]
  • [link to a post about Facebook traffic]
  • [link to a post about URL shorteners]

Here are the articles I have available as of now.

[link to a spreadsheet of articles on Google docs]

This sheet is updated daily at 8am so you can check back anytime and request more articles ANYTIME.

Which one would you be most interested in?

Regards,

[John Smith]

 

There's sadly a lot wrong with this pitch.

#1: "John" doesn't use my name, he just writes "Heya!"

This is an instant clue that he's sending out the same email to masses of bloggers. (Another clue – and one I've seen a few times – is being addressed not as "Ali" but by another name… be careful with copy-and-paste.)

#2: The writing isn’t as good as I’d like.

To be fair here, John's email is pretty good. But the line "I would like to express my interest to submit a compelling guest post" is awkward: "express my interest to" isn't grammatical. (It should be "express my interest in guest posting" or similar.) John also switches between the first person singular (“I”) and plural (“we” – or in this case “us”).

#3: The articles listed have nothing to do with my blog Aliventures.

Although all the topics could just about be made relevant to writers (e.g. best iPhone model for writesrs), they're tangentially linked at best. I'd much prefer to see posts about aspects of writing, blogging or publishing.

#4: The GoogleDocs list covers a huge range of topics.

Would you rather have a guest post from an expert on your subject, or from someone who will write anything on any topic? I'm pretty sure you'd rather go for the expert – and so would I. Also, I'd prefer a guest post created just for my site, not a pre-written one.

 

So what can you learn from this?

  1. Don't email loads of bloggers at once. Choose a small number of target blogs and create personal pitches for each blogger.
  2. Focus your attention on blogs in your niche, so you can link to relevant posts you've written. Don't write for just anywhere that takes guest posts.
  3. Take real care over your pitch. It's the first example of your writing that your intended host blogger will see – and it needs to be as good as possible.
  4. Don't offer pre-written articles. Many bloggers will want to go back and forth with you on a pitch until they're happy with the topic and outline.
  5. Make an actual pitch. John doesn't even suggest a post idea for my site. While that's not necessarily a deal-breaker, it makes sense to offer a clear idea and outline up front. Don't waste a busy blogger's time.

 

Of course, writing a great pitch is just one step! Is there anything you'd like to ask about guest posting? Leave your question in the comments below, and I'll answer it in a future post.

 

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