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[Mistakes #7] Five Mistakes Bloggers Make with Guest Post Pitches - DailyBlogTips

[Mistakes #7] Five Mistakes Bloggers Make with Guest Post Pitches - DailyBlogTips

[Mistakes #7] Five Mistakes Bloggers Make with Guest Post Pitches

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:46 AM PST

This is the 7th post in our Mistakes series. If there's a topic you'd like to see us cover in this series (or one you'd like to guest post on) then please email ali@dailyblogtips.com.

As editor of DailyBlogTips, I get a lot of guest post pitches. And I'm sad to say that at least 90% of them are so poor that it only takes me a few seconds to decide to turn them down.

This is actually good news for you: by writing a competent pitch – not even a good one! – you'll be well ahead of most of the would-be guest posters emailing large blogs.

Here are the five most common mistakes that you need to avoid if you're going to successfully land a guest post opportunity:

Mistake #1: Getting the Blogger's Name Wrong

I'll admit that I've got a weird name ("Ali Luke" – the "Ali" is short for "Alison" and "Luke" is my surname) … but 60 seconds of research would tell guest posters that I'm not called Luke!

It also surprises me how many people leave my name off entirely. (It makes it really obvious that they're sending out the same email to loads of bloggers.)

Fix it: Always double-check the blogger's name and make sure you get the spelling right. If you're copying and pasting from an email to someone else, triple-check that you changed the name at the start. (Yes, I've even had emails addressed to someone else entirely.)

Mistake #2: Writing a Generic Introduction

Hi,

I really enjoyed reading your blog dailyblogtips.com – it's full of great information. I would like to write a guest post for you.

That wouldn't be the worst start to a guest post pitch I've received, but it doesn't fill me with confidence. It sounds like something that could be written to any blog (and putting the URL in there makes it seem like it's come from a spreadsheet).

Would-be guest posters often write very generic introductions. Even if they use words like "amazing" or "brilliant", it doesn't sound very convincing if they don't give any indication that they've actually read the blog in question.

Fix it: Submit guest posts to blogs that you already know and love. Tell the blogger about a recent post you enjoyed, mention how you met them at a conference, or make some other genuine connection.

Mistake #3: Making Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

While most bloggers will edit guest posts, no-one wants a guest post that's riddled with errors – it can take longer to edit the post than to write a new one.

A surprising number of the pitches I get have several basic spelling and grammar mistakes. This is really off-putting, and is usually enough for me to turn down the pitch. (If that sounds harsh, look at  it this way: I get several guest post pitches every day and only run one guest post every week or two. Even if the pitches are good, I still have to reject quite a few.)

Fix it: Always proof-read your pitch before sending it. You might find it helps to print it out – sometimes mistakes leap out on paper but seem invisible on the screen. If English isn't your first language, or if you know your spelling and grammar tend to be poor, get a friend to check over your guest post pitch for you.

Mistake #4: Pitching Off-Topic Ideas

You'd think it's pretty obvious what "DailyBlogTips" is about, wouldn't you? Yet I get guest post pitches for all sorts of topics which simply aren't relevant – like online gaming or running an ecommerce store.

Granted, a few of our readers might be interested in these topics – but if the guest poster took the trouble to look at our categories and glance through a few posts, they'd see that they aren't topic we cover.

Fix it: Aim to write guest posts for blogs within your own niche, so that the topics you want to write on fit with the topics they want to publish posts about. If you're writing for a blog slightly outside your niche, look for a common point of interest.

Mistake #5: Not Including Links to Previous Work

While this isn't as big a mistake as the others, it still harms your chances of getting a guest post accepted. If you don't include any links to your previous work, the blogger will rely solely on your pitch to determine how good (or not!) your writing is.

Some guest posters will say that links are available on request, but it's quicker for the blogger (and for them) to simply include the links in their initial pitch.

Fix it: When you pitch a guest post, include at least two (preferably three) links to good guest posts that you've written. If you haven't written any guest posts yet, link to the best posts on your blog – not to your blog's homepage.

Have you come across any guest post pitching mistakes – either as a would-be guest poster or as a host blogger? Let us know about them in the comments…

 

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