As the editor of ProBlogger for the last three years, you can imagine I’ve seen every. pitch. ever. when it comes to guest posting.
The most I see (and immediately delete) are the ones that are copied and pasted straight from a template, with a couple of ProBlogger links inserted, and obviously emailed to all and sundry in the hopes something might be successful.
Things I often see that are a complete turnoff:
- Pitching to “webmaster”
- Starting with “I recently stumbled across your blog” – I can’t be sure you’ll write a great post tailored to our audience if you haven’t bothered to read our blog or get familiar with it first
- Writing “I really enjoy reading your blog https://problogger.com/” – I know our URL! Including it in your pitch isn’t necessary
- Telling me you’ve read a post on x topic on our site, but it was missing a few things and you’ve magically written a better one and did I want to post it? No thanks!
- Poor spelling, grammar or otherwise unfamiliar with English
- Wanting to post solely to get backlinks to your site without offering any kind of useful content for our readers
Honestly, I could go on and on.
On the flip side, I’ve seen some fantastic pitches that make me feel like I’m talking to a real person, who cares about our site and wants to produce a mutually-beneficial transaction. They’ve taken the time to read and get to know us, and have made the effort to tailor the pitch appropriately. Their ideas are well-thought-out and genuine. These pitches make me happy.
We’ve written over the years on guest posting and how to do it well (because when it’s done well, it can do wonders for your brand awareness and your traffic). Posts like How I Turned a Guest Post into 3 Million Visitors and Over 150,000 Social Media Shares, Grow Traffic to Your Blog Through Guest Posting and Creating Content for Other Blogs, Forums, Media and Events, 5 Ways to Creatively Brainstorm Guest Post Ideas, and alllll of these. We teach you how to do it the right way with posts like: Why You Have a Better Chance of Landing a Guest Post Than You Think (and How to Do It), Are You Making These Mistakes With Your Guest Posts?, Looking to Guest Post on Authority Sites? Here’s How to Find the Best Blogs. Guest posting can’t just be dialled in, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.
We all love hearing success stories though, so decided to ask where you’ve guest posted and what was it about your pitch that got you over the line? What has been the result of your guest posting on bigger sites in your niche? What would you recommend to newbie bloggers just starting out with guest posting?
I’m really looking forward to checking out all the posts you listed here about guest blogging, as it’s definitely something I want to tackle more seriously in the next few months. What I’ve had some success in so far has been finding blogs that I love and interacting genuinely through social media or commenting–this has gotten me 2 invites to guest post over the last couple of months (I didn’t even pitch them). It’s definitely important to take a long-term approach, whether you’re thinking about guest posting or collaborating with brands or any other relationship.
Can’t agree more, Naomi! I find that being an engaged reader or interacting lots really helps you stand out and prove your authenticity. Well done!
When I’m looking to become a guest poster on a new site I absolutely DO NOT start by sending in a guest post. That’s like showing up with a wedding ring to a blind date. It just doesn’t work – or at least most of the time. Instead I will start by becoming commenting actively with the site. This way my name starts to become a regular in their world. More than that, they can begin to trust that I will provide solid niche targeted content that is grammatically correct.
In-other-words, I start by building the relationship. Once this has been established I will reach out and offer the idea of myself becoming a guest blogger for them. Even at this point, I am not so presumptive as to submit something but rather ask for permission instead. As part of this eMail I also ask if there is anything special that they need from a guest post.
Bottom line, I empower the site itself to have complete control by being actively engaged with their world before expecting them to become actively engaged with mine.
A round of applause for this comment! This is the way to do it.
Hehe, bang on.
When I get guest post pitches with the lines of “I really like your blog”, “I just found your blog and I want to contribute”, I get a laugh.
Guest posting is NOT a link building machine. Don’t treat it like that.
Instead use for building relationships with the influencers in your industry. You can get better results that way.
You’re absolutely right – it’s ALL about the relationship. It speaks volumes and gets you much further.
Wowww.. I am going to start guest posting now very soon. I was being lazy for writing in others blog. I will take it professionally now.
It can be fantastic when done right!
Hey Stacey,
We should have patient for guest post because sometimes it takes weeks or months for getting our guest posts accepted we need to follow up with editors and shouldn’t try to flood them with so many emails. Eventually, thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with us.
With best wishes,
Amar kumar
Ah yes, I agree totally!
I get hit with the template guest post pitches 2-3 times per week … it is getting annoying.
Well thanks Stacey for sharing.
I have to admit. No other thing annoys me most like someone spamming and those template guest post pitches. We recently started accepting guest posts on my blog and the most we get are auto generated pitches with copy paste posts with little edits from from other blogs. This is so disgusting. So like an editor, any possible ways to spot such spam and template pitches?