Writing guest posts
for other blogs is a great way to increase traffic to your blog. It's a
popular blog marketing and content marketing tactic that can have a
significant effect on your blog's reach, but you'll waste a lot of time
and effort if you're sending guest post email pitches that end up in recipients' trash.
Instead, make sure you send compelling guest post email pitches by
using this 10-step checklist for bloggers. Not only will your guest post email pitches get noticed but they'll also get positive responses.
The sender's email address matches the blog URL.
Many companies outsource their blogger outreach activities, including pitching and writing guest posts, to freelance writers, content marketing companies, social media companies, or search engine optimization companies. As a result, pitch quality suffers. One of the biggest red flags that seasoned bloggers look for in guest post email pitches is the sender's email address. They want to confirm that someone who owns, works for, or writes for the blog is actually sending the pitch.If a veteran blogger receives a guest post pitch from a Gmail account or an account associated with a marketing or SEO agency or third party company, it's highly likely that the pitch will go directly in the trash. That's because this type of pitch is most often associated with link-building mills and "spammy" websites and content. The blogs using these services might not even know that is the perception. In other words, they're wasting their money because the positive responses they do receive to these pitches won't come from the high quality sites they need to effectively increase traffic to their blogs through guest posting.
Your pitch follows all of the blog's guest publishing rules.
Do your research before you send a guest post pitch to a blog. Visit the blog and search for guest post submission guidelines, and follow those rules very carefully.Popular bloggers who take the time to publish these guidelines use them to reduce the number of low quality and spam submissions they get and to quickly purge low quality pitches. In other words, if you can't be bothered to look for and follow the guest post submission guidelines, the blogger will instantly click the delete button when he sees your email pitch.
You're pitching from a high quality blog.
If you're making a guest post pitch from a low quality blog, then it's highly unlikely that a popular blog will accept your pitch. That's because linking to and from a low quality blog can damage the popular blog's search rankings and search traffic.Keep in mind, low quality is not the same as low traffic. You don't have to pitch from a well-trafficked blog to get a positive response, but the content on that blog needs to be good.
You're pitching highly relevant and high quality content.
Again, do your research and learn what the content on the blog you're pitching is about and what the audience is interested in. Your guest post pitch must offer content that is highly relevant, useful, and meaningful to the blog's audience. Make sure your pitch is written very well, because it's a direct reflection on the quality of the content you'll provide in your guest post.Your pitch is not passive.
Never start your guest post email pitch with a passive opening such as, "I'm sorry to bother you," or "I know you're busy." In fact, these types of phrases should never be included in any part of your pitch. Instead, use active messages. If your pitch is good enough, then you're not bothering the recipient. Make sure it's good enough.You've clarified that your post will be 100% original.
It never hurts to mention that your post will be 100% original and never be published elsewhere online. It gives the recipient peace-of-mind that they're not wasting their time by considering your pitch. That's because publishing duplicate content can damage the search rankings and traffic to all blogs and websites where that content appears as well as to any sites linked to from the content of the post.You've explained that your post will not be self-promotional.
It's always a good idea to clarify that your post will not be self-promotional, but it will be useful to the blog's audience. You can expect to receive a link back to your blog's home page in your published guest post. That's how guest blogging works. Keyword links and multiple links to specific pages on your blog can be considered spammy, and many bloggers will not publish your guest post or consider future submissions from you if you self-promote or include numerous links in it.You haven't tried to butter up the recipient by saying how great their blog is.
Novice bloggers might be happy to read a guest post email pitch that praises their brilliant blog, but bloggers who've been at it for a while and understand how guest blogging works will click the Delete button when a guest post like this appears in their in boxes.The reason is simple. This tactic is usually used by content mills and SEO-link building campaigns. It's highly unlikely that the sender has ever even visited the blog he or she is pitching. This approach to blogger outreach and guest post pitching worked several years ago before guest posting became an abused SEO tactic and an industry unto itself, but it doesn't work with quality blogs anymore.
You didn't include links to random content on the blog to pretend you read it.
Never include a random link to a blog post on the recipient's blog in an attempt to show you've read the blog. For example, don't include a sentence that says something like, "I really enjoy reading your content and particularly liked the insights you shared in http://www.arandompstURL.com."Like buttering up the recipient discussed above, this is a tactic that worked in the early days of guest blogging but doesn't work anymore. Instead, pitch a fantastic guest post. That's how you get noticed and get positive responses to your guest post email pitches.
You didn't explain how the blog will benefit from publishing your guest post.
This checklist item is most important when you're pitching high quality blogs that are well-trafficked, because these bloggers fully understand how guest blogging works. They know that allowing you to publish content on their blogs will help you more than it will help them.Don't explain that they'll get free content and you'll promote your guest post to drive traffic to it. Don't say that you'll talk about the post on your own blog giving them a valuable incoming link. Popular bloggers know that publishing guest posts can often lead to more harm then good. They want to know that you're going to write amazing content for their audience, and that's what your pitch should focus on.
Ref http://weblogs.about.com