ProBlogger: Community Discussion: Guest Post Pitching Strategies

Community Discussion: Guest Post Pitching Strategies

Posted: 27 Nov 2016 05:00 AM PST

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 http://www.problogger.net/” – 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?

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