Writing guest blogs is a great way to get your writing (and name) out to a wider audience. So how do you pitch for guest slots?
Let’s clear one thing up straight away – just because you send an idea or a post to a blogger and ask them to publish it, doesn’t mean they have to accept it. It’s their blog so its their right to choose if they want to have guest bloggers, the type of post they publish and the type of tone/approach they want for their readers.
So how do you pitch your ideas?
A bad start
If you want to impress the blogger and build a relationship with them, here’s what not to do:
- Send in a post asking for it to be published without researching their blog first
- Constantly chasing them when you don’t hear anything
A good start
The first thing to do is research: find blog(s) that you can write for. If your posts are going to be interesting and relevant you’ll need some background knowledge and experience in the niche you’re writing about. Once you’ve found some read the posts and make a note of their tone/approach/subject matter.
Once you’ve done that you can think about making contact.
First of all email them to find out if they would be interested in receiving a guest post from you. Tell them about yourself and why you think you can write stuff that would be of interest to their readers. Then suggest a few titles and ask which they feel would be beneficial to their readers.
Do not start with a list of demands – i.e. you want a certain number of links etc.
Just having your name shown on their blog should be motivation enough. After all, if your post is good people will search for you. But if the blog owner offers you a link, accept graciously.
You’re off
They like your ideas and have asked you to submit a post.
You already know the voice and tone to adopt, so make sure your post is interesting, well thought out and contains plenty of subheadings so its easy to read.
If there is even the slightest whiff of a sales message within it, it will be rejected and you’ll scupper any chances you had of submitting further posts.
Finally, check and double check for errors.
If your submission is accepted thank them. See how it’s received by their readers and then offer them another post and start to build a relationship.
As the owner of a couple of blogs I know how valuable good guest bloggers can be – but getting on that ‘good’ list is tough.