Guest Blogging: 12 Golden Rules for Pitching Bloggers Effectively

Guest blogging has been an effective way to gain exposure and establish yourself as an expert in your niche. It helps with SEO link acquisition too.

When you decide to use the guest post strategy for promoting your business website or blog, make sure you do it in a way that make the web a better place and provides value to the readers.

Given the effectiveness of guest blogging for SEO link-building and gaining exposure as an authority figure in the niche, everyone is trying to get published on existing blogs. Most established blogs receive numerous guest post requests. If you want to use guest blogging effectively, you need to engage with the blog in a manner that you get published.

Here are 12 golden tips you should do to pitch bloggers effectively for guest blogging.

Editor’s Note: This article, originally published on 7 January 2011, has been revised to reflect the realities of the web after a decade. Despite its age, this article remains relevant even today.

1) Connect with blogs in your niche

Connect with blogs and websites that are in your niche. Don’t ask for guest posts from blog websites in unrelated niches.

If you want to get featured or published on a website, check for their editorial policies. Learn about the topics and niches covered on the blog. Many blogs have stopped accepting guest posts. Make sure that you have looked at the website and tried to ensure that the blog accepts guest posts.

2) Comment or subscribe to the blog

Once you have selected blog for guest posts, become an active member of the blog and comment on the posts before you pitch the blogger. This will help you to interact with the blogger and make him feel that you genuinely value his content. Try to add value to your conversations and establish a connection to make your pitch work in your favor. You may even subscribe to the blog a few weeks before you pitch bloggers.

3) Engage in meaningful conversations

Don’t just read and leave comments on the blog. In the modern day of social media, you need to follow the blog and/or the blogger on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Before you send an email request seeking a guest post, connect with the blogger. Don’t be a spammer. Engage in meaningful conversations. Leave comments and likes, but without appearing as a spammer.

4) Write a personalized email

Guest blogging pitches are often poorly crafted cold emails. Most of them have the same sentences and tone. Don’t use cookie-cutter templates for your guest post pitches.

With a plethora of SEO agencies spending countless hours seeking guest posts, you need to stand out. An email sequence sent automatically by a machine cannot compete with a well written email by a real person.

Learn about the blog and the person behind it, and then send an email that grabs the reader’s attention for being a real conversation with a real person.

5) Use the right details when you send an email

Try to put in the right details in the email which you send to pitch bloggers. If you just copy and paste an email you’ve earlier sent to another blogger, chances are that you may end up not changing the details. So, write a fresh mail and make sure you include the right details—the correct URL of the blog and the blogger’s name with the correct spelling.

6) Read articles on the blog website

Don’t send the same guest post request to random bloggers. Learn about the blog and blogger. Try to write an email that shows your familiarity with the blog. Don’t fake it.

As a blogger who receives numerous emails requesting guest posts, I hate it when people pretend to be “an avid reader” of my blogs.

Spend some time reading different articles on the blog where you want to get published as a guest blogger. Use your understanding of the blog to create an interesting pitch. Try complimenting the bloggers’ efforts and make them feel you’re aware of who you’re pitching to. However, make sure that you don’t sound unreal and pretentious.

7) Send out the right article pitch

If you pitch bloggers for guest posts, research the blogs to find out what topics are covered.

Check the blog for the topics that has been covered. Find what piece of information is missing on the blog. Choose a topic for the guest post that hasn’t been covered yet.

Checking out the blog will also give you an idea about the bloggers’ writing styles. So, when you write your email to pitch bloggers, you’ll find it easier to say something about their writing styles. You can even ask questions to show you’ve gone deeper into the topic covered in their blogs.

8) Introduce yourself but keep it brief

It is good to introduce yourself in one or two sentences, thus telling bloggers who you are and what you do. You can even speak about your blog. However, you should avoid writing a full bio as bloggers are busy and they have their schedules as well.

In the end of the email, you should include your name, designation, company name, email, phone, website, office/correspondence address, social media profiles, and other relevant contact details. If you have a professional email signature, your emails should include it.

9) Explain how the blogger will benefit

You need to make the blogger understand how he’ll benefit by helping you out. Only then he’ll be convinced that whatever you’re pitching is going to work for his blog and its readers. If you’d like to pitch a guest post, choose a relevant topic that can go viral and bring the blogger a lot of traffic and comments.

10) Avoid stalking but be polite and persistent

If you don’t get a respond from a blogger, you shouldn’t give up quickly. But this doesn’t mean you keep on contacting the blogger multiple times just to make sure he accepts your pitch. Give some time before you send a reminder email and inquire politely if he has received your first mail.

11) Give link to their posts or social mentions for free

If you’ve ever given a link to a blogger’s post, make sure he’s aware of it. This will create the impression that you know him and appreciate his work as well. Also, he’ll know that he may be getting some traffic through your blog. So, chances are that he may accept your pitch quickly.

Give a shout-out to the blogger on social media. You can also mention the blogger in your social media posts.

12) Got something exclusive to offer?

Sometimes, you can offer freebies to bloggers or reward their readers for a contest, on their behalf. This can help you establish a good relationship with the bloggers you’re pitching to.

If you’re offering to pitch a story, try finding out if you can present it from a new angle and can help to establish the credibility of the blog. Find out if you can take interviews of key personalities and have these published on the other blog. Such posts can draw in a good amount of traffic and are thus preferred by bloggers.

Here’s a sample cold email pitch for a guest post.

So, this is how you can send in your pitches and make things work for you. How do you pitch bloggers for guest blogging?