Guest blogging is a practice as old as the internet. You pitch an idea, and if they like it, you get a new byline and an opportunity to link back to your website. It’s a win-win, except if you’re new to blogging. It can be hard to get your pitches noticed.
Popular blogs get a lot of guest post proposals, and no one has time to go through and respond to all of them. If you can make your pitches stand out, you’re going to get a lot more guest blogging opportunities, which means more traffic for your website.
In this article, we’ll go over some reasons why it’s hard to get your guest post pitches noticed. Then we’ll walk you through three tips to ensure yours get the attention they deserve. Let’s get to it!
Why Your Guest Post Pitches Aren’t Getting Responses
If you are a site owner and your blog gets popular, you’re going to drown in guest post pitches. People will come crawling out of the woodwork for a chance to get links back to their website and the onslaught never ends.
Being on the receiving end of so much attention is flattering. However, going through all those pitches is impossible, unless you plan on devoting entire days to the process.
If you’re smart, you’ll use simple methods to weed out low-effort submissions. For example, a common tactic is to require guest post pitches to use specific titles when submitting an email. If the emails don’t contain the titles, the writer probably didn’t read the requirements thoroughly.
As a writer, this means that whenever you pitch a blog that has posting guidelines, make sure you pay close attention to them. If the blog you’re aiming for doesn’t have guidelines, then you need to do anything else you can to stand out among the rest of its suitors.
How to Send a Guest Post Pitch that Gets You Noticed (3 Tips)
Ninety-nine percent of the time, you’ll be pitching blogs via email. If you want your blog post proposals to get the attention they deserve, you need to make sure you hit the three points we’re about to discuss.
1. Show You Know What Their Website is About
A little flattery always goes a long way. Whenever I get in contact with a website to discuss a guest post, I like to open my message with a couple of lines on what I like about their work:
“I’m a big fan of your website and I particularly enjoyed the recent articles you published about how to choose the right web host for your WordPress website, which was much more in-depth than most other similar pieces.”
You have a limited amount of time to get the attention of the person sorting through pitches. The smart move is to show right away that you’re unlike the other applicants, in that you understand what their blog is about and what their best content is.
For extra points, I usually like to follow up with an example or two of content I’ve written for that blog’s niche, like so:
“Recently, I also published an in-depth case study about Bluehost hosting. We share very similar audiences, so I thought you might be interested in discussing a guest posting opportunity on your website.”
Short and to the point – that would be enough for a guest post proposal, but you might want to take it a bit further to reel them in.
2. Pitch an Idea Tailored Around Their Most Popular Content
At this point, you’ve already expressed your interest in writing a guest post for that example website. Now, you need to show that you can bring in real value.
The way I like to do this is by researching what that website’s top content is. Then, I can propose similar topic ideas, which are much more likely to pique their interest.
You can use a tool such as BuzzSumo to quickly find out what any website’s most popular blog posts are. All you have to do is enter the URL for the website you want to analyze and it’ll return a list of its most shared content on social media:
That report might not be as accurate if you’re dealing with a site that doesn’t have a social media presence. However, in today’s day and age, that’s highly unlikely.
Armed with that information, you can start brainstorming ideas and come up with the next part of your pitch:
“I noticed your readers seemed very interested in learning more about SEO. I’m working on an article about SEO guidelines for 2020 and beyond, and I think your readers would really enjoy it.”
That’s a hell of a hook by any standard, so now all that’s left is to put a bow on it.
3. Explain the Value to Their Audience
At this stage, the person reading your pitch probably already knows if they’re interested or not. Instead of pleading for attention, what I like to do is wrap up the proposal by breaking down the value of my idea for their audience:
“As you probably know, featured snippets are encroaching in on everyone’s organic traffic. I think there’s a lot of value in showing our readers how they can get their content to show up on featured snippets, so they can get more clicks.”
That’s a very SEO-specific example, but remember – you’re talking to someone that probably knows their niche inside and out. Showing expertise is a quick way to establish a rapport and show that you know what you’re talking about.
All that’s left to do is share a link to your blog so they can check it out for themselves, cap off your proposal politely, and wait for a reply to hit your inbox. If you did everything right, chances are it’ll come in a day or two.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect blog to submit a guest post to takes time. Once you’ve found it, you don’t want your pitches to go ignored, so you need to bring your A-game when you send that first email. If everything goes well, you can have a new guest post up and getting views in a matter of days.
Here are three quick tips to ensure your guest post pitches get the attention they deserve:
- Show that you know the website you’re pitching to.
- Pitch ideas tailored around that blog’s most popular content.
- Explain the value of your proposed article for their audience.
Do you have any questions about how to find guest blogging opportunities? Let’s go over them in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pixabay.