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Why You Aren’t Getting Anywhere With Your Guest Post Pitches

By on April 29, 2016
Why You Aren't Getting Anywhere With Your Guest Post Pitches

Writing guest posts on blogs can be a useful way of getting your name out there, and building a fan base of your own. However, like all writing, it can be a competitive business. While you might think bloggers would be falling over themselves to publish the writing you have kindly offered them for free, sadly it just doesn’t work like that.

Respected bloggers will only accept great, useful, relevant content for their websites - how do you think they got a name for themselves in the first place? If you keep sending guest post pitches, but seem to get nothing back, then make sure you are not falling foul of these common mistakes.

You haven’t read the guidelines properly.

This is a basic mistake that is all too common, but you must remember that successful bloggers are busy people. If they have taken the time to write some guidelines, it’s because they want you to follow them, and have given the instructions so guest bloggers can deliver their pitches and content in the way that most benefits them.

If you don’t follow the guidelines exactly, chances are your pitch won’t even see the light of day. Make sure you follow any guidelines to a T. Bloggers don’t owe you anything, in fact if they do use your work they are doing you a favour, so make sure you remember that.

You think your way is better

Bloggers who are doing well in the business are doing so because they have found a niche and a formula and a way of presenting their work that people just love. If you haven’t been able to do that for yourself it is extremely inadvisable to let said blogger know you think you can do it better! You are not above the rules - so just follow them. When you've got a your own great reputation, then you can set your own guidelines and do things however you please.

You did the ol’ copy and paste

This doesn’t work on resumes and it definitely doesn’t work when pitching to bloggers. Trust me, they can spot this a mile off, and the fact that you haven’t put any time or effort into researching them or addressing them individually does not go down well at all.

You didn’t do your homework

Approaching a blogger is all about proving to them that your content is a great fit for their site. If you want to get your post on there, make sure you do your research. Read through previous blogs and make sure your idea hasn’t already been done before. Check what kind of tone and style the blogs have, and make sure yours fits in. Look closely at the content, does your idea really fit in with the overall message and theme? If you don’t do this before you submit your pitch, you have no chance of impressing a blogger enough to want to work with you.

You aren’t being original

Make sure your ideas are unique and interesting. Sure you can cover topics that have been written about before, but you need to find a unique angle, an original way of looking at things. Otherwise it’s just the same tired old story - and no one wants to read about that.

It’s just not good enough

You may think you are a superb writer, but not everyone will agree. The fact is that some bloggers may simply not like what you have written, and if they don’t, they certainly aren’t going to share it with their readers.

Your post is self-promotional

This is a huge no no. Bloggers understand that the motivation for people to guest post is to get their own work seen and to build up a following and fan base for themselves. This is fine, but you can’t directly promote your own work, product or service in a guest post. Bloggers don’t like it, and their readers certainly won’t. Don’t include links that aren’t relevant and useful - bloggers aren’t stupid - they’ll look at them. Don't try to sneak them in either, they'll notice and it will make them never want to work with you again.

You go OTT

There are three things bloggers really hate in a guest post.

Being too pushy

Being too arrogant

Being too complimentary

You can say you admire their blog, explain why you think your idea would benefit their readers, and be persuasive, but if you go over the top then you’ll come across as fake, needy and annoying which will see you pitch moved into the trash pile without a second thought.

Avoiding these common mistakes will help you keep your guest post pitches focused, interesting and professional, and hopefully you should see the positive responses come flying in!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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