There has been a trend in my inbox lately with people who would like to guest post on my blog. I’m starting to treat it all like spam because like spam the pitches are completely irrelevant to my content. I got so frustrated by each pitch that I started answering these requests with some requests of my own. So here are ways in which you can guest post for my blog.
1. Understand the blog that you are pitching to.
Have you actually read the blog or at least the last 5 posts?Have you left a relevant comment on at least one of those posts? Have you gotten to know the author of the blog?How about the About page, have you even glanced at that?
If you have answered no to even one of those questions don’t even bother pitching to me to guest post on my blog. You don’t know me and you haven’t gotten to know me or who my audience is or how I write.
2. Don’t make me go on a scavenger hunt.
So you’ve written for a ton of blogs and guest posted everywhere, so what. I’m not going to go and hunt for your stuff so that you can write a guest post for my blog. Attach two to three of your best posts of give me the direct links to those. Make sure that they are relevant to my blog or at least explain that you are a very versatile writer.
3. Write a Sample Post or the Actual Post
The thing with this is do the work. If you have gone out and found out as much as you could about a my blog then take a chance and write something great and relevant to me. Write me something that you think my audience would enjoy reading. I understand that you are taking a chance here, a chance that the post will be rejected, a chance that it will be taken and used and you won’t get credit. It is a risk but a bold one that would get you noticed and probably get your guest post published.
4. Do not put your affiliate links in the guest post.
You are a guest here, this is not the time to go and sell your wares.
5. Put a closing paragraph about yourself.
Your closing paragraph or your about the author paragraph should probably have three links total on it. Link to your blog, Twitter Account and your about page. This should be short and to the point about who you are, how to contact you and where you blog. Include a 125X125 photo of yourself so that the blogger that you want to guest for can add that at the end or beginning of the post. No logos, be a person.
Basically if you wanted to guest post for my blog you’d open with a paragraph that let me know that you knew who I was and at the same time tell me who you are and what you are about. The next paragraph would be about how your guest post would be relevant to my blog including links to your best work or even better you include the post you’ve written for me. If you haven’t written a guest post and you are deciding what to write, ask me what I might want you to write about for my blog.
Guest blogging is a great way to expand your audience however don’t spam people for opportunities to guest, be thoughtful, respectful and relevant and you’ll be posting everywhere in no time.
I've been getting more and more of these obvious bulk requests from people to guest post on various blogs of mine too. At first I replied but then I figured out what was going on so now I just hit delete. As with you, I will accept guest posts, but I need to know some of the same things you put on your list first. A true personal approach will always work better than sending out requests in bulk and hoping some of them say yes.
Trent,
I have nothing against people who are genuine who want to guest on my blog. I invite people to come and be interviewed on my blog I'm not a Famous Blogger and give them every opportunity to talk themselves up. For BenSpark.com it is a little different, that is a personal blog and someone really needs to take a personal approach with me. I do feel however that many of these requests are in bulk and are the new spam.
I can't guest post on your blog?
Ok, but seriously, putting affiliate links in a guest post is super tacky.
Shevonne,
If you follow my steps above I'd welcome a guest post with open arms.
There are so many tacky things that people are doing with these requests.
guest post can help to post various post in many themes.I found it as a very good for keeping blog up to date but the owner must be aware about the blog content and must filter the guest post so that he avoid duplication of content.
Gino,
Yes, duplicate content is a big deal, if someone is submitting the same guest post all over the place then forget it, I don't want that garbage.
Ben,
Thanks for writing an extremely relevant post. I'm getting requests to host writers on my blog and not one has followed the very good advice you've outlined. It's obvious from the links I've received that they simply stumbled across my blog and saw it as a chance to get published.
Thanks again,
Steve
Steve,
I think that many of the requests I am getting are because my blog is a long established one with good PR. That is why I am getting the bulk of my requests. The thing is, I have been around a while and can spot garbage coming. Do I get tricked on occasion, sometimes I do but for the most part I see it coming.
I haven't received a lot of guest post offers but the ones I have received are from people who just want to include affiliate links, so I understand you anger.
Obviously this blog is a million tims more popular than mine so you must be absolutely inundated with them.
Dean,
I'm not angry, maybe a bit frustrated, the whole thing is a little tongue in cheek in that I wouldn't mind guest posts but they need to be relevant to my blog. I don't know how popular overall this blog is in the grand scheme of things but I think it does fairly well. It is more popular than my own, I can tell you that much.
Nice post Ben! I agree with you that it's annoying when people are only just writing guest posts to sell stuff or build links to their own site.
Stand your ground!
Harry,
When it comes to an obvious link build that is something I just dismiss but if a relationship can be started I am all for guest posting on my blog or others.
Thanks for sharing this Ben. Guest blogging is one of the best ways to gain more exposure, but not everyone knows how to do it, or not everyone knows how to ask of for it. This should be a good reminder for everybody who wants to guest post on a particular blog to get to know more the blog owner, and understand what he/she writes about.
Kind regards,
Gary
Gary,
That was my intent. Get to know who you will be writing for and what they would like for a guest blogger to do. Think always of the benefits to the blog owner and their audience, that will get you the best reception.
Nice post thanks. Simple and relevant instructions (requests) I think it is just rude to offer to guest post without at least some "history" with the site. Adding affiliate links is just plain rude!
Enjoy your site. Keep up the great work
Frank
Frank,
Thank you for the comment. I'm glad that you see the post the way I intended it to be seen.
Good article. This irritates me even more than these people who want to do "link exchanges", where they want me to link to their crappy website on my front page, and in exchange, they will link to me on some inner page that is hard for anyone to find. What's really in it for me?
As for guest posting, back in the days before I had a laptop, and free WiFi was not prevalent, I would invite people I knew to guest post while I was on vacation. But now, I get requests from people who I don't know and who obviously do not know me to guest-post. The samples they send me are usually junk, poorly written and loaded with affiliate links. I just ignore and delete these emails now.
Christine,
I can't get myself to just delete in case I miss a real person but I am getting better at it. The only guest posts I've had on my blog were when we had our loss and when we were on our honeymoon. Those were the only times I could not write. But those times were all from good people that I knew and who knew me.
It seems the one thing people continue to miss about blogging (and social media in general) is that it's all about personal connection and authenticity. When you're blogging, you are the brand!
Quite frankly, every time I hear something like this I am simply amazed that anyone would be so tacky!
Tauni,
Authenticity is the key. I'm not surprised at the things that people will do to make money. I'm simply not any longer. It is rude and tacky and all those things in one. But there are some genuinely fantastic people out there who are great to know and work with.
AMEN!!!
Sing it sister!!
Had a chuckle when the same boiler plate, cold pitch, guest post offer arrived in my inbox via two different blog contact forms. And each was "Dear blog owner…"
Paul,
Nice. Does any of that ever actually work? It must if it keeps happening.
It must, the guy has blog posts all over the place.
I forgot to mention too that he uses a pen name, so the personal connection takes another strike there.
He's probably a really good blogger but the pitch didn't appeal to me enough.
Paul,
Maybe, but if there is no real personal connection than I just shut them down.
This clears up any question regarding guest posting.The author's picture is indeed very important, else any user could confuse guest posts from the original author's posts.
Choco,
Exactly we do need to have a human connection with those guest posts. Also and keep the posts differentiated.
Hi Ben,
Great subject – I have a question: what if I just haven't' opened up guest posting and do not wish to have ANY guest posts for personal reasons – I just want to keep the blog all my own right now – I don't believe guest posting is for everyone – and yet I do write guest posts generously for others (and gasp, affiliate links? I hardly have them on my own blog but gosh I'd never put them somewhere ELSE)…..So I tell people gently that I haven't opened guest posting and thank them profusely for the offer etc but I still feel a little bad – although I don't wish to change my decision right now. What advice if any do you have or me, thanks!
Farnoosh,
My advice, stick to what holds true to you and your vision for your own blog. If guest posting is not your thing then don't allow it. I'd have a few things laid out in the disclosure policy portion of your blog for privacy policy, disclosures, comment policy and guest posting policy. That way you can direct people to that for further info. I now direct people who ask to guest post incorrectly to this post. I figure the ones who get it are the ones who are worth writing a post of quality on my blog.
sorry but that just comes off as cocky even if you didn't mean it that way, wasn't planning on asking for a guest post, now I'm not planning on reading the posts either
Content in exchange for a link isn't too bad, you could always no follow the page or edit out any surplus links, change
emove anchor text etc there are ways of getting the guest post and helping yourself out (if all else fails robots.txt the page away)
I totally agree with this post. Emailing me to ask about guest posting is sooo annoying. Nobody ever just sends something html ready, with proper links, and in great writing style to your inbox.
By the way… can I guest post?
jk
My recent post Why You Should Consider a Leap Frog Retirement Strategy
@ a chance that it will be taken and used and you won’t get credit
??
@a chance that it will be taken and used and you won’t get credit.
What do you mean by this? Would you actually take someone's content and not give them credit.
I am not making any assumptions, but I wonder how you come to a view like that? Or are you referring to a possibility that someone other then yourself would do something like that?
Oh,, and the previous comment I posted something went wrong with my copy/paste and I think I sent a completely non-relevant message. Feel free to remove it if you need to. Sorry about that.
My recent post 8 FREE Things You Can Give Away To Make Money And Build Your Reputation
I'm seriously considering to open my blog for guest posting, but after reading your post, it gives me another hesitation
Guess I'll hold off for a while. At least I've kept those emails in case I change my mind in the future
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The best bet is to just build backlinks through forums I use a software to find them for me..
wow good stuff I'm going to post this on fb and bookmark this