I’m a huge fan of guest posts.
But here’s the wrinkle. Everyone else is too. Top bloggers are flooded with guest post pitches every day. These days, the challenge isn’t writing the post, it’s getting your guest post request noticed.
The good news is that many guest post requests are rejected quickly because they don’t follow the blog’s post guidelines. Others are off-topic or poorly written. This means that you can increase your publishing chances by just spending time making your guest post pitch unique and following the rules.
Over the last few month’s I’ve been honored to have my posts featured on some of the most prominent blogs on the interwebs. Here are some of the techniques I used to get my Guest Post pitches noticed:
Stand Out by Blending In
Blog authors are looking for guest posts that complement their existing content. They welcome ideas and perspectives that fill in holes that they have in their editorial schedule.
You can help them by:
- Reviewing Past Guest Posts: This will give you great clues for how to write your guest post pitch and the eventual post.
- Study Headlines to Get the Tone and Voice Right: Review the archives of the blog you are targeting and closely study the headlines. Focus on the posts that generated large number of comments and retweets. You’ll be able to see how craft a post that has a great chance of getting an excellent response.
- Fill Content Gaps: Click through the blog archives and look for categories that are light on posts. This may be an area that the author would like to flesh out but has run out of ideas, time, or both. Help ‘em out and increase your chances of getting your post accepted.
Make it Easy
Blog authors are chronically short on time. If you make them work any harder than they have to they will quickly send your post to the trash bin. Your goal is to make your guest post easy and convenient to use.
For example:
- Send Post Photo Recommendations: Finding the perfect picture for a post can eat up a huge chunk of time. You’ll look like a superstar if you send a high-quality picture/photo along with your guest post.
- Be Happy to Edit: Many of the top blogs will edit your post to make sure it meets their style. Either they will do the editing or ask you to do it. Never hesitate to quickly edit your post. In fact, let the blog author know that you are happy to make any tweaks they want. Your willingness shows that you respect their quality standards.
- Customize Your Author Byline: Take a quick look at other guest poster’s bylines and revise yours to match the overall style. Pay special attention to how other bloggers use links in their byline.
- Be HTML Friendly: Let the blog author know that you willing to input your guest post directly into their admin backend. Even though many will not accept your offer, it shows that you are a pro that respect their time. If you are asked to input your own post, make sure that you observe the formatting conventions used in the blog. For example, use H1,H2 tags and bolding appropriately.
Be a Spectacular Partner
I make sure I let the blog owner know that I’m going to work my butt off to promote the post when it goes live. Being a good partner demonstrates that you understand your end of the “Guest posting bargain”. You are getting free traffic and visibility in exchange for your content AND support.
Here’s how you can be a spectacular partner:
- Be a Superstar Promoter: It doesn’t matter if you are heavy hitter or a newcomer, tweet, email, and post your butt of when your guest post goes live. Make sure the blog author sees you show up multiple times pushing the heck out of the post.
- Answer Comments: Answer and respond to as many comments as you can. Don’t assume that this is the blog author’s job. Remember they have little time. Jump in their and engage the audience.
- Don’t Piss in the Pool: Be gracious, neutral, and upbeat. You are borrowing the stage and you shouldn’t ruin your host’s brands by shooting off your mouth. If you do it once, you will never be invited back…anywhere.
You Can Do This
The hardest part about Guest Posting is making your first pitch. My motto is to jump in first, be afraid later. If you want to get a little more help on this I suggest reading Jade Craven’s Mini-Guide to Guest Posting and Chris Garrett’s Authority Blogger guide. Both of these ebooks have been a tremendous help to me.
Ok…you know what to do now. Comment below and tell me how you plan to put your guest posting plan into motion. Talk to me, and I will talk right back 
About Stanford
Great advice! It’s amazing how common courtesy and real life values parallel with online integrity. In fact, it’s both common sense AND a great rule of thumb
A very different and non discussed topic… and you provide some great information. I am in to guest blogging from couple of months and figure out few things.
1. For me the blog post attached with the email always work out for me!
Stanford,
As always your are spot on! “Be a Spectacular Partner”. The surest way to begin a relationship and establish trust is to adopt a collaborative approach. The bottom line remains great content — it’s why we read blogs and it is an art and as with all arts it takes practice. This post is great counsel. Thank you!
Awesome tips. I am trying hand at Guest Blogging too.
Hi Stanford, I appreciate your integrity & clarity of your posts
…Pls could you explain to me when you say :Let the blog owner know that I’m going to work my butt off to promote the post when it goes live…” I am not sure to understand this aspect clearly
Hi there.
I meant, you want to to tell the blog owner how you will promote your guest post once it’s published. Tell them that you’ll tweet, and even email your list once the post is live.
Does that help?
A very different and non discussed topic… and you provide some great information. I am in to guest blogging from couple of months and figure out few things.
1. For me the blog post attached with the email always work out for me!
2. Choose some good mail titles don’t go for ‘Hey, check this out!’
And I think email should be short and to the point. The idea of referring to any post by blogger is a good idea.
Over all a nice article!
Awesome tips. I am trying hand at Guest Blogging too. There are so many authentic news sites who can accpet your articles as well.
Hi Stanford,
This is good advice. I do find myself editing guest posts or rejecting ones that aren't written well. These are great tips on style and content. I'm also interested in learning more about how to develop relationships with other bloggers and approaching them about guest posts.
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Really tactical advice that I will use. I'm early into my blogging but guest posting is something I want to make part of my strategy. This is why I RSS sites.
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I always say "Sooner the Better" with Guest blogging. It really gives you momentum and helps you firm up your vision for your site.
Great advice. I try to always get a feel for the other blog and then add my personal twist to it. So I cater to the readers, but I offer them some new flavors in case they want to ever check out my site.
Stanford,
As always your are spot on! "Be a Spectacular Partner". The surest way to begin a relationship and establish trust is to adopt a collaborative approach. The bottom line remains great content — it's why we read blogs and it is an art and as with all arts it takes practice. This post is great counsel. Thank you!
Really good advise thanks!
Thanks Sean
Nice tips Stanford. I'm just starting of with my first guest post. I'm waiting for Nathan Hangen response. Once I get the info from him, I will be able to publish my article. Thanks for sharing your experience in the interview.
Stan, does it matter if you operate in a different niche from the blog you want to guest post? Will you be judged by the owner of the blog on that criteria?
Thanks for the insight.
Yes. It means your research has to be more thorough to make sure your post matches the blogs readership. I don\’t recommend trying to post on blogs completely different from your niche unless you can draw a solid connection.
wise advice, thanks Stan
Another tip – start a relationship with the blogger before you pitch them.
Bloggers are much more likely to read your pitch if they recognize your name and have had at least some interaction with you. Ideally this would happen before you make the pitch, so you know their audience is right for the post you've written.
Thanks for the post Stanford!
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Excellent tip and VERY true.
Great advice. This is something I’m looking to get into.
Super…
Let me push you a bit – when do you plan on "doing" versus "looking". This is "PUSHING" social afterall
This is great advice. I am not yet prepared to do guest posting, since I am trying to work more on my content now, but, the moment I'll be ready for this, this is a great way to know how to "push" my ideas to the blogger I'd like to work with.
Hi Stanford, nice guest post tips here, I agree with you. I make the email super short and include my super sexy headline as part of the email subject line to make sure they read it!
I'm starting to get a lot of guest post requests and am learning why many top bloggers don't reply. It would be a full time job responding to all of them. So you definitely have to make sure your email stands out from the crowds to get read in the first place and that your post is word perfect if you want to be in with a chance:)
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Great advice Stanford. I really appreciate it when guest bloggers send me their guest posts as a html document in txt file. This makes it so easy to publish.
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This advice is spot on. I love to receive guest posts from bloggers who make things easy for me. Some of these guest posters have become friends, as well as trusted allies in other projects now because they impressed the heck out of me when they guest posted.
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