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Tips on what not<\/span> to do in your pitch to bloggers ~ from a real life blogger!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Running my own blog, <\/span>B. Lovely Events<\/span><\/a>. I get a lot of pitches for guest posts, for me to help them cover a topic in some way, or generally just helping them in some way or another. <\/span><\/p>\n For the most part, many of them are pretty bad and instantly go into the trash – or simply responded with ‘we are not taking guests posts right now’. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are effective ways to pitch a blogger or a huge online publication like Huffington Post or Forbes. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t believe how many times this happens. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so in so and have this article for you about Car parts \u00a0ect ect\u201d when my blog is entirely focused on party and wedding ideas. Does that work? No. Will I feature it? No<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s In It For Me and My Readers?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n This is by far the most important thing to remember when you are pitching. <\/span>When I respond to a pitch, it\u2019s because the person has offered me a post that provides value to my readers and me as well. I will consider a piece if it is relatable and relative to what I normally cover on my site and will bring me traffic on a topic I haven\u2019t covered before and <\/span>it\u2019s covered well<\/b> (more on that later). \u00a0\u00a0In most cases, this is a story that I can feature. <\/span><\/p>\n Pitch me a story I can use, and demonstrate what value there is in that story.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Be Creative!<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n One of my favorite pitches to date is:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have picked a select few bloggers to reach out to and put together this collage of ideas or the top trends for 2016 and we will pick which ones we like best and feature it on our site. We think your site is a great fit for this and we love what you do. Would you like to participate and can you use these products or link in your ideas and post?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This pitch works for so many reasons!<\/strong><\/p>\n Win win for everyone!<\/span><\/p>\n Bonus<\/b>: If you share it on your social media or say you will and you have a significant amount of followers. That will also get you a YES rather than a maybe. I will additionally share this on my social media and then again, it\u2019s a win for everyone. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Can you put together this whole table design together for free and feature our stuff?” Umm… how about no. <\/span><\/p>\n “Can you put this whole table design together and we will provide this, this and this?” That is a maybe<\/span><\/p>\n “Can you put together this whole table design which we will pay you for and provide this and this?” Usually a yes.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just for planning a table for brand though, it could be whatever relative task you are asking the blogger. “Can you put our link in an upcoming article”, “give a shout out on social media”, “include our product in your next planned post”, ect. <\/span><\/p>\n I am not saying money is the only thing that matters.\u00a0But it helps<\/span>. Especially if you are wanting a lot of work done for your brand. This also goes back to – what is in it for me? <\/span><\/p>\n But if your budget\u2019s tight, and you can offer me something else of value – for instance publicity on your social media that has lots of followers or a republish on your blog that has a great domain authority or readership – yes we can talk.<\/p>\n Whatever you\u2019re able to offer, the bottom line is this: stop thinking about what <\/strong><\/span>you<\/i> want to get out of sending that email and start thinking about what I<\/em> am going to get out of it by responding to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Don\u2019t just say you have this one\u00a0guest post for me, which I may or may not like. It is always better to provide options or multiple ideas for guests posts. It is even better if you write a unique blog post for me and my readers<\/span><\/p>\n Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n Recently I have had \u00a0writer email me and say , Hey, I\u2019d love to write for you. I am in this niche or expertise which I think your readers will like. Is there a topic that you are looking for that you think would readers would love?<\/span><\/p>\n This is great because:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 1) The writer is presenting themselves as an expert in their field which usually means they are more knowledgeable about something I am not, <\/span><\/p>\n 2) It relates to my readers, and <\/span><\/p>\n 3) It will be new content to my site and bring new readers in that niche to my site and because they are a similar audience to mine, may fall in love with my ideas too while they are there. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another great example of this is:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMy name is so and so, and I know you probably get random emails like this ALL THE TIME, so I’m aware of how they come across!<\/span><\/p>\n With that being said (and at the risk of being yet another annoying emailer) I thought I’d still get in touch.<\/span><\/p>\n I love what you’ve done with the B Lovely Events site, and I was wondering if you’re open to discussing working together?<\/span><\/p>\n I am looking to place a range of guest posts, infographics, give aways etc with sites like B Lovely Events at the moment, so thought I’d get in touch and say hey.<\/span><\/p>\n Hit me back if you’re interested?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is a creative take on a pitch, gives me options on what we can do together and is rather personable, all of which I like. The bad thing is they didn\u2019t tell me the why: Why<\/em> this would be relevant to my readers and how<\/em> it relates to them. The WHY is very important. <\/span><\/p>\n If you are going to pitch just one piece of content don\u2019t sa<\/span>y \u201cI<\/span> put together a blog post that I think your audience would like. Feel free to check it out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n My immediate reaction is “why should I care?” and now I have to click this link to see if I am interested. <\/span><\/p>\n TELL me about it. TELL me WHY you think my readers will really like this. That not only shows that you are connected to what I am publishing but also you have a good gauge on what my readers would like too. Then I will be more interested in what your article says. <\/span><\/p>\n And along that note, include the article as an attachment or at the bottom of your pitch email so I can read it or at least save it to read later. Links can get lost in email \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This may seem obvious – but you wouldn\u2019t believe how many pitches that I get that have very poor or broken English. <\/span><\/p>\n Grammatical errors are a no no. If your email has either one of these mistakes I can\u2019t take you seriously as a writer. <\/span><\/p>\n I get things all the time that sound more robotic than personable and that is always a red flag –<\/span>Things like:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy name is so and so and I am writing to you regarding a post submission.\u201d – No one talks like that – and if you do I don\u2019t think your writing voice will match my audience. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am working on some articles here you can see a example\u201d- Completely broken sentence and grammatical mistakes that leads to a big red flag and a no.<\/span><\/p>\n If the blog post has either one of these, it isn\u2019t the best thing either and can immediately be dismissed to be used. Be sure to double check your work!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are some other helpful blog posts on how to pitch your content are from Sarah Peterson<\/a> & Sujan Patel<\/a>. Be sure to check them out too to really get a clear picture on how to pitch!<\/strong>Don\u2019t Pitch\u00a0Irrelevant\u00a0Content <\/b><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t Be Boring<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Don\u2019t make me work hard for something that will only benefit you<\/b><\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t Just Pitch One Post<\/b><\/h3>\n
{Most Important} Don\u2019t Make Grammatical Mistakes In Your Pitch Or Your Post<\/b><\/h3>\n