If you have decided to join all the smart marketers and website owners who are now fully on board with guest blogging. One of the first steps to any guest post campaign is blogger outreach.

As a professional guest poster, this is something I do a lot of. Blogger outreach.

image via (Flickr)

I probably pitch about 20 to 30 guest bloggers a week in all types of verticals – from finance to SEO and travel to food, as I write for a variety of clients in many different niches.

As for my blogger outreach process? It consists of two methods: Email and Twitter.

Via Twitter, I will just briefly usually let them know I am wanting to guest post and to look out for my email.

Via email, I will tailor the pitch specifically to the blogger and include my article idea as well.

***One thing to keep in mind when doing blogger outreach is that you have to visit the blog first and see if they already have guest blogging guidelines as this will let you know what they seek, how to contact them and what they prefer in terms of communication. This is key, because a blogger MAY prefer that you email him at a certain email address versus the site’s contact form, or he may prefer that you include the article itself in the email and others will prefer that you pitch them the article idea first. So outreach truly varies by blog and blog owner.

If you have found a good list of blogs to contact and now are in that process: below we have a few good guest post email pitches that have worked for us.

TIP: Keep your pitch simple and brief. The shorter, the better.

1. For the blog owner who has guest blogging guidelines on site:

Hi, (first name here):

I notice you accept guest posts and I would like to submit one. How does a piece entitled “4 Ways Travel Websites Can Use Pinterest For Marketing” sound? This would be an original piece just for your blog.

Let me know.

2. For the blog owner with no readily available guest blog guidelines:

Hi, (first name here):

Do you accept guest posts? If so, I would like to submit one. How does a piece entitled “4 Ways Travel Websites Can Use Pinterest For Marketing” sound? This would be an original piece just for your blog.

Let me know.

4. For the blog owner who lists her site via a guest blogging community such as Blogger Link Up or My Blog Guest:

Hi, (first name here):

I am responding to your query on Blogger Link Up for a guest article. How does a guest post entitled “4 Social Media Blogs That Provide Good Pinterest Tips and Tricks” sound? This would be an original piece just for your blog.

Let me know.

Remember to always tailor your email pitch directly to the blogger and include his or her name on the email. Always. How do you find the blog owners name? By visiting the About page and looking for it. By visiting his or her Twitter or Facebook page, etc.

Many blog owners will automatically discard your email if you DO NOT address them directly.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE ABOUT EMAIL GUEST BLOG POST PITCHES:

As a blog owner who also receives queries for guest posts, the one thing I dislike the MOST is long pitches. I don’t want to know how long you have been online, or what school you attended or how many guest posts you have written this year.

I want to know this:
1. Your name
2. Your site (or the site you will be linking to in the guest post)
3. Your article idea (and title if you have one)
4. That you can write well (which I will gauge with your email pitch)
If your email pitch is full of misspellings, grammatical errors or automation – it will be discarded.

No reply is necessary – we will just discard it.

How about you? Do you agree or disagree with our guest blog post email pitches above. Tell us below in the comment area. And also feel free to share some of your must haves with guest articles on your site – as in what must the article contain in order for you to accept it.

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