How To Ask To Guest Post, The Wrong Way

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Guest posting for those of you who don’t know what it is, in simple terms, is the act of providing content (if form of an article, video, infographics, etc.), to a website or blog that belongs to somebody else. The numerous advantages of guest posting can be found all over the place and with all the recent changes that “search engines” have been doing to rank sites on their results, this form of “link building” is getting out of control.

Why Is Guest Posting So Popular?

The real benefits of guest posting, is primarily to gain exposure and build credibility. It is a win/win scenario for both the blog owner and the guest blogger. That’s my humble opinion. A guest blogger needs to know how to do things right, and on the contrary, the blog owner does have some few ethical standards to apply when accepting guest posts. It does work both ways you know?

However, and as I mentioned earlier, search engines, in their quest to provide the best user experience, has devalued and will continue to do so, many link building techniques. The main reason for that is because many link building tactics are done solely to manipulate results. Link building is an important SEO factor, but only if they are of good quality. Quality here translates to getting back links from authority and relevant sites, naturally and preferably from an editorial content. This is best achieved via guest posting.

With that said, here is where the problem starts to happen. Link builders, spammers, and the likes, have been going crazy sending request to blog owners for guest posting. There should be a “guide” out there circulating the sphere that is the “ultimate, blah, blah to link building”. It probably even provides “templates” of how to approach a blog owner to submit a guest post.

MyBlogGuest, in case you have not heard about it yet, is a free community that connects guest bloggers to blog owners. Since this is a community that is tailored to help bloggers connect with each other, they have an extensive experience on how to do all things guest blogging, properly. Recently, they have published a video, that reflects exactly what is going on at this moment. Take a moment to watch it as this is exactly what will get you slammed away from blog owners, apart from other bad side effects it may cause you. It is even humorous actually..

WRONG Ways to Ask for a Guest Post

Here’s another example of an email I received today (one amongst the dozens).

Hi Admin,

This is xxxx. I am an experienced writer interested in writing about web development, social media, wordpress and mobile application development. I wish writing for your blog for free. It would be great to hear back from you! I just want some linking to my website if approved.

Thanks,

Need I say more? I think that the message on that video is self-explanatory. Even if you are a link  builder, there are always some “creative” ways to go by. Here are some few pointers:

  • Do actually visit the blog and browse through it
  • Take the time to get familiar with the blogs topic
  • Take the time to read the guest posting guidelines
  • Show that you are credible by providing some examples of your previous writing
  • Be honest and tell the blog owner that it is part of a campaign outreach, they will know anyway
  • Above all, submit a guest post that is worth the “salt”. Refrain from general, broad, what to do’s and instead, give how to’s, actionable step-by-step guides, real and well researched stuff, the whole shebang.

How To Guest Post, The Right Way

guest bloggingI won’t really spend too much time talking about this. There are a lot of great tips and advice out there. Following are some recent articles that can help you understand the benefits, advantages, how to do things, the right way, and a list of authority blogs that accept guest post:

How about you? Have you experienced this sudden flow of request from someone lately? What do you do when this happens. Ignore it, or do you go the extra mile of actually communicating with them?

DiTesco

DiTesco is a Business and Inbound Marketing Consultant, and founder of iBlogzone.com. iBlogzone's main objective is to help startups and small business owners achieve success in their online ventures. | More About Me and my Digital Marketing Services in SP Brazil.

26 thoughts on “How To Ask To Guest Post, The Wrong Way”

  • YES, I do.

    I keep getting these request everyday. They just get my contact form and send me a request of guest post. They are nothing but link builders. Even after I mention many times, that you links should not point to any commercial sites (I have this in my guidelines for guest blogging) they still add commercial links and un-necessary links in the body.
    At the end, it is just waste of time.

    I can guess about those link builders now. They have a similar way of asking for a guest post. And most of the times they don’t mention any personal blog or website of their own, when they send a message through contact form.

    And what is happening these day is, I am getting contacted by few VERY old guest bloggers (when I didn’t know they were link builders and published their links on my blog) and I am asked to remove their links from their respective guest posts. I am hating this guest blogging business, it is nothing but business these days.

    BTW, I remember, someone said, he will guest post on my blog this week, which week is about to pass.. :

    • Hi Abhi. I can totally related with you. And oopss, I guess that guy who said will guest post on your blog is me 🙂 On to it..

      Thanks for stopping and leaving your thoughts. Always good to see you here

      • LOL! I am glad you remember. Actually, I forgot to mention this on chat.

        I know, you are kinda busy, these days. Take your time. No hurry here.

        And would you let me know the plugin you are using for comment reply notification. I can’t see YOUR reply in the email, and that’s a good thing. 🙂

        • hehe, thanks for understanding. Will work on it soon.. If you think its taking too much time, just let know 😉

  • One thing I feel that the SEO community needs to do is to help clients that are just after links understand that this process won’t be helpful in the long term.

    Just writing content for the sake of links will soon become a spammy technique if it isn’t already.

    Sure these low quality content help in short term but they will hurt a website in long term. Building relationships is one way that will help sustain the progress of a campaign.

    The problem I feel most of us face with this approach is that it takes time to build such relationships and with the client on our head looking for a certain number of links each month, the whole process becomes too stressful.

    Helping the client understand the importance of rich quality content and educating them about the process is the only way to build a better community and ensure success for them.

  • A while back I was lured into this ‘guest posting’ thing, I was helpless as all my other link-building efforts going far from satisfying. So I approached many high PR site owners with requests. I was so desperate, it was evident in my applications. I faced nothing else but rejection. So finding time to research about the blog you are going to approach saves you a big deal of grief!

    • Spot on Jyothis. Doing a bit of research and exploring the site that you are looking to guest blog for is definitely a good move and saves a lot of time and “rejections”. Thanks for stopping by

  • Great video!

    For a time I received the same email from a guy who wanted to guest post for my blog. When I told him he was supposed to take notes of who he contacts in order to avoid looking like an amateur, he just replied that he emails 200-300 blogs a day. So, I shouldn’t be that harsh on him. lol

    The message that gets an automatic delete is the one that mentions that the guest blogger won’t ask a cent from me.

    • Haha, the nerve. He actually responded to you saying that he sends emails to all those blogs. What a ****, LOL. So to show you that I have not yet seen them all.. Thanks for stopping by.

      • Yes, and he also asked me to check out the website of the company he represents as a guest blogger. lol

  • Haha.. the video is really cool, and real!

    This is exactly the same emails/tries I am getting from those fake guest bloggers!

    At the beginning, I didn’t understand why someone would email you asking if you are accepting guest posts, while you stated it very clear to everyone that you do accept them, the funny thing is we sometimes reply with “NO, I don’t” haha!

    I used to reply to them and waste my time, not anymore, I just hit the delete button and relax!

    Good one Buddy!

    • I know what you mean buddy. For some reason, once in a while, I kinda still waste a bit of my time just to see where it is going. Sometimes, there are some true “gems”. Sadly though, most are just builders or spammers that are trying to see if it works.

      One time, I actually did go all the way and the post was good. Decided to run a “quick” copyscape on it, and bam… dup content. Oh well

      • Probably the problem is not with the content, the purpose of the whole operation is what annoy me most, especially when someone ask you to trade content with backlinks!

        Well, sure sometimes it’s fun, especially when you get a Hello Sir/Madam email 🙂

        • LOL, yeah.. I forgot completely about the whole Dear Sir/Madam one 🙂

  • Hello DiTesco, I also think that guest blogging is the best way to get backlinks and when we talk about longtail keywords then it is the only possible way I can find. I just hope that Google does not filter out this way also.

  • Hi Tesco,
    Totally in the corner on that you. Thanks for sharing this tend to be known information. Video is awesome and contents are unique.

    This determine you make a outstanding knowledge. Again you proved yourself with a good article.I never heard about. It sounds quite interesting what you wrote about feeds, very helpful.

    I appreciate your post.Thank you so much for this! I will surely read this and share this to my other friends.

  • There is no doubt that guestposting will promote your blog to great heights. However, you should be very cautious in approaching the blogger. One should not miss a chance to post a great article on a great site because of poor approach.

  • Guest posting can be an effective for increasing your traffic; it widens the potential client circle for both parties and this can only be a good thing.

  • Hi DiTesco,

    Yes – I fully agree with your post. One of the big things one should always evade (no matter what the personal circumstances) is not to be desperate. This is one unattractive trait from anyone who asks for a guest blogging opportunity. Yes – There are a lot of ways one can try to get a guest post; and those you’ve mentioned in the post I think no one should even consider (like automated spam messages).

  • I also get a lot of proposition of guest post (maybe not everyday, but my blog is pretty new), but they are like in video – in most cases from link builders. The worst thing is that they don’t read the guidelines and, as Hesham wrote, we only waste time for reading emails from them.
    BTW – it’s very similar to fighting with spam in comments 😉
    BR, Chris

  • Nice video. As far as guest blogging goes, its best to go after people/blogs in your particular industry and follow the golden rule. Also, make sure that blogs are customized to fit the proposed blog. It requires discernment on both sides. When I guest blog for a website, I make sure to follow the blog’s policies.

  • thanks you man for sharing this valuable article with us. I have personally use this tips and got a many writers for my blog. We want such a more helpful and useful tips from you.
    waiting for more.Thanks sir

  • Guest blogging has emerged as a powerful technique to drive traffic to blogs and improve search engine rankings. If it has been in the online world for some time now it sure would have heard the phrase “content is the king.” This phrase is not always true as search engine only like well written and unique content .Today one the most powerful ways to promote business or content is to do guest blogging for other bloggers.

  • Hi Francisco,

    Firstly, I just want to say thanks for recommending MyBlogGuest. I didn’t even realise a community like this existed until I read your post.

    Secondly, I couldn’t agree with you more. After the recent flood of Google algorithm updates, we noticed a spike in the number of guest post requests we received for our company blog. We’ve started accepting guests posts so I do reply asking for samples of previous work and topics they want to write about, but it’s really been hit and miss.

    The good: Even with good quality posts, I’ve noticed they’re often lacking the detail that guest posts on really popular blogs have. It’s clear people will write a decent guest post for a backlink, but they won’t go the extra mile if you don’t have the traffic of sites like yours. I really have to push guest writers to include more detail such as examples, stats etc.

    Personally, I approach guest posting as a method for both link building and building my company and my own brand. While most people write guest posts and then forget it’s part of their portfolio of work, I want to be proud of every piece of content my name is attached to.

    The bad: I don’t consider myself a grammar nazi but my gosh how do people expect their article to be featured when their opening paragraph starts with ‘I want to guest post your site’. REALLY?

    The downright ugly: Then there are the ones that don’t listen to you at all.

    I had one guest writer request to write a post for us on a topic of my choice. I asked them to write about lessons small businesses could learn from large businesses and provided her with a sample article as a guide. She came back with an article on ‘outsourcing your SEO to India’. Mind you, our blog is about social media, NOT SEO. I then declined her article. She came back with another irrelevant article and I said we no longer want any guest post from her. Then she said ‘what do YOU want me to write about. Let me know what you want for you blog’.

    I resisted the urge to yell abuse at her and simply deleted the email.

    • Hi. Quite a story about that lady who wrote something that not only is not relevant, she did not even pay attention to what you have suggested. That’s downright ugly I have to admit 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts. I do appreciate it… BTW, if you ever think of guest posting and looking for a blog to help you extend your reach, it would be my pleasure 😉

  • Hi DiTesco,

    Awesome share, the video captures the type of pitch I get everyday LOL.

    I will share this on my contact page hopefully writers will take note:)

    Also I have been helping a friend out on a project which help finding blogger faster, I urge your readers to check it out @ guestbloglist.com

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