Once you’ve done your homework and figured out where to guest post, now you’ll need to start working on your pitches.
Before you start sending pitches, you may want to spend sometime connecting with the people you are going to pitch. Start by following them on Twitter, engaging on their blog by commenting and getting on their email list.
The goal, if possible, is to make yourself a “known” entity before you land in their inbox.
In doing this, be genuine, because fakery and B.S. can be smelled a mile away. And then your guest post efforts are going nowhere fast.
Think of dating – people know when people are desperate, right. Total turnoff! If you were meeting Ryan Gosling, would you go all fan girl, or would you play it cool? Experts add value, but they don’t go all fan girl.
Remember, good relationships are built over time and are based on trust. Being helpful, knowledgable and of service can go a long way to helping your business in the long-term.
Be Unique – Create Stories that Sell
As part of your preparation you should have developed specific stories for you guest posting. So before you start writing your pitch, do a full search on the blog/site you are targeting and make sure they have not had this story appear on their site before. If they have, find an approach that will make it fresh and new. Create a story you can sell.
If the blog has already done this topic to death, they are going to delete your pitch as you aren’t saying anything new. True experts have something new and interesting to say, so take your expert status seriously.
Elements of Your Successful Pitch
For each of your desired targets, you will want to prepare:
-
Title of your post
-
Summary paragraph outlining the key points for your story
-
Short two line bio that jives with their site
-
Links to your best writing samples
The bulk of your time should be spent on creating a short and impactful summary paragraph that sells your story. Remember, you want to establish the issue and outline what you are going to talk about in your story. Keep pitches short, short, short. (Seriously, I mean short!)
People skim over emails, so you are going to lose the blogger/editor if you send an epic pitch. If they want more detail, they will ask for it.
Your bio should be short and to the point as well. Give them enough to know that you are qualified to write on the topic you are pitching and have experience in your field. Two lines maximum.
More than anything, pitching is about providing everything they need so they know they can trust you to execute and you are legit. Before you send that pitch, consider things from the decision maker’s point of view – is your pitch correct and complete, are you credible, are you professional? If you can cross those things off the list, you’ll greatly increase your chances of success.
