Why I say NO to most Guest Blogging request?
Matt Cutts slammed down guest blogging in one of his post on his blog and I immediately saw the expected chaos in the digital marketing world. During that time I shared my views on Matt’s blog and let my audience and clients know why I will use guest blogging as part of my SEO strategy and who Matt was actually talking to!
I am big supporter of guest blogging but on the other hand if you give two minutes to my blog you will easily figure out that I hardly allow guest writing on my blog! So, the question is, “Why this double standard?”
I will be honest here, yes! I turndown around 95% of the guest writing request that I received for my blog and this is not because I am arrogant (if you think I am) but this is because I give first priority to my readers.
Actually this blog is not only a way to share my experience with the audience and connect with potential clients but it’s my baby! . Something really important and precious!
What will be your immediate response if one wants to mark a scratch on your car? I am sure it will be “NO” and similar is the case with blog! I have spent sleepless nights to write content pieces for my audience and worked really hard for months and years to build reputation and image in the industry so it’s obviously that I cannot allow anyone to hurt that effort.
I hardly allow the guest blogging request and mostly from the people I personally know in person or I have some level of long time relationship with them ( i.e emails, twitter or some other platform).
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Heck You said NO to the people you know!
Yes I do but the reason is more or else the same as I discussed above (with a twist)! I believe every quality blogger tries to create the tone and taste of the blog keeping their audience in mind.
My blog has its own unique tone and taste that might or might not match to some other blog (inspiration is different) and if anyone I know will request to write on my blog with a content piece that does not match the tone or taste that my audience is expecting then I have no choice but to turn that offer down.
This whole blogging game is based on readers and audience of the blog so I give my highest priority to my audience instead of my choice or the bloggers who are ready to write on my blog. I believe this is the only reason you will not find any paid post or ad on my blog.
How to turn that NO in to YES!
Now this is a very interesting question and this turning a no in to yes is always possible because the people you are talking to are humans and not machines so you can always convince them to think again and change their decision.
The practice and approach that I am going to discuss here might not be easy for you but there is no shortcut to success and in order to turn the no into yes, you probably have to do this!
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Stop this direct request approach
To the blogs that openly allow guest blogging on their blogs, sending a direct email (referring to the offer) make sense but to the blogs that hardly or do not openly allow guest writing sending an email that request for a guest blogging opportunity does not make sense at all.
Remember, bloggers are usually busy and when busy people receive these unpredictable emails from the people they don’t know, they usually delete the emails without reading it or even if they read them they tend to ignore it!
My Advice: To turn that no in to yes, my advice is to make yourself familiar in the eye of the blogger and then slowly walk through the request instead of writing for it in the first email. In order to make yourself familiar you can use multiple platforms like email, social media, and forums and even by continuously commenting on his blog.
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Don’t use template email
As discussed earlier bloggers are humans and would love to interact with the same so if you want them to read your emails and respond, you better give time and send them personalized email instead of a general email. It’s easy for bloggers to find the difference between a template email and a personalized email.
Normally I tend to ignore the template emails but if you irritate me by sending the same email again and again, I probably will do this!
My Advice: I would recommended not to complete and make records of 100s of outreach email you send in a day but instead send few that convert.
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Read the blog
Seriously! I hate emails that people send without reading my blog. Bloggers when find emails that people send without even reading or researching the blog cancel all their chances of converting no into yes!
My Advice: As discussed earlier there is going to be no shortcut to win and you have to spend time to get success. My advice is to read the blog and send emails keeping the research in mind.
What makes you think I might accept guest post on best traveling locations on my digital marketing blog?
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Pick what’s missing
Another reason why I usually say no to most requests is because they are not really offering anything new. I mean if you are using my platform to talk to my audience talk something they don’t know instead of repeating the same information again and again.
In short write to prove yourself as the expert of the topic instead of writing just for a link. It’s not only me but many bloggers understands this basic SEO.
My Advice: Research the blog, spend time on it and ideally subscribe to the blog to see what they are already writing and what is missing and then pitch the topic of the post accordingly.
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Follow the tone
This is very important to talk to the audience of my blog the way I talk because 90 degree of a difference in the tone might confuse readers and they bounce instead of reading the blog. This does not apply for my blog but for any blogger you are trying to reach out to, try to write your piece in their style and tone, which means if their blog normally focuses on stats and data, then try to add data and stats in your post and there will be more chances for you to convert that NO in to YES!
My Advice: The best advice I will offer to understand their audience and pick their tone is by continuously communicating with the audience (ideally in the comment section). This will tell you what their audience is expecting from the blog and what kind of tone the blogger is following.
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Spellings and Grammar
Ideally I should not be adding this point as it’s obvious but unfortunately I have seen blog posts that I seriously turned down because of their spellings and grammars.
My Advice: Once you are done, get it checked by your editor and in-case you don’ have one, you can always get it checked online against a small sum of money by using the websites like oDesk.
The complete blogging game is based around humans. Humans read, humans write and humans interact with each other so my advice is to convert their NO into YES is to follow them, build relationship with them and then find the right time to send desired request.
There is no shortcut or easy win here so instead of finding the loopholes start doing what is important.
Got a question, write in the comment section and I will respond to it accordingly.
Latest posts by Moosa Hemani (see all)
- Why I say NO to most Guest Blogging request? - April 15, 2014
