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B A CK TO PO STS
THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF BLOGGER OUTREACH — AN
INSIDER’S GUIDE
#guides
10 Jul 2020
0 Comments
Guest posting is still one of the most popular (and effective) methods to build links to your
web properties.
A survey conducted by Revium in 2019 among independent SEOs and SEOs working inhouse for digital marketing agencies showed that no less than 94% of marketers questioned
would use blogger outreach to build links in 2020.
89% of them speci cally mentioned guest posting as a favorite link building method.
Being on the receiving end of blogger outreach emails daily, these stats don’t exactly surprise
me.
What also doesn’t surprise me, is that only 8.5% of blogger outreach emails for link building
get a response.
Read that again: only 8.5% of blogger outreach emails for link building purposes even get a
response.
We all know that the actual success rate of those emails will be much lower still.
The big reason why?
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A glaring discrepancy between the amount of effort SEOs put into nding bloggers to reach
out to versus the thought they put into their actual outreach emails.
There are plenty of tools SEOs can use to nd quality blogs in an ef cient way, but crafting a
successful post pitch still requires human insight and input.
And that’s where things often go wrong.
If you think an 8.5% response rate for your outreach campaign is enough, or you’re happy
getting links from inexperienced bloggers who don’t yet know how this link building thing
works, feel free to leave this post and read something else.
But if you’d like to do better, stick around as I take you on a journey to the other side: a
professional blogger’s inbox.
HOW TO AVOID SENDING BAD OUTREACH EMAILS
Aside from running a copywriting and content strategy service, I’m also the founder of the
travel blog Wonderful Wanderings.
This is relevant because the email examples you’ll see below come straight from my inbox.
I received all of them — and many more — in the two weeks before I wrote this article.
Maybe one of them even came from you!
They are all examples of bad blogger outreach.
We’ll look at why that is, and how you can avoid the mistakes these senders made.
DON’T: USE AUTOMATIC “PERSONALIZATION”
A study by Backlinko found that outreach emails with a personalized body have a 32.7%
higher response rate than non-personalized emails.f
Unfortunately, many SEOs interpret this advice rather loosely and will automate that
personalization.
Here’s an example:
Bloggers recognize what’s happening here. They know you had some kind of software pull
their name, domain, and a post from a spreadsheet and insert it into your email template.
They’re not impressed.
DO: SPEND FIVE MINUTES READING THE BLOG
Five minutes of research is all it takes to turn your email from yet another instant “delete” to
something they’ll actually read.
Now, ve minutes won’t be enough to convince a blogger you’ve thoroughly researched their
brand.
But it will allow you to say something sensible about the article that led you to them.
You could also spend those ve minutes reading their about page or scrolling through some
of their social media channels to see if you have anything in common with them that you can
point out.
DON’T: TRUST YOUR SOFTWARE/YOURSELF
Reaching out to a lot of bloggers manually is a tedious and time-consuming job.
That means you’re likely to make mistakes.
Because you want to streamline the process, you’ll use a template for your rst outreach
email,
But inevitably, you’ll forget to change a piece of data.
You’ll send an email to blogger B addressing it to blogger A, or you’ll mention how much you
enjoyed the article by blogger B to blogger C.
Such mistakes are understandable, but unless the rest of your email is very on point, they’ll
probably land you nothing but a “Thanks, but no thanks.”
That’s if you’re lucky enough to get a response at all.
“But correctly automating the process should prevent this from happening.”
You may think so, but having been on the receiving end of countless automated outreach
emails, I can assure you that’s often not the case.
All it takes is an empty cell in your spreadsheet or the tiniest miscon guration in your
outreach too, and blogger B’s website name ends up in the email to blogger A.
DO: DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR EMAILS
It takes less than a minute to go over your email copy before you hit “send.”
So be like Nike and just do it.
DON’T: HIRE NON-FLUENT OUTREACHERS
Why would anyone running a blog in awless English — or any other language — accept an
article from someone who makes grammar and other mistakes in their outreach email?
They wouldn’t.
You may plan on having the blog posts you’re pitching written by a native or uent writer, but
your outreach email is the rst impression you make.
It should demonstrate the quality of the article you want to submit.
That means it shouldn’t be a rush job full of typos.
Look at this email, for example:
There are many things wrong with this email, but the spelling and grammar errors alone are
enough to chuck it right in the bin.
DO: SPEND A BIT MORE AND HIRE FLUENT
WRITERS
When doing outreach, you can stand out from the crowd just by sending an email in awless
English.
It’s a little sad, but it’s also an opportunity.
Why not seize it?
DON’T: BE VAGUE ABOUT WHICH SITE YOU’RE
DOING OUTREACH FOR
Bloggers get emails like this one all the time:
This one actually isn’t too bad:
She mentions my name and spells it correctly.
She tells me straight away that she wants a guest post.
She recognizes that bigger sites often charge for a feature/link.
The problem is that she wants to save herself time by gathering rates from a bunch of
bloggers — and probably for a wide range of clients — rather than saving me time by directly
pitching me to feature a client relevant to my audience.
Because her email wasn’t that bad, I decided to ask her which businesses she’s link building
for.
Here’s her reply:
Again, this tells me nothing.
I could’ve sent her my rates and guidelines but by the time she actually contacts me, those
might have changed, and I’ll have to do the work again.
Her mistake is making it easy on herself, but hard on me.
DO: BE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT
We all know the game…
Being transparent saves both parties a lot of time.
The best outreach emails are the ones that simply state why a brand wants to work
together and what it wants to work together on.
DON’T: USE ANY OF THESE PHRASES
There must be some kind of “Outreach Template Pack” oating around the interwebs
because most outreach emails contain the same kind of phrases.
When your email looks like 90% of the outreach emails a blogger receives, that’s an issue in
itself, but these phrases are often problematic for other reasons too.
Here are some examples and why you should avoid them:
Offering the blogger “unique and original content”
If you’re contacting someone with a quality blog, they’ll expect original content as the norm,
not a unique selling point.
When you mention that you’re offering “unique and original content,” you actually remind
the blogger that there are people out there who just copy/paste a guest post together and
call it a day.
You’re trying to say you’re not that kind of person, but in reality, you’re creating a link in the
blogger’s mind between that practice and yourself.
If you were a quality writer who didn’t move in dodgy circles, you wouldn’t think of referring
to something like “copy/paste” content.
Stating the blogger’s audience “will love” your content without saying why
There is nothing wrong with stating that you have a topic idea you think someone’s audience
will be highly interested in, but you need to tell them why.
Telling them why demonstrates that you’ve done your research and know what that
blogger’s audience wants.
Otherwise, your statement is meaningless, and you come across as if you have no clue whom
the blogger writes for — which is probably the case.
Stating that you’d be “happy to contribute an article at no cost at all”
Offering a freebie may fool small, inexperienced bloggers, but anyone who’s been blogging for
a while knows the value of guest posting and recognizes an outreach campaign when they
see one.
Pretending that you’re doing the blogger a favor is a bit of an insult.
Ending your email with a variant of “Waiting for your positive response.”
This one isn’t speci cally related to doing blogger outreach, but it often appears in outreach
emails.
If you’re an SEO running your own business, you’ll understand why this presumptuous phrase
ruins what might otherwise be a decent email.
It suggests that the sender assumes they already have the guest post in their pocket — that
it’s a done deal.
Convinced that they deserve a positive response, the outreacher implies that the recipient
doesn’t know what’s best for their own blog and should just accept the offer.
Nobody likes to be told what to do — so don’t be that person.
DO: WRITE LIKE A HUMAN
Write your outreach email as if you’re speaking directly to the blogger, using words you’d also
use in a normal conversation.
This is why it’s crucial to hire someone for your blog outreach who is uent in English (or
whatever the language is of the sites you’re targeting).
Native speakers can do more than just follow a few email templates.
They can naturally adapt them as required without sounding like a machine.
DON’T: FAKE FLATTER
Fake attery is saying things such as: “I really enjoyed your latest article, *automatic insertion
of URL here.”
Sure, it’s a compliment, but it doesn’t prove you’ve actually read the article, and thus, it
doesn’t mean anything.
Here’s an actual example of fake attery:
Why so?
The person who emailed me claims to agree with all the points I made in my Business of
Blogging Review, but they don’t actually refer to any of them.
I doubt they actually read the blog post.
Even worse is the constantly used, “I’ve been following you for a long time now.”
We all know that’s a lie.
Bloggers are used to being fake attered.
We recognize it when we see it.
DO: PROVIDE A REAL COMPLIMENT OR NONE AT
ALL
What bloggers aren’t used to, is someone actually taking the time to check out their work.
We don’t really care which article you liked or if you share a hobby with us.
What we care about is that you made an effort.
Making an effort won’t just get you links, it helps build relationships that, if you nurture them,
you can call upon again in the future.
If, for some reason, you truly can’t nd anything nice to say but still want a link from that blog,
skip the compliment altogether.
If it’s not genuine, it does more harm than good.
DON’T: LEAVE OUT THEIR NAME
Here is another example of an outreach email I recently received:
I didn’t actually cut the top off. There wasn’t as much as a “Hi” or “Dear.”
An email that could be addressed to anybody is an email to nobody.
Even worse is addressing the email “to whom it may concern,” “the *insert blog name* team,”
or “Dear sir/madam” when the blog owner’s name can be found by looking at their blog for a
mere two seconds.
Here’s an example:
People love hearing their own name so…
DO: SAY THEIR NAME AND SPELL IT CORRECTLY
Spelling counts — and it harks back to the point made earlier about double-checking your
email copy.
Sophie isn’t the same person as So e. Brendan isn’t Brandon, and Stefany isn’t Stephanie.
DON’T: PITCH ARTICLES THAT AREN’T TAILORED
TO THE BLOG YOU’RE PITCHING
If you’re pitching a travel blogger, don’t suggest blog posts about website hosting, wedding
planning, or baby showers.
They’re not relevant. They won’t get accepted. You’ve just wasted your time.
I received the email above for my travel blog.
It’s more relevant than most because the suggested topics are at least related to travel…
But I’m single, have never written about couples travel, and have nothing about weddings or
honeymoons on the blog.
DO: OFFER TO HELP BLOGGERS OUT WITH THEIR
BACKLOG OR SEO
Actions speak louder than words.
If you can genuinely help a blogger out instead of throwing some fake attery their way,
they’ll be much more inclined to help you in return.
If you’re really aiming high, you could do a quick analysis of their blog to recommend an
article you know will rank well and help them build topical relevance.
If you do, make sure they realize what they’re getting.
If you want to make it easier on yourself and on them, offer to help them clear their post
backlog.
Brands often think that bloggers are always searching for new things to write about, while
frequently, we have a long list of topics we haven’t gotten to yet.
Ask us which article we’ve been putting off writing and offer to create one — with a link back
to your site, of course.
DON’T: FORGET TO CHECK THE BLOG’S POLICY
ON GUEST POSTS AND SPONSORED POSTS
Most bloggers have a detailed “Work with me” or “Contributions” page where they say
whether they’re accepting guest posts and what their guidelines are.
Pitching them a guest post when they’re not accepting any or asking for their guidelines
when they’re clearly linked to from the menu is a dead giveaway that you haven’t looked at
their blog at all.
I recently received this pitch:
This person claims to have seen on my website that I accept guest posts, while it clearly says,
“I don’t accept guest posts” on my contact page.
Fun fact: I haven’t accepted guest posts in over six months, and I still get multiple pitches like
the one above every day.
DO: CHECK WHAT THE BLOG DOES AND DOESN’T
ACCEPT
Maybe a particular blogger doesn’t accept guest posts, but they do mention being open to
brand collaborations.
Is that your way in?
Do your homework when preparing your outreach campaign, so you’re able to create a pitch
that has a higher chance of success.
DON’T: RUSH THE SUBJECT LINE
An outreach study by Backlinko showed that longer subject lines are 24.6% more likely to get
responses.
However, Backlinko suggests using a descriptive subject line such as “Quick question about
your latest blog post.”
That line right there tells every blogger with a bit of experience that they’re going to be asked
to place some (usually crappy) link into an article for free.
If nobody else used it, “Quick question about your latest blog post” might be rather
intriguing.
But, the truth is that it’s one of those ever-recurring and worn-out phrases like “unique and
original content.”
So what to do instead?
DO: GET TO THE POINT
Again: be upfront.
Tell us what you’re after.
You may think that a subject line such as “Guest post request,” “Collaboration request,” or
“Content proposal” will scare us off, but we’re going to nd out what you want when we read
your email anyway.
DON’T: MENTION YOU HAVE A LIMITED BUDGET
Imagine walking into a Chanel or Dior store.
One of the salespeople asks you if they can be of help, and you tell them you’re looking for a
smashing new out t, but you have a limited budget.
How do you think they’ll react?
Exactly.
Expect the same response from a top blogger when you ask for a link on their high authority
site with a massive audience that they’ve spent years building, but you “have a limited
budget.”
Does that mean you’ll always have to pay (a lot) to play? Not necessarily.
DO: FIGURE OUT WHAT THE BLOGGER NEEDS
As mentioned before, being upfront is often the best way to do blogger outreach.
That means that you don’t just tell bloggers what you want, but also straight-up ask them
what they want in return.
If you’re building links for a dodgy-looking niche site (you know who you are), they might only
settle for cash…
But if you own an established brand yourself, there are plenty of other incentives you can
offer.
We’re not going to beat around the bush here: bloggers with high-quality, high-DR sites and a
big audience know what their blogs are worth.
Unless you have something truly of value to offer them, you’re probably going to have to pay
for your backlink.
However, some might want you to do some link building for them too.
Others may want products that they can review and promote as an af liate.
Unless you ask, you’ll never know.
Make a list of the incentives you can offer bloggers when you’re preparing your blogger
outreach campaign so you can refer to it when you’re crafting your emails.
BLOGGER OUTREACH SUCCESS: A MATTER OF
CHOOSING QUALITY
When it comes to blogger outreach, marketers need to make a clear choice between going for
quality vs. quantity.
While you can easily use systems and automation to nd quality blogs to contact, your
outreach campaign’s success rate will depend on the time you’re willing to spend on
customizing each email.
That doesn’t mean you can’t start from a template…
But it does mean a human should be the one adapting that template, not an algorithm.
If you plan to hire a blogger outreach service to do the work for you, make sure to ask them
not just how they source quality blogs to post on but also how they plan to do their blogger
outreach.
Make sure to check for that human element — it can really make all the difference.
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SOFIE COUWENBERGH
So e is the copywriter and content strategist behind Let Me
Write That Down for You. She helps businesses optimize their
website copy and blog content to generate more leads and
keep existing customers engaged. As the founder of the travel
blog Wonderful Wanderings, she also has more than eight years
of experience with in uencer marketing. She has been featured
on sites such as Business Insider and The Washington Post.
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