One of the most effective ways to increase your online visibility and build a successful blog is through guest blogging.
The key to effective guest blogging relies heavily on outreach to other popular bloggers in your niche and offering valuable, interesting content in exchange for a publishing slot on their blogs.
Essentially, guest blogging is the exchange of expertise and content for increased exposure, visibility and possibly some SEO benefits.
The publisher gets fantastic content at no cost. While you (the writer) get access to the blog’s audience, which has the potential to drive more readers and subscribers back to your own website.
Additionally, most guest posts allow a backlink to your site, which can have substantial search engine optimization benefits (especially if the blog is an authoritative one within your niche).
While guest blogging is a straightforward and effective way to generate more traffic and build your online brand, it’s not always an easy strategy.
Popular bloggers get inundated with dozens of guest post requests every day. You may understand how getting a guest publishing spot often requires an exceptional pitch and high-quality content.
If you’re new to guest blogging, here are 5 common guest blogging mistakes you should avoid.
1 . Sending Out Cut & Paste Emails
As mentioned earlier, successful and well-read blogs often get multiple guest post requests every single day. Some bloggers get dozens of requests, some even hundreds.
In order to stand out and get your article considered, it’s important that your offer stands out from the rest.
Those who are seeking for a guest posting spot often send out generic cut and paste emails to dozens, even hundreds of bloggers at a time.
The key to successfully pitching busy guest bloggers is not quantity, but quality.
It’s more important to send out a carefully crafted email to an authoritative blogger than spamming dozens of bloggers with a generic message.
In your email, be sure to connect your proposed guest post with the blogger’s existing content and readership. If your email doesn’t demonstrate an interest in the blogger’s work, why would they allow you to post on their blog?
Take your time to send individually crafted emails that demonstrate your work would be a valuable read for their audience. This way, you’ll get a much better rate of response than by spamming. Watch this video from Ms. Ileane and How She Uses Gmail Canned Responses to respond to those lame “copy and paste” outreach emails.
2. Failing To Submit Proposals
An extremely common mistake that results in wasted time is to submit guest posts directly, before having any prior contact with the webmaster.
Many blogs list their guest posting guidelines up front, which leads a newbie to assume that submitting a contribution conforming the guidelines will be accepted.
The truth is that even if you write an interesting, relevant guest post and submit it exactly in accordance with a blogger’s listed guidelines, there’s a good chance you’ll get a very low response rate.
Remember that emails get lost. Bloggers could be away, inactive, or simply overwhelmed with email volume. Also, the topic might not be suitable for their audience, they might not like your writing style, or they might simply not like the subject of your post.
It takes a lot of time and energy to craft a great guest post. So be sure to contact a blogger with a nice pitch and a few proposed guest post ideas before you start writing.
You’ll not only save yourself a lot of time, but you’ll be able to create better content because you’ll know exactly what the blogger wants.
3. Stuffing Your Article With Links
Although you’re providing good content, don’t expect the bloggers to let you stuff your articles with self-serving links.
Being overly enthusiastic with your backlinking will get your quality content rejected. If there are explicit linking guidelines, be sure to follow them to a T.
Many bloggers will explicitly list their linking requirements. But even if they do not, you have a much better chance of guest posting success if you stick to 1-2 links within the author bio (better if relevant to the article topic).
This is not a chance to pitch your services. You should take this occasion to offer valuable content to the blog’s readers. If they like your writing, they’ll naturally click over to your links to check out your website.
4. Targeting The Wrong Bloggers
There are a couple of major ways that newbie guest posters target the wrong blogs. The first mistake is targeting websites in the wrong niche (based purely on the authority of the blog).
Submitting a guest post proposal to a site just because it has high rankings is not a good idea. Just think about it: if you pitch a conservative Christian blog and your website is about celebrating boozing and partying, you are not targeting the right audience.
Beyond submitting to the wrong niche, perhaps an even more common mistake is when guest posters spend time pitching bloggers that are simply too far out of their league.
It may be awesome to have a guest post published on one of the “A-list” blogs in your niche. But if you’re a relatively new blogger, this is unlikely to happen (unless you have some truly incredible experiences to share).
If you’re a fairly new blogger trying to get established, you’ll get the best return on your time targeting bloggers who are well respected (not necessarily the very top blogs in your niche).
There are many medium sized blogs that have good traffic, a strong readership and they don’t receive hundreds of guest post proposals every day. So, they’re much more likely to consider proposals from lesser known bloggers such as yourself.
You may love reading TechCrunch. But unless you have an exceptional story or you’re extremely successful in your own niche, your proposal will almost certainly be filtered out by their ultra selective editorial process.
By setting your targets more realistically, you’ll have much more success and perhaps even lay the groundwork for future “A-list” guest posts.
5. Not Delivering Fantastic Content
Guest blogging should be about delivering exceptional content to the guest blog’s readers. Be sure to respect the high standards of the website you want to contribute to.
And because it’s a showcase of your own writing and brand, your guest post should also be up to your own highest standards.
Create content that is unique, interesting, and relevant to the blog’s audience.
Ensure that your post is fitting with the formatting or length guidelines, as well as proofreading your content for spelling and grammar mistakes.
And you?
What's your experience with guest blogging?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below, thanks!
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Hey Erik!
Am blown away by the awesomeness of this post by one of my mentor Erick! And you made valid points in the guest posting process.
I especially love the first point 1 . Sending Out Cut & Paste Emails and I must admit Am guilty of this and I must make a drastic change right away.
Thanks Erik and Ileane.
You made my day.
Just Shared.
Hi Charles,
I really appreciate your kind words.
Glad you found the post interesting.
True that. So many great points.
Most people think guest blogging is a way to build links. Their approach is wrong.
If you look at guest blogging as a way to connect people and to reach out more audience, you are getting it right.
Don’t focus on giving crappy stuff to others. After all, your guest posts will build credibility for you and your business.
Another biggest mistake most people make while writing guest posts is they don’t do keyword research. If you are properly optimizing your content, you’re helping the blog owners to get long lasting traffic to their sites which can also help you spread your blog’s name.
Great one!
Another mistake that goes along with #1 is not addressing the blog owner by name or calling him or her the wrong name. That is a definite no no.
And that is a rule to follow in general too, Marcie.
I have receiving emails with just “hello” or “hey there”.
Hey Erik,
Good to see you here.:)
One of the most common guest blogging mistakes is when people directly submit it without reading the guidelines.
Targeting the wrong bloggers also be a mistake. Always select the blog which has the same niche as yours.
Thanks for sharing with us.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
that’s another good point to consider.
Every blog has its own guest blogging rules.
You are right Mr. Erik. I think guest posting is not a child’s play. It even requires more attention and hard work than you will do for writing a post for your own blog. The things you have pointed out are of great significance. The last heading which is “fantastic content” matters more. I think it should have been on top or in the middle. I don’t see why you have kept it at the end. I think the content really matters. The content not only should be genuine, unique and interesting but it should also include some facts and figures, charts, references, and pictures. It should be flawless and error free. No grammar mistakes are accepted. Even organization and logical sequence of the content matters.
Of course, the second reason for the decline is poor SEO of your content; too many keywords or no keywords, too many outgoing links, no headings and subheadings, no numbering or bullet lists.
Well, I was not aware of the importance of proposals. Thanks for adding this point to my knowledge. Anyhow, It is really a great post. Thanks for your time to share such a nice article. 🙂
I strongly agree with your first statement, Saif.
“It requires more attention and work that writing a post for your own blog”.
I think this should be an important rule to always consider when contributing to other websites.
And a demonstration of respect too.
Why should you submit a guest post full of writing mistakes and with no added value at all, when you work so hard for your website?
Hey Erik,
Targeting websites in the wrong niche is really a big mistake for anyone – we should always try to go with our business related niche website, it will helpful to keep in positive path. Crafting a good content as a guest blog is not enough because it can not have sufficient potential to target audience or healthy for SEO. Spelling and grammar mistakes is highly responsible for reducing our rank in google. Eventually, thanks for sharing your worthy thought with us.
With best wishes,
Amar kumar
Correct Amar.
Sticking to your niche is the way to go for guest blogging.
Thanks for your nice comment.
Hey Erik,
Nice post about the fundamental mistakes that are made during blogging. I think that #1 is really a very common mistake among the newbie’s. If somebody has not the enough knowledge about the subject of the blog then he should not reply or comment.
Cut and paste is not the solution and anybody should make the habit to depend on cut and paste. All the points are really basic and the #4 and #5 is also very important. We must greet the author because we are not responding to a robot. Many bloggers give effort to connect with the audience and they can do that with machinery sense.
Thanks for sharing such a valuable post having immense informative content. Have a nice day ahead.
With regards,
Suraj Kumar
Hi Suraj,
thanks for confirming my points!
Hi Erik,
Excellent blog. I like 4th and 5th points most. Targeting the wrong bloggers is a big mistake. People should know where they want to post their blogs. The blog should have quality rich content.
Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed my contribution here at BasicBlogTips.
Thanks Ileane for hosting my post.
I appreciate your comment, Vayam.
Awesome Post, I myself haven’t guest posted on any other blog, but now if i do decide to I’m now knowledgeable on what not to do…Thanks!
Good luck with guest blogging, Jordan.
Thanks for the kind comment.
Do you think guest blogging will work in 2017?
I think the basic concept is not going to change.
Google hates copied, thin or spammy content, but as long as your guest post is original with good to create awesome quality on a website known for quality content (like BasicBlogTips), Google will be always fine with it.
When I feel lazy and bored, I cut and paste the same emails to bloggers. Now I know why I get rejected from them, and others accept.
:p
Thanks for this helpful post. Will be following each and every rule from now.
You will see a big difference if you tailor each email with your guest blogging pitch, Sreeja.
Hey sir Erik!
Am blown away by the awesomeness of this post by one of my mentor Erick! And you made valid points in the guest posting process.
I especially love the first 3 points . Sending Out Cut & Paste Emails and I must admit Am guilty of this and I must make a drastic change right away.
i am actually an animator and article writer you can visit my web site where i have started working on SEO (Search Engine Optimization ) you can have help there
Thanks Erik Emanuelli and Ileane.
You made my day.
Just Shared.
Thanks so much for the kind feedback, Abdul.
Glad to hear you enjoyed my contribution here.
Hi Erik,
This is awesome. I doff my cap for you. You barely left nothing untouched.
I have rejected so many guest post propositions because some of them make these mistakes.
How can you be sending a guest post and you are attaching your affiliate link to it? Where is that one done?
I think I will start referring them to read this post before anything else.
Thank you so much.
Emenike Emmanuel
Thanks for the nice comment, Emenike.
I appreciate you spreading the word about this post.
Hey Erik,
You may some valid points here!
Especially with submitting ideas about topics to the blogger before writing the actual guest blog itself. It makes more sense to do this so to be sure that you don’t waste a lot of time on writing it.
Also #4 is very important. You want to make sure that you target bloggers that are within your niche. Just because a blog has high ranking doesn’t mean that you should target it. I like the example you gave about the Christian blog versus you writing about booze and partying. That’s an awful match lol
Thanks for sharing! Have a Happy New Year!
Hi Sherman,
so glad to hear you enjoyed my post and confirm my points here.
Thanks Ileane for letting me contribute and thank you for leaving the comment.
Happy New Year too!
Thanks for these tips. I’ve been trying to get a guest blog post for about a month now with no success. I’m trying to not be discouraged but its tough. I’ll keep these common mistakes in mind and hopefully improve my chances. Fingers crossed! thanks again. Sharing this on my facebook page!
Derek
Hi Derek,
it may take time, especially if you just started writing or you are targeting sites with too high rankings.
Be patient and keep working hard, results will come!
This is a great post for anyone getting into guest posting. Congrats on writing and researching it. I agree that writing too many guest posts can extremely damage your own sites. You’re giving away your best work, so you really have to be careful to strike a balance. Many people don’t know how to do this.
Thanks for the nice feedback, Kashif.
Good to hear you enjoyed my contribution at Ileane’s blog.
Nice, but I am terrible with article writing, so don’t need to do write an article or guest posting.
Pleas advice some backlinks making tips other than article or guest posting.
Hi Fahad,
Basic BlogTips is full of articles with tips for building links or traffic.
Here’s one:
https://basicblogtips.com/creative-link-building-ideas.html
I do get stuck on the same thing ” Article writing” . I really hate to write articles. Is there any best alternative of that?
Outsourcing seems your best solution, Saad.
Interesting coming across this as I put the finishing touches on an article that also talks in part about guest blogging (and that may ultimately be too much of a rant to publish!). Excellent read.
With the recent Panda and Penguin updates, does Guest Posting still holds the value?
I am thinking to start guest posting to get links. Is it recommended first up for new sites?
Everyone learns from their experience, I too have learned it that way.