Forget infographics; it's fair to say that guest blogging is one of the most controversial link building techniques out there at the moment. Since the onslaught of the Penguin update last April, the practice of posting your content on other people's blogs in a bid to clock up another valuable link has become the go-to link building technique of well... pretty much every SEO agency out there - and despite warnings from the spam-king Matt Cutts himself, the trend doesn't look like it's about to slow down any time soon.
Now, just like any other link building or outreach technique, there are definitely pros and cons to guest blogging. The pros? You get to build up your link profile and raise your brand's profile. The cons? You risk annoying a heck of a lot of blog owners in the process.
Yep, at the moment, guest blogging requests are definitely the blight of anyone who runs a half decent blog on an interesting topic. The problem? 99% of the time, they're just incredibly poorly executed... and we should know, we get shed-loads of them every day. And to say it's annoying is definitely a massive understatement. *Sigh*
Now, we've blogged about the top mistakes you can make when pitching for guest blogs before... and we've even written you a nice little list of the 14 Dos and Don'ts of Guest Blogging Requests - but as our inbox proves, our words have fallen on deaf ears - so we thought it was time to take a different approach.
Today, we thought we'd write a blog on exactly why you didn't hear back from Bubble (or indeed any other blog) regarding your guest blogging enquiry.
1. No Personalisation: Guest blogging requests that don't even mention the name of your blog or your company are never going to get accepted. Simple. Why? Because they're lazy and thoughtless and they make us feel like we're just another blog in a long list that this pitch has been sent out to. Not cool.
2. No Actual Pitch: So, there's nothing wrong with enquring about guest blogging - but hey, why not kill two birds with one stone and throw an actual pitch in there too? Not only does it save time in the long run but it shows us that you're actually really interested and have done a bit of research ahead of time.
3. Nothing Original: What's that? You want to write a guest blog on top interview tips? Erm... that's great but we've already got about a zillion just like that on our blog so we'll pass thanks. OK, so we might be extremely picky but we only ever publish guest blogs which we know will add value to our readers, which we've never covered before and which we couldn't write even if we wanted to because we don't have the technical expertise or knowledge. And we know a lot of other blog owners share our point of view... so please, do a little research and use your imagination before you pitch.
4. Lack Of Transparency: We know you're not offering us a guest post out of the goodness of your heart or because you want to give us some new content for free - we know you want a backlink so it's time to 'fess up. In your pitch, you need to tell us exactly who you work for and what kind of link you want. By trying to be sneaky and using a generic Hotmail or Gmail address you're only making us more suspicious... really, what have you got to hide?!
5. No Expertise: Here at Bubble, whether it's SEO, social media, recruitment or careers, we write about what we know and what we've got experience with - and we apply that rule to our guest bloggers too. Why? Because we want our content to be authentic, real and have real value - not bodged together by someone who's never worked in that field or has experience in that sector. Now, that might sound harsh but we think it's fair. What's that? You have got expertise? Then mention it in your pitch!
Are you a fellow blogger that feels our pain? Share your top guest blog request bugbears and leave us a comment below.