I see more than my fair share of guest posting pitches on Blogging From Paradise.
After a quick email alerting these folks that guest posting is permanently closed on BFP I think through their approaches.
Even if I did accept guest posts, 90% of these pitches would not make the cut for these very 2 reasons.
1: Poor Writing Skills
You can make friends until the cows come home (networking aspect of landing guest posts).
If you cannot write, forget about it.
Skilled writers with big friend networks land guest posts regularly.
Skilled writers had to practice writing daily for months or even years to gain the confidence and clarity to land guesties.
I know many kind, generous bloggers who are practicing their writing but just are not there yet. These folks will land guesties on top blogs if they keep practicing.
I have seen other bloggers who rarely if ever practice their writing, only sitting down to write when they publish their own posts. These guys will never land guest posts, because they cannot write in clear, confident, crisp fashion.
You need to be a skilled, clear, confident writer to land guest posts regularly.
2: No Friendships
If you have no friends, you are screwed.
Seriously.
All the weak pitches I receive for guest posting opportunities or anything designed to get placement on Blogging From Paradise – including the $1 article pitch from this morning submitted via my contact form – are the fruit of zero relationship building.
You will never get invited to submit a guest post until you improve your writing skills with diligent practice but even if you can really write and wow folks, you will only land a few guest posting opportunities because you will be a stranger, an outsider, an unknown commodity, somebody who most bloggers will see as only looking out for yourself.
If you make friends, your friends will help you. Easy at pie.
Your friends will either invite you to guest post on their blogs or they will say “Yes” most of the time to your ask. Because the ask will not feel like a pitch, but a question from a skilled, trusted blogging buddy.
The Solutions
1: Write daily for practice.
2: Promote other bloggers, comment on top blogs effective – writing 3-4 paragraph, in-depth comments – and persistently build those friendships that will open the door for guest posting opportunities.
Create.
Connect.
Most bloggers don’t realize; you need to get really skilled at writing and also build a large, loyal friend network to land guest post opportunities left and right.
When I ask folks if they want me to write a guest post for them, sometimes I need to keep bloggers off of me with a baseball bat, with the volume of folks who respond.
Why?
Rest assured, this did not happen on its own. I did not pray to the writing skills fairy or the networking fairy for a few hours, then all of a sudden, all these guest posting opportunities fell into my lap.
I followed the 10 fundamentals of successful blogging.
I patiently and persistently created, connected and helped people.
I became a student of blogging.
The process of landing guest posts on top blogs doesn’t take years; the practice of learning blogging, creating helpful content and building meaningful friendships takes years.
Doing the right things backed by the right energy for a persistent period of time promotes your blogging success and inspires rocking bloggers to invite you to write and publish guest posts on their blog.
This is the solution.
This is how to avoid being shot down or how to stay out of spam folders.
Is it easy?
Not really, in the beginning.
I found it highly uncomfortable to practice my writing daily. Ditto for commenting effectively – 3-4 paragraph pieces – on top blogs, promoting other bloggers and building meaningful friendships.
Even though it feels not comfortable it is a simple, direct, clean process.
Don’t confuse uncomfortable with complex. Uncomfortable is fear, complex is dingbatish stuff you may be doing, deviating from simple, to avoid your fears.
Your Turn
How are you landing guest posts?
What tips can you add to this list?
Ever prayed to the guest posting fairy? 🙂
Video
I filmed a video in Istanbul, Turkey to help you submit a guest post successfully in 12 simple steps.
Click the play button and enjoy: