If your blogger outreach isn’t yielding as many positive replies as you hoped it would, then chances are that you aren’t developing as many high-quality links as you could. Successful blogger outreach is a bit of a science. Your efforts are more likely to succeed if you apply certain tried and tested techniques.
The following are some practical tips on winning over the bloggers you want on your side. Of course, it all begins with targeting the right bloggers—people who are authoritative, interesting and are active content contributors to your niche. You could work with link building and blogger outreach services in this regard.
Once you have that covered, these tips will come in handy.
1. Develop Rapport
Before you submit your pitch, spend time interacting with the blogger in other ways. Respond to their posts on social media platforms, share their content on your platforms and leave comments on their blog. This will create communication channels and foster goodwill that will make the blogger have a more positive view of the pitch.
There’s a bonus benefit of your effort at creating rapport—the relevant and diverse content disseminated through your own social media channels establishes your brand as a dependable source of knowledge with access to the latest news, best practices, and relevant articles.
2. Personalize Pitches
Established bloggers receive numerous requests for guest posts. Obviously, they will have to reject most of these. One of the main reasons your pitch will end up in the trash is if it is based on a template. And seasoned bloggers can easily tell.
So spend time personalizing your pitch to each blogger you reach out. Drop quotes that show you are a regular reader of their content. Reference a particular post you liked or an article that echoed sentiments you had previously shared on your own site. This will show you have a genuine interest in working with them over the long term.
Personalization means crafting each pitch will take much longer than if you adopted a template-based approach. But this time investment will be more than worth it when you see the higher success rate.
3. Simplify the Pitch
When you send out your pitch, make it as simple and brief as you can. Is that first paragraph about your personal and business history really necessary? Do you need to allocate such a substantial proportion of your email to your brand? Probably not.
Instead, you should seek to convey in the shortest way possible, all the information the blogger needs to make a decision on your proposal. Keep it simple, get to the point and avoid endless rambling that will only annoy the recipient. Think about the blogger as a busy individual with limited time to scan your pitch. Play your part in accelerating their decision-making.
4. Real-Life Interaction
Blogging takes place in the virtual space that is the World Wide Web. That doesn’t, however, mean that you should limit your blogger outreach to email, social media messages and other virtual channels. After all, there’s a real person you will be reaching out to. Therefore, take advantage of any real-life situations where you can connect with your favorite blogger.
Participate in conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions and other events where you could have a chance to have a one-on-one conversation with bloggers, share your ideas and exchange contacts. This kind of connection firms up much faster than a relationship established by email.
5. Broaden Your Horizon
When you first develop your list of bloggers to reach out to, chances are that you’ll go for those that have direct relevance to your subject area. But if you take time to think about the content you specialize in, you’ll realize that there’s a much broader array of bloggers you could work with than you initially thought.
For example, if you run a bakery blog, your initial list of bloggers to target would comprise food reviewers and bloggers. You can, however, gain more traction by extending your net to include wedding bloggers since wedding cakes are a big part of the event. This will expose your brand to a new audience.
6. Establish Regular Communication
So you’ve got a positive response to your pitch and the blogger has even published your first guest post. That’s certainly a major win. However, just because a blogger allowed you one guest post doesn’t mean they are under obligation to accept your posts in the future. It behooves you therefore to find ways to strengthen the relationship over time. There are numerous opportunities to do this.
For example, send the blogger a thank you once your guest post is live, share the post on your social media channels or, with their approval, add them to your own mailing list so they can stay current with content on your site. The best bloggers are constantly looking for new opportunities for growth and income. If they are thinking of a collaborator to work with on a project that relates to your niche, then your name is likely to feature much higher up on their list.
Apply these tips to your next blogger outreach campaign and you will dramatically increase your odds of success.
