When you contact another blogger and ask him or her if you can contribute a guest post to be published on his or her blog, follow these ten tips to increase your chances of getting your guest post accepted.


1. Read the Blog Where You Want to Submit a Guest Post

If you want to have any chance at convincing another blogger to publish your guest post on his or her blog, then it's absolutely imperative that you take some time to get to know the other blogger, the content of his or her blog and the audience for that blog. Take some time to read through the blog's current content and archives. Read through the comments and get a feel for what content is acceptable and popular on that blog. Then submit a guest post idea that is relevant and fills a gap in the existing content.

2. Provide Your Credentials

When you contact another blogger and pitch your guest post, be certain to provide your credentials. Make the blogger understand why you are the person to write your guest post and why the blogger's audience should listen to and care about what you have to say.

3. Provide Your Blog Statistics

If your blog statistics are good, then make sure the other blogger knows what they are. Share your monthly unique visitor and page view stats as well as your rankings from Google, Alexa and Technorati - anything that will demonstrate that a guest post from you will provide useful links and potential traffic from your own blog readers when you promote it on your blog.

4. Be Honest and Straightforward

Don't waste the other blogger's time or try to butter him or her up with compliments. Chances are the other blogger will see right through it. Instead, get to the point. Most bloggers (particularly successful bloggers) are very busy. Ensure your email pitch spells out who you are and what you can provide to the blogger and his or her audience clearly and concisely. Additionally, don't embellish your credentials, blog stats or other information about what you can provide. Chances are you'll get caught.

5. Demonstrate You Know Something About Blogging

Tell the other blogger how you'll deliver your guest post. For example, if you send your guest post in a Word document, then the blogger has to take extra steps to copy and paste it into his or her blogging software to remove extra HTML code that Word automatically embeds. Make sure the other blogger understands that you will make it very easy for him or her to publish your guest post. Also, ensure the other blogger knows that you will provide content that is unique to his or her blog and that all images and content you provide will be yours or properly cited to avoid copyright problems.

6. Provide Links to Your Blogs and Online Writing

Show the other blogger that you can write coherent and compelling blog content by providing links to your blogs and relevant online writing samples.

7. Start Small

Start your guest blogging efforts on smaller blogs. It's always best to publish guest blog posts on blogs that are bigger than yours to drive the most traffic and gain the most exposure, but it's often best to start by guest blogging on smaller blogs, learning the ropes and building your online reputation and own blog traffic before you pitch a guest post idea to highly popular blog.

8. Write Your Guest Post Before You Pitch It

If you have time, write your guest post and attach it in your email when you contact the other blogger. This will allow the other blogger to see exactly what you can provide him or her, which a busy blogger is likely to appreciate. Rather than having to email back and forth to determine if you can provide quality, relevant content, the other blogger will immediately know what you can provide, which just might increase your chances of having your guest post accepted for publication.

9. Provide Your Best Content

When it comes time to actually write your guest post, make sure the content you provide to the other blogger is your absolute best. Provide your guest post on time, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and in the agreed upon format to increase your chances of being asked to return as a guest blogger. Also, don't overload your post with links to your own blogs or websites and other online activities. Instead, include a short bio (a few sentences) with one or two key links to a page or website that provides access to any other links you want to share. If your guest post looks like spam because it's covered in links to your own content, then it's unlikely you'll be asked to return as a guest blogger.

10. Promote Your Guest Post

Once your guest post goes live, be sure to promote it and drive traffic to it. If the other blogger sees a boost in valid traffic to your guest post with new visitors leaving comments and joining the conversation, it's likely you'll be asked to write another guest post in the future. Don't just spam the post with comments from yourself (even if you use multiple usernames), your friends and family though. Top bloggers will know it if you do, and you won't be asked to return.