Why Your Pet Guest Post Requests Are Getting Ignored

You send out dozens of emails to owners and editors of pet blogs – only to get few, if any responses.

All you want is to promote your pet business. You want to do it the right way – by getting healthy, honest backlinks. Guest posts are a great way for you to contribute your expertise to an existing audience while getting more traffic to your site. It should be a win-win-win situation: you get your backlink and traffic, the blog owner gets free valuable content, and their audience gets a great read.

So why are your emails to blog owners getting ignored?

I’ve had my blog, Little Dog Tips, for about two years. Since the beginning, I have had a page that advertised my openness to guest contributions. In that time, I’ve only published work from three other authors. And yet, I’ve received hundreds of emails… 99.9% of them, I didn’t even bother to respond.

And I love publishing great guest posts.

Most of the pitch emails I get are so bad, the occasional great one gets my attention right away. It’s so easy for an honest, good writer to get a pet guest post published on my site.

Here’s why most of the emails I receive are ignored. If you’re making any of these mistakes, please don’t feel bad – just pitch some great content, and I’ll be glad to have you.

I’m also sure that many other bloggers feel the same way. Just make the effort and you’ll stand out.

Stop Using Guest Post Templates

I get a lot of nearly identical emails. Many don’t even change the subject line.

I’m not sure where people are copying and pasting these from. Writing an original email shows that you have the research skills, knowledge and creativity to create a guest post they’ll actually want to publish.

I never respond to emails that look like templates, with many familiar phrases. It’s just not worth my time anymore.

Read The Guidelines

Many blogs have a guest post guidelines page. I’m convinced that nobody has ever read mine. If you simply read the guidelines and provide what the blog owner asks for, you’ll probably get your pitch noticed and your post published.

Pitch Or Draft?

You can email the blog owner a basic pitch with the main points you’ll cover in your blog post, a list of possible topics, or a complete draft.

I don’t mind as long as it’s something good.

Submitting a completed post sort of says, “I wrote this for whichever blog takes it first.”

Your chances of being successful are better if you do send a pitch, rather than a completed post.

Don’t Be A Stranger

I mention on my own guidelines that I only accept posts from people who are readers of my blog. Yet, most requests I get are from people who do not subscribe to my blog by email, have not connected with me on social media, nor have they shared a post or commented.

You should only build relationships with bloggers that you actually like. Take the time to get to know them.

Don’t Be Lazy

Another reason I ignore guest post emails: they’re from spam bots.

I’m not sure how or why people are doing this. The email will contain my full blog URL instead of blog name. It’s just so obvious and lazy.

The email itself is an example of your writing. If you cut corners on emails, you’ll create sloppy content that nobody wants to read, share or publish.

Also, if you can’t take five minutes to write a nice email, I can’t take 30 minutes to edit your post, create images, and promote your post across my social media channels.

Try A Different Kind Of Partnership

Many pet businesses are using guest posts as a form of marketing.

That’s okay, but it doesn’t always feel honest. Even though you contribute the content, I’m still showing that I support your business if I publish it for you.

If I’m not familiar with your business, I can’t feel good about promoting it on my site.

I prefer to publish posts from fellow writers who are building their portfolios. I’d accept a great guest post from a business if I ever received one. So far, no dice.

If writing isn’t your thing, maybe you should partner with blogs in a different way.

Sponsored posts, interviews, reviews and giveaways are all great ways to reach pet blog audiences.

Yes, Flattery Will Still Get You Places

A lot of template emails start off with a vague compliment.

I get a lot of them that say they love my vision, my voice and maybe a link to a random post that they obviously didn’t read.

If you flatter me in a specific way, that shows you’re actually enthusiastic about what I do, and actually know what I write my blog, I’ll publish anything for you.

Well, not anything, but you’ll go a long way.

Discouraged? Don’t Be.

I apologize if this comes off as a rant. Because it totally is one. You’d rant too if hundreds of times each month, people tried to trick you into thinking they cared about your work. All for a puny backlink. I’m not angry. I’m just disappointed.

Even if you’ve made all of these mistakes, you can still redeem yourself.

Luckily, I don’t remember the names or companies of anyone who has sent me a horrible guest post email. I doubt other bloggers do either. Try, try again!

I love great guest posts. Considering how bad most of my requests are, it’ll only take a little time and effort to stand out in my inbox. Please. Make me proud.

The Right Pet Guest Post Plan

At first, target just 3 blogs that you’d love to publish a post on. Find out if they have guidelines and recent posts from other guest contributors.

Read their posts. Write meaningful comments that demonstrate your sincerity and your writing skills.

Follow the blog on social media. Like and share. Not all at once, but over a period of time.

Then, read their guidelines again. Write a pitch, starting with a genuine compliment. Tell your blogger what value your post will have for their audience, and what points you’ll cover.

Then, and only then, hit send.