Since the inception of Penguin and Panda, SEOs have been shifting from link building strategies that may have involved anything from mass article submissions, social bookmarking, directory submissions in bulk, purchasing links, as well as other frowned upon strategies and have recently jumped on the guest posting bandwagon.

Who can blame them? When correctly executed, guest posting can be a great way to promote your own business or product to loyal readers of other websites that are related to your niche and at the same time, increase your author rank and organic visibility!

“But I’ve just started trying to get guest posts live and no-one’s getting back to me?”

With the recent influx of people trying to get their posts live, the barrier to entry on a number of sites is higher than it was in previous years. If you’re really struggling to get responses, read on to see if any of the below statements ring true.

1.  You're not personalising your outreach efforts

I run a number of blogs in various verticals and I’m open and honest about my relation to the site on each of them. My contact us page has the name of the person in-charge of verifying and validating guest posts and the majority of the sites even have guest posts guidelines.

On an average day I’ll receive anywhere between 5-20 guest post requests, so to even stand a chance at getting your initial pitch read, you’ll really have to stand out from the crowd.

“You lost me at hello”

When I receive a guest post enquiry that starts with “hi / dear / hey admin”, you’ve already shot yourself in the foot and your enquiry is going straight to the recycle bin.

Take the extra three seconds to personalise your outreach efforts and you’ll stand a chance of getting your guest post reviewed.

2. Poor grammar and spelling

You’re trying to convince me to publish your content on my blog. If your initial outreach e-mail contains grammar and spelling errors, don’t expect to receive a positive response from myself.

“Check your existing outreach e-mails”

I’ve made this mistake before. You only get one first impression and while looking over some of my previous outreach attempts, the familiar feeling of sinking in the pit of my stomach quickly made itself known.

I now triple check any outreach e-mail before hitting submit just to make sure any mistakes have been taken care of.

3. Third time lucky?

How many times have you submitted an initial outreach e-mail and left it at that? I try to make sure I follow up any outreach attempt at least three times. Webmasters are busy and it’s possible that you caught them at the wrong time, meaning your contact attempt went unrequited.

Find your own sweet spot, but try to wait at least a week before chasing up any enquiries. There’s only one thing worse than not chasing up your initial enquiry and that’s chasing it up too many times!

4. Shameless flattery will get you no-where

“Hi, My name is x and I am a huge fan of your blog. <Insert why guest posts the best thing since sliced bread>. I think your readers can benefit from it and it will fit perfectly your website”

<sarcasm> Oh wow. Another huge fan of my blog, I’m so glad that you’ve been a reader for the past two years and have submitted insightful comments on my existing posts before attempting to butter me up into accepting your subpar content </sarcasm>

This doesn’t work unless it’s legitimate. If you want to go down this route of outreach, then I suggest you read up on what the site really has to offer, submit a few comments, try to get in touch with the webmaster via twitter or G+ before suggesting that you’ve been a reader for the past few years.

5. Fake profiles will kill your conversion ratio

Try to connect your outreach efforts with a real account. Sign-up to G+ with the e-mail you’re pitching from. A number of webmasters will have Rapportive or an equivalent add-on installed. If your twitter and other profiles show up, you may be in with a shot of getting your post live.

Below is an example of a real e-mail I received last week (with a fake name and e-mail address to protect the original users’ identity)

------------------

Subject: Guest Postings
From: [email protected]

I read your site..

I am contributing an article to your site.

Please let me know about your thoughts.

Looking forward positive response.

Good luck

[Real Name Protected]
Online Marketing Strategist

------------------

You can guess where this e-mail ended up.

“There’s a difference between a fake profile and a persona”

If all else fails -- I’m not an advocate of fake profiles and there’s a fine line between a persona and a fake account, but if you’re struggling to make headway in a vertical that is either insanely dull or particularly competitive, I suggest creating a new account with your personal details. Remember to be creative with your interests and try to marry your likes and dislikes to the type of site you’re attempting to get a link from.

Ok, now I know what I shouldn’t do. What SHOULD I do?

• Be genuine
• Be insightful
• Offer good quality content
• Make sure your pitch is perfect
• Show previous examples of live posts if relevant
• If you get rejected, thank the webmaster for getting back to you anyway – By being courteous, I've managed to get posts live from sites that weren't accepting submissions at the time.

Remember that guest posting alone isn't a marketing strategy. It's great for small businesses and users trying to increase exposure but by creating your own content strategy and generating interest in your business, you'll be more likely to succeed in the long run!