Guest Post Request Rejection – Why 90% of Requests I Get are Rejected and Why Yours too Could!

Faced with a Guest post request rejection?

Then there is some serious introspection that you need to do. Did you do it right?

I get about 8-9 guest post requests everyday. And from the very email, I kind of understand that the email is from a SPAMMER SEO company who wants to use my site to send link to some crappy website of his. If you are wondering how, then I will explain it in a moment.

But, first and the foremost – guest posting is the easiest and effortless black hat method in the market today. In spite of the fact that Google had put some restrictions on guest posting, the use of guest posting to get backlinks is rampant.

(Read this post to know why guest posting is not for backlinks)

And with so many people trying to misuse this, it is just normal if guest posts from good people like you get rejected.

What is important is to look for the reasons for rejection. The signs will be quite evident in your approach with guest post requests. Find them and kill them!

Guest Post Request Rejection – Why I do it

I have a nice little page that I put together with the guidelines on guest posting. This page details pretty much everything on how to apply for guest posting and what my expectations are.

Yet about 40% of the requests that I get, are from people who wouldn’t even have read this page.

Here is an extract from the guidelines page –

This page will give you all the information that you will need in order to write for us. Carefully read the guidelines and the posting requirements before you send over your guest post for review. In case you have any queries you can write to us.

That clearly states, how to reach me if you have any questions, should you have any.

But as funny as it sounds, none of these 40% requests comes from that form.

Some would argue the lack of time to go through the guidelines.

I understand.

But keep in mind that you are attempting an outreach. And an outreach will take time.

Also the funniest part is the content in the email request. Most of them start by saying – “I am a fan of your blog and the content there is very informative“.

If I was a fan of your blog and read the content, then I would surely have taken the time out to read the guidelines as well.

The first impression itself is a goner.

Things that I look for in a Guest Post Request

So how do I know that these aren’t the kind of requests I should accept?

What are the things that I look for in a guest post request before actually reviewing the article?

Here are some of the most important of them –

1. How was the request sent? If there is a guideline to submitting requests, then that is what should be followed. A lot of people add a prefix to you domain name to create an email. For eg: adding “guestposting” in front of “dkspeaks.com” and creating an email. 90% of the time such requests are sent from an automated bulk emailer
2. From which email was the request sent? About 50% of the requests I get are from emails with a definite pattern.
   1. They will be gmail.com addresses. Don’t ever use a gmail.com account, if you are serious with your requests. Try to use your domain email addresses.
   2. They have a pattern. For eg: moorewalter123@gmail.com, watsonjames345@gmail.com etc. They are definitely suspicious.
3. The Flattering appreciation – They will all start with a flattering appreciation of your blog and the posts in there, though they wouldn’t have read a single word of it. Don’t do it. There are a lot of templates out there which ask you to do this. But that’s only if you have seriously read the blog. Read the blog, comment on the posts, engage in a conversation and let the blogger know that you are engaging. You can then use this template and it would make real sense.
4. The Do Follow link Request – This is a “Big Red Flag” for me. Do follow links are not normal. No blogger would want to pass on precious link juice and face the flak from Google. If your site is an authority site, then it makes sense for me to do that and that too if the article does that naturally. But otherwise, it is a big “NO”. So when somebody requests a do-follow link, it gets my antenna ringing on the intention of the guest post request.
5. The Pitch – I would love an email to be genuine and personal rather than a template. A lot of people use templates that sounds so “ingenuine”. The pitch would usually talk about, “providing a quality guest post absolutely free of cost” or, the request would be “to publish a unique and informative article” on my blog. C’mon guys! Bloggers know that guest posts are going to be free of cost and if it was not a “unique and informative article”, why would somebody even bother to publish a guest post?

You would have noticed a few signs in the above points.

If not, then let me explain.

All of the above points show the lack of genuinity. The guest posting request, just doesn’t look genuine. It doesn’t look like it is a genuine attempt to reach out to a new audience or, diversify your content reach. It look so FAKE!

Fake is history, be Genuine.

The internet is moving towards a more genuine environment. All of the algorithm changes that you see in Google is to weed out the Fakes and appreciate the genuines.

Improving the chances of a Guest Post Request getting accepted

A more personal and genuine interaction with a blogger is sure to get you a good response.

The tips to get accepted is pretty simple.You would find some nice tips on this post at Micheal Hyatt’s blog and also at this one on Copyblogger.

The following can help you improve the chances of your guest post request getting accepted –

1. Spend some time on the blog before sending in the request. Read some of the blog posts, understand the topics that are covered and the style of writing and think of a topic that goes well with the overall aura of the blog
2. Engage with the posts, at least a few, before you make your guest posting pitch. Post genuine comments, engage in conversations and let the blogger know that you have visited their blog and read their content
3. Be yourself and personal. You don’t need to use a template. Even if you want to, then amend it to suite your request. There might be some things in the template which might not be true for you. Remove them. Though, I would still recommend that you write a personal email without following somebody else’s template.

Over to You

Have you ever faced rejection with your guest posting request?

If so, were you able to know the reason why and what did you do about it?

Comment below and let me know and we can start a conversation. I would love to discuss and see how we can address any unresolved issues. It would also help the larger audience.

Let me know your thoughts by commenting below.

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Here’s an extremely valuable resource for good guest posting sites.