Every blog publisher wants to increase eyeballs and visits. We are open to introducing our readers to new voices by way of guest posts; but, after years of blogging and receiving email requests from wannabe bloggers, I’ve learned that a lot of people don’t understand the difference between blogging and article marketing.

Here are 6 real examples of emails that suck:

The 6th reason your email sucks:

You never researched nor read my blog.

I wanted to make sure my topic fits with your theme. I have two guest posts that I would like to have published. One is about how to plan for retirement in your 20s. The second post is about odd things that need to be transported.

The 5th reason your email sucks:

You confuse guest blogging with article marketing.

Hey there,

We have been reading the articles on your website and are very impressed with the quality of your information. We have a team of copywriters who specialize in writing articles on various topics and would like to write an original article for you to use on your website.

The 4th reason your email sucks:

You are the same as the 6th reason. What has a cost here?

I came across your site, Ariherzog.com, and would like to offer you free content.

The 3rd reason your email sucks:

You are the same as the 4th reason.

I read some of your content and really found them interesting and informative. So I was just wondering if I can also do something for your site, maybe writing an article for your site FREE of cost as a guest writer.

The 2nd reason your email sucks:

You don’t even introduce yourself, and your article is off-topic.

I have attached an article for guest posting please review it. Waiting for response.

And, the number one reason your email sucks:

[insert drum roll sounds here]

I was wondering if you accept guest postings?

I used to have a page with guest posting guidelines. I don’t anymore. But I will still publish guest posts. I don’t care if you make a living as a content marketer or a search engine optimizer but try to personalize your email to me. Accept the fact there is a difference between guest blogging and article marketing, as Ann Smarty elaborates in this table:

	Guest posting	Article Marketing
Unique content?	Yes, absolutely	No (“spunn” content is NOT unique. Period)
Extra links? (to your article)	Yes!	Hardly possible
Potential promoters and followers?	Yes!	Hardly possible
Increased exposure to social media?	Yes!	No
Networking power?	Yes!	Hardly possible
Boosting reputation?	Yes! (if you are great)	Maybe (if you are great!)

Michael Dolen is among a slate of guest bloggers for me. He wrote a great 2-part series about the online successes and failures of the credit card industry. His email?

Hi Ari,

It’s interesting that your focus is on emerging media, because I own/operate a very popular forum and blog; CreditCardForum.com. On behalf of my site I do quite a bit of guest posting and take pride in the fact that I don’t write the cookie-cutter and bare minimum “guest posts” that a lot of people churn out these days, ha. Is there any particular topic you would like to see me cover? I reviewed your archives showing the last 100 articles and here are a few ideas that popped into my head from looking at those…

[Mike shared three sample titles and related content.]

Would you like me to write up one of these? Or something else? Just let me know what’s best for you.

By the way, congrats on being elected to Newburyport’s city council! Even though I live some two-thousand miles away on the other coast, just want to say I dig local politicians… I feel they’re the only politicians who actually get stuff done 😉

Thanks,
Mike

Show me you are a person and I’ll be your best friend. But the moment your email seeking guest blogging opportunities turns into a spamfest of SEO qualifications, pluralized pronouns, and irrelevant content, you make it painstakingly clear you never visited my blog, shared a post, or would ever think of talking about your passion to my readers.