The Grinch at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
I am a chill dude. Unlike The Grinch, whom I saw at the Macy’s Turkey Day Parade in NYC recently.
But some blogger outreach emails test the limits of my loving kindness.
When I lived in Koh Lanta, Thailand, I read a book about a monk named Luang Poo. Pronounced “Long Poo”. (I am not joking).
I recall one vivid encounter detailed in the book. A monk visiting his home village in a remote section of Thailand was instructed to live outside of the house for a stretch.
For some reason (ok; for his enlightenment), people from the village cursed him out, spat on him, threw filth on him and even slapped him around. He questioned the events but remained calm, cool and collected, embracing the experiences and becoming a poised and balanced monk in his own right.
Why the hell am I talking about Luang Poo and an incident from his book when this blog post is not about eating a high fiber diet?
Some bloggers treat these lame email pitching bloggers like the folks who spat, slapped and cursed out a devout Buddhist monk. Except that unlike the monk, said bloggers take the uninformed, fear-based pitches personally, wanting to nail these misinformed bloggers to the post.
Before we dive into the networking mistakes, it’s OK to get annoyed or even kinda pissed, but please don’t get too worked up when very human, often friendly enough, but totally ignorant bloggers make these mistakes, OK guys? They know not what they do.
If you are making these mistakes own the errors and turn things around with your blog.
Sweet blogging success awaits the connected, helpful bloggers who avoids making these big time blogging blunders.
On to the 4 blogger networking boo boo’s.
1: Generic Emails
Hi,Â
I love your blog. You are a really good blogger.
I have 3 guest post ideas for you. I believe my content will benefit your readers. (No you don’t)
Signed,
John Doe
Generic emails are the ultimate blogger networking mistake. Think it through; fear makes ya do dingbatish stuff, but do you believe that an established, pro blogger who receives an avalanche of requests daily would respond to someone who doesn’t even care enough about them to look up and use their name?
This is networking insanity, a form of dead on delusion suffered by many struggling or newbie bloggers.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC with Scrat going bonkers over acorns.
Personalize every single initial email you send to another human being. Give your email a chance to stand out from the 10, 20 or 100 emails – or more – that seasoned pro bloggers receive on a daily basis.
2: Cold Emails
Some folks address me by name. Smart. But said bloggers come in cold.
I have no idea who they are. Never seen one of their comments, or a Retweet of my latest post, or a Facebook Share.
Skipping tip #3 makes you a potential connection. Maybe a little more intimate than a stranger, because you did enough legwork to know my name, and to maybe mention a recent post I published, or tweeted.
The thing that’ll put ya over the top is…..
3: Asking Before Giving Persistently
Some cats (meaning cool people) ask me for help before helping me.
My take on that: get in line behind all the kind, generous bloggers who helped me for years.
Friends take care of friends. But networking-challenged bloggers all but scream “Stranger Danger” by asking for a guest post, a tweet, for me to place their InfoGraphic in my post, for a link swap, or for anything, without having helped me out for weeks or months or years.
Do you want to know how I became successful? Minus tossing salt over my shoulder thrice daily and voodoo doll usage I simply helped many successful bloggers by promoting them and by commenting effectively on their blogs without looking for anything in return….for weeks, months and years.
I had to pay my blogging networking tuition. So do you. Ain’t no way to land features on established blogs persistently unless you pay your blog networking dues.
Help top bloggers. Generously. For a long time. Promote top bloggers:
- on social media
- on your blog
- via interviews
Publish personalized, authentic comments on top blogs. Guess what will happen? Invites for features, guest posts and interviews will flow your way, without even asking folks.
4: Looking for Guest Post Love in all the Wrong Places
I once received a guest post pitch from someone wanting to place their holiday candle guest post on Blogging From Paradise.
I wish I was kidding. But I am not.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade NYC
I politely explained how guest posting was permanently closed on BFP and how they should only pitch candle bloggers.
Never pitch a guest post to a blogger outside out of your niche. Align every pitch with the blogger niche.
Guest post on blogs aligned with your niche.
Stay on topic or stray off course.
The Course
If you are having a helluva time building a successful blog or if you are succeeding but need to revisit the fundamentals buy my course:
11 Fundamentals of Successful Blogging Audio Course (Plus a Bonus Audio Course)
Your Turn
What damaging networking mistakes can you add to this list?
