Why Your Guest Blog Proposal was Rejected

I get a lot of guest blog proposals in my email inbox. It’s not often that I will accept guest blogger, and usually it’s because I’ve got standards I’m looking for. However, from working with other bloggers and guest blogging, as well as managing clients and their guest bloggers, I’ve come up with a list on why your guest blog proposal was rejected.

Why Your Guest Blog Proposal was Rejected

• The proposal’s content contained someone else’s website.
• Suggested article topic had nothing to do with your site.
• Sample articles were pretty poor.
• Suggested article topic is already on the site.
• Guest blogger doesn’t align with the tone and brand of your site.
• Proposal asks if they can pay for an article to be published with their links.
• Proposal wasn’t sent through the right channel.
• The guest blogger was really pushy or follow-up way too often.
• At the bottom of the email, after the email author’s signature is some type of mention or link to unsubscribe.

The proposal’s content contained someone else’s website.

One of the worst things to do, is to send to a blog owner, the wrong link. It means you’re in a rush, and not paying attention. In a lot of cases, your guest blog inquiry will be put in the spam folder, or just be trashed. It’s okay if you want to copy and paste some of your message, but be careful and look over the email once over, before sending. This is will help reduce that mistake, and give you a better chance.

Suggested article topic had nothing to do with your site.

It’s really obvious that receiving suggested topics that have nothing to do with the site, will be rejected. It’s even worse when someone wants to submit porn and gambling websites.

As a guest blogger, you need to do some research first, on what sites may fit well with what you talk about on your own site. You don’t have to look for the most popular bloggers, but you should find quality blogs, as a lot of times, those sites will maintain their integrity and collaborate well with you.

Sample articles were pretty poor.

If you are including a few sample articles from other places, not only make sure they have topics related to the site you are trying to submit a guest post, but make sure those articles are written well. Even if you’re submitting on behalf of a company, make sure your links aren’t just to the site you’re being paid to promote, but also solid references from other noteworthy sites.

Suggested article topic is already on the site.

Another big indicator that you didn’t do your search on the site you want to guest blog at, is suggesting a topic that is already published there. Researching is more than half the work, and usually the most tedious in blogger outreach for guest blogging.

Guest blogger doesn’t align with the tone and brand of your site.

Some people have some ideas and suggestions that won’t coincide with other blogs and brands. That’s okay, but if you’re told that, don’t get offended. Go onto the next, and make sure you did your research to get the feel of a blog’s tone and what they align with.

Proposal asks if they can pay for an article to be published with their links.

Unless you do accept guest posts for pay, or sponsored guest posts (which you should be labeling as “sponsored post”), then you may not want to publish those type of articles on your blog. Make sure to ask what types of links, or have a solid policy on what type of links aren’t permitted.

Proposal wasn’t sent through the right channel.

This may seem a bit anal retentive, but even I will delete guest blog proposals that aren’t sent through my site’s guest blogger inquiry form. Personally, as extreme as it sounds, I delete those posts immediately. If a blogger has a form strictly for guest blogging, don’t submit it through other forms, and certainly don’t sent it directly because you scraped the email off the internet from wherever.

The guest blogger was really pushy or follow-up way too often.

Obviously, some people get super busy, and will prioritize what email they will check each day. Guest blogger inquiries aren’t really a priority for a lot of bloggers, so don’t expect to get a reply in a day or two. Your impatience could be seen as pushy.

If you like to follow-up, wait a week, and ONLY email one more time. If you don’t get a reply, assume the blogger isn’t interested. Remember that the blog owner isn’t obligated to reply. My own policy is that if you do follow-up too soon, or too many times, I will mark the email as spam.

At the bottom of the email, after the email author’s signature is some type of mention or link to unsubscribe.

This means someone had the audacity to not only scrape your email address from somewhere, or buy a cold leads list, but they don’t care at all. This is against the CAN-SPAM act and data privacy laws. It’s disrespectful to add someone’s email to a list without permission.

If you’re doing this…

via GIPHY

For me, when this happens, I will unsubscribe, and then report the email as spam.

If you’ve been trying to submit guest blog proposals, have you ever been rejected? If you’re a blog owner, what’s the worst guest blog proposal you ever received?