A few months ago, I embarked on an ambitious endeavor: reach out to small business owners via guest blogging. Many marketing blogs recommend guest blogging as a great way to get attention and links, especially impactful for startups with small marketing budgets. As with any project, the beginning was somewhat bumpy for me but the following tips are useful tidbits I learned along the way which led to my (I think) success:

1) Be Genuine and Offer Value.

This is the absolute most important part of reaching out to bloggers. They get a ton of email so your request to guest post should be short, to the point, and offer something of value. For example, don’t pitch your company in the email. If anything, write a short (one sentence) description. My description would be something like “I work for FeeFighters–the comparison shopping site for credit card processors” with a link to our site. They can check it out if they want: the more important part of the email is the value proposition.

2) Do the research.

Make sure that the blogger you are approaching even allows guest posts on his/her blog. Of course, make sure that your topic would interest their readers. Before I email bloggers, I look at their post history, see their activity on Twitter, and see if we are somehow otherwise connected (Facebook? LinkedIn?). I look for commonalities or certain points of interest that they might appreciate more so than others. For example, I grew up in a small town and worked for a small business for most of my life. Therefore, when reaching out to rural bloggers, I always mention that I am from a small town (Go Galesburg, IL!).

3) Be specific.

In your concise email, don’t just suggest guest posting, but offer the name of a specific guest post you plan to write. Also, make sure it’s something that’ll pop on their site. A lot of blogs will post tips or short lists, so offering a short list of resources, ideas, or tips in your niche may be a good idea. NEVER send generic emails…they will get erased. Make sure to make each email as personalized as possible…taking those extra few minutes to do the research and make a personal connection will go a long way.

4) Be Patient. But Persistent.

Bloggers usually have day jobs and work on a bit different time schedule than you may like. Being courteous and patient is something you’ll learn comes in handy, especially since things are out of your hands after you’ve sent in the post. I’ve found that the quicker you send in your post, the more likely it’ll be posted expediently. Otherwise, other things come up and your offer may lose relevance in the blogger’s mind. After a while, it’s perfectly acceptable to send an email asking about the status of your post…just be polite!

5) Develop a Relationship

Bloggers love great content and you love giving them great content. Therefore, further your relationship by following the bloggers on Twitter, commenting on other posts, retweeting interesting info, and even offering to send in posts every once in a while specifically catered to their audience. Remember the 3 P’s: Polite, Prompt, and Promote. Be polite to them in every single correspondence, be extremely prompt in responding, and promote them as much as possible.