5 mistakes that will doom your article pitch

As the owner of a website that publishes blog posts and articles, I get emails just about daily from people wanting to publish on my site. It got so bad I set up a separate email address for it.

There’s nothing wrong with pitching an idea or an already-written article to someone for publication on their site. I’ve done it; I’m sure you have, too.

However, there are things that will get your email an automatic “no.” Seriously, I wonder if some of these people ever took a class on correspondence.

Let’s take a look at what not to do in an email pitch:

1. Fail to greet me by name

Rule 101 in writing a letter (or any correspondence): You always greet the person by name; not doing so is disrespectful. My name is not hard to find; it’s all over my website. If you found my email address on my website, you should also have seen my name there.

Here’s a variation: You get my name right, but your email asks whom you should talk to about a given matter. The About page lets you know that I am that person. In short, do a little research.

Real examples: