A while back I wrote a few articles on how to effectively use guest posts and how to write guest posting guidelines but did you know there is one more way you can make the guest posting process on your blog completely painless?
Just by creating a few email templates, which you can use over and over again, you’ll find that it’s much easier to respond to guest post requests in a professional again and again—while saving a lot of time in the process.
Here are a few quick templates for your perusal:
1. Let’s say you’ve received a guest post, but you’ve made some changes in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. In other words, you’ve cleaned it up and edited it to fit your blog’s style. Here’s what you could use as your standard email reply:
“Thanks for your submission. I would like to use your article with the following changes. If you are in agreement, please respond by (DATE) so that I can feature your post on (DATE). If I don’t hear back from you by (DATE), I won’t be able to fit your post in my blogging schedule until next month.”
2. Here’s another possible scenario. You’ve received a guest post that has a great idea, but it needs a little more depth, or attention to detail, before you’ll place it on your art blog. Reply with the following:
“Thanks for your submission. I would like to use your article with the following changes. (INSERT SUGGESTIONS). If you are in agreement, please make the requested changes and get your article back to me by: __________________, for publication.”
3. Of course, many times you will receive a submission, but it just doesn’t fit your art blog’s topic or publishing schedule. A good response would be something like this:
“Thank you for your interest in writing for (YOUR BLOG NAME). I appreciate the time and effort you put into this piece and wish I could publish every piece that is sent my way, unfortunately I am not going to be able to publish this piece.”
4. Some guest posts are almost perfect as-is. Maybe you’ve received a great guest post, but there’s one thing missing—a photo of the artist’s work. Try this template:
“Thank you for a wonderful submission. I’d love to schedule this piece to post on my blog on (DATE). Would you be able to send me (#) photos to include with your submission?”
5. After a successful guest post has been published and is live on your art blog, you may want to remind the author to share the post with their readers. If so, this email might do the trick:
“Hi (Name). I just wanted to let you know that your article has now been posted and can be found online at http://____________________. Please don’t hesitate to let your readers, Twitter friends, and Facebook fans know about it.”
6. For vacation posts when you’ve already scheduled your blog to publish ahead of time and won’t have time to remind your guest on the day the post goes live, send this email instead:
“Hi (Name). I just wanted to let you know that I’ve scheduled your article to post on (Blog URL) on (Date) at (Time). Please don’t hesitate to let your readers, Twitter friends, and Facebook fans know about it.”
And that’s really all there is to responding to guest posts! Feel free to modify these ideas or create some email templates of your own. The more you use them, the more time you’ll save.
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