Guest Post Requests: Separating the Gems from the Junk

What is a guest post? A guest post is an article written and published on someone else's website or blog.

Oh, you wouldn't believe the silliness I've seen in my Gmail accounts when it comes to requests to post on my blogs. I use the word "silly" loosely, the laziness is so rampant it's actually rather maddening.

Thankfully, I've sharpened my radar and can separate the gems from the junk.

3 Easy Things . . .

When I receive a request to guest post on one of my blogs, here are a few things I look for:

• The requestor actually read the blog. A claim to be an avid reader falls flat with the suggestion that,"Don't Break Your Diet When Ordering Pizza" would be a perfect fit for the site. Liar.

• The pitch is customized. A claim to have post titled "xxx" prepared soley for this blog falls flat when the same claim shows up in the two separate email accounts I maintain for each of my blogs. Caught.

• Grace. Arguing with me when I respond that a submission does not align with the focus or direction of the site or speak to readers the way I want it to is fruitless. It's my blog.

If I receive a request that I believe is sincere, I will respond but if the requester is not going to take their request or my time seriously I will not.

 . . . . To Help Me Help You Help Me

Here, on this blog, guest posts do not occur without a personal connection and smart content. It wasn't always that way but I've learned the difference between quantity and quality and, for now, this works for me.

Now, Women of HR is a different story. As a multi-contributor blog, Women of HR exists because of our regular writers and guest contributors. Some of our best contributions started with a cold-email. It can be done. But you have to be serious about it.

I need you for your voice, your ideas and your diversity. Whether it be for exposure, a place to write or a community to join, you need me too.

You don't have to have your own blog to submit. You don't even have to think you are an awesome writer (hint: you are better than you think you are). If you have the desire to write, are willing to work with me and my suggestions, we'll get a post up that will be well received. Guaranteed.

Write from the heart, do your homework and it could be a match made in <blog> heaven.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

My Ideal Day: A Day in the Life Sunday

Have you ever spent time thinking about what your ideal day would look like? Well, I had not until Becky Robinson asked me that very question. As part of a campaign with Jason Womack, author of Your Best Just Got Better, Becky is asking people to describe their ideal day.

I'm in. Are you?

My ideal day is a day without a plan. It begins with me waking up on my own. It's quiet inside the house and even quieter inside my head. Moleskine is hand, I write, capturing free-flowing unedited thoughts while observing how easily they connect if I stay out of their way.

I exercise. It could be a bike, run or hike but it is outside and my thoughts are on nothing other than the movement, the sounds and my strength.

By the time I finish, the family is awake and humming along. Breakfast is a must and an ideal weekend breakfast is brunch-like with oatmeal or French toast complete with nuts and fruit and coffee with Baileys. Oh, bread pudding! The fall in the air today has me remembering a Vermont maple farm brunch I read about but I could be just as happy at a local coffee shop with indie music and a great artisan bakery.

We eat, talk, read, watch TV, walk the dog - whatever. The activity, or lack of activity, is not important. What's important is that we are together, in the moment, with a quiet understanding and total acceptance of each other as individuals and as a family unit. 

My ideal day is not only about what I am doing, it is also about whom I am doing it with. My ideal day is about the state of my relationships and  being present for them by quieting my inner noise. Now . . . a day at the spa, a new look and a great dinner wouldn't ruin an ideal day either.

Photo credit: iStockphoto