If you want to be a guest blogger, you need to FOLLOW the website’s guidelines.

Another tip: Don’t ask the website to critique your article submission.

Every so often someone inquires about submitting a guest blog to my other site.

How to Guarantee that Your Guest Blog Submission Will Be Rejected

To guarantee that your blog post will be rejected, you must ignore the guidelines that very clearly state that your relevant credentials must be included in your inquiry.

Many website owners don’t want just any writer’s articles. They want a writer who also has a formal background in the topic that’s being written about.

An example would be a site about auto repair. Certainly, there are mechanics or former mechanics out there who also write articles.

Why would this site’s owner be interested in an article from someone who’s never been a professional auto mechanic?

Another example (and yes, a second one is needed, because I’ve learned in life that most people are as dense as a brick) is a website about proper oral care.

Why would the site’s owner be interested in an article from someone who’s never worked as a dentist or dental hygienist?

Look, I realize that laypeople can have valuable personal experience to share. Yes, I get that. But that’s beside the point. Guidelines for guest bloggers need to be respected.

My guidelines for guest bloggers clearly state to list one’s relevant professional credentials. Instead, all I get is that person’s name.

Right off the bat, you’re disqualified, even if your inquiry includes a link to several of your published online articles.

I figure that if you’re writing about a topic that you have professional experience in, that you’d proudly include your relevant credentials. So when none are there, I KNOW that this person is just a layperson.

The second way that guarantees rejection of your guest blog…

… what REALLY gets me is when someone asks me to critique their submission (when it comes) and give them advice on how to improve their writing skills.

WTF.

Where do these people get off assuming that website owners want to volunteer their time to analyze and critique a guest blog’s editorial quality?

Hey, I’ll HAPPILY do that for $50 an hour, with an hour-charge minimum! And you must pay me first! So if you want me to critique an 800 word article, that’s 50 bucks upfront, even if it takes me 14 minutes to read and mark up, then another five minutes to type out my critique and send it your way.

But free? GIT OUTTA HERE.

Nowhere on my other site does it state that guest blogs will be analyzed and critiqued for writing skill. In fact, my other site isn’t in the least bit related to “how to be a good writer,” “how to get your articles published,” “how to get other sites to post your guest blogs,” etc.

It couldn’t be more distantly related.

Yet these people want my professional opinion. Nope. Not for free.

What really bugs me is that I have to sift through these contact-form inquiries — that come in the form of email alerts — JUST IN CASE one is legitimate.

Several legitimate ones have come through, and I’ve posted those individuals’ articles, giving them a byline plus a link-back to their site.

I never want to miss these legitimate inquiries. Thus, I can’t just hastily delete the email alerts without first reading through them.

Thanks to clueless people out there, I will continue wasting my time with these lame inquiries.

Now, you may think that the time involved in sifting through these shouldn’t add up to much. And you’re correct; it doesn’t.

But every time I see an email alert, I get my hopes up that it just might be an inquiry from a person who’s replete with the professional background that I require, and who has excellent writing skills and doesn’t just blow a lot of smoke. I hate when my hopes are dashed by some numbskull.

So if you want to get your guest blog accepted, don’t be needy; act professional (a confident, professional writer doesn’t ask the website owner to evaluate their work); and if your credentials don’t match up with what the guidelines call for – THEN MOVE ON instead of wasting the site owner’s time.