Blogs are a great way to convey a message in an informative, casual way—it’s no wonder why readers are following and seeking information from it. As more people turn to blogs, PR practitioners want their clients to be featured in posts, but how do you pitch bloggers? Here are some helpful tips to pitch bloggers:

If you haven’t had any interaction with the blogger or blog, introduce yourself and your client—it is not only polite, but it will also shed some light on your pitch and he or she may remember you the next time you reach out to them.

We know that pitches ought to be specialized to a blog, blogger or a particular post—so cookie cutter pitches and press release announcements aren’t a good idea. Your pitch should be specialized and passionate—get the blogger’s attention with your enthusiasm. Bloggers tend to be more passionate about what they write because they are doing this in their free time, in addition to their work and personal lives.

Don’t start off a pitch with the following: “story idea”, “story pitch”, “hot tip”, or something similar—I read this tip a while ago from Ryan Block’s blog and thought it was a good one to note. Bloggers may delete your pitch before they have a chance to read it because it may come off as an insult—as if he or she is not capable of coming up with their own story ideas and content.

Check out the blog and become active in the community. Before you reach out to the blogger make sure your pitch is on target with the blog’s content—nothing is more annoying to a blogger when you don’t do your homework because it wastes everyone’s time and effort.

And, last but not least, leave comments—let bloggers know when they make interesting points or if you have any insight to add on the particular topic; also, interact with the person and the blog, not just when you need/want something.

Feel free to add on to this list, and check out Bad Pitch Blog for additional insight on this topic —Kevin explores the difference between pitching to journalists and bloggers, great read.