Yesterday, you read a post from David Murton on how businesses can use Flickr as a promotional tool. It was solid info and a good post.

The post also contained a link back to one of David's affiliate sites. If you've been here for a while, you know that I'm cautious about that type of thing. Protecting our relationship here and the integrity of my content is pretty important to me.

But, David was different. His approach was a breath of fresh air and it's apparently worked for other bloggers like Jay Baer and Nevel Hobson and a slew others.

Read the pasted copy of the email I received from David via my blog's contact form:

the following was submitted via the contact form on nateriggs.com:

NAME: David Murton

WHY ARE THEY CONTACTING:

Hello Nate,

The name is David Murton, I’m a professional writer and webmaster; a pleasure to e-meet you! I’ve been reading your blog lately at the office and I’m loving it so far. I particularly enjoyed your "why values simply work" article from a week ago, plus I was quite impressed with the design of your site; even though it's a regular WordPress theme, it's so nicely customized that it just stands out.

I'm contacting you because I have an idea for an article that, in my opinion, would be very fitting for your readers:

10 Ways To Promote Your Business Using Flickr

Length: ~1,000 words.

Delivery: Formatted HTML file with pictures and relevant supplementary resources, ready for publishing.

Copyrights: 100% original and not published anywhere else; the article will be for the exclusive use of your NateRiggs blog.

Would it be fine if the article body contained one, entirely relevant link to my website, which would add even more value to the article?

I really love to write, so I’m absolutely ready to prepare the article for you and send it for your approval within the next few days; I’m sure you will like it and we’ll get it to work, but should you decide not to publish I will just stash it in my private collection for later use – no harm done!

Is the subject proposed above suitable for you Nate, or would you prefer something else?

All the best,

David

Why This Pitch Worked

And it obviously worked, right? You read his post yesterday.

What you might not know is that I get about 3-4 contact forms per week from some PR intern or affiliate marketer or SEO guru who are all pitching the same thing, but in a much less effective way.

Can I write a post for you so that I can get a back link to one of my sites?

I know how the web works and I too am interested in getting back links. That's partially why I write for CMI and on occasion, Spin Sucks. That's also why I'll be writing for BlogPaws in the near future.

In all honesty, most of the pitches I receive suck. Bad.

But David did things right. Here are 7 things you can take away from his approach letter:

1. He shows me that he actually reads. In fact, he even cites another guest post from my friend Perry. I really liked that one too, and from the traffic numbers, so did you folks.
2. Honest flattery never hurts. David makes an observation and an honest compliment. He's spot on with it too. As of now, I'm running a customized Thesis Theme, but that's changing soon.
3. David proposes an article that's relevant to both my readers and I. You've seen my recent infatuation with snapping photos and my Canon 60D. I'm more than willing to bet that David has seen some of the embedded photos from my own Flicker account as well as from the Team Cbus account.
4. Lots of details are shared up front. This was nice, and honestly the first time I've ever been approach by someone offering the specs to a guest post. Length, delivery, and a mention that it's original content is a really nice touch - especially when you've been as busy as I have been in the past few weeks. David made it easy to say yes, but preempted any questions that I might have had.
5. Just the right length. A lot of the pitches I get are 3-4 paragraphs that talk about all the benefits and wonders of a product or service. Know what? I delete most of them before reading past the first line. Hey, I'm busy. David's approach was short, went straight to the point and also used a good amount of white space between sentences. No one like to read big blocks of text. That's what books are for.
6. Transparency for the win. David didn't try to sneak anything by me. And trust me, I would have noticed anyway. Instead, he came right out and asked if he could include a link to one of his sites with a nice tie in to the value it would add to the article. I respect that level of honesty and so the link was no problem at all. In fact, here is the online school link again. Give it a click and take a look if you want to how a really well optimized and effective affiliate gateway works. (Although I don't know if that's actually the right terminology.)
7. No pressure or hard feelings. I think this is key. David lets me know that I'm under no pressure to post what he sends. He also asks if the topic is something I'm interested in and if not, he's willing to look at another direction. Remember that if you are asking for time on someone else's soapbox, it's up to you to be flexible. David did a nice job of that.

Hat tip, David. Thanks for helping me get two posts out this week.