The 'Dear Webmaster' copy-paste

The 'Dear Webmaster' copy-paste
You know the one. 'I love your blog and would like to contribute.' You didn't read the blog. They know you didn't. Delete.

Fix: spend 90 seconds proving you read it.
— Name a specific post and ONE real thought about it
— Reference their actual category names
— Pitch a title that fits a series they already run

My opener now: 'Your piece on [exact title] skipped [specific thing] — that's the post I want to write.' That single sentence killed my template smell.

90 seconds per pitch. Send 10 great ones, not 100 garbage ones. Go.