I need to rant for a minute about cold-emails. But more fundamentally, it's about the gross lack of effort people put into their careers by prioritizing quantity over quality. A thread on how NOT to send a cold email

Since re-launching my website, I've received dozens of cold emails from people asking if they can publish guest posts to my blog (which I'm actively doing). The problem is that the emails I receive are always saturated with weak, ignorant, cringe-worthy introductions.

Problem #1: They never address me by name. Just "Hi,". Can you think of a better way to signal to me that you spent exactly ZERO time looking at my website, who my audience is, or who I am? This is clearly a mass email numbers game for you. Pathetic. First impressions matter.

Problem #2: They never research my blog. "Are you accepting guest articles at this time?" Well, let's see, I do have an entire category called "Guest Articles" so you wouldn't be asking that question if you put ANY effort into your research before contacting me. Do your homework.

Problem #3: They send me a list of potential article titles that have NOTHING to do with freelancing. You have no idea who my audience even is. Why would I trust you to write an article for my website? I'd never work with you. You have to actually make an effort, people.

Problem #4: They include no qualifications. "I'm Joe, a writer from the UK. Can I publish an article on your website? Have a great day!" I have no idea who you are. I have no idea if you know anything. You have offered nothing valuable. Deleted immediately. Not worth a reply.

Problem #5: They automatically subscribed me to a mailing list. "Unsubscribe at any time if I don't want to hear from me again". Uhm, that's illegal. Who would ever respond positively to that?! Sorry, I don't work with brazenly rude, inconsiderate, lawless people.

Here's the takeaway: if you want better results from cold emails, you MUST put in the time and effort to make a QUALITY introduction, provide context, provide value, and provide suggestions on what the next step is in a clear and concise way. Otherwise, it's a total waste.

The LEAST you could do is warm up your email with a personal introduction. Address me by name. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be emailing me. Why? Because the best, brightest, and most valuable recipients will NEVER reply to your email. It's obvious you prefer shortcuts.

Ironically, those are the people you want to engage with the most, yet you've alienated them completely and instantly lowered the quality of the relationships you have the potential to build. This is common sense to me, but apparently no one understands basic principles anymore.

Everyone wants shortcuts. No one wants to put in the time and effort to build real success. The freelancing marketing might be saturated, but it's saturated with quantity, not quality. There's plenty of room for you to succeed with just a LITTE extra effort.

I want this thread to encourage you. If you just put in (what I consider) bare minimum effort over a few year period, you will have created the foundation for real long-term success when others have failed and moved on after trying 3 months of shortcuts. Effort + time = success.