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Ok, time for another "how to pitch a blogger post." And really, PR folks, there are lots of you I respect, like and even count among my friends. But oh boy, the ones who are bad are awful.

Steven Noble at Hill & Knowlton's Elbow Grease Blog tells flaks why pitching bloggers is different than pitching main stream press.

"Well, here's one difference that should be apparent to all. Make a ham out of a media pitch, and you'll damage your relationship with the journalist, but the only people who'll know about it will be you and that journalist. Make a ham out a blogger pitch, and they're likely to tell the whole world. Witness recent posts from Brian Oberkirch and BL Ochman.

That's right. You're own bad pitch will appear in the social media monitoring report that you will have to prepare for and deliver to your client. And then you have to explain it. Ouch."

I know pitches from both sides of the desk, having run a successful PR firm for many years before I became an Internet strategist in 1995. And so I'd like to offer this advice, as incredibly obvious as it is, to PR people. And to point out that I get and use PR material here all the time -- unless it's deleted along with a really dim pitch.
1. Read at least the current posts on the blog you're pitching.
2. Note the categories the bloggers lists in their sidebar as ones they cover.
3. Determine whether the blogger is male or female. Hint, I am Ms., not Mr. Ochman, but you can call me B.L.
4. Don't say "dear blogger"
5. Don't tell us that you know we'll want to cover XYZ. You don't.
6. Don't talk shit.
7. Don't send email attachments unsolicited.
8. Don't send a 500-word pitch.
9. Don't pitch. Inform.
10. Give me a heads up BEFORE you give the story to everyone and her dog or don't bother me.

Nice one. I love a good checklist -- they appeal to my "process orientation" ;-) Really!

As it happens, I thought of my post as saying "beware of yourself" rather than a "beware of bloggers". It's too too easy to shoot yourself in the foot by making crass assumptions and moving too quickly.

Here's another strategy: Know the difference between "your" and "you're."

Sorry, Steven -- grade-school errors like that from a big-ticket agency like H+K are simply inexcusable.

If that kind of error is in your pitch, your pitch is in the trash.

I like # 6

Typo corrected. Thanks for the pick-up.

Hi B.L.,

Here's a bone-head move I see all the time from PR agencies. My clients are continually pitched by PR agencies who work for the competitors. Their [sic] unbelievably sent press releases a day or two before going public over the wire. What makes this unbelievable is that for transparency sake the client's logos are highly visible all over the blog. But I guess that's not transparent enough for PR peeps.

I've played with the idea of posting a list of the worst offenders on our own blog but that would only get the 20 yr-old intern that the agencies have put in charge of their client's online reputation fired. It would also end the unintentional flow of business intelligence **oxymoron alert**.