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For PR consultants, pitching bloggers often requires a lot more research into whose who and what topics are applicable to whom in order to get your clients story picked up in the blogosphere. But even after sifting through all the information out there, sometimes we still get it wrong, leaving bloggers frustrated with a pitch that’s way off base.

Well, good news, PR pros and bloggers alike are in luck! BlogDash is a new blogger outreach dashboard launched by David Spinks at BlogWorld that helps you narrow down the blogosphere with appropriate filters. BlogDash gives businesses all the information they need so that they can send more targeted and educated pitches to bloggers while simultaneously benefitting bloggers by reducing the number of off-topic pitches and being presented with more valuable opportunities.

Similar to services like HARO and ProfNet, which have sections for both sources and journalists, BlogDash is divided for businesses and bloggers. For businesses, like the many PR firms already chomping at the bit, it helps filter through the 3,000+ blogger database to find the ones that really care about your pitch. It also gathers all the information available on each blogger so businesses can see bios, publications, social networks, blog stats, twitter stats, and more. Businesses will have to pay a monthly subscription fee, but the pricing has not been announced yet.

Bloggers will like BlogDash not only because it’s completely free, but also because they can have full control of it. Bloggers can set their own preferences for how they want to be pitched and for what kinds of opportunities they want to receive. While BlogDash promises there’s no spam or mass messaging, it also lets bloggers opt out from all searches so they never have to receive a pitch if they don’t want to.

Currently, BlogDash is in “alpha,” meaning it’s a private, invite only service. But if you didn’t already receive an invite, BlogDash promises a second round will be going out soon, so keep your fingers crossed and inbox open!

What do you think? Will BlogDash help revolutionize blogger pitching and outreach? It certainly seems like a more effective way to sift through the blogosphere and I’m excited to see it put to use!

 


This post was first published by Meredith L. Eaton on March Communications’ blog, PR Nonsense, and may be viewed here.