There are many great online blogs that use writers as contributors, but few of them with the reach of The Huffington Post. To get a spot as a blogger for Huff Post is one of the most desirable gigs a writer can get.

In December of last year I decided I wanted to start pitching blogs to some large-traffic sites. The first one I tried was Huff Post.

I had already done a ton of research, because I know it’s required before a writer can effectively pitch to a large publication like Huff Post (in fact, I recommend spending a few weeks getting familiar with the publication’s articles and the style and tone in which they’re written). I combed through the Huff Post Parents site, clicking on the features and trying to get a feel for what might do well on the blog. After a few days, I had an article in mind.

One of the great things about Huff Post is that blog editors accept previously published material, which means that what you post on your own personal blog can be used on Huff Post. My first pitch was an essay I’d written for my parenting blog, Crash Test Parents.

After digging around for a while, I found an e-mail address for the blog editors (blogteam@huffingtonpost.com), rather than the generic contact form (an actual e-mail address is always better). Then I crafted several versions of my pitch. It was my first pitch, and I wanted to get it perfect.

Here’s the one I finally settled on:

Dear Blog Team,

Thank you for taking the time to read my note. As a mother of five (going on six) boys, I hear many jokes from people who know me or don’t: “You know what causes this, right?” “Every time I see you you’re pregnant!” “Do you guys have a TV?” The most hurtful one, I think, is the “Well, my wife and I believe in family planning.”

So I wrote about this misconception in an article called “Just Because I Have a Large Family Doesn’t Mean I Didn’t Family Plan.” I have attached my piece to this message and greatly appreciate the consideration.

There are a few things I would do differently in this pitch today, now that I have so many under my belt. I would probably include a word count (Huff Post blog editors prefer blogs with 800 words or fewer). I would probably add a little information about me. I would change the word “hurtful” to “annoying.”

Five weeks went by and I heard nothing. And then, on the day I’d made a note on my to-do list to try another pitch (because if you fail, keep on trying), I heard from a blog editor, who asked me to join the Huff Post Parents team.

My first article printed at the end of January (almost two months after I pitched it), and was a feature right out of the gate. It resulted in more than 200 comments and more than 1,200 Facebook shares, 25 tweets and 17,000 likes.

I’ve been blogging for them ever since.

Huff Post doesn’t pay you for your blogs, but reusing your blogs can make that time worthwhile. They allow links to your original material, which can draw people onto your own platform (always the goal).

Traffic to my web site increased dramatically once I joined the Huff Post Parents team, because people who liked my article wanted to see what else I’d written.

Once you become a blogger for Huff Post, you get a blogger profile and can submit blogs as often as you want. I try to submit them at least once a week, although the publishing schedule varies, and I don’t always have one article posting every week. Sometimes blog editors are inundated with submissions and a blog can sit in a queue for six weeks or more.

One of the biggest drawbacks, for me, is that many of the people who comment aren’t always the nicest people. I tend to have a pretty thin skin, so sometimes it gets to me. But if you can step away and answer their unkindness with kindness, you win others to your platform.

Overall, Huff Post Parents and its other affiliates (I’ve since been published on Huff Post Education and plan to pitch a few to Huff Post Religion) is a good move for visibility and introducing others to your platform.

Important tips:
1. Make sure you have an engaging headline. If blog editors don’t know who you are, the first thing they’ll see in your pitch is the blog title. Make them want to read it.
2. Clean your copy. Make sure your copy is free of errors. It just makes working with you much easier for these editors who deal with thousands of queries and blogs every day.
3. Try and try again. If more than six weeks goes by, try another pitch. Keep trying until you get something accepted. But don’t keep trying without looking at what might be unappealing about your pitches–whether it’s the article or your e-mail. Analyze and learn from every rejection.