This is some great advice. I'd add the tried and useful technique of having your first email be purely relationship creating: say, respond to a recent post wit

This is some great advice. I'd add the tried and useful technique of having your first email be purely relationship creating: say, respond to a recent post with a useful thought, or point out a minor bug somewhere on the site Having sent a decent bunch of emails to bloggers, I've also noticed that smiley faces increase response significantly, but using them makes me feel a bit cynical, so I usually don't ;-)