Revealed: The most approved method for guest blogging

Have you ever read another blog and noticed that they contain guest blogs?

And have you looked at the quality of the guest posts and thought “I can do better than that!”?

Well, why don’t you?

Guest blogging is a great way of expanding the reach of your writing to a much larger audience. 

You piggy-back on the reputation and success of another blogger by conveniently writing excellent content for her blog.

A win win scenario all round.

First prepare your own blog

Because you need this to be in tip top condition to receive all that wonderful traffic you’re going to generate with your guest post!

And you must also consider the reasons why you are guest blogging. It could be to

• get more subscriptions to your newsletter
• get more traffic to your blog
• increase your reputation of you as a writer
• raise awareness of your blog’s niche or subject matter
• have the chance to share your knowledge with a larger audience

Whatever your reasons, you need to be ready, so here are a few other website things you may want to focus on:

A newsletter landing page. If your aim is to increase newsletter subscriptions, prepare a specific landing page to showcase your incentive item (e-book, check-list, report) and newsletter sign up form. 

Your bio. This should be updated in your Profile section. Make it short and succinct to ensure it will be read. Include the call to action link back to your newsletter landing page, as it is much more acceptable to have a link here than inside your guest post. 

Your About page. Remember it should focus on your reader more than on yourself, reassuring they have come to the right blog and you are bursting with expertise and resources that could help them.

Your content. If you want to increase your reputation or raise awareness, make sure there’s plenty of good content for your new visitors to read. And also make sure all your other call to actions are placed near the top of your website’s design.

Find out the best place for guest blogging

If you want to get the most from your guest blogging activities, it’s best to do some research on your host blog first.

You need to look at the audience capacity of the host blog, and that information can be found via BuzzSumo.

You need to focus on where your optimum audience hangs out, and you can use Alexa for that.

But if you’re just beginning your guest blogging career, ask around about suitable host blogs. Especially if you have friends that are already guest blogging, ask for an introduction to the host blog’s author. Personal recommendations are much more powerful than going in cold.

Start by making a good impression 

The softly softly approach towards guest blogging is best. It’s worth taking your time. 

Here’s some ideas you could try:

• subscribe to the host blog
• carefully read and comment on the posts
• find and follow the host blog’s author on social media
• comment, respond and try and have a conversation with them online (don’t stalk!)
• subtly draw attention to yourself for the right reasons (being helpful, forthcoming, etc)

Remember to focus on the host blog rather than on yours. At this stage in the game, the other blog is more important.

Get ready to flex your writing muscles

If you’ve managed to get the attention of the host blog’s author, now you can make your first move.

Hopefully you will have done some extensive research on the host blog, so you can talk sensibly about it. So many people pitch for guest blogging and it’s obvious they’ve never taken this trouble, even to find out the name of the author!

This is what you can offer:

• a unique piece of writing not published anywhere else
• the subject that totally focuses on their readers
• content that fills in the gaps in their audience’s knowledge

An added benefit would be an Infographic, as this will share well throughout the web. And make sure any images you use are copyright free or you have permission to use them.

It’s important to show you understand the blog’s writing style, niche and readership. So many times have I had pitches that suggest totally unrelated subjects to what I write about on my blog. 

The next stage is to offer a selection of possible guest blogging post titles. Ask if these are suitable, and be prepared to brainstorm different ones. 

In the titles, be aware of

• the readership (does it relate to them?)
• the main keyword (does it rank well?)
• how enticing it is towards being clicked (this should appeal to the host as well as the audience)

And offer to submit the post in a Word document for first approval. Be prepared to make allowances towards content changes, even if it means biting your tongue. Remember the host blog has priority.

Sometimes the host will offer login details (if they approve of you, of course), which can make things much easier, especially if you are able to fill in your guest profile and bio box.

Remember it’s all in the promotion

If you are successful in getting a guest post published (congratulations!), you haven’t got time to sit on your laurels celebrating your success. You’ve got work to do!

Now is the time to

• share your post extensively throughout social media
• ask for comments and shares from your friends and colleagues
• trigger conversations and discussions in groups and communities to draw attention to your post
• be around to respond to any interaction you may get 
• always reply promptly to comments, and remember to be polite, forthcoming and constructive
• regularly thank anyone for a share – it creates a really good impression
• blog about your guest post so your readership knows and can also read it 
• set up a Twitter repeat service to keep your post visible
• boost your guest post on Facebook with a paid advert, focusing on your ideal readers

And remember these guest blogging promotion activities shouldn’t be just a flash in the pan, revisit them again in a few weeks, or even months, to keep up the momentum. 

Now what’s next?

If you’ve caught the guest blogging bug, and the host blog author is pleased with your contribution, start scheduling your next round of guest blogs with them.

And also look further afield, armed with your previous success, to see who else would accept guest blogging.

Good luck! And let me know how you get on.