Guest blogging has become mainstream. There is no doubt about it. In fact, it is one of the most used inbound marketing strategies these days.
Strategic guest posting has various advantages which include building brand awareness, generating loads of leads, attracting backlinks, and driving traffic.
Since it is a popular and advantageous strategy, everybody out there is already leveraging it. That said, getting tangible results is getting harder and harder. But if you use the right techniques, you can surely make guest blogging work and reap all the benefits it has to offer.
Nevertheless, in today’s post, I will guide you through everything you need to know to make guest blogging
Table of Contents
Determine Your Purpose
Guest blogging success starts with identifying your purpose. There are plenty of reasons to do it. For example, driving more traffic to your site, building brand authority, or even forming a strategic relationship with popular influencers in your space.
Trace down your intent first, and let all your further actions follow that intent.
Reply To Comments On Your Post
Many bloggers disappear the moment their article has been published. BIG MISTAKE. If you’ve been that guy/gal, then I’m afraid you’ve lost plenty of juice.
There are plenty of reasons to reply to the comments on your post. First, it’s just given, a duty of yours. You’ve put that content out, it’s crucial that you hear and get back to people taking the time to leave their comments.
Second, comments can help you get to know your audience better. You can identify more of their problems. And when you solve such problems in comments, you make an instant connection, which makes the reader connect with you more. Ultimately, making the reader perceive you as an expert in the space.
It’s a massive opportunity to increase your authority and make new connections in the blogosphere.
Create A List of Blogs
If you’re just starting out, it’s fine to write a blog for a friend. That said, don’t make this a habit, because
What’s more, if you want to gain confidence, you have to set a high target. That said, before starting this venture, you need to create a list of blogs that you want to write. In fact, you can search on Google for the top blogs in a certain niche.
Get a spreadsheet and note them all down.
If You Don’t Receive A Response – Follow Up
I can’t emphasize this point enough:
The moment you deliver the email or blog, don’t expect that your editor will respond immediately. It may possibly take them a few days or weeks before they come back to you. That is why you have to be persistent.
But, it is a good idea to send a courteous follow-up email if don’t hear anything from them after three to four days.
Write long guest posts
When it comes to guest blogging, writing a long post around 1500 to 1700 words is highly recommended
In fact, some studies proved that long content doesn’t only rank high in SERPs, it attracts more social works and backlinks as well.
Here is a study by Backlinko showing the relationship between search rankings and content length.
Get Your Posts Ready
Getting your guest posts ready is one of the surefire ways to attain success in the guest blogging. When we say ready, it should be free from errors, meaning your posts should be well-crafted, rich in images, and stashed with value.
Create An Eye-Catching Headline
Keep in mind that a weak and boring headline may get your blog rejected without a look from editors.
In fact, a study shows that 80 percent of people only read headlines if they are worth their valuable time.
So, if you want to become a successful guest blogger, make headlines that are compelling and generate readers’ interest.
Build Credibility
Even though you don’t have enough experience covering particular topics, your main goal is to stand out among others.
To do this, you need to build your credibility briefly by telling the things you do, your credentials, as well as your experience, and leave a link/URL to the content you published case which showcases your finest works.
Make Sure You’re Open For Changes
If you want to become successful with guest blogging, being open to changes is very important. As a matter of fact, the majority of bloggers love to edit the headline, post and even create a new post.
Aside from that, don’t take the editor’s comments personally. Better yet, if your client wants a particular format of creating headlines, do your best to match it. But if they alter it, just accept it. After all, it isn’t worth hassling over.
Promote Your Blog Everywhere
Promoting your works or blogs in various social media platforms is also worth considering if you want to attain success in the guest blogging.
By doing so, a lot of opportunities will come your way and the image of your brand will improve.
Nevertheless, here’s how to promote your guest posts:
- Share them with relevant FB groups
- Share your posts with your list of email subscribers
- Interact with the Twitter users in your niche and inform them regarding your guest posts
- Share them on Facebook and Twitter and make use of Buffer to share it in various time zones repeatedly.
- Lastly, make sure the host blog knows you are promoting your posts aggressively. You can also do this by simply tagging them in promotional activities
Here is a good sample of how to promote or share your posts in different social media platform.
Do Not Undervalue Yourself
Whether you’re just a beginner or an expert, do not undervalue your expertise, time, and most importantly, your effort.
Keep in mind that it has likely taken you a decade of tears, blood, patience, and sweat to reach the level where you can provide valuable and relevant insights to people.
Get Acquainted With Your Target Blog
A typical mistake is to style blogs with guest post proposals without acquainting yourself with the content style.
Actually, your pitches will have a higher opportunity of getting acknowledged especially if you know the voice of the blog you are targeting and even the topics as well as formatting style.
Here are some of the important things that you need to look out:
- Look for popular posts on the blog so that you will have an idea about the topics its readers love to read.
- Explore the blog’s archives and find the posts which are similar to the topic that you’re thinking
- Check the comments on popular posts to see the opinions of the readers about the topic
Stay Connected With Your Editor
A couple of hours after your content has been published successfully, send an email of appreciation to your editor for letting you write their content.
In addition, let the editor know that you are open to new ideas and you are willing to work with them again.
Offer Additional Resources along with the Blog Posts
In order to increase your chances of having your content acknowledged, drive the extra mile.
Provide the host blog valuable resources which complement the post you made. Below are some of the kinds of content upgrades that you can make:
- List of references or resources
- Checklist
- Cheatsheet
- Checklist
- Case study
- PDF version of your post
Pitch Fully Written Customized Posts
Webmasters are looking for high-quality content so they can keep their content marketing engine going.
That’s why, if you offer a website owner a customized and publish-ready post, you’re likely to get a yes.
Nevertheless, if you want to nail this method, perform the following:
- Use BuzzSumo or other tools to evaluate the highest performing content on the website. Then model them afterward
- Link to other correlated content on the host website. Most webmasters like it since it saves them a lot of time
- Look for content gaps to fill. You can do this by simply polishing the comments of top posts to find out what people want to know more about
- Add their favorite websites in external links. However, you use Monitor Backlinks and Link Explorer to examine the websites backlink profile so that you will be able to find out their favorite websites
Pitch Like An Expert
Without stellar pitches, your guest blog campaign will definitely fall flat. So if you want to come up with winning pitches, you need to pitch like an expert and avoid the following mistakes:
- Not adding links to your past work
- Not adding the name of the host
- Glaring spelling and grammar issues
- Not following and reading the guidelines provided by the webmaster/editor
- Pitching topics that are not related to the website
Prepare Your Site For Traffic
What happens the moment your guest posts go live? Referral traffic starts to come in.
That’s why you need to prepare your website. For sure you do not want visitors to visit your website one time and never return. When preparing your site, don’t forget to set up a landing page.
Incorporate The Guest Post’s Link To Your Own Blog
Guest posts are actually votes of assurance for your posts from other reputable sites. You can use them to endorse the credibility of your business and blog.
Nevertheless, you can either do this by adding a “guest post” page to your own blog. And then outline the links to your recent guest post on it or transform the links to no-follow to make sure that they are safe from Google penalties for mutual linking.
Develop A Relationship With A Niche Influencer
Developing a relationship with an influencer can surely help you if you want to become successful in the guest blogging.
However, if you want to interact with niche influencers, you need to:
- Comment and share their post
- Send thank you notes
- Reach out to them on social media platforms
Utilize an Imaginative Author Bio
Typically, popular blogs allow a two to three lines bio briefly defining you as an expert. What’s more, it contains a backlink to your website. This bio can even be used to impress the editor you’re pitching.
Rather than wasting this valuable space with unnecessary words, use the language which resonates with your audience and defines you as a possible answer to their difficulties.
Use Infographics When Guest Blogging
When you’re crafting content for guest posts, you may also want to use infographics. In fact, some editors prefer infographics over thousands of words since they are easier to read and visually appealing.
Produce A High-Quality Masterpice That’s Hard to Reject
Another excellent way to approach editors is to produce a full article rather than article pitches. This strategy works very well, and crafting an excellent one won’t be much of a problem since there are plenty of tips online on how to write high-quality content that can greatly help you.
Offer Free Content
People will only trust if they see you as a great source of relevant and valuable information. The best way to earn their trust is to offer value-based content thru free eBooks, blog posts, as well as social media.
Having a Call to Action is a Must
Depending on your marketing funnel, where you throw your call to action matters. For example, if you’re planning to make sales using email newsletters, make sure your emails have solid call to actions.
Choose Your Target Websites Carefully
Some business owners claim that guest blogging is not an effective strategy. Often, the main reason for rejection is targeting the incorrect websites.
Remember that jumping into the trend of guest blogging without properly picking your target website will lead to failure.
Nonetheless, the secret to victory is choosing your targets carefully. Select blogs that suit what your business/company wishes to attain.
Last Words
There you have it. Twenty-six tips that are certain to make your guest blogging success.
How do you go about getting the most out of guest blogging? Let me know in the comments below.
About Carson Derrow
