Like anything else, a guest post needs to be perfectly planned if success is to be achieved through it. Ann Smarty has written out what a successful guest post plan would look like, and does so in great detail. Want to write for us too?
Guest posting is probably one of the most unappreciated forms of marketing that I can think of. If you can use the proper strategies and have your mind set towards creating a quality guest post — you will be rewarded for it.
Because really, only the passionate bloggers guest post. The benefits are plenty and lack of time is no excuse, however, it is something that many bloggers just can’t get around to doing.
Some of the most important benefits of guest posting that I value the most are:
- Get inspired by exposing your content to new audience and getting new comments, fresh insight, etc
- Get more readers and subscribers, more promoters who will tweet and stumble your content.
- Build your authority and reputation of the real expert in your niche;
- You will be building new contacts with the blog owner, and the people in their community.
I hope that was enough to convince you to keep reading about how useful one simple guest post can be to your blog.
Finding blogs that accept guest posts
1. Start by contributing to your friends’ blogs. This way you will learn to “feel” another blog atmosphere and adapt to it.
The first place to start with is to look around your contacts. Your current blogging friends will be glad to accept your guest post and will help promote it. Besides, it’s a good way to remember your old contacts and remind them of yourself.
2. Search Google
If you are a new blogger (who doesn’t have a lot of friends who blog on the same topic) or if you have already blogged for most of your friends, head over to Google. I did a detailed post on finding guest post opportunities using Google. Read it thoroughly and try to apply the tips you’ll find there. Search queries you want to start with include:
- “Submit a guest post” / “Submit post” / “Submit blog post”
- “Add blog post”
- “Submit an article”
- “Suggest a guest post”
- “Send a guest post”
- “Write for us”;
- “Become an author”, etc
3. Check (guest) blogging forums and communitie
Blogging forums that can be used for hunting guest posting opportunities are plenty. Some of them are general: Authority Blogger is one community to consider: it was started by a guest posting guru Chris Garret.
Another two places to be aware of are BlogHer (uniting blogging women) and 20sb.net (which unites bloggers aged between 20 and 30 years). Speaking of the latter, they regularly run guest posting events that encourage members to exchange guest posts.
Another place to find guest blogging opportunities is MyBlogGuest.com. That’s a forum (started by yours truly) that is meant to connect bloggers interested in fresh content to authors who would like to promote it.
2. Act now: write a killer pitch
Once you have found a couple of great guest posting opportunities, you may want to contact them and offer your guest post. Here’s how the process should look like step by step (also be sure to check this post by Alex on preparing a guest post in 5 steps):
- Read the blog carefully. Think what type of a guest post might be interesting to the blogger and his readership;
- Brainstorm a few great post ideas;
- Search through the blog to see if there are any overlapping posts already;
- Write the post (if nothing similar has been published yet). Don’t forget to link to related articles you found in step 3;
- Contact the blogger and attach the post.
Note: there may be some intermediate steps. Some people prefer to discuss the post ideas with the blogger before submitting the post. It is really up to you. I can do either way from case to case.
Now to the ethics:
- Spend some time on writing a good, personalized pitch: start with the blogger’s name and mention why you think the post is a good fit for his blog
- Don’t send one and the same article to multiple bloggers. Send it to just one. This is very important. Don’t turn your guest blogging into article distribution. This is just plain wrong.
3. Now wait. Be patient
High-profile bloggers are very, very busy. Don’t be offended if they don’t respond to you for a week or so. I usually wait a week and then write a follow-up message and wait one more week. If I do not hear a response even after that, I will send them an email one last time to ask if they every plan on using the post. If there is still no response, I will submit it elsewhere.
Once your post is published, be sure to check back often, subscribe to comments and reply to everyone who comments. This is important, because writing the post is only about half of the job. Replying to comments and really engaging is the second part many do not take seriously.
Something else that can be useful to you is to track any Twitter mentions of the posts. Three tools I recommend you can use to help you track tweets around the post are:
- BackTweets is a popular tool that tracks and aggregates Tweets linking to a particular page. It supports a number of URL-shorteners which makes the tool one of the most complete.
- Twitter Reactions (for Google Chrome): shows the Twitter juice about the current page;
- Topsy displays recent tweets for any given URL:
How do you do it all?
As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, guest posting is a very powerful, but often overlooked form of marketing. The benefits it brings in can be immense, but at the cost of a lot of hard work.
So, how do you do it? What drives you to write an entire article for someone else? Are you in it for the traffic? Or are you looking for something greater than that?
22 Discussions
Nice Article, I have not done much guest blogging yet, but it is in my top priorities this year. However, I have found through my little experience that all guest blogging opportunities are not same.
Sometimes I write for a high PR site with lots of RSS readers but I see no response or referring traffic. But sometimes a similar site drives tons of referring traffic plus PR.
So my experience is that although we should guest blog to as many places as we can, but we should check out the response of relative site and should focus on those which not only provide backlink benefit, but quality traffic.
mohsin´s last blog ..Turn Off Google Buzz ! How and Why ?
That’s not only those “direct” benefits (like traffic and links) that we should focus on. Sometimes a guest post drives only a couple of people but one of them turns into such a useful contact (partner or a client) that he is really worth a thousand random visitors.
I used to not be a fan of doing guest posts, but I’m slowly starting to see the light. For article ideas, I like to see what type of posts are under the “popular section” of the particular blog and go off of that.
You kind of mentioned it, but also, once the post is published, submit and share it all over the Internet. If it gets a lot of traffic, you will have an easier time guest posting again for that site.
Amey´s last blog ..Using Google Analytics To Generate More Revenue
Ann, I definitely agree with your 5 step process you laid out here. To add further, if you’re looking to give a reason for a blogger to say “yes” to your guest post – do this simply by making it *as easy as possible* for them to schedule it on their blog,
When things are 50/50, it’s almost always going to come down to whatever would be the easiest thing to say “yes” to. Adding your byline. Interlinking. Formatting in HTML. Not droning on in the e-mail you send. etc,
Get to the point. The more your submission is a quick “cut and paste” into Wordpress, the more likely it will be accepted on whatever blog in which you’re pitching the post.
Jordan Cooper´s last blog ..Third Tribe Review – Getting The Most Out Of Mavens
Wow! That’s a very practical tip Jordan. Thanks for the awesome tip.
Personally I’d love such a guest post and would readily accept it, then why won’t they?
Cool!
King Sidharth´s last blog ..Zazen: Easiest Meditation – The Art of Doing Nothing
Couldn’t agree more Ann! I have just started guest posting (starting with bloggers that I have started networking with), and I have found that all to took was a quick tweet or email asking if I could write an article for them. When I start targeting some of the really big bloggers I will have put something a little more professional together.
Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..The Aweber Code….And Why You Need To Promote It!
Thanks for quality information about guest posting. It’s always necessary to spend quality times on researching while writing content for guest post. By writing quality guest post means we can get more visitors and subscriber.
ann,guest posting is really great…traffic,recognition,relationship and friends…these are all you get…
mk akan´s last blog ..8 Ways to Say The Same Thing Without Writing The Same Thing
I am looking for more exposure from guest posting. I think it is the best way to introduce our blog to new readers.
Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Get Your Tw2Buzz Code Invitation
Hey Smarty,
A guest post about guest post? Cool!
You’ve really covered and made a quick guide of how to Guest Post properly. You know… from marketing point of view – and thank a ton for that.
There are posts one loves to read, they are good piece of copy~ literature sorta and then there are post which you really use. And your’s is the other types (I love it).
But which one do you suggest should we write for other blogs? Informative or Entertaining?
Also, you are so right about probloggers being busy. I am still waiting to hear from a lot of them. Any tips you have that we could use while contacting them?
King Sidharth´s last blog ..Zazen: Easiest Meditation – The Art of Doing Nothing
Another great article Anne,
As a Website Broker, I find myself advising buyers and sellers to add a [well written] blog to their site as a great way to add value and increase traffic to most sites. Fear of finding/providing quality content is the most often cited reason for not having or adding a blog.
Given the benefits though, I encourage owners to use Guest Blogging as a great solution that gains traction and traffic in both directions. It benefits both readers and bloggers exposing all to new ideas and new perspectives – always a good thing.
This is another awesome article! And I really like the new addition of the bar at the top of all posts. Helps sharing your stories to Digg and everything, plus should bring in some new RSS subscribers and Twitter followers
Blogger Den´s last blog ..Getting Rid Of Twitter DMs | Knowledge Reactor’s Blog
Yes! I agree with you that guest post is a great way to promote ourselves. However, i find it difficult to find a suitable place for me to submit the guest post. I’m writing about cancer article. Do you have any suggestion for me? Thanks for sharing!
Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Apoptotic Pathway – Our Cell is Going to Die
I never tried to guest post on popular blogs. I got to do it. Thanks for your 1,2,3 steps. Really useful.
Agent Deepak´s last blog ..My 4 Golden Tips for Google Buzz
The main benefit of guest blogging is that we can make our blog and name brand, secondly it help us for traffic and backlink. If we provide killer post on guest blogging then it even help more on exposure our name.
chandan´s last blog ..Dofollow link building resource
Very well laid out Ann; kudos.
The first thing I would look at is community activity; comment count, then how constructive the comments really are.
On DSWM before I moved everything to the new blog, I had guests tell me I sent them more traffic myself then other blogs combined…I had mere 300 subscribers, very active and responsive.
Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Do You Know The REAL Difference Between Bloggers and Internet Marketers?
I am just starting guest blogging and its really beneficial. Great tips!
Alex Monroe´s last blog ..The Entrepreneur All Star Football Team
Great article, thanks!
It’s always worth taking the time to do a good pitch. I’ve rejected quite a few guest post applications because people just don’t sell it to me. A good blog is a person’s brand. If you can’t write a good pitch, can you write a post that they think is “worthy” of appearing under their brand’s name?
Andrew Nattan – Unmemorable Title Copywriting Blog´s last blog ..Is Your Professional Voice Boring?
Inorder for us to be successful we need to have a positive outlook in life so that the outcome will be positive.Guest posting needs to be perfectly planned if success is to be achieved through it. Thanks for your excellent information tat you’ve shared to us. More power to your site! God bless
Emily´s last blog ..Mobiles for Cash
Inorder for us to be successful we need to have a positive outlook in life so that the outcome will be positive.Guest posting needs to be perfectly planned if success is to be achieved through it. Thanks for your excellent information tat you’ve shared to us. More power to your site! God bless
Guest blogging is an amazing opportunity to increase your readership and blog traffic. Guest blogging isn’t just about marketing and promoting it’s about reaching a new audience.
The whole idea for my new blog was to have readers around the world contribute. I’ve not being going long, but already I have had some great stuff coming to my in-box.It’s a travel themed blog, broadly speaking.
Susan Kennedy´s last blog ..Paris – a micro guide