In anticipating being accepted as a guest blogger, we want to meet the host bloggers guidelines and tap our best creativity with our writing submission.
It’s also wise to separate the wheat from the chaff to find guest blogging opportunities that are a perfect match; as perfect as we can get anyway.
Stay away from blogs that:
- Have suspect reputations. It may be easy to do this in some and with others, you’ll need to tap into your intuition and then follow through by asking other bloggers you trust.
- Have a low rate of traffic. We talked about this in a different way in Grateful for Etiquette of Responsible Guest Bloggers. Alexa ranking is one of the easiest tools to research a blog or website global internet ranking.
- Is a blog in name only – this means that the blog is not active or provides weak, unusable content! Your association with such blogs could tarnish your own reputation. Don’t let your ego get in the way of saying, “No,” if you get an invitation to write on such a blog.
Find blogs that welcome guest spots. Randomly contacting blog owners in your niche is a waste of time and counterproductive. Those that are not looking for guest bloggers aren’t going to magically change their mind. It’s likely they don’t have guest bloggers for their own personal reasons.
Consider subscribing to https://bloggerlinkup.com produced by Cathy Stucker. It’s a free service that publishes three times a week listing bloggers who looking for experts to guest posts, and bloggers and web masters offering guest posts.
Perform a search for “your niche” + “guest blogging” to try and find more targeted matches.
Another tactic is to search online for known guest bloggers. Check out the blogs they show up on and see if any meet your criteria. And remember to check out guest blogging forums to see who is finding success for their business with guest blogging opportunities.
Pitch your Content Ideas
It’s time to make a pitch to the host blog. Yes, there is selling to get your guest blog post published.
Read the host bloggers guidelines thoroughly first. Some want an idea and others want a completely written post so they can gauge your work. Still others want to see multiple samples of your work beyond what is on your own blog.
Either way, address your email pitch to the blog owner not To Whom It May Concern. Just as in relationship selling you want to add the personal touch. It shows you went the extra mile to find out who the person is behind the blog. This approach communicates that you will likely go the extra mile to write a relevant high content post.
Let the host know who you are. Introduce yourself and your blog/online business.
Talk about what is in it for them and their readers for them to accept your blog posts.
Include links to past guest blogging stints or to articles you have written that have been published on your site as well as other places online.
Be sure you can commit to any of their guidelines.
Offer to do more than what their guidelines ask for. For example, if they don’t request you provide a photo or image, offer to provide one with full credits.
It is your role to follow-up – not the host blogger. So save something that is either personal, value-added or a call to asking for a decision in a follow-up contact.
Create your Guest Posts
Once you are given the go ahead, create your article. If you want your posts to impress, link to past posts by the host blog that are relevant to the subject of your post. Link to the products you mention in your content. Avoid self-promotion in your post. Many if not most host bloggers will allow you to include a signature paragraph which does this, including a link to your own blog or website.
Ask the readers for comments. The more interaction you can create with the audience, the more your post will be shared and talked about. The benefit in this is that you are quite likely to be asked back for another contribution!
Finding the best mutual match guest blogging opportunities means you have to put in the work, be professional, and write to impress. Since you already do this on your own blog, it should be comfortable for you.
I love the advise. I have been reluctant to aggressively go after doing guest posts. The reason is it takes me much longer to write, edit and check my work so that it’s a good product. I feel that same way in reverse when it comes to accepting a guest post. The way I look at it is, either way it’s my reputation/brand and one I want to continue to build in the right way.
Sage words Susan: “Either way it’s my reputation/brand and one I want to continue to build in the right way.” Exactly. Thanks.
I have hosted and guested, and think you are right with your tips offered here.
It’s difficult to know all dos and don’ts Lorraine and if my experience can offer perspective then, maybe at least these tips are helpful. Thanks.
Hi Patricia,
Great meeting you thru Bloggers Helping Bloggers. Honestly I was NOT a fan of LinkedIn with all their “check out his new job” nonsense, until I discovered this feature…wahoo!
I’d add:
Make your email gripping. Just like on their resumes, people feel pressured to be formal and polite in guest post request emails. It just doesn’t help these days.
From past experience I like starting my emails as targeted towards the blog’s (and receiver’s) interests as possible. Sometimes you can even do side homework and see who that person is! Any edge counts.
Great post,
Greg
p.s. Are those ALL your books below? If so, wow.
Wonderful addition – make your email gripping. Excellent.
PS – yes all my books; two of them in collaboration with someone else, Jeannette Paladino and Monique MacKinnon.
Patricia your advise is great. I have to agree with Susan, I can’t tell you the time it takes to write a post that hopefully will be interesting. I like the idea of using someone that I have gotten familiar with in my blogging group. I feel comfortable with them. Going outside I would be leery and having a suspicious nature maybe hard for me to venture outside of my group.
Arleen I like what you’ve said in the sense of using someone who you know. That in itself would likely save half the problems. Thanks.
Hi patricia; This post should be very helpful to anyone looking to write guest posts. I did a few in the past and have decided that its not something I’m actively per suing but something i would do again if asked. Of course with my narrow niche of the amusement industry i don’t get a lot of offers. Thanks again for the fine post. Take care my friend, max
Max I wonder if you could find either suppliers of the equipment who could blog about safety and such, or riders/users of some of the things who could write about the experience. You’re great at connecting so the idea is to get someone who is in or maybe even provides to that industry. Just a thought.
Hello; its funny you should mention that because one of the subjects that has recently come up is the fact that a lot of the equipment i am listing is from outside the u s. I have had requests for posts by people using the equipment in the u k europe australia etc to help people here to know how reliable a given piece of equipment would be. I am open to doing guest posts and i am finding more blogs in the amusement industry than there used to be; I’m just not interested in chasing them. thanks for the suggestion, max
I also check Alexa and Google PageRank when I’m contacting possible reviewers for my short story collection. My own Page Rank isn’t too hot, so I’m making that a priority for the coming year. All was well until I deleted all of my travel posts…. then my blog just got stuck in Google’s eyes. I didn’t even realize until a couple of weeks ago that it wasn’t indexed on Google and it had been before removing the travel posts.
Oh my gosh Jeri! That sounds like an awful punishment for the deletion of some travel posts. Lesson learned and thanks for sharing it with us. Hoping you clear that hurdle.
Pat — all good advice. I used to guest post pretty regularly when I first started out. It really does increase your traffic if you post in the right places. I’m writing two client blogs a week plus my own and I find it more difficult to also write a quality guest blog. As others have mentioned, I spend a lot of time writing each post. I want them to be the best they can possibly be.
I hear this over and over again Jeannette, speaking a lot of time writing each post. Hmmm. I’m not sure I know what “a lot of time” equates to. I only know how long it takes me. Sounds like you are in a good place with the RESULTS you have from your own blogging so all is good.
I hear this over and over again Jeannette, speaking a lot of time writing each post. Hmmm. I’m not sure I know what “a lot of time” equates to. I only know how long it takes me. Sounds like you are in a good place with the RESULTS you have from your own blogging so all is good.
Interesting … I’ve never considered the whole guest blogging concept but it’s a natural extension of networking. Like anything else, of course you need ground rules and guidelines, and it’s smart to be selective. You’ve made me want to explore this a little more, especially since I don’t blog as regularly as I should, and should maybe have some guest bloggers lined up!
Great advice. It was very timely since I had just opened my blog to guest posters