“This post is was written by a guest blogger.” How many times have you seen this while reading online stuff?
According to Business Blogging Secrets Revealed report by Curata, 56 percent of business bloggers outsourced posts from guest bloggers or contributors.
Source: Curata
If guest blogging weren’t useful, it would have been used by so many people.
In fact, it has a lot of benefits, such as:
- Getting targeted traffic
- Developing social proof
- Developing name recognition
- Getting quality backlinks.
If you’re looking to begin your way in guest blogging, you’ve come to the right place. The following guide has everything you need to start and progress.
Step #1: Adopt an Appropriate Mindset and Start Looking for Blogs that Accept Guest Posts
Before you begin writing for someone, there is one important thing you have to know: your primary purpose is to build readership and authority. If you focus more on backlinks, you may quickly end up with a poor quality content which could be accepted only by low-quality blogs.
Now, to find a blog that accepts guest posts, you need to look for them by using some keywords. For example, let’s assume you’re searching for social media blogs:
Social media + guest post
Social media + guest blogger
Social media + guest blog
Social media + write for us
Social media + become a contributor
Social media + guest article.
Target the most popular blogs to achieve maximum exposure in the shortest possible time. Read all guest blogging guidelines before reaching out to the blog owner. And refrain from self-promotion, it makes you sound like a salesperson.
Step #2: Create a List of Topic Ideas
“It’s essential to start brainstorming ideas for topics early so you can present something to a blog owner if he or she asks you to, says Matt Hayward, a content creator from Assignmenthelper.com.au. Moreover, if they are ready for your article, you can send it to them right away.
Brainstorming for blog topic ideas requires you to research the most popular and trending content. This could be done through a pure Internet research or advanced tools like Buzzsumo. For example, you can enter keywords in Buzzsumo to find out the most popular topics on social media with thousands of shares.
Here’s what we found when we used the keywords “Artificial Intelligence.” Just a quick search and you can let your creativity take over.
Step #3: Reach out to Bloggers
Now when you know where you want to publish your quality content, it’s time to send your pitch to the bloggers you selected. If you’re not sure how to find blogs, check this list of 5,000 sites that accept guest posts.
For a moment, please put yourself in the shoes of a blogger you’re about to contact. Let’s assume you’re an owner of a popular blog with lots of things to do and an overflowing inbox with letters from people asking to become contributors.
Imagine you just got a generic guest post pitch. How are you going to react? Right, you’re just going to ignore it or press “delete.”
Now, it’s back to you again. To avoid creating a kind of request bloggers read every day, use the one below. It’s great because:
- It’s personalized
- It’s short
- It’s straightforward
- It gives reasons why they should accept you.
Hi [blogger name],
This is [your name], a long-time reader. I regularly comment on your awesome posts [some links to your comments here].
I’d love to write a guest post for you! I have been in [industry] for quite a while, and I want to share the knowledge that could be very valuable to your readers.
I’ve been working on some topics for the post…
[Multiple ideas here]
Here’s my post on another website [link] to give you an idea of the quality of my content.
Looking forward to your reply.
Step #4: Write Awesome Content
Great! The blogger you contacted accepted your pitch, and you’re going to write your guest post. Now it’s time to build backlinks. To do that, you should focus on producing actionable content that provides a lot of tips and useful information for readers.
Begin writing your content as soon as you get a reply from a blog owner. Follow all guidelines and send it back in a timely fashion.
Be sure to insert 1-2 links to the pages you want to drive traffic to. Do it naturally and use appropriate anchors that contain Google-friendly keywords. As soon as the article is published, promote it on social media and your website.
Step #5: Track Your Results
Tracking the performance of your content is a necessary condition for revealing what works best. For that, you’ll need an analytics package to analyze leads, visits, shares, and other metrics. For example, to determine page authority, you can use free tools from Moonsy and Small SEO Tools.
Over to You!
Now you know how to start your way in guest blogging and succeed.
Hope your guest articles will have a significant impact on your site by giving you more traffic.
Happy blogging!