Guest blogging is the new–or not so new article marketing. The practice of bloggers inviting other bloggers to publish on their blog has been going on since blogging began, but now this somewhat quietly kept practice is becoming more and more popular. If you are an online freelance writer you’re always looking for ways to get more exposure for your writing to attract more clients. The occasional guest blog posting gig can get you exposure with a new audience, confirms your expert status and attracts fresh traffic to your blog.
As bloggers see the fabulous results that they can gain from both guest blogging on other blogs and hosting guests on their blogs, they are engaging in the practice more and more. In this article I want to share five simple tips for getting yourfeet wet so to speak as a guest blogger:
1. Choosing the right blogs
Your goal as a guest blogger is to find a new audience for your writing, to get wider exposure and to attract fresh traffic back to your blog. So, it makes sense to choose blogs that focus on keywords similar to yours, within the same industry and a similar compatible niche.
Choose blogs that are more established and higher ranked than yours for the biggest bang for your time, but don’t neglect those up-and-coming blogs with a growing, loyal following.
Spend the time to regularly visit the blogs in your niche that you would like to guest post for. Make note of their idiosyncrasies, practices and biases. Take notes and keep these issues in mind when you are writing your post so that you don’t slip up and offend your host.
2. Making contact with the author
Compose a simple email to the blog owner explaining that you are offering to do a guest blog post for them. If this is your first contact with this blogger, briefly explain your blog’s topic and include a link.
Let the blogger know what you like about their blog and how your writing will fit in with their blogging style and topic.
3. Establishing a clear, mutually beneficial arrangement
Guest blog posting is a win-win for the guest blogger and the host blogger. The guest blogger gets exposure to a fresh audience, a nice boost in traffic back to their blog and more favorable search engine ranking from the highly relevant link.
The blog host wins because they get some fresh, relevant content that provides something new for their readership, and buys them a bit of time to do other things. But the blog readers also benefit because they
gain exposure to a new writer and a different look at the topic.
Be sure to spell out the terms of the arrangement so that both parties are clear on things like the approximate word count of the post, publication date, number and types of links, ownership of the content, etc.
4. Coming up with the right content for the blog
Refer to the notes you took when you were choosing blogs to guest post on, and write from the perspective of someone who is familiar with the audience. Read through recent posts to get ideas for filling in and
rounding out the blogger’s approach to the topic. Ask the blog host if there is a particular topic they would like for you to cover.
Be sure to always present your best work when guest posting. Do your research, format the post carefully and ask for someone to proofread it for you before you submit it.
5. The importance of follow up
After your post has been published, be sure to check back and respond to the comments. This is a great opportunity to forge a real relationship with another blogger and their readers, so don’t overlook this important
part of the arrangement.
Comments