This is one reason why you should Guest Post!
Experienced bloggers know that there is more to blogging than just churning out posts. Blogging is a social occupation, one in which success is determined by the size of your network – but how do you grow that network?
There are a handful of tactics that the best bloggers employ to increase the size of their readership: SEO campaigns, keyword selection and placement, high-quality content generation. But one of the most important and effective networking tool, the one that helps the most in getting new followers, is by developing a presence in the blogosphere that extends beyond your own blog.
Commenting on and following other blogs is an important part of this, but aren’t enough by themselves. To really get your name out there, you have to write guest posts.
Guest post writing is an art just like blogging for yourself. Great guest posts will get the most hits, and will therefore generate the most traffic; if you want to expand your online presence by writing great guest posts, you should first study the elements of guest posting.
Think of these three elements as a blueprint for great guest posts:
1. Do The Research
Research is a two part process: First you have to research the blog you are writing for, to get an understanding of that blog’s style and content, as well as its target audience and niche. While blogs don’t want to seem entirely homogenous, they do want to be unified and consistent, so you want to be sure that your post fits in. If it doesn’t, it probably will be rejected.
Sometimes this may require you to read some of the blog posts that have been posted historically and within the same category or topic area. You may even want to review previous guest posts to see how they’ve “pulled it off” as well. Learning from those that came before you is a good strategy and tactic.
Second, you have to research your chosen topic. Unless you are already an expert (which wouldn’t be a bad thing) you will probably have to conduct some research while writing your guest post. You want your post to be practical and authoritative, so that the webmaster trusts your content, and so that, when readers come across your guest post, they will want to see more of your work.
It doesn’t have to be completely comprehensive but it does have to be authentic, real, and very practical and helpful. People don’t have time to waste and they come to that blog to read the blogger’s thoughts – if they suddenly see someone else’s writing it better be darn good to keep their attention! Earn the right to be listened to by good research.
2. Follow The Rules
Before you write one sentence of your guest post, contact the webmaster of the blog and either ask if he or she wants a specific article, or pitch an idea that fits with the theme of the blog.
This is important because even if you write a great post, if it isn’t relevant, or if a similar post has just been written or submitted, yours will probably be rejected. Approval of guest posts is at the discretion of the blog owner, so try to develop a relationship before submitting.
In other words, make sure you follow their guidelines – there’s no point in wasting their time and they’ll probably reject you right out of the gate if you don’t follow their rules. It’s their blog, remember?
3. Write The Best Post You’ve Ever Written
This should go without saying, but when you’re submitting a post to someone else’s blog, it better be the best thing you’ve ever written. Even better than posts on your own blog.
Why? Because any imperfections or mistakes in a post will be put under a magnifying glass and exaggerated on someone else’s blog. The ultimate goal is to bring readers back to your blog, so you want to make the best impression possible.
A great title, great body content, great styling of the body content, images and associated media – all of these things should be included. In addition, make sure the content is formatted in a way that doesn’t require the blogger to massively edit or waste time with formatting; make their life as easy as possible and you’ll win in the end.
Guest posting isn’t the key to a successful blog, but will get you involved in the blogosphere and on your way to a wide, dedicated following.
This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for accredited online colleges.
great post here Lauren!
It’s worth noting that I do not have a “guest post” page with rules here (at least at this point). how then do people get their guest posts published?
… mystery!
I know, I know!
Great post, Lauren.
I think #3 is the most important. Write a KILLER post.
But I wonder about #2. I think this is certainly a good approach, but I must admit that the guest posts I’ve had posted were when I sent a full, finished post to the blogger.
Maybe that’s unnecessary and maybe it’s unwise. But my view was that asking to guest post is kinda like asking for a blind date. You’re telling someone that you’re good, but how do they know? How do they know the article is worthy of publishing?
Instead, what if you sent them the post? Hopefully, if it’s a good post, they’ll be won over. If not, then you can save the post to publish on your own blog or potentially pursuing another guest posting opportunity. More likely, you may be able to make tweaks and get it right for the author.
Maybe I’m wrong, and I’m sure there’s more than one way to do it. But that’s just my 2 cents.
The same is true for me. When I’ve guest posted for another blog, it’s always been a completed post presented to them. If I did the research, follow the rules, and write the best thing I’ve ever written it normally gets a thumbs up!
Thanks for the amazing post, Lauren! Especially the graphic at the top. I’ll be reviewing it over and over again as I continue to expand my blog.
i agree. there’s definitely more than one way to do it…!
I want create an controversy here
I am PARTIALLY agree with 3rd Point mentioned by Lauren
Write The Best Post You’ve Ever Written
or in wother words – You can write only one guest post in your blogging career.
I am not agree with this point because it says that we should put our best effort on Guest Blogging and it must be better than the post on your blog.
According to me – “We should put our best effort in writing every mail because our ultimate aim is to provide more and more useful information to our readers.”
But I am fully agree with rest of the two points. Apart from the above three point we should follow few more points like
1- Consult the Desired Length of Blog Post with the owner of the Blog.most of the bloggers are very strict with the blog length.
2- Instead of writing it to get backlink you should write it to solve reader’s problem by providng fresh and quality content in formatted way.
3- Your responsiblity it not only to post the article, it is much more than this. You should answer all the queries asked by readers through comments. Convey proper regards for each comments.
i think the point is that you should attempt to write an amazing blog post… and hold nothing back!
Lauren, thanks for putting this out there! I’m going to do my best to refer people back here frequently.
Being a new blogger, I have actually taken a bit of a different approach to this… I went out and found people that I knew had information that would resonate with my target audience and asked them if they’d guest post on my site. I think I originally asked 10 people and 9 agreed to do it. This helped bring attention to my new blog by getting me exposure to the guest poster’s audience, and it provided great content for my community.
However, I also discovered that not everyone understands what a guest post is. So this post will be something I can point future guest posters to if they have any questions.
~Ivan
Lauren (and John),
Question…….would it make sense to hold off on guest posting until you have first created a “solid foundation” for your own blog/website? In other words, if you don’t have a great product of your own, people may check you out from the guest post, but they won’t become “followers” if they’re not impressed by your own blog.
Do you agree? If you do agree, what constitutes a “solid foundation” to then begin guest posting regularly?
Hey Charles….. you are great Man…
You have asked a perfect question and thanks to provide me idea for my next article.
Although I’ll explain it in more details in my post but I would like to add few points here.
Before you go for a Guest Post you must have complete following stuff on your own blog
1- At least 25-30 Article around the same niche on which you are going to post your guest post.
2- You must fix your blog layout related issues because once user read your guest article they will go to your blog and if your blog will not attract them then you will loose your potential reader.
3- You must have enable subscription option on your blog so that readers (from guest blog) should not face any problem in subscribing your blog.
4- Your best post should be clearly highlighted on your blog.
These are few check points you should cover before go for guest post…
I’ll write a detail post about it.
Awesome, Sandeep! I’ll check it out.
Great community you have here, Mr. Saddington!
Thanks Charles….
Your question have given me idea to write a unique post.
I have published it on my blog.
John – Kindly delete my comment if it is against the comment posting ruleson your blog.
yes, i think so… only because when people visit your blog you want them to have a good number of posts to review and be convinced to subscribe.
A guest post on guest posts?
My head just exploded.
i know. seriously.
My golden rule of thumb: the post should be so good that I want it for my own blog.
If it’s not fitting that description, it’s not a good guest post.
i think this is simple enough..!
Love to write a guest post but i got some problems with it.
1.Don’t know how.
2.My English is not that good.
3.No experience.
4.Don’t know how to deal with blog owners
Have you any suggestions for me?
practice. get some help with a translator.
3 points are very nice sir.keep sharing more interesting posts
sure thing bro!