Guest blogging can be a great way to get your content in front of new readers, but it is hard to know where to start.
You also don’t want to spend all your time writing guest posts that don’t align with what you are trying to promote.
It’s hard enough finding time to write high-quality blog posts for your own site, let alone spending the time writing guest posts that may not result in any prospects.
Guest blogging doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be a great way to grow your audience if you do it correctly.
You should start by targeting smaller sites before moving on to bigger ones as you build relationships with other authors.
Even small sites can grow into big ones over time with the right amount of effort from bloggers like yourself who are passionate about their craft.
According to a survey conducted by SemRush, 53% of specialists shared that guest posting is the most effective way to build a backlink profile.
Most people think that guest posting is only to build, but that’s not true. Guest posting can help you reach a new audience and build credibility.
This article will show you what guest posting is and how it works.
What is Guest Posting?
Guest posts, also known as guest blogs, are a great way to get more exposure and targeted traffic for your website.
Guest posting is when you create content for another website to post on their blog.
By contributing content to other websites, you can tap into a new audience and attract prospects to your business.
Additionally, guest posting is an excellent way to showcase your expertise and knowledge, helping you build credibility in your field.
Whether you want to contribute guest posts to someone else’s blog to build backlinks, form relationships with other authoritative sites, increase awareness for your brand or increase your email list signups and social media following, guest posting is an effective tool for achieving those goals.
Setting and Achieving Your Guest Blogging Goals
As with any strategy, the key to success with guest posts is to set your goals straight from the get-go.
Do some research on blogs that might fit well within those guidelines, and then decide which types of posts would best suit both your site’s goals AND theirs!
The ultimate goal of any project is to see positive results, if you know what those are, you are more likely to achieve them.
Here are a few examples of guest blogging goals:
- Reach a new audience
- Showcase your expertise
- Increase traffic
- Build backlinks
- Generate leads
Now that you know what your goals are, the next step is identifying the sites (within your industry) that will get you closer to reaching them!.
How to Find Guest Posting Opportunities
There are many factors that you should consider when looking for blogs on which to guest post, but here we’ll explore some of the most important ones:
- The blog should be related to your niche or industry
When looking at guest blogging opportunities, it’s important to make sure that the blog itself is related to your niche or industry so that it will align with your target audience.
- The content should be related to your niche or industry
Now that you have found an ideal blog, you can determine if the content that they post and the topics are relevant to what you do (Do you have the expertise or authority to talk about this stuff?)
- The blog should have an active audience
Finding a blog that has an engaged audience is much more likely to convert than one that doesn’t. You want to spend your time somewhere you know your efforts will have value.
Now, let’s take a look at those opportunities!
Google Search
This is the most straightforward strategy as you go to our trusty friend Google and type in your keyword and “search term.”
Here are a few samples:
- Keyword “guest post”
- Keyword “guest author”
- Keyword “guest column
- keyword “guest post by”
- Keyword “write for us”
- Keyword “submit post”
- Keyword “submit guest post”
- Keyword “submit blog post”
- Keyword “contributing writer”
So, for example, when we searched for: email marketing “write for us”.
This is what came up.
One of the results, SendX, has a great opportunity to become a guest blogger.
They give a brief introduction and immediately you can tell whether or not their audience is your ideal audience as they state that they have an active audience of email marketers and small businesses.
They also offer guidelines so you know what to follow and whether or not you are the right fit.
They let you know what topics they are interested in.
And finally, they have a submission form and let you know that they will be in touch.
Image Search
Have a favourite blogger or looking to find well-known bloggers within your niche? Here’s a way to find their guest posts using an image search.
We headed over to the Marketing Profs blog to find an example. Corina Leslie is the PR manager for ZeroBounce.
They even have an “about the contributor” page.
By right-clicking her image and clicking “copy image address,” you are able to go to Google images in the right-hand corner of your Google search page.
then click the camera icon and paste the image URL.
This will then show you all the pages that match that image search and where they have guest posted.
Social Search
Bloggers sometimes promote their guest blogging opportunities on social media sites like Twitter.
So, for example, when we searched for: email marketing guest post, writers’ connection came up as an opportunity to write for their blog.
Competitor Backlinks
This is when you replicate the backlinks on a similar site to yours.
Here you see which sites they are getting backlinks from and work to get the same ones.
Here is a step by step:
- Find a site within your industry (competitors) that you aspire to
- Copy and paste their URL into SemRush.
- Now you can see all the backlinks to their site and isolate the ones that came from guest posts. Now you can see which sites offer guest posting opportunities
Guest Posting Websites
This list includes resources where you can find guest posting websites:
How To Pitch a Guest Blogging Post
One of the most important things to do when pitching a blog article or idea for another website is to do research.
This is not only beneficial for yourself, as it is a criterion you can set to ensure you are working towards your goals, this is also beneficial for the websites that you pitch to because it makes it possible for you to identify their goals and what they are looking for.
Pitching it is a two-way street. Both sites need to benefit from the opportunity. By making sure that you can clearly articulate your value, you are more likely to be accepted as a guest poster.
Researching
Now that you have found those opportunities, you can compile a list of the most relevant ones that work towards your goals and consolidate the data.
By adding the name of the website to tools like Semrush and Ahrefs, you can determine their domain authority score, guidelines, as well as topics covered.
Also when you are ready to pitch all the information is in one place.
Source: Hubspot
Preparing
Now that you have your eye on some targeted guest pitching opportunities, it’s time to:
- Get to know the content of the blog and its requirements (guidelines)
- Find a trending topic to write about
- And get on their radar
A great way to start is to read over the blog and see what they write about, what they don’t and what’s missing that they and their audience could benefit from.
Then you can head over to BuzzSumo or SemRush and use their topic research tool to find unique and trending topics.
You can type in your topic and it will propagate relevant topics.
Before you send out your pitch, one strategy to use is to prime them. This allows you to build a relationship with them so they are primed for your pitch.
So here are a few ways you can do this:
- You can comment on their blog posts
- You can comment on their social media posts
- You can link to their blog posts
- You can email them letting them know how much you like their content
| Hi [Name]! Your latest blog [HEADLINE] helped me change the way I do [TOPIC]. Since I read it I have been using it to [ACTION] and it has [RESULTS]. Thanks for the content! I really appreciate it. You’re doing a great job and keep up the good work 🙂 [SIGN OFF] |
Pitching
Now that you’re ready to send out the perfect outreach email, it’s time to craft the perfect email.
It’s important to set the stage by letting them know who you are, why they should care and how you can help them.
Check out this template!
| Hi [NAME]! I’m [NAME] from [COMPANY/WEBSITE]. I am so excited to be writing to you today! I’ve been following [THEIR BLOG] for some time now. The [BLOG TITLE] is what got me hooked on your content. After reading it, my perspective about [TOPIC] completely shifted. I’m reaching out because I would love to guest post on your blog! I see that you have been posting a lot of email marketing content as of late and I thought a guest post about [TOPIC] would be a great addition to it. Here are some samples from recent posts that really popped off the page for me: [URL 1][URL 2][URL 3][URL 4] We think you might be interested! Let us know what you think. If you’re interested, I can create the post by the end of the month. [SIGN OFF] |
Writing
Now it’s time for the actual writing of the guest post.
You’ve done all the hard work, and now you get a chance to make something great by sharing with others what they want and need.
Here are some key tips:
- Write to their audience
- Follow their guidelines (word count, blog format)
- Paragraphs should be broken down, so they are skimmable and digestible
- Link to their resources
- Link to your resources
- Link to other relevant resources
- Use visual imagery
- Optimise for SEO
- Add a call to action
Submitting
The next step is sending it their way and making any adjustments if needed.
Promoting
Once the post is live it’s time to promote your guest post on social media.
Tracking
And finally, the last step is to track your results on tools like SemRush. This will allow you to see how well that guest post is doing.
You can see how well you are ranking, how many backlinks you are receiving, how much engagement it is getting and how close you are to achieving your goals.
So how do you determine whether guest blogging is right for your business?
By asking yourself a few questions.
- Do you have something valuable to share with the audience of another site?
- Is your target audience different from your current audience?
- Is the blog post topic relevant to your niche or industry?
If you answered yes to all three, then guest blogging could be a great way to reach new prospects and grow your business.
Just make sure that you’re selective about the sites you partner with, and always write quality content that will interest your target audience.
How has guest blogging worked for you in terms of reaching new prospects?
Now that you know how to guest post like a pro, head over to the next section of the KAMG SEO Content Hub to begin to learn how to use social media and influencer marketing for SEO.
Need some help with link building? Contact us today for a free consultation!
