Have you noticed that some sites/blogs have a section named ‘Submit a Guest Post’, ‘Become a Contributor’?
You must have also noticed that many sites have multiple authors who are external bloggers.
It’s very clear that these sites accept blog contributions from those who are eligible to write for them.
Many of these sites have achieved a high domain authority and accept only high-quality content.
How do these sites benefit from accepting contributions?
The answer is obvious - they get the content for free.
Guest blogging is very beneficial for bloggers and business owners too! It helps you to build quality backlinks on some of these high-authority websites.
These backlinks aren’t just helpful in getting you higher search engine rankings but also help you to reach out and grow your audience.
I have been guest blogging for over five years and there have been many occasions when potential customers have contacted me after reading a guest post of mine.
The coolest part is they were impressed with my guest blog post before contacting us and then they finally hired us.
Regular guest blogging can actually open an all new lead generation channel for your business.
It can help you to blog about your industry, showcase expertise in your niche and become a thought leader over a period of time.
Consistent guest blogging can help you to build an online brand for your business as well as for yourself.
Let me now take you through the process of how you can build an online brand with guest blogging.
The first step in the process of doing guest posts is to know which sites you need to pitch.
There are different ways to find out the relevant sites. First of all, you should download the Moz Chrome Extension.
It will help you to readily check the domain authority of any website before you add it to the list.
You can start pitching to websites with a domain authority of 40+ or 50+. Higher is always better.
The ground rule is that you should pitch to sites which have a DA more than your website’s DA. Here are some tricks on how you can search for the relevant websites:
Let’s suppose you have a marketing agency and you wish to pitch to sites which are in the marketing domain.
Here are some of the search terms that will help your find the relevant sites or guest blogging opportunities:
You can use different combinations of such keywords to find the relevant blogs in your niche.
Do check their domain authority before adding them to your list.
You must also ensure that these sites are accepting guest posts by visiting the relevant section section on the site.
This is another very cool way to find the best of sites in your niche.
You can type in trending article topics in your niche and see which sites are ranking.
Let’s say you want to find blogs in the digital marketing niche you can type in topics like:
You can check the organic results as well as news results to find websites which are covering the latest stories.
You can use tools like Followerwonk to look for influencers in your niche on Twitter. You can use the tool for free.
In this tool you will find a section called ‘Search Bios’. You can search for Twitter bios with keywords like ‘Marketing’ or ‘Digital Marketing’.
The tool will show you top Twitter profiles with bios containing these keywords.
You can add similar meaning words and refresh your list. Now you have a set of influencers in your list.
Next, you need to check if they have a website or a blog which fulfils your criteria.
If they do you can simply add it to your list.
If they don’t you can type in their name in Google to find sites on which they have an authorship.
Now check if these sites fulfil your criteria and add them to your pitch list.
These were some ways to find niche guest posting sites and you can always innovate and find more ways to look for more sites.
Guest posting process is a slow one and you have to be careful before you start your pitch.
You have a list of sites and you have the email addresses of the right person or the editor whom you will be sending out your pitch.
Now, don’t fall into the trap of putting all the email addresses in an email software and sending out a single pitch.
This is the best way to not get any answer from the best sites in your list.
What is the right method?
You need to treat each and every site in your list with respect. Understand their guest blogging guidelines by going through them thoroughly.
Browse through some of their articles. These steps will give you an idea about the type of content they are looking for.
Check out the social media profiles of the site’s editor.
Is there way you could build a relationship with the editor before sending out a pitch? Connect with him/her on LinkedIn or Twitter.
You could comment on one of their updates or Tweets.
Break the ice and do something that would help them in anyway or get you noticed. All of this will help your chances of getting a pitch accepted.
Your pitch should be customized and personalized to the the site you are pitching. I usually use a personalized subject line as well. Something like this:
Hi [Editor Name], Interesting Guest Story Ideas for [Sitename]
Personalization makes you come across as professional.
It lets the editor at the other end know that you are pitching to write exclusively for the particular website.
Site editors have their inboxes full with such emails and if you can stand out and do something unique with your subject line or your message, you will definitely stand to benefit.
Here is my pitch template:
Dear [Editor’s Name],
Hope you are doing good.
[A brief introduction about me - my company and my role]
Sharing some guest story ideas that I’m sure would fit your blog style and audience.
- [Topic1 + Synopsis]
- [Topic2 + Synopsis]
- [Topic3 + Synopsis]
- [Topic4 + Synopsis]
Here are some of my published posts:
- [Post 1 Link]
- [Post 2 Link]
- [Post 3 Link]
Would be looking forward to contributing to your esteemed blog.
Hope you have a wonderful day:)
Warm Regards
Sunny Arora
CEO - Broadcast2world
After sending out your pitch you need to give the site editor at least 5-7 working days to reply to your pitch.
If you don’t get a reply until then, you can send them a gentle reminder about your pitch.
If they reply to your pitch and tell you about the piece they would be looking to review, you can tell them about the approximate time you are going to take for completing your piece and sharing it.
You can request them for a natural do-follow backlink in the article content and in the author bio.
If they don’t provide it as policy, you have no choice but to accept a no-follow link or just a brand mention.
Make sure you follow the guest blogging guidelines and the editorial style of the particular site while doing the piece.
Share the piece with the editor once you finish writing it. You can add a natural backlink in your post to one of your blog posts or landing pages.
Do also share your bio and a headshot along with the piece.
You should ideally share all your files including the word document, the images, the author bio in a separate doc and the headshot, all in a single folder.
The editor may ask you to do some revisions and you can work on it accordingly.
You can request for the date on which the article will go live once it finally gets approved.
You must promote your guest post on all of the social media pages of your business.
Tag the social handle of the guest posting site and any influencers you may have mentioned in your post.
Don’t forget to use the relevant hashtags in your social media post captions.
Keep a repository of all your guest blog posts that you publish, in a spreadsheet.
Create multiple captions of each and promote each of them on your social media pages on a weekly basis.
- Add infographics in your guest posts to improve their overall content quality. You can also publish infographics on trending topics on your own blog and then pitch them to sites that accept previously published infographics.
- You can also sign-up on free PR platforms like HARO and send your tips to journalists and get brand mentions for free.
Guest blogging still works as a fabulous technique to link up naturally to high authority sites and to publicise your brand through quality brand mentions. Consistent and quality guest posting will surely help you get big rewards in the long run.
Did you find these tips on guest blogging useful? If you have questions or suggestions related to this topic you can share them in the comment section below.
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