What Is Guest Posting And How Can I Do It? - ARTICLE GATE

 

How do you go about guest posting?

How do you write a guest post?

You most likely have a lot of questions about this subject. And I'll respond to them all, plus many more. But, before I teach you how to guest post and what it can do for you, let's define it...

What exactly are guest posts?

Guest posts (or guest posting) are articles that are published on someone else's website.

It's as simple as that.

People do this to increase brand awareness and traffic to their own websites (also known as referral traffic).

Determine Your Guest Blogging Objectives

Before we begin, you must first determine your goal for guest blogging. Knowing this goal ahead of time is critical in determining which blogs to submit guest posts to. Guest blogging typically serves three purposes.

1. Developing a reputation as an industry expert and well-known name.
2. Increasing exposure (traffic) to your website.
3. Creating backlinks to your website (though this should never be your primary focus because Google frowns on it).

All three of these things are possible with the right content on top blogs.

If you want to achieve either #1 or #2, you should look for blogs with a large and engaged audience.

If you only want to accomplish #3, you should target blogs with high root domain authority. You can test this for free using tools such as Ubersuggest.

Knowing your goals ahead of time will assist you in determining which blogs to submit guest posts to.

Where Can I Find Guest Blogging Opportunities?

The first thing you should do is look for guest posting opportunities. Your main goal when looking for places to guest post is to find sites that are relevant to your niche or industry. You're looking for blogs that meet the following requirements:

• The content is tailored to your industry or niche.
• The blog's audience will be interested in your industry.
• the blog has an engaged readership (posts have been shared socially and commented upon)
• The blog's proprietor is active on social media (so you know that they will be promoting your work on their site)

If you're selling plant seeds, for example, you'll want to find gardening blogs with a devoted following of students. The following suggestions should assist you in locating suitable guest posting opportunities.

Google Lookups

When looking for guest posting opportunities, Google is a great place to start. You can find blogs that accept guest posts by using any of the keyword searches listed below. Simply replace keywords with keywords relevant to your industry.

• the key phrase "submit a guest post"
• key phrase "guest post"
• key phrase "guest post by"
• the key phrase "accepting guest posts"
• keyword "guest post guidelines"

These queries should direct you to a blog's guest post guidelines, submission page, or actual guest posts written by other authors.

Exceptional Guest Bloggers

Do you know any successful guest bloggers in your industry? If you read enough blogs in your industry (which you should), you'll recognize some of the names that appear on guest blogs on a regular basis.

Neil Patel, Jeff Bullas, Mark Traphagen, Tony Right, Jenny Halasz, Brian Harnish, Kevin Indig, Adam Riemer, Robyn Johnson, Benji Acciola, Kevin Rowe, Anna Crow, and Kirk Williams are just a few of the most influential marketing guest bloggers.

Search Google for the names of frequent guest bloggers in your industry, followed by the phrase "guest post by." This will show you all of the sites where these guest bloggers have posted. They should also be good places for you to guest post. A plus would be if you know a guest blogger in your industry who can introduce you to the owners of blogs where they have guest posted.

Backlinks from competitors

If you (or your online marketing agency) have ever performed a competitor backlink analysis while working on your SEO campaign, chances are one or more of your competitors have backlinks from guest posts they have written.

If you have access to tools like Open Site Explorer, you can examine your competitors' backlinks and identify any blog posts they have written.

If you can't find any, try a Google search.

link:domain.com -domain.com "guest post" (replace domain.com with your competitor's domain) should reveal sites for which your competitor has written.

Example:

"guest post" link:backlink.io -neilpatel.com

Social Searches

Many bloggers and guest writers will post links to their most recent guest posts on social media. Since Twitter is the simplest to search, you should try using that platform to find the most recent tweets about guest posts in your sector. To find out which blogs are accepting guest posts, simply click the links.

Getting Ready to Propose a Guest Post

You'll see that we don't just contact the blogs after finding guest blogging opportunities. That's because you need to take a few steps before suggesting a guest post for a website you've just discovered.

Learn About the Content of the Blog

It is critical to understand the subject matter of your target blog. You are aware that they have articles related to the keyword you searched for in order to find guest post opportunities. However, you must have additional information about that subject, such as...

• What skill level (beginners, intermediate, or advanced) of reader are they writing for?
• Who are they writing for in their writing? If your company is B2B, you should target businesses rather than general consumers for your guest post's blog audience.
• What kind of writing do they do? Is it primarily focused on specific, in-depth tutorials or general concepts? Are they fans of lists?

View the performance of other guest posts

While a blog may feature guest posts, the question is whether the guest bloggers perform well. Do guest blog posts on the site receive as many comments and social shares as the owner's blog posts? Some sites may accept guest posts, but if the audience is only interested in the blog owner, you won't fare well if your goal is to establish authority or drive traffic back to your website.

Check Out the Guest Bloggers

Some blog owners are more likely than others to accept guest posts from certain types of people. Examine a few of the blog's guest blogger bios to see if they are fellow bloggers, freelancers, consultants, business owners, and so on. This will be useful when introducing yourself to the blog owner for your pitch. More information on the success rates of guest posting outreach can be found in this SEOmoz study.

Discover Which Posts Perform Best.

To ensure that your guest post is accepted, pitch the blog owner with topics that will appeal to their audience. Use the following sites to see what posts have been popular on social media to get some good ideas for topics that will work with the blog's audience.

• Oktopus: Oktopus monitors and reports on your social media activity.
• Digg: This will display the blog posts that have received the most Digg votes.
• Buzzer: Buzzer automates the scheduling of your social media posts and provides data and analytics.

Become a Familiar Face in the Blogosphere

To improve your chances of being accepted as a guest blogger, you should first gain some recognition from the blog owner. The best way to do this is to spend a week or two commenting on their most recent posts. You'll get bonus points for sharing those posts on Twitter as well if you include the blog owner's @username. This way, you won't be a complete stranger when pitching your guest post.

The Best Times to Request a Guest Blog Post

You won't always have a golden opportunity to pitch a guest post, but there are some opportunities to seize when they arise. These are some examples.

• when a blog mentions you in one of its posts or on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and so on)
• when the blog mentions you, your company, or your product in one of its posts
• when the blog expressly states that it is looking for guest posts
• when another guest post is published on the blog

Best Practices for a Basic Pitch

When pitching a guest blog post to another blog owner, the following are absolute musts.

Please read the Guidelines.

The final step before contacting the blog owner is to carefully read and follow the guest posting guidelines, if applicable. Is the blog owner looking for you to pitch an idea or submit a full post? What format do they prefer? Do they want you to set up an account and log in to WordPress? All of this should be known before contacting the blog's owner.

Customize Your Email

As a blogger who receives guest post pitches on a daily basis, nothing irritates me more than an email that begins, "Dear Sir or Madam," "Dear Webmaster," "To the owner of Neilpatel.com," or simply "Hi." The name and contact information for the owner of the blog you want to guest post on should be somewhere on the blog.

You might have to sift through the about page or one of the blog's social media accounts to find it, but it's more than likely there. Locate it and use it to begin the email.

What is your name?

Remember when I said you should check out who the guest bloggers are on your target blog? Some blog owners are adamant about only allowing guest posts from other bloggers on their sites. If you've noticed that the majority of guest bloggers are also bloggers, you might want to introduce yourself as a blogger at [insert your personal or business blog here]. You can always run a side business; just focus on your blogging skills first.

Why Should You Be a Guest Blogger?

Include a reason why you should be a guest blogger in your pitch. Include a few links to posts you've written elsewhere, including your own blog. Choose posts with a high level of social engagement so that the blog owner can see your potential value to their audience.

Pitching a Guest Post Idea

If the guest post guidelines ask you to submit a topic idea, pitch a few different ideas (based on your research of previously popular posts) so the blog owner has some to choose from.

How to Submit a Wonderful Guest Post

One of the most frequently asked questions about guest blogging is whether you should use your best content for your own blog or for guest posting. It is entirely dependent on the quality of the blog to which you are submitting your content.

If the blog only has 900+ word posts with a lot of screenshots, your post should be similar. If the blog only has posts of 500 words or less with one image, then your posts should (again) be similar. The following are some additional helpful hints for making your guest post as awesome as possible.

It's Not About You

The first thing to remember about a fantastic guest post is that it is not about your company, products, or services. Guest posts should be useful sources of information rather than advertisements. Any information about your company or related items should be kept to the author bio. Occasional mentions, stories, or examples to illustrate a point are acceptable, but the majority of the post should be about something other than your company.

Format posts similarly to those on the site

Examine the posts on your target blog. Do they employ a large number of headers, bolded text, images, quotes, or another specialized formatting? Check that your post contains similar elements to other posts on the site.

Include internal and external links.

By including a few internal links to some of their posts, you can demonstrate to the blog owner that you are familiar with their content. The simplest way to accomplish this is to conduct a Google search for site:domain.com. intitle: keyword. This will return their top posts for a specific keyword, which you can then link to in your post. Also, if you mention any specific products, books, or other items, make sure to include links to those as well (assuming it's not self-promotional).

Include a Request for Comments.

Make a call to action for comments at the end of your fantastic guest post. The more debate your post sparks, the better!