Jelene Juario
If you’re a professional content marketer that’s looking to build your personal or brand’s authority, then guest posting is one of the best strategies to adopt.
Guest posting is a powerful strategy for increasing your website’s traffic and search engine visibility. However, the sheer volume of content being created in today’s digital publishing industry makes it seem difficult to get your guest posts featured on high-quality websites.
Why is Guest Blogging So Beneficial?
Guest posting is still a great way to build brand awareness, increase traffic, and generate leads — as long as you follow a few key strategies for making sure your posts are published on high-quality websites that drive the right kind of traffic to your site.
Here are some of the benefits guest blogging can offer your brand:
Increase brand awareness
Posting on more blogs and having more people read your posts will allow your brand to become more familiar. If people like what they read, they’re likely to visit your site and explore your offerings.
Build credibility
If you establish yourself as an industry expert by providing useful information to readers, they’re more likely to trust you.
Generate leads
Guest blogging helps generate leads through building traffic from other sites and can increase SEO ranking. The blogger will link back to your website, which improves your Google ranking.
How to Get Started with Guest Posting
You can still use guest posting as a content marketing strategy if you follow a few key strategies to make sure your posts are published on high-quality websites and drive the right traffic.
1. Set specific, achievable goals
Figure out what you hope to achieve with guest blogging: Do you want to increase your search engine ranking? Land new clients? Improve brand awareness? All of them? Knowing what you want to achieve gives you a framework for success. It will help you pick the right sites and topics for guest blogging and determine if your efforts are paying off.
Start by setting yourself some specific, achievable goals — such as “getting five new clients from guest blogging” or “publishing three articles in the next six months.” Then work backward from there to figure out how many leads or traffic you need from each article.
2. Choose topics that will benefit your own business goals
For many businesses, the main goal of guest blogging is driving referral traffic from other websites back to their own. If that’s true for you, choose a topic that readers of your chosen host site will find interesting but that will also appeal to your target audience so they’ll click through to learn more.
Check out popular posts on the site, their amount of comments, and social media shares to get an idea of the type of content that resonates most with your readers and matches your business goals.
3. Identify authority websites in your niche
Think about what type of site you want to contribute to and then list down potential publications that fit the bill. It’s better to post one article on a high-quality website than a dozen posts on low-authority sites. So make sure you’re targeting relevant and authoritative publications that are related to your topic area, not just any website that will publish anything for the sake of building backlinks.
You can find guest blogging opportunities in a few ways:
Google search — this is one of the most obvious ways to find blogs that accept guest posts. Simply search for guest post guidelines or write for us. Here are a few examples of what to type into Google:
- [your industry/niche/topic] + “guest post”
- [your industry/niche/topic] + “write for us”
- [your industry/niche/topic] + “guest article”
Google Reverse Image Search is a free tool, and you can use it to find all the sites where a particular blogger has contributed, making it easier for you to get your guest post published. It’s a good way to find out which sites have been linked to other sites, making them a good target for guest posting opportunities.
4. Conduct guest posting outreach
A guest post pitch is simply an email to a website owner asking if they will publish a guest post you have written. It’s important that when you are writing your guest post pitch, and the guest post itself, you do so in a way that will add value to their site and not detract from it.
Some suggestions on what to include in your pitch:
1. A great idea that is relevant to their audience and that hasn’t been covered on their site before.
2. A unique angle or perspective that will help you stand out from the crowd.
3. A quick overview of what you’d like to write about and how it would be presented (e.g., an interview with an expert, a personal story, a how-to post).
4. A search engine optimization keyword (optional, but potentially helpful) with appropriate ‘anchor text’ and URL. This is also optional, but it will serve as a lead generator for the post, so it is worth considering.
5. Links to other articles you’ve written that are similar to what you’re pitching – particularly if they’re on well-known sites in your niche.
Here are a few examples of good pitches:
Hi [Name],
My name is [Your Name] and I’m a [job title or description] at [Company]. I’ve been following your blog for a while now and you helped me form my views on [line of business]. I’d love to contribute a blog post.
Based on what I know of your blog and what it offers readers, I’d like to suggest three guest posts. I think your readers would appreciate a post on the topic of [topic relevant to their blog], including:
[Idea #1]
[Idea #2]
[Idea #3]
These ideas would contain [SEO keyword] with the [anchor text] and [URL]. I’ve published on other sites such as [website 1] and [website 2] to get a sense of my articles. Please let me know if you’re interested, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon!
Thanks,
[Your Name]
When you are just starting out as a guest blogger, you can use the following template to help you prepare your pitch:
Dear [Name]
My name is _____, and I’ve become a fan of your writing and enjoy reading it. My specialty is (your area of expertise) and I believe my writing style matches well with yours.
I’d like to write an article named [title of article] as it may resonate deeply with your audience and give valuable information and a fresh perspective on the topic. This article will explain what and how to do _____.
I can be a great contributor to the website because (identify your qualifications, such as “I finish and submit all work on time” or “I’m a skilled researcher and analyst”).
I appreciate your time and consideration and look forward to working with you!
All the Best,
(Your signature)
A Guest Posting Strategy is Important
Every business needs good content in order to succeed, and guest blogging can provide just that. Your guest blogging strategy exposes your brand to new audiences, establishes your credentials as a thought leader, engages potential customers in meaningful dialogue, and overall helps you achieve your business goals.
