Guest blogging is a fantastic strategy to expand your business’s reach and visibility. Once you have built a search-friendly website, you must earn do-follow backlinks and mentions.
In addition, writing for reputed sites helps you build a solid personal brand and, thereby, more sales.
The first step is to create a list of niche websites that accept guest articles. So, how do you find sites that accept such content? Here are some simple techniques:
Suppose you wish to look for guest posting sites in the ‘health and fitness niche. Type in the search queries below into the Google search bar and get a list of many relevant websites.
This way, you can find sites in any industry by replacing the niche-specific keywords in these search operators.
Another fantastic way to find sites to guest post is to make a niche influencer list.
You can use a free tool like Followerwonk to find industry experts and bloggers. Head to “search bios” and type niche-specific keywords such as “marketing expert” to get a list of industry experts.
Make sure you use the social authority filter, as shown in the screenshot below. This way, you’ll find niche bloggers with a high social authority score.
Once you have an influencer list, you can start looking up sites where they contributed articles; how?
Type an influencer’s name + “author” in the Google search bar. This easy step gives you all the guest articles published by a particular influencer.
You can export all these URLs in a spreadsheet, and boom, you have another list of excellent blogs and publications that accept guest posts.
Once you have a list of niche blogs and publications, you need to start filtering them for the best and most relevant ones.
Research metrics like domain rating and monthly traffic. Use a tool like Ahrefs to track these metrics for all the sites you have in your list.
Next, you must check if the links on a site are do-follow or no-follow. It's easy to check this using the do-follow extension on your Chrome browser.
It’s a free tool that lets you check the nature of links on any website. The tool puts a dotted box around all the links the site has no-followed.
Here’s a simple example:
Besides these metrics, you must browse the site to ensure they publish quality content.
Pitching interesting guest story ideas is one of the core success factors of a guest blogging campaign.
How do you do blogger outreach the right way? How to get site editors to reply to your email pitch? Let’s dive deeper.
The right way to start learning about a prospective blog or publication is by browsing through its content.
- Reading a few posts will give you an idea of the topics a site is keen on publishing.
- The second step is to go through the website’s guest blogging guidelines.
- Another essential strategy is to build a relationship with the editor. Send them a LinkedIn connection request and follow them on Twitter.
- Try to engage with their social media content. You can like and share their posts or add your comments.
This way, they will get to know you and won’t see you as a stranger when reading your pitch.
A successful guest story pitch comprises a short introduction and 2-3 story ideas. With each story idea, you also need to write a brief synopsis.
Don’t forget to add your existing portfolio of published pieces. Take a look at this sample email pitch template:
The idea of writing a guest post is to create value for your readers. Ensure you write an informative and engaging article that fits your audience’s needs.
You can use visual elements like charts and graphs to make your post juicy and reader-friendly.
Don’t forget to add links to valuable resources and guides.
Experiment with different writing styles to hook your audience.
Structure your article correctly by including subheadings, paragraphs, and bullets to put forth your explanation as clearly and concisely as possible.
Attach your author bio along with the post-draft. The author’s bio includes a brief about you, your experience, and your expertise. Plus, you can include links to your website and social media handles.
Once you send the completed story to an editor, you might get a request to edit the piece or make minor changes. Be prompt about revising the blog post and re-sending it to your editor.
Seeing your bylined article published in a reputed blog or publication is a tremendous feeling. Once the guest post is live, it’s a good time to share it with your social media followers and connections.
Next, don’t forget to tag the recipient blog and its editor in your post update. Promoting the guest post ensures that it gets more readers and fetches your website more traffic.
Another exciting way to get visibility for your guest post is to send it to your newsletter subscribers. You can ask your contacts to share their feedback and comments. Make sure you request them to share it with their friends and connections.
Most small business owners can manage guest posting independently or with 1-2 in-house writers.
But if you’re finding little success using internal resources for guest blogging, you can try hiring professional guest bloggers or agencies.
Another way is to buy guest posting yourself with the help of special services. All you need to do is go to the catalog, choose a relevant site, and buy article placement.
Look for a freelancer or an agency with solid niche experience. Make sure they offer quality content placements on high-authority websites.
Guest blogging is a proven strategy for small business success. It not only puts you and your business in the audience’s eye but also gets them to respect your domain expertise.
Successful guest blogging is about sheer persistence and hard work. And it’s about having the drive to deliver valuable content consistently.
Writing more high-quality guest posts helps build a repository of content assets that fetch lasting and desirable business outcomes.