I’ve been hit up on my support desk quite a few times during the last month by people who are looking to provide me with guest blog articles. Guest blogging done the wrong way can cost you — it can cost you viewers, respect, and Google love as both the guest blogger and the blog owner.
The wrong way to pitch a guest blog post is to pay no attention to message to market match. What do I mean by that? You have to be sure as a guest blogger that you are approaching blog owners whose target audience is a good fit for the articles you are pitching.
The last person who approached me about submitting articles wanted me to publish his articles about e-commerce stores. The articles were well-written and useful for e-commerce business owners, but my audience isn’t comprised of e-commerce store owners. Sure, the service business owners with whom I work sell products online, but I don’t work with nor attract people who have an online t-shirt shop, for example, as a primary business. It was clear to me that he was approaching anyone who mentioned online marketing as a topic without considering the specific target audience.
So, if you don’t want to be a complete failure in successfully pitching guest blog posts like this e-commerce shop blogger was, here are some tips on the right way to guest blog:
Know Your Goal in Advance: Your blog post should bring readers to a specific page – not your home page. Have a plan in place to capitalize on the blog post by sending viewers of the blog to a very special and specific page with a compelling call to action.
Provide a Special Giveaway: Don’t just contribute a blog post; contribute a special giveaway that is targeted to the specific blog audience for whom you’re writing the guest blog post. This strategy will not only appeal to the blog audience but also to the owner of the blog because they’ll like being able to give away something special.
Create Follow-Up Content: Once you write and publish a guest blog post, you want to write follow-up posts about similar content on your own blog. It will help to relate the new content to the guest post as well.
Treat Guest Posting as a Long-Term Strategy: When guest blogging, have long-term results in mind for your guest blogging activities. A successful guest post can pay off years down the road if created the proper way.
Ensure that a Guest Post Boosts Your Credibility: When writing a guest post you want to ensure that it makes you look good and that it makes the blogger for whom you’re posting look good. The point of a blog post is to give you the appearance of authority, knowledge, and someone in the know.
Link to Your Guest Blog Posts: Within other content that you write on your own website and blog, be sure to link back to that blog post from time to time. It will make the blog owner happy and it makes the search engines happy too.
Answer Comments: Respond to any comments that appear on the blog post. You can also use these questions as fodder for new blog posts, and you can answer the blog post with a link to your new blog that answers their question.
If you do these things, you’ll not only make each guest blog post pay off for you but also for the bloggers for whom you guest post. Guest blogging will help you be sought out as an expert in your niche and perhaps even become a paid guest blogger.
If you need help or want to explore how you can incorporate guest blogging into your business model, we would be glad to speak with you. Figuring out a marketing plan for your guest blogging is also essential. Schedule a 1:1 Marketing Rescue Session to explore the best options for you.
