The word “guest” suggests a visitor, an outsider. And yet guest posting has grown from a corner activity to one of the most influential ways to promote your blog and grow your audience.
It’s not just about reaching out to new audiences, but also about creating connections with communities that can help you grow. There’s nothing more flattering than being asked to guest post on another blog. After all, it means that someone out there thinks that your content is good enough to share with their readers.
That said, there are pitfalls you need to avoid when approaching potential hosts. After all, they get bombarded with requests on a daily basis and we know they can smell desperation as soon as they see it!
What Is Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging is the act of publishing a post on someone else’s website. It’s a common strategy for bloggers to use guest posting for a variety of reasons, including Growing their audience by reaching new readers. Building their brand by being published on other highly-read blogs.
Gaining exposure to new channels through which they can monetize their content, like using Amazon affiliate links. Building relationships with influencers in their industry. Guest posting is a highly strategic way to reach new audiences and grow your blog.
You can leverage your network to get published on some of the most popular blogs in your niche. But how do you start? You’ll need to find the right partners to work with, pitch your ideas, and write a compelling guest post that actually gets published. It’s easier than you think.
Guest blogging is a great way to grow your audience, expand your brand, and make connections with your fellow bloggers. It’s also a proven strategy for increasing your search engine traffic. This is because guest blogs often get linked to other websites, which can drive referral traffic to your own blog.
Why Does Guest Blogging Still Matter?
In 2017, digital media was host to some contentious debates. One, in particular, looked at the role that guest posting played in growing a new digital marketing strategy.
The crux of the argument was that guest blogging was no longer “worth it.” After all, organic search was becoming more and more important and guest posting was not part of the equation. But guest posting is a double-edged sword.
Yes, it’s true that it doesn’t drive the same kind of traffic that it used to. But that doesn’t mean we should throw it out the door. Rather, it’s time to adapt. Guest posting is a fantastic opportunity to grow your brand. It puts you in front of a different crowd. In other words, those who have never seen your content before.
How to Grow Your Audience Through Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to grow your audience. It puts you in front of a different crowd. In other words, those who have never seen your content before.
In order to grow your audience through guest posting, you need to do two things: Find blogs in your niche that accept guest posts.
To do this, you can use a variety of different tools including Blogging outreach tools (like Hunter and Buzzstream) Guest posting directories (like the ones described below) Reverse engineer successful guest posts Once you’ve found a list of potential hosts, the next step is to pitch your ideas. But how do you do that without sounding like a salesperson?
A Guide to Writing a Killer Guest Post
Writing blog posts that go viral is hard. Even the most experienced content marketers struggle to create articles that people want to read, share, and recommend to their friends. And with so many businesses investing in content marketing as a strategy for growing their company, there’s more competition than ever before.
So what can you do to stand out from the crowd? One excellent way to break through the noise is by pitching guest blog posts to other blogs.
A guest blog post is an article written by someone external to your brand and published on another website or blog. These types of articles are usually commissioned and pitched by the site owner or editor in chief.
Although this may seem like a daunting task, it doesn’t need to be difficult if you have the right guidance. Here are some insider tips on how you can pitch and write killer guest blog posts that get approved every time:
Know your audience and the site you’re pitching to:
The most important thing you should do before even sitting down to write your guest post is to thoroughly research your target publication.
This will help you to determine what you should be writing about, who you are pitching to, and how to write a more effective pitch. You’ll want to know what type of content has been published on that site in the past, who the audience is, and what they are interested in.
You’ll also want to know what other types of content they plan on publishing in the future so that your guest post idea fits in with their content calendar and editorial calendar.
Provide value without selling to your audience:
When pitching a guest post to another website, the goal is to provide value for their readers, not to sell to them. Although it may seem counterintuitive, sales don’t happen immediately after the guest post is published.
It takes time for sales to roll in, and your sales funnel will likely have a number of stages. If you’re trying to sell to your readers straight away, you’re likely to come across as “salesy” and many readers will be turned off. Instead, you’ll want to focus on providing value to your readers without selling to them.
There are a number of ways you can do this. You could write an article that helps readers solve a problem they are experiencing. Or, you could write an article that helps readers solve a problem that they don’t even realize they have.
Don’t be afraid to promote yourself, but don’t be pushy either:
When pitching a guest post to another website, you should always include a short, bullet point list of why the editor in chief should publish your guest post. Some people refer to this as a “deck” or “pitch document”.
This should include a brief summary of the article topic, who your target audience is, and how many people will be able to read your article. You should also include a brief bio, including a link to your website, as well as a link to your guest post pitch.
You should also be sure to include a detailed outline of your article, including the main points you want to cover, as well as a few suggested subheadings. Don’t be pushy, but do be confident, and stand behind your pitch.
Get to the point quickly without rambling:
When pitching a guest post to another website, you have very little time to grab the editor-in-chief’s attention. You should also keep in mind that an editor’s time is extremely valuable, and they don’t have time to sit and read your pitch for hours.
You’ll want to try to keep your pitch short and to the point. Think of it as writing a mini sales pitch. You’ll want to include an opening that grabs the reader’s attention, a middle that provides more details, and a closing that reassures them and leaves them wanting more.
Don’t use fluffy adjectives or adverbs:
You’ll also want to make a point of avoiding using fluffy adjectives and adverbs in your pitch and your article. Adjectives are words like beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, and sensational.
Adverbs are words like famously, incredibly, and amazingly. These words don’t add any real value to your article, and they actually make it seem less credible. Readers are more likely to trust your article and share it if it is written in a straightforward and confident manner.
Use strong verbs and action words:
Strong verbs and action words are much more effective than fluffy adjectives and adverbs. Action words are verbs that describe an action or movement, for example, running, jumping, or skipping.
Strong verbs are verbs that are less common, but no less effective than their more common counterparts. For example, the verb “to progress” is more effective than the verb “to go”. And the verb “to use” is more effective than the verb “to employ”. Strong verbs and action words help to paint a picture for the reader and make your article sound more confident and credible.
Be original
The best guest posts are ones that are unique to that site. This means that your posts should be original and not have been published on any other blog.
The best way to ensure this is to do some research. If you’re writing a post for a very popular blog, you should try to find out if they’ve covered your topic before. If they have, try to come up with a new spin on the topic. If they haven’t covered your topic yet, you should try to come up with something original.
Be relevant
While it’s important to be original, it’s also important to be relevant. This means that your guest post should have something to do with the topic of the blog that you’re writing for.
If you’re writing a post for a food blog, you don’t want to talk about marketing. Conversely, if you’re writing a post for a blog about marketing, you don’t want to talk about food.
Be useful
Finally, your guest post should be useful to the readers of the blog that you’re writing for. The best way to ensure this is to do some research on the blog you’re pitching to.
After all, if you know what their readers are looking for, it will be easy to craft a post that is useful to them.
Best Practices for Guest Bloggers
Guest bloggers are like houseguests. They should use common sense and respect the house they’re staying in. Here are a few guest blogging best practices to keep in mind: – Make sure you have permission – Before you publish a post on someone else’s site, make sure you have their permission.
Otherwise, you risk damaging your own brand and theirs. – Give credit – If you use other people’s content in your posts, give them credit.
This is the least you can do to show your appreciation for their help. – Be consistent – If you want to be taken seriously as a guest blogger, you need to bring your A-game every time. This means that you need to be consistent with your posts.
The Bottom Line
Guest blogging is a great way to grow your audience, expand your brand, and make connections with fellow bloggers. To do this, you need to find blogs in your niche that accept guest posts, pitch your ideas and write a killer guest post.
The best way to make sure your guest posts are successful is to be original, relevant, and useful. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be on your way to growing your blog through guest blogging.
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