Guest blogging is one of the best ways to showcase your expertise and get your voice heard.
The idea of guest blogging is a simple one: You write for other online publications to show off your personality and knowledge on a topic.
While the premise behind guest blogging is far from complicated, there are specific steps you should take in order to gain the most from your guest writing endeavors.
Learn how to start guest blogging and kick your content marketing up a notch!
Lee Ying shares his guest posting strategies below…
Become an Authority
Whenever I am trying to build links for a new client I try to become an authority in the field.
For instance, I recently was trying to build links for a client in the networking niche. I won’t mention their name in order to protect my client, but what I did was I took an introduction to networking course from PluralSight. This allowed me to be an authority in the niche and sound like I knew exactly what I was talking about.
Another good example is when I had a client that worked for a large business security company. I called physical security companies such as Pro-Vigil and digital security companies such as Entrust in order to fully understand the industry.
It’s going the extra mile with these types of tactics that help you stand out from the crowd. Moz once had a similar guide as to the extreme lengths they would take to get links.
Start Building Your Guest Blogging Portfolio
Before you begin approaching editors to publish your writings on their site, Neil Patel suggests building your own blog to publish your writing and social media profiles for content distribution. You can choose WordPress or another free online blogging platform, or you can simply add a blog to an existing site if you already have one for selling products and services.
Meanwhile, social media will play a key role in getting both yourself and your work noticed. To do this, you’ll need to put in a little work to increase your following on the social networks where your target audience spends their time. Whatever you do, do not buy followers!
Research Target Sites
After you’ve created a number of great posts for your personal blog and begun garnering a social media following, you should research potential publications to contribute to.
Top tier blogs like Huffington Post and Forbes are certainly worthy targets, but they can be a difficult nut for a beginning blogger to crack. Therefore, you should target lesser-known sites within your industry when you’re just setting out on your guest blogging journey.
You’ll get a full list of websites that accept guest posts when you take part in the free 30 Day List Building Challenge.
Present Your Ideas to the Editors
Some smaller blogs simply have a content submission form, but most of the time you’ll be required to contact site editors via email and pitch your ideas to them. However, before contacting them, it’s a good idea to review the site’s submission guidelines, research popular titles and formats, and find out as much as possible about the editors and the publication.
When presenting your ideas, it’s important to keep the first email short and sweet. Simply include a couple of article ideas with a brief two-sentence synopsis along with a link to your personal blog and writing portfolio.
Create a Post
Once accepted to write for a publication, email the editor and provide him or her with an expected delivery date if a deadline isn’t given. When it comes to creating the post itself, it’s critical that you study and stick to the writing and formatting guidelines.
Ultimately, your post should be well-researched, include links to references or supporting information, contain screenshots or images without licensing issues, and provide readers with fresh ideas and a number of key takeaways.
In terms of formatting, your posts should be easy to scan and skim through. You can achieve this by:
- Using bullet points and numbered lists
- Keeping paragraphs short and concise.
- Including “white space” between paragraphs
- Using appropriate images
Promote the Post
Once a post is approved and live, share it with the world via social media and respectfully respond to comments. You can take engagement even further by creating Tweets or short posts and persuading your followers to share the article with others. Finally, make sure you thank them for commenting, liking, and sharing your posts.
Repeat the Process
Guest blogging isn’t an overnight success strategy. Although your site traffic will slowly increase after your first post goes live, you must consistently publish and promote great posts in order to begin being considered as an expert and influencer in your field. Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day!
About Lee Ying:
Lee Ying has over 10 years of experience in the tech and security industry. He currently writes for various websites, if you would like to contact him you can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter @LeeYing101.
