Having guest blogs on our site is a frequent request that we get. Both the pitches and the submissions are usually rather bad. This has led us to severely limit the amount of guest pieces we publish. Rather of providing us with free goods in exchange for outstanding SEO links, they often make more work for us.
However, it is not the standard for guest postings. They offer a fantastic possibility for growth, growth that benefits the site owner as much as the writer. Here are some tips for how to write a guest post that stand out if that’s something you’re interested in doing.
What Is a Guest Post?
The term “guest post” refers to articles written by individual authors under their own names for other blogs.
Guest posting is a simple strategy to rapidly expand your online presence.
However, guest post writing is a lot of labour. They call for more effort than simply publishing content online.
Blogs with many readers have RSS feeds, which broadcast each new entry to a huge audience. You should be careful about how to guest posting and what you say in front of so many people.
You want your guest articles to make you look like an expert and encourage people to learn more about you. It’s not enough that they find your material entertaining. You anticipate further action on their part and your own.
To achieve this goal, you must provide informative, useful content. It must not be overly promotional. Editorial guest contributions, as opposed to advertising ones, are preferred.
Every guest blog article should be written with the blog’s target audience in mind, just as you would if you were writing a book for that demographic.
It’s not necessary to have a same target audience, but there should be some overlap. Otherwise, contributing to that site as a guest author would be pointless. Neither yours nor the blogger’s requirements will be met.
The needs of the blogger should also be at the forefront of any guest articles you produce.
Maintaining a steady stream of high-quality posts is essential for any blog’s success. That’s a lot to expect of any one blogger.
This means that the vast majority of bloggers constantly seek for new sources of high-quality material. And ideally it’s stuff that requires no effort on their part.
Writing a helpful guest blog article benefits both you and the host site. The blogger gets the stuff they need, and you get to ride shotgun on their audience.
However, prominent bloggers may pick and choose from a large number of guest post opportunities. That implies they’ll pick the ones that provide their target audience the greatest bang for their buck with the least amount of work.
Always keep that in mind while you search for possibilities to make guest posts. Bloggers are more ready to hand over control of their blogs if you can demonstrate a mutually beneficial relationship between your goals, their goals, and the goals of their audience.
The usual advice on How to write a Guest Post
The conventional wisdom about guest blogging, for all its flaws, does have some merit. Given that those few things are extremely hard to mess up, it’s not much of a praise. To accomplish them well requires more time and effort, although the tasks themselves are straightforward.
However, if you’re unfamiliar with the notion, here’s how to write a guest post:
Find the right sites to write for
Determine whether publications are a good fit for your guest post writing based on the following criteria: To achieve success, several factors must be taken into account.
The most crucial component is ensuring that a sizable number of your ideal consumers actually visit the site. My compiled list of top guest-posting destinations should serve as a good place to begin your exploration.
Obviously, you should only contribute to sites that have direct relevance to your work. Even though I don’t accept guest articles, I still get numerous pitches every day, and more than half of them have nothing to do with advertising. I don’t see the point in hosting a guest article about golfing vacations, car stereos, or insurance.
Look for and peruse their guest posting policies.
Seek out their policies (by searching Google, visiting their contact page, etc.). In addition, adhere to any rules you discover. If they go to the bother of telling you how they want you to pitch a guest post for them, it would be arrogant (and stupid) on your part to do anything other than that.
Third, suggest a guest post topic that is appropriate for the website.
Give them some ideas for articles that would really help their readers. The subject matter also has to relate to the nature of your company. And, as we’ll discuss shortly, it’s in your best interest to choose a topic that will allow you to produce a guest post that generates new leads.
If you’re thinking this is simple, that’s because it is. To my mind, at least. However, it is shocking how often this is misunderstood.
Compose the guest blog.
Don’t lose track of your subject. Stay on topic. See to it that everyone can follow along. Make the best edits you can. Provide illustrations. Simply produce an excellent blog content. And create a thirst for more; that’s what brings people to you.
Be willing to revise
Writing for larger sites (as you should) increases the likelihood that an editor will review your work and provide feedback. It’s possible that your piece will be published even if you don’t make changes promptly or aren’t very nice about their critique.
But put yourself in their position. Would you hire someone who was a headache to deal with again if they wrote for you?
So, facilitate their efforts. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification, but keep in mind that you’re writing for their site, so the rules and guidelines are ultimately up to them.
The underutilised strategy that boosts the impact of guest posts
To a far greater extent than with regular guest posts, lead-attracting guest articles focus on doing this. There are other details to keep in mind, but nobody ever recalls this one.
Guest posts that provide useful information in the standard format will make the reader feel satisfied.
No, that’s not the best course of action.
A guest post’s promise must be met, of course. If you said it will show people how to earn a mint playing video games all day, then you’d better follow through. If you don’t, then it’s probably not a good piece and shouldn’t be shared with the world.
However, you should also make it clear in your guest post what readers should do next. If it doesn’t, your lead generation will suffer.
Motivate individuals to act by showing them the path that leads to the reward they want. And show them the road forward.
You could write a guest article about how to make a million dollars as a gamer, for instance. One of the choices might be suggested by you. You may mention how many others have followed suit. It would be far safer than the alternatives, which you could emphasise. You may say something like, “Getting started is a breeze.”
People would naturally be curious about learning more about that choice. By providing a comprehensive instruction to doing so in exchange for email address information, you may generate leads.
In most cases, you won’t be allowed to promote your own work inside the body of a guest post. You can, however, do so in the post’s “byline” or “author bio” at the bottom.
You may obtain amazing, consistent marketing results if you learn to deliver on the original promise of your guest post while also building a desire to take the next step. It’s the most crucial aspect that most guides on how to compose a guest post neglect to include.
To be fair, it’s not exactly a piece of cake. Learning the proper post structures, though, makes it a breeze.