What is the process for submitting a guest post?
What is the process for writing a guest article?
Before we delve into the details of guest posting and its benefits, let’s address the fact that you likely have numerous inquiries regarding this subject. Rest assured that not only will I address those questions, but I will also provide answers to many others.
What are guest posts?
Posting articles on someone else’s website is referred to as guest posts or guest posting.
It is as straightforward as that.
People engage in this activity in order to increase their brand visibility and drive traffic to their own website (commonly referred to as referral traffic).
Determine Your Guest Blogging Goals
Prior to starting, it is important for you to establish your objective for guest blogging. Having a clear goal in mind will help you identify the suitable blogs for submitting guest posts. Generally, there are three primary objectives when it comes to guest blogging.
- Positioning yourself as an authority and well-known name in the industry.
- Getting exposure (traffic) back to your website.
- Building backlinks to your website (though this should never be the main focus, as Google frowns on this).
By having the appropriate content on popular blogs, you can effectively accomplish these three tasks.
If your goal is to achieve either #1 or #2, it is essential to seek out blogs with a substantial and actively involved readership.
If your goal is solely to achieve #3, you should identify blogs that have a high root domain authority. You can conveniently verify this for free by utilizing tools such as Ubersuggest.
Having a clear understanding of your goals beforehand will assist you in identifying the most suitable blogs to submit guest posts to.
How to Find Blogs for Guest Posting that Are Worth the Time
Finding relevant and influential blogs is crucial when it comes to guest posting instead of wasting your efforts on pitching and creating content for just any blog. Follow these three essential steps to discover such blogs in your industry.
1. Define your criteria.
A combination of criteria will typically be used by most businesses to determine if a guest blog is worthwhile.
- Relevance – If you sell pacemakers, seeking a guest post on a blog focused on financial literacy doesn’t make much sense. You’d want to find blogs that talk about medical issues and health. That said, the blogs you target don’t always have to be directly about what you do. In this example, a blog focused more generally on senior issues can be relevant, since it shares the brand’s target audience.
- SEO value – If SEO is a priority in your link building strategy then you need to make sure the blogs you consider will pay off in your SEO efforts. While building backlinks is a big part of SEO, links on low-quality sites can actually hurt rather than help you. Check a website’s domain authority to figure out if it’s worth your time. And find out if the links in the blog posts they publish are no-follow or do-follow — no-follow links won’t help you build the SEO authority of your website. A number of SEO tools, including some free plug-ins will help you spot which links on a site are no-follow.
- Exposure value – Even if you care about SEO, some sites that only offer no-follow links may be worth your time if they provide enough exposure value. Some websites openly publish the number of readers and email subscribers they have, which makes it easy to figure out how many people your post will reach. In other cases, you’ll have to do more digging by seeing how many followers they have on social media or using marketing tools that provide traffic estimates.
Define your criteria for determining the value of a blog post in each category. If you are developing a guest posting strategy for the long-term, establish specific priority levels to help you prioritize which opportunities to pursue initially and which ones to consider later on.
2. Make a list of all the relevant blogs you can find.
Make a spreadsheet incorporating the criteria outlined in Step 1 and begin searching for as many relevant blogs pertaining to your industry and target audience as possible. This task may prove to be more challenging in certain industries compared to others. Sectors like health typically have a larger number of blogs, whereas niche brands in manufacturing may require more creative approaches.
To begin, compile a list of the blogs in your industry that you are already familiar with and follow. Then, utilize Google to conduct searches using keywords associated with your brand, along with the term “blog”. For instance, if you are searching for healthcare blogs, start with a general phrase like “healthcare blog” and gradually progress to more specific keywords such as “heart health blog”. Google will provide individual blog results as well as comprehensive lists that consolidate numerous industry blogs. To expand your list further, explore social media platforms. Follow the brands and individuals already on your list, paying attention to the blogs they share and link to. Apply the same approach to influencers in your industry. Whenever they share a blog post from a relevant source, add it to your list.
3. Research which sites accept guest posts.
After compiling an extensive list, begin the process of filtering it by taking into consideration your initial criteria as well as the blogs that allow guest posts. The most convenient way to begin this process is by checking if a blog provides a dedicated page for guest post submissions. Conduct a site search using expressions such as:
- “Submission guidelines”
- “Contributor guidelines”
Blogs that have guidelines in place are more prone to respond to a pitch because they actively seek guest post submissions. However, if you don’t find any opportunities on such blogs, searching for “guest post” on the site might reveal prior posts from outside contributors. In that case, tracking down the most suitable contact could still increase your chances.
How to Get Your Guest Post Accepted
To increase your chances of being successful, it is important to note that the most valuable blogs you come across are likely to already receive numerous guest post requests. The editors of these blogs are busy individuals who will only pay attention to the top-notch pitches. Dani Hao, the Head of Communications at Procurify, shares that their finance and startup blog receives 50-80 guest post submissions per month, but only three to five are chosen for publication. Hence, follow these tips to be among the fortunate few.
1. Spend time researching the blog.
Doing the right research is one of the main factors that differentiates good pitches from bad ones, according to Dani. It is crucial to know your audience, which in this case, refers to the blog you are pitching.
I am referring to more than just a basic Google search and examining backlinks. They actually take the effort to investigate our customer base, comprehend our style and communication approach, and mention a few previously successful published articles.
Take the time to thoroughly read the blog you intend to pitch. Ensure that you are familiar with:
- Who their target audience is. Your pitch needs to appeal to them. And besides, you want to make sure their target audience overlaps with yours for your efforts to be worth it.
- The general style and tone of the blog. Replicate this in your pitch to show you understand it.
- What content’s successful. Pay attention to which blog posts have the most shares and comments. If the blog has a “Most Popular” or “Trending” sidebar, start there.
- The submission guidelines. It sounds like basic advice, but a lot of people who pitch popular blogs fail to read and follow the submission guidelines. Read it before you write your pitch, then again before you send it to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Some guidelines will include specific instructions to weed out people who didn’t read them, such as telling you what to name your pitch email.
2. Cultivate a relationship.
Even if the person reading your pitch is unfamiliar with you, a satisfactory pitch might still elicit a response, but your likelihood of obtaining a response improves if you are already known to them. After compiling a list of desired guest blogs, promptly establish an approach for engaging with them.
Make sure to track their social media profiles and engage with their posted updates. Share their content with your own network. If possible, leave meaningful comments on their blog. Remember to show support not just to the brand accounts, but also to the editors and writers behind the content.
Although it is not necessary to have a prior relationship, having one can considerably aid in a successful guest post pitch, particularly for the blogs at the top of your priority list.
Get to Know the Blog’s Content
It is essential to familiarize yourself with the content of your intended blog audience. While you may already be aware that they have content related to the keyword you used in your guest post search, it is crucial to acquire a deeper understanding of their content by considering…
- What level of audience are they writing for (beginners, intermediate, advanced)?
- What type of audience are they writing for? If your business is B2B, then you will want the blog audience for your guest post to be businesses, not general consumers.
- What type of content do they write? Is it mostly general concepts or specific, detailed tutorials? Do they like lists?
See How Other Guest Posts Do
Although a blog can include guest posts, the crucial question is whether these guest bloggers attain success. Can guest blog posts on the platform generate equal engagement in terms of comments and social media sharing as those authored by the blog owner? Even though certain websites may accept guest posts, if the audience is primarily interested in the blog owner’s content, it becomes challenging to achieve your objectives of establishing authority and driving traffic to your own website.
See Who the Guest Bloggers Are
Certain types of individuals are more likely to have their guest posts accepted by certain blog owners compared to others. It is advisable to examine the biographies of a few guest bloggers on the blog to determine if they are bloggers themselves, freelancers, consultants, business owners, etc. This information will be crucial when you introduce yourself and make your pitch to the blog owner. For further insight into the effectiveness of reaching out for guest posting opportunities, refer to this study on SEOmoz.
The Best Times to Pitch a Guest Blogging Post
When opportunities for pitching a guest post are scarce, it is important to seize specific advantageous situations that arise. These encompass the following factors.
- when a blog mentions you in one of their posts or on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.)
- when the blog lists you, your business, or your product in one of its posts
- when the blog specifically advertises they are looking for guest posts
- when the blog publishes another guest post
Basic Pitch Best Practices
When pitching a guest blog post to another blog owner, the following are essential requirements.
Read the Guidelines
Before contacting the blog owner, it is essential to read and closely adhere to the guest posting guidelines, if applicable. It is important to clarify whether the blog owner prefers receiving an idea pitch or a complete post, along with the desired format. Additionally, determining whether creating an account and entering it into WordPress is necessary should be done in advance, as these are crucial details to know prior to contacting the blog owner.
Personalize Your Email
As someone who receives guest post pitches on a daily basis as a blogger, there is nothing that discourages me more than receiving an email that begins with phrases like “Dear Sir or Madam,” “Dear Webmaster,” “To the owner of Neilpatel.com,” or simply “Hi.”
For your guest post, make sure to find the name and contact details of the blog owner you are aiming for, located somewhere on their blog.
It is probable that you will have to search for it either on the about page or one of the blog’s social media accounts, but it is highly probable that you will find it. Locate it and utilize it as the beginning of the email.
Conclusion
Sending engaging pitches that demonstrate your worth is crucial for securing a guest blogging opportunity on respected sites, allowing you to leverage the success of established blogs within your industry.
Incorporating guest blogging is just one of several strategies to consider for your content marketing campaigns.
