Guest blogging can be a great way to get your name known to a broader audience.
However, it’s worth remembering that not every website will accept guest blogs. And that’s OK.
So, if you decide to blast out emails to random websites in the hope that one of them will say yes, it may be a wasted exercise. Especially, if you decide to chase within days with increasingly stroppy emails – that doesn’t work.
It’s important to remember the person you are emailing is running a business and therefore, likely to be incredibly busy. Plus, if you’ve emailed them out of the blue, they are unlikely to respond. So don’t be surprised if you don’t hear anything.
That aside, if you do get a positive response here are six tips to help you write a blog that’s so good you’ll be asked back again.
Six guest blogging tips
- Understand your audience
You’ve got your first guest blogging gig – fantastic!
But before you start to write, you must research your audience. Read through several past blog posts to get a feel for the style and what the audience is reading. After all, know nothing if you are writing for a marketing blog and come up with a post about flower arranging, it’s unlikely to go down well.
- Don’t bluff
Don’t be lured into writing for a blog just because it has a high page rank or vast swathes of traffic. The key to a great blog post is writing about what you know. If you try to write about something you don’t know anything about just because it gets shed loads of visitors, you’ll get found out. Stick with what you know and show your expertise.
- Have personality
Even though you’re writing for someone else’s blog, still show your personality through your writing. A post without personality is dull, dry and boring.
People want to be entertained so don’t disappoint them.
- On topic
This goes hand in hand with number 1. Don’t try and write a post for a blog that has nothing to do with its main subject matter. It’s a waste of your time and the blog owner is not going to publish it and probably won’t entertain any other submissions from you.
- Write to get readers
A big mistake from many guest bloggers is that they write to get traffic for themselves as opposed to the blog they are guesting on.
Building a relationship with blog owners is essential if you want your work to get published. Therefore use social media to spread the word when your post is published. Generating traffic will get you invited back. As will interaction – if your post is commented on, interact with your readers and show that you’re not just a post-and-run kind of blogger.
- Don’t push your link luck
When you guest blog the publisher will be happy to provide you with a link – but don’t be greedy. Getting your name published on a popular blog is pretty cool, and to get a link back to your own blog or mention of your business is great. But don’t blatantly add in links that are obviously there to promote your products. If that’s your motivation, ask before you add – if you don’t your post could be rejected.
Writing guest blogs is great for you and great for the blog readers. It offers new perspectives on subjects and enriches the readers’ experience.
If you want to be a guest blogger:
- Ask first – drop the blog owner an email and ask if you can submit a post
- Research – make sure your topic fits the blog
- Entertain – make sure your blog adds value