5 SURE-FIRE GUEST BLOGGING TIPS THAT WILL GET YOU WAY UP
Admit it.
As a blogger, you can’t stop thinking of how to grow to become an authority. On your blog, you publish what you consider ‘high-quality’ content and spend a hell of time hustling to promote it on various platforms.
However, abysmal metrics such as low traffic, little engagement, and few or no subscribers make you come to the conclusion that you are positioned for failure.
To step out of this uncomfortable zone, you venture into the much yelped about guest blogging.
Yet again… crickets!
Truth?
When this happens, it's crystal-clear that you’re doing the right thing in the wrong ways. I mean, a guest blogging campaign almost never fails to produce needed results, when done properly.
Nonetheless, there is no reason to yank at your hair in frustration.
What I am about revealing are the 5 major ways you can make the best from your guest posts Grab a reading glasses!
HERE COMES THE FANTASTIC 5
1. GUEST POST ON HIGH-QUALITY BLOGS
For many reasons, posting on high quality sites gets you noticed in no distant time. But while starting out, you may be faced with the problem of acceptance. Tons of huge blogs are never interested in one-off guest bloggers, and so ask for samples of your work (of which you may have little or nothing) as a criterion for becoming a contributor.
The strategy in this case is to tap into the guest posting opportunities provided by medium sized blogs in your niche. The major difference between these and highly-placed blogs is that the former are bombarded with relatively less guest posting pitches on a daily basis.
Therefore, there are huge chances that they’d be seeking more content, and your guest post will thrive After landing a couple of posts on a few sites, you stand higher chances of being accepted as a contributor to some top blogs.
And in the case of big blogs that make no provision for contributors’ registration, you get the opportunity of being taken seriously.
SO, HOW DO YOU KNOW A BLOG IS TRULY A BIG DEAL?
It’s not just enough to assume a blog is huge. There are metrics to note so that you’re not left dwelling in the world of needless clutter.
For starters, I’ll suggest two resources for determining the quality of websites. First is the OPEN SEO STATS add-on which is available on Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. It basically gives you almost all what you need to know about various websites and blogs.
Check it out:
Judging from the picture above, there is no doubting the fact that Shout Me Loud is indeed a top blog, with an Alexa Rank of 3,789. Tons of other stats are at your disposal, begging to be explored.
Just in case you aren’t really digging the above add-on, you can hop on to use the Moz OPEN SITE EXPLORER which is no doubt more specialized. Grab a look :-) :
With these two tools, you get to determine your best shots.
2. POSTING WELL RESEARCHED, QUALITY ARTICLES.
Did I mention that your posts must be of high-quality before they stand a chance on reasonable blogs? No, I didn’t? Well, my bad!
But I won’t emphasize on mere quality since chances are high you know this already and you’ve had some of your posts published on other blogs; hence, proving they are of great quality.
You must however take note that quality differs.
I mean… Readers should be convinced you aren’t just guest blogging for its sake. You must be considered to be worth your salt, and your piece, resourceful and painstakingly written.
Do this by first ensuring your post is as simple as possible – avoid complex stuff. Also, ensure you write with appropriate, accurate and unequivocal diction. Grammatical errors are a major turn off and can make you seem like crap when they go unnoticed by the editor of the blog in which your guest post is published.
Make proper research on your topics and provide sources from which basic points are derived. This practice helps embolden your skill and serve as proof for some established points – so you are not seen as rolling out facts and figures from the top of your head.
Sources can be cited in two different ways. First, links to them can be embedded in an anchor text, as obtainable in this very piece.
On the other hand, you can use academic-like citations. Here’s an example:
“You may as well want to quit your job to become a freelance writer. Average freelance writers are said to earn nothing less than $20 per article (blablablabla.com)”.
Using images should also be a game plan. Instead of writing sophisticated ‘how to’ articles on plain text only, back every relevant step with a concomitant image.
Allow me reiterate that well researched articles prove you know your onions well. They also provide means with which your readers are directed to other resourceful articles, to learn and know more (all to your credit)!
3. GAIN ATTENTION – REFERENCE INFLUENCERS IN YOUR NICHE:
Ever imagined that guest posting help you get noticed by influencers?. No, right? Don't blame yourself. This is not emphasized in almost everywhere, so you’re really lucky to be reading this.
You see, you have to agree with me that almost everyone would wish to have his/her ears in the nooks and crannies of everywhere that matters. We all want to know when we’re being talked about.
All thanks to web tools, we are able to know when our names or anything of relevance, enter the circulatory stream of the internet.
Believe it or not… many top bloggers are on a look out for who’s talking about them and where they are being mentioned. But how do they do this?
Easy!
First, they use monitoring tools of which, in my opinion, Google Alerts is most effective. Google Alerts makes you capable of tracking where and when particular keywords are posted anywhere on the internet. This is achieved by sending reports on a regular basis (depending on what you registered for) to your email account.
Second, when viewing their blog analytics, top bloggers pay attention to where their backlinks come from. And they really are curious to see what’s up.
By now, you should know how to leverage guest posting to gain attention. But if you don’t, here are somethings to try:
1. LINK RELEVANT POINTS TO THEIR BLOG POSTS: No man is an island of knowledge. It is only inevitable for you to derive some information from leading blogs in your industry. Thus, when writing, always try to link to their relevant posts to corroborate your point.This anchor links will later serve as the backlink which they’ll notice in their analytics.
Also, if you’re probably lucky that tons of people click on this link, the influencers may get to see it on the information on their traffic sources. Double honors right?
2. RELATE THEIR EXPERIENCE AND FIT IN YOUR POST’S CONTEXT: Everyone has a story. To corroborate any of your points, try telling readers of an influencer’s experience, so they can learn from it. Be sure to mention your influencers name. (S)he would get notified of this if registered for google alerts.
WARNING: Influencers will only notice you in a positive light, and might offer you a helping hand at a later time, if only your post is of high quality and resonates with them. Also, avoid unnecessarily garnishing your pieces with names when unnecessary. Being a bootlicker is counter-productive! Make sure what everything you write is pertinent to your flow of ideas.
4. SELL YOUR SELF OUT WITH YOUR BYLINE:
Writing for blogs which provide you the opportunity of a byline is indeed very important for your exposure. However, you need to effectively exploit this opportunity through the following ways: a.
PROVIDE A LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE (IF ACCEPTABLE): Providing a link to your website on your byline will help boost your page rank, especially when a high authority site is involved. This is what is called a backlink, and is one of the metrics used by google in ranking websites according to relevance. b. STATE YOUR EXPERTISE: You should understand that guest posting is one of the platforms from which you can get clients. Hence, it is very important you talk about your expertise. Take a look at the byline which earned Hassan Ud-Deen his first client on his first guest blogging attempt:
As seen, Hassan did not hesitate to divulge his job at the slightest opportunity. After writing such a wonderful piece, it must have been only natural for people to know more about him. c.
PROVIDE LINKS TO WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED After clients discover your expertise, what next? In order to make them more inquisitive about you, or even feel the need to hand over their problems to you, so you can solve, ensure to always list out a few platforms where you can be contacted (only where applicable).
Again, you can draw an example from the above image.
5. ACTIVELY ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE IN THE COMMENT SECTION
True, guest posting helps you capture new readers. But how can you ever gain the loyalty of people who you don’t interact with?
The best practice after guest posting is to keep an eye on the comment section for new comments. Readers will want to either appreciate or ask more questions as regards what you’ve written. At other times, they may want to chip in some relevant points. In any case, ensure you give cool-headed replies.
With this, you will literally buy new people over to your side.
SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The above 5 guest-posting will truly help in paving your way to the top, if followed to the letter. What’s your take-home point?
Kindly let me know on the comment section if you’ve got any challenges which keeps you frustrated.