Guest posting, or providing content to appear on another website, platform, or blog, can be an incredibly effective way to spread awareness of your brand, demonstrate expertise in your field, and even gain high-quality backlinks to boost your domain authority.
However, getting into guest posting can be intimidating. With so many brands and individuals now utilizing guest content strategies, you have to stand out if you want to land placements.
This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know to start guest posting like a pro, grow your brand, establish authority, as well as build relationships with hosts.
Understanding The Benefits Of Guest Blogging
Before diving in, it’s important to understand the major benefits of quality guest posting. These include:
Increased Brand Awareness And Credibility
Publishing content under another domain signals to readers that you offer valuable insights worthy of being showcased.
This, in turn, increases perceptions of your credibility. It also gets your brand and bio in front of an engaged new audience.
Backlinks
Quality guest posts allow you to earn coveted backlinks from authoritative sites related to your industry. This signals search engines you are a subject matter expert worthy of ranking highly in search results.
Traffic
Appearing on third-party platforms exposes you to fully engaged, qualified audiences you may not reach otherwise. This translates into traffic growth when readers click back to your site.
Thought Leadership Platform
Consistently publishing guest content positions you as an industry thought leader, which further boosts brand awareness and credibility.
Identifying Guest Posting Opportunities
The most critical first step is identifying websites accepting guest submissions in your niche. Focus on sites with engaged audiences that align closely with your target demographic.
Expert advice from guest posting service providers is also invaluable for discovering guest posting prospects.
You can search via keyword or URL to surface sites actively accepting pitches across every niche and industry.
Vetting sites is equally important, so be sure to analyze traffic stats, domain authority scores, page rank, social media followers, engagement levels, overall site quality, and any past guest contributors.
Focus on securing placements with sites boasting the highest metrics in all areas.
Creating Pitches That Convert
With target sites identified, it’s time to start sending pitches. To give yourself the best shot at converting placements, follow these best practices:
Hyper-personalize
Generic pitches sent en masse will almost always be ignored. Spend time researching each site’s aesthetic, tone, past guest content, topics that are performed well, current events impacting their niche, and specific contributor guidelines. Tailor angles, concepts, and messaging to demonstrate alignment.
Craft Catchy Headlines
Include a compelling working headline relaying the concept in an intriguing way. This signals to hosts you intend to deliver content their readers will want to click on.
Outline The Piece
Briefly summarise the structure, including key points, supporting facts and statistics, and overall flow. This provides insight into how cohesive and well-planned the full piece will be.
Convey Relevant Expertise
Quickly convey any expertise, accolades, credentials, past guest posts, media mentions, or other elements reflecting mastery of the topic proposed.
Close by noting article length, delivery date, bio and headshot for editors, and other key details. Offer to send the full piece over or answer any other questions.
Writing Guest Posts That Captivate And Convert
The competition for guest post placements means you must deliver exceptional, engaging content tailor-made for each host site and their readership.
To achieve this:
1. Open Strong
Lead paragraphs should instantly establish an intriguing concept while speaking directly to the site’s target demographic. This convinces readers the post warrants their continued attention.
2. Structure Content Strategically
Organise information logically into scannable sections and paragraphs. Use subheadings, lists, and ample white space to improve readability. Readers are more likely to stick with content presented clearly.
3. Support Claims
Back key points, facts, statistics, etc., with reliable sources via links. This builds credibility and provides readers with opportunities to dive deeper.
End by recapping main points, spurring contemplation, promoting discussion, or including a strong CTA to click back to your site. This keeps engagement high while directing eyeballs to your site.
Promoting Your Guest Posts
Placements alone won’t maximize impact. After getting published, promote posts across your social channels and email subscribers, directing audiences to not only read but share. This expands reach further by activating existing followers.
You should also reach out directly to key influencers and request they check the post out and pass it along if they find value. Their shares can really get content circulating widely.
Leverage Any Media Assets
If hosts record podcast episodes, film videos, or have other multimedia featuring you as a guest expert, repurpose those assets across your marketing channels.
The added credibility and “social proof” from appearing on established platforms make this content extremely shareable.
Forging Lasting Contributor Relationships
The end goal is to form lasting contributor relationships leading to recurring placements. This requires providing immense value to hosts via stellar content while remaining professional throughout.
Be responsive in communications, meet all deadlines, smoothly address any content revisions requested, and promote posts tirelessly upon publishing.
Follow all of these steps, and you’ll become a trusted contributor host to return to again and again.
Over time, this content-compounding effect becomes an invaluable asset. By consistently securing placements, you’re continuously growing your brand’s reach, reinforcing your expertise, and earning high-value backlinks cycle after cycle.
In Conclusion
Guest posting undoubtedly requires effort, but few other tactics generate so many benefits with so much lasting impact.
Now that you know where to begin and strategies for maximizing success, it’s time to get pitching!
Stay persistent through any initial hurdles, as the payoff for landing placements is immense.
Approach the process seriously, and in due time, you’ll cement yourself as a sought-after authority.
