Guest posting is definitely not among the easiest ways to get great quality links back to your website. Yep – it’s true – because there are probably easier ways to build those links, such as:
- Posting comments on blogs
- Taking part in a roundup
- Cold pitching where you ask for link placements
- Conducting an interview
It’s a long list indeed because, truth be told, most link building activities will likely be easier than guest posting. But with all things said and pushed aside, here’s a little something about guest posting: it works like a charm and is a very powerful way to help you build links, if you do it the right way.
So how do you go about it the right way? How can you write the perfect post and make sure it hits home? Let’s take it away with our in-depth tips on how you can do this:
First, understand the blog you are writing and posting for
It’s important to consider a few things before you even think about pitching ideas. Well, namely one thing, if we cover it broadly: getting to know the blog you’re writing for.
For example, what is the blog’s preferred writing style or ‘artistic’ content writing direction? What kind of age demographics do they target? What topics or subjects do they talk about the most on their site? Is there any specific section of the website that they are trying to build up more than others, such as marketing, lifestyle, DIYs, or technology?
They may give you guidance with something like a “Write For Us” page where they outline what they want, what you need to do – and what maybe you shouln’t do…
In any case, you’d want to spend a generous amount of time understanding what the blog is all about and who it caters to. And, you should definitely communicate regularly with the blog owner to understand where they’re coming from, so that you can better tune your business guest post ideas around that.
Now, let’s go ahead and pitch our heart out, shall we?
Once you understand what the blog is about, go ahead and work on your pitch for the guest post.
A good strategy is to come up initially with two or three ideas which you might potentially pitch, along with explanations of what each blog idea would cover. Bear in mind though, these explanations need not be very detailed or nuanced – just a sentence or two to clearly explain your thought process behind each blog.
Many guest posters tend to get too caught up on this aspect of creating their post – don’t be that poster! So, spend just enough time to allow yourself to produce a couple of solid ideas that you know your readers would love, and take it from there.
There are actually tools available online, some of which are free, to help you see what kind of content has been shared the most on a specific blog.
At the bare minimum, however, keep these pitching tips in mind:
- It’s a good idea to refer to the blog owner by their name. When you address someone by their first name, they are more likely to pay attention to what you have to say.
- Add a line or two to make the message impersonal and then get right to the meat of it.
- When you mention your ideas, talk about them in a way that is very easy to understand. You might want to bold certain parts of your text or list ideas in bullet points – whatever it takes to help the ideas get across faster.
- The easier your pitch is to read and understand, the faster the response will be.
Let’s write a great post!
When you write for a specific blog as a guest, you really need to go above and beyond with your content. Moreover, try to mimic and surpass the content that’s already there.
The primary purpose here is to get more clicks to your own blog or website, isn’t it? You’re not there to play nice and make friends by offering a free post, but rather to get them hooked on some really high quality content that will ultimately coax them to try out your products and services.
If you can’t do this, then you might as well have just gone with one of the easier methods of building links that we discussed at the start of the article.
Guest posting is about building connections and long-term relationships. It’s very much a two-pronged process – one prong is connecting you with your ideal audience while the other one is helping search engines find your content easily to help boost your ranking.
Let’s go ahead and share that killer post
Done writing a great post? Time to share it with your audience. Your post is something you should be proud to share. Think carefully about which pages on your website you want to link to. Is there a specific service or product that you want to sell more? Go ahead and give it some ‘link juice’.
The more link backs in the blog (up to a “reasonable” point, of course), the more people will be interested in finding out what you’re offering.
Also, keep a spreadsheet to record all your completed guest posts so that when you create more posts, you can easily link back to the appropriate ones.
A quick word of caution before you share your post
Naturally, it can be easy to get carried away and oversell your expertise or overly promote your products and services.
The key thing to remember here is that instead of making your post promotional, make it informative and insightful, educating your audience on, say, something that they may not know about your industry. Or, perhaps, give real-life examples of how a specific solution can address pain points.
That kind of fun stuff!
Final thoughts
You should now be aware of what it takes to write a great business guest post … the kind that can help you build authority, attract more traffic to your website, and all the other goodies…
So what are you waiting for? Find your list of preferred sites … and start work!
