This guide to guest posting includes all the methods and techniques from start to end from getting organized to scaling your guest posts.
There are a lot of questions about guest posting in your mind. You have heard from some people that it is a waste of time, some say that it is a great way to acquire high authority backlinks. According to me, guest posts are a great method for SEO and link builders.
The reason for writing this definitive guide is to overcome people’s questions about guest posts.
In this definitive guide, you; ‘ll learn important steps used to write a guest post and how to get benefits from it.
Before diving into the steps of how to start a guest post, let us know about what are….
What are guest posts?
Guest posts or guest blogs are articles that you publish on someone’s website. The ultimate goal of guest posting is brand awareness, get traffic, and improve search engine rankings. The act of writing guest posts is known as guest posting.
Depending on who hires you as a writer, pays to you. But it’s not always. Some guest publishers are rewarded with a backlink to their website and a link back to their social accounts.
Let’s explore the benefits of guest posting.
Benefits of guest posting
Here are the benefits of guest posting that are proven by many writers:
- Guest posting is a marketing tactic that benefits both parties (the publisher and the writer).
- It is a white hat link building method that strengthens your backlink profile giving you high-authority backlinks.
- It enhances the domain authority of your website.
- It gives you traffic and builds your brand awareness in your niche.
- Guest posts give you a chance to develop relationships with different webmasters.
- Guest posts also give a huge following to your social media accounts.
How to start guest posting
Set goals and be organized
The first step in guest posting is to set specific and clear goals that identify your guest blogging efforts.
These goals might be enhancing your brand awareness or getting referral traffic to your website.
Whatever your goal is, just make it beneficial for you and your site.
The goals you set must be according to your niche. When you have clear goals for your guest posting, it is easy to pick the topics for your guest post. The goal you have to keep in mind is that their niche is relevant to yours, they are authoritative and they have published guest posts before.
Don’t be tense if they don’t publish any guest posts before, you might be the first guest blogger they hire.
If I have to start a guest post and I am picking my topics and websites, I have to make a spreadsheet of all the websites and topics that provide guest posting services.
Here is an example of the spreadsheet you must assemble before diving into guest posting.
The spreadsheet you have to create for starting guest posting must include
- Website name.
- Their URL.
- Their domain authority.
- Their organic traffic.
- Topics for guest posts.
- Ideas for guest posts.
- Way to contact them (emails, WhatsApp, etc).
Find sites for guest posting
Once you have set your goals and organize your data, start searching for websites that accept guest posts.
Search for websites that have a high authority. A high-authority website backlink is far better than a backlink from a low-authority site.
The points you must notice when searching for guest posting opportunities or sites are:
- Their niche and audience are relevant to yours.
- They have published guest posts before.
- They have a high authority score.
- Their spam score is not above 2-3%.
For example, I run a link building agency. I have to find blogs related to backlinks, link exchanges, outsourcing link building, etc with a huge traffic. By exploring them I contact webmasters and send my request for guest posts. Following in this guide is the method of pitching your guest post.
How to find a guest posting site:
How to find a guest posting site:
The solution of how to find a guest posting site can be understandable by the following points:
1. Competitor backlinks: Identify your competitors and search for their backlinks by using a free backlink checker such as ahrefs. Most probably, 1 or 2 of their backlinks come from guest posting. Search for these sites and reach them.
2. Google strings: Google strings means adding your keyword and text. By searching this, Google will show you sites that accept guest posts related to your niche. Here are the examples of Google strings:
- Your keyword + guest post
- Your keywords + guest article
- Your keywords + write for us
- Your keyword + guest post opportunities
- Your keyword + guest post by
- Your keyword + contributor writer
3. X searches: X is the new form of Twitter. Many bloggers and writers post their guest posts on their social media handles such as X. You should search “guest posts” and all the latest tweets shown to you. Follow those links and find blogs that accept guest posts.
4. Add to communities: Find communities and channels of guest posts. For example: I have joined a channel on Slack community. This is a community of 23,512 members who regularly share their websites that accept guest posts.
5. Look for lists: If you find searching for guest blogging opportunities time-consuming. Just search for the lists on Google for ‘x number of sites for guest posting”. For example:
Pitch your guest posting idea
Pitching your guest posting ideas means contacting websites that accept guest posts.
Most of the writers conduct their blogging outreach in such a way that they send the same pitch to every website. Different websites have different guest posting guidelines. This is the main reason that webmasters reject most of the pitches of guest bloggers.
So, to make your pitch generic follow these simple tips:
1. Follow the guidelines: Make sure you read and stick to the instructions for submitting your pitch. Not doing so can make you seem like you’re not serious about the opportunity. This means using the right format and not suggesting topics they’ve said no to.
2. Look at what they’ve already published: Check out their past articles to avoid suggesting something they’ve already covered. You can search their website on Google to be sure. But if they have really old stuff, you can mention that you’ve seen it.
3. Show off your work: Include links to a few articles you’ve written before that are relevant.
4. Offer choices: If the rules allow it, give them a few different ideas to pick from. Make sure they’re all about the same kind of thing, so it shows you know what you’re talking about.
5. Explain your ideas: Write a short description for each idea. Sometimes just the title isn’t enough for the editor to understand what you mean. Use a couple of sentences to explain each idea.
6. Keep it short: Don’t go on too long. Introduce yourself briefly, say why you’re getting in touch, share your past work, and suggest your ideas.
Here is the template that I used to pitch my guest post idea:
| Hi [First name], My name is [your first name] and I run [your agency or tell them you are a member of the agency]. I am a regular reader of your blog and love how they are written. I am reaching out because I’d love to contribute a guest post on [their website name]. I have been thinking about some topics according to your niche. Your readers will enjoy one of these articles. [Idea #1] and its one-line description. [Idea #2] and its one-line description. [Idea #3] and its one-line description. Here are the links to guest posts I recently published, [link to your guest post 1] and [link to your guest post 2]. Let me know your feedback about this. Thanks, [Your first name] |
If you are a beginner and don’t have any experience in guest posting, add links to your written content on your website in your guest post pitch.
Write the guest post
It’s great that your pitch is accepted, but you won’t have to be so happy. Your article still has to be written and published.
You have to bring quality to your guest post so that whoever reads will be impressed with your writing style and want to know about your brand.
Whether you are a professional writer or a beginner in this field, I recommend you hire an experienced editor who polishes your draft and adds more quality to your existing content.
Here are some of the factors you must keep in mind before writing a guest post:
1. Follow guidelines: Follow the guidelines that might be present on their website page or ask for the editor to send you the guidelines.
If you want to make your chances of publication 100%, make sure to follow the guidelines of that website.
2. Adaption of their style: Read some of their old blogs so you can get an idea of their writing style and how they communicate with their audience. Extract their writing style and write your guest post according to it.
3. Long-form content: Writing long-form content is more authentic than short-form content. Long-form content has more value in SEO and for attracting backlinks.
4. Uniqueness: Don’t copy-paste existing content on the internet related to your guest post topic. Write something new and unique so readers and editors of that website find your content useful and valuable.
5. On-page SEO: Add internal links, click-worthy meta descriptions, headings and subheadings, and keywords related to the guest post topic.
Adding internal links can be useful in a way that the editor finds you as an SEO expert and he/she wouldn’t remove links to your brand.
6. Link to your site: Don’t add links to your site that are non-relevant as they seem to be unpleasant to the editor of that website.
Add links that are relevant and according to your guest post title. The addition of links to your social profiles is great for your recognition as a guest post writer.
7. Infographics: Make infographics that show value and useful content related to your guest post. The infographics you design must be structured and have useful features.
Hire a graphic designer for this task. If your budget doesn’t meet it, I suggest you to use Canva where you will find different templates, elements, and graphics related to your command.
Making use of screenshots that make sense must add value and quality to your guest post.
8. Proofreading: Proofreading means reading your written draft to identify grammar and spelling mistakes. I recommend you to use Grammarly which provides real-time writing suggestions on Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, and everywhere else you write online.
Promote and track your guest posts
Once your guest post is published, promote and share it on your social media profiles. This not only increases your recognition as a guest blogger but also gives traffic to your site. This promotion also benefits the editor site by gaining more traffic with more clicks.
The last part of this process is tracking the results of your guest post. You have to check the backlink performance, organic traffic, and other SEO metrics from different SEO tools. This helps you to polish your guest posting strategy next time.
Here are the three SEO tools I recommend you for tracking the results of your guest post:
1. Semrush.
2. Ahrefs.
3. Moz.
Conclusion:
Guest posting is a powerful marketing tactic that grows your business and gives you high-authority backlinks that enhance your SEO performance. The only condition is to make valuable and useful content for readers.
By following this ultimate guide, you can overcome all the questions and difficulties about guest posting.
If you need any help in making and finalizing your guest posting strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
