Guide to professional guest blogging | Weboptim
Guest blogging has been an integral part of SEO from the very beginning. It's a great way to take advantage of the limitless possibilities the internet offers and all you have to do is use it properly. Of course, there are advertising and other more sophisticated SEO techniques, but guest blogging is one of the simplest techniques - simple and highly effective.
Guest blogging used to be thought of as a lazy technique: the content creator writes a quick article, adds their name as a brand and releases it en masse on the internet.
Guest blogging is now a legitimate way to become a successful SEO specialist or a reliable content producer. Guest blogging, if done well, can generate good opportunities, elevate your persona, your name and your business.
Guest blogging works better today than before
One of the most influential people on the internet, Neil Patel, has stated that he publishes at least 100 guest articles a year. He believes that people don't need many conversions to generate money from guest posts. Instead, he believes that guest blogging can build your name and brand online.
The shadowy past of guest blogging
Guest blogging has not always been a legitimate means of creating content. In fact, many saw it as something of an abuse against the various search engines. But that was back when quantity was the main guiding principle, rather than quality.
The principle of quantity over quality no longer works, and guest blogging has gained a lot from this.
Content production is now about quality. If you can create content that is engaging, interesting to people, something that inspires content creators on other websites, then you are doing guest blogging right.
Sites are quite picky about what guest posts they accept - and rightly so. Each guest post is a link between us and the target website's audience. What we need to do is captivate the target audience with content. The best way to build our reputation as a trusted guest blogger is to make sure our content is original and spelled correctly.
How to start guest blogging? Simple, find the right blog!
In order not to become guest bloggers who produce a bunch of articles without regard to quality and relevance, you need a proper blog with which to build a working relationship.
First, find a blog that is relevant to your industry
It's easy to get caught up in the idea that the more quality articles we write and spread around the internet, the more famous we become. While this isn't entirely wrong, the best way to do it is to find the blog that best fits your brand. For example, if we write about SEO, we don't want our guest post to appear on a blog about pets, right?
The following 4 conditions at must be met on the site before we will consider writing a guest post:
- the blogs should be in the same niche tier (the segment of the market where a specific product sells well to a specific group), as our brand
- websites should have your audience, who will appreciate the content, product or service
- blogs should have a is the owner of, who is influential or active on social media
- blogs should be readers, who provide a valuable link to their own websites
Another important thing to consider when looking at a blog is the reputation, besides having a decent domain authority value, if you are an industry leader, that's a good point.
So it's very important to find a blog that meets all of these criteria and, more importantly, that there is someone you can trust. Try to find an influential guest blogger to learn from. After all, all influencers are here for a reason - to influence people.
Once again, the most important thing is that we write guest blogs to build our reputation. Never approach a site that does not publish authorship information for guest posts. Look for a blog that publishes a bio that includes a picture, who we are and a link to the website.
Some people would be happy with "this article was written by xy from www.teszt.hu-tól", but that doesn't mean it's enough for everyone. Be aware that your content is valuable and only give it to websites that are willing to give something for it.
Let's talk about pitching
Pitching = pitching the idea, aiming to sell the product to a specific market
How do we write the perfect pitch (a short text summarising in a few sentences the key features of a product, service, project, company) and how do we find where to put it?
What most people get wrong when pitching is that they write a generic email because they think it's the right way to do it for every website - but it's not. It is best to write a personalised email that is directly addressed to the website.
You can do this by reading the content of the blog. Try to find out who they are, how they write and who they write for. Let's look at existing guest posts, compare our content with the most popular posts.
If at first glance you see that the website does not meet your needs, you should leave it. Guest blogging is not about getting the most people in front of you at any given moment. It's about reaching the right people on the right platform. In short, if your targeted website is aimed at people who don't appreciate what you have to offer, find a website whose audience will.
There is one (or more) human being behind the website, so make a pitch that will appeal to other people
Pitching ourselves is presenting ourselves to others. We need to make it attractive because people, unlike machines, have preferences and feelings. We don't necessarily need to present ourselves as someone looking for friends, but rather talk about how we want to connect with them professionally.
If we can convince the people who are behind the landing page that we are real people with quality content that fits the target audience, then the chances of working with them increase significantly. This means they are more likely to approve and accept your pitch if they find us appealing. To do this, we need to be honest and say what we promise. Every successful working relationship is built on trust.
A good way to do this is to get the pitch to the website editor
Many guest bloggers will be happy with sending out an automated contact form - it's just not efficient. You need to find the person who is responsible for the content on your website. Some websites have an editor, others have a dedicated team managing guest posts and in most cases the blog owner is this person. The easiest way to find this out is to Google! 🙂
Use specific keywords such as "content creator" or "editor"
If you can't find what you're looking for on Google, another great place to look is social media. The key is to get a name and use that name when you contact the website. This is good because if the editor sees your name in the email, they will know straight away that you are targeting their website and not just reading an email from a hopeful guest blogger.
The key here is to skip the automated letters, address the pitch directly to one person. That way you're much more likely to be accepted.
Summary
- Let's get to know the blog - Ask questions: will they enjoy the content we produce? Are readers professionals or beginners? Fundamentally, a blog is for consumers, so write valuable content for them.
- Let's find out what type content accepted by the landing page - List type article? What about infographics?
- Let's get to know the other guest posts on the site - Let's try to understand what helps them maintain a link to the website.
- Important! Be sure to read the target page Guidelines, because most of the time they describe everything you need to know about submitting a guest blog. What you can do, what you can't do, what you should do. These sites have their own rules. It is important to read and understand them. If we do not, it is likely that we will simply be deleted or at best ignored.
- These websites receive a dozen guest post requests every day. To keep up with them, unique we need to be. The best way to do this is to be ourselves. Try to be funny, chatty and interesting. If you send in a general pitch, you might get accepted. If it's unique, we'll pique their curiosity. Curiosity leads to interest, and interest leads to collaboration. At least in an ideal world, that's what happens. However, a unique text definitely increases the chances that they will accept your pitch.
- In the pitch, tell everything about your company. Let them know who we are, what we have to offer and why it's beneficial to them.
Pitch accepted! What's next? Let's write a good guest post!
It took a while, but it was worth it. Once the pitch is approved, here comes the most important step: writing an amazing blog article as promised. This is the main course after the appetizer (the pitch) and this is where we need to shine even brighter than others. Sound difficult? It's not.
How to write a compelling blog post?
1. Write an article that has value
The aim of the guest post is to raise our profile. We can't do that with a 500-word article about basic stuff. This is where you have to write an inspiring, thoughtful article that people can actually learn from. Basically, we need to write something that people feel they need to share with their family and friends.
The type of post should fully explore what we can offer as a writer or as a professional in the field. This can set us apart from other hopeful guest bloggers. If we are writing for a website that has authority in something, we should write an article in a similar tone. And if we're writing for a site that's casual, let's write in a casual style. This helps us to align with the landing page.
Some tips:
- The numbers don't lie. When writing about something that needs validation, always refer to statistics. If possible, only use statistics from sites that have a good domain authority score. Remember, when citing numbers, also cite the people who did the research, and it's best to use the source directly if you need statistics.
- Never underestimate readers. The worst way to create an impression is to assume that readers are beginners. Always assume they are professionals or at least know the basics.
- If we present an idea in the article, don't be afraid to explain it. People want details and it is our duty to give them. People are curious by nature and genuinely interested in learning, so they will only read our content if they think it is useful to them. So be competent, explain everything properly.
2. Lists lead to the easiest conversions
As we wrote earlier, people want to learn and if the content is worthy, they will read it; but the fact is that people are very busy these days. The best way to get the full content to them, respecting their time, is to write a list-style post.
This is good because lists are easier to digest than full paragraphs of text and let's face it, people are too busy to read paragraph after paragraph. A list-style article doesn't make your content less competent, the secret to success is to break down the details into bite-sized chunks so people can digest it better.
In fact, it is very easy to convert the article into a list style. All you need to do is think about the topic and imagine how it could be broken down into smaller chunks.
Tips:
- Being creative = being unique. Take risks, don't do it the way it's written in the books. Do something you don't do at other times. Sometimes the payoff is higher than the risk!
- If possible, use sources you can cite. It gives credibility to your writing.
- People understand a text better if they know what they are reading about. Give them real, relevant examples.
- Label the examples with numbers. This will make the article look clearer and easier to digest.
3. Headlines: be marketable
If the content is the show, then the headline is the poster. You want a headline that will drive traffic to the article, not the other way around. Make the headline interesting, enticing and even more enticing to people. Write headlines in a way that piques people's curiosity. Make it irresistible to them.
4. A word of advice
If you're writing for a website as a guest writer, then bio is definitely something you can use to your advantage. What most people put in it is a link to the main page of their website. This is fine, but the main page is usually large and first time visitors will get lost in the large amount of content.
It is best to link to the page where you can convert them into buyers. This could be the shop page, the prices page or even the customer reviews page.
What we do is basically connect the first-time reader with what we want them to see. This is a much better alternative than simply linking to the main page where they are likely to get lost.
5. Communicate. Respond to comments
Writing a guest post is a difficult task. Especially if you want a quality post that inspires discussion and learning. But the work doesn't end when you send the post - it only begins. The most exciting part is that after submitting, we have the opportunity to interact with readers in the comments section.
Simply put, the idea, research and writing are the 50% of the job, the other 50% is responding to comments.
This is very important if we want to be recognised in our field. Replying to comments can significantly increase your conversion rate, so always reply to them.
Getting around
- Look for websites that high domain authority they have values and have a significant reputation.
- Let's be ourselves, be creative. Nobody likes boring people.
- Build brand reputation through content and activities. Build a solid, long-term reputation.
- When guest blogging, write for people who already know the basics and want to learn more advanced methods. This is the easiest way to pique readers' interest, to give them something they don't already know.
Source: seo-hacker.com