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THIRTY-EIGHT
Write Guest Posts
My friend Jeff Goins wrote a terrific guest post on my blog about— what else—guest posting! Guest posting is a great way to expand your reach. Here is Jeff’s post in its entirety (with his permission, of course). Do yourself a favor and subscribe to his blog.1
Although I’ve been blogging since 2005, I still feel like a newbie sometimes. For years I’ve wondered, Why is nobody reading what I’m writing? Maybe you’ve asked the same question.
I’m beginning to discover the answer. It has to do with community.
I’ve stumbled upon a secret: blogging is communal, and those who participate in the community win.
My blog readership and influence has grown more in the past six months than it has in the past six years. Why? Because I’ve been guest-posting more in the past six months than I have in the past six years.
Most bloggers spin their wheels trying to increase traffic on their own blogs, while overlooking the essential discipline of writing guest posts for other blogs. Nothing can grow your platform quite like it.
Consider the following bloggers: Leo Babauta (of Zen Habits),2 Brian Clark (of CopyBlogger),3 and Chris Brogan (of Chrisbrogan.com).4 All have used guest-posting as a means of growing the reach of their blogs. And you can too.
Guest posting is great for search engines, introduces you to new communities (and them to you), and allows your ideas to spread more freely. This is an essential marketing strategy for any blogger, but few know how to do it well.
Here are seven steps to successful guest-posting:
1. Check the guidelines. Many established blogs have a list of guidelines that you can follow to make a guest post. Before submitting your post, read the guidelines and follow them.
2. Study the blog. Do some research to understand the subject and voice of the blog and to see what topics haven’t been covered yet. If you know someone who has guest-posted for the blog, ask him how he did it.
3. Contact the blogger. E-mail is probably best. In the message, get right to the point. Either pitch an idea or send the whole article, but don’t waste time with unnecessary flattery or self-deprecation. Don’t say sorry, and don’t be arrogant. Just be yourself.
4. Write the best post you can. (This may happen concurrently with number 3). Once you’ve made contact with the blogger, you can begin writing. Fight the temptation to hold back your “A” content for your own blog. Guest posts are your best marketing collateral, so don’t submit something less than your best. Once finished, send the ready-to-publish post to the blogger with a byline and link to your website.
5. Follow up. Depending on the guidelines, give the blogger some time (usually a week) before following up. When you do follow up, keep it positive and polite. You can follow up again a week or two later. If you don’t hear back in a month, tell the blogger that you’d like to take the article elsewhere.
6. Engage and promote. If the blogger posts your article, first thank her. Then treat it as you would one of your own posts, if not better. Tweet it, share it, e-mail it, and so forth. Post an excerpt on your own blog and link to the whole article. Interact in the comments and engage readers who respond. This is a must.
7. Repeat. Whether you succeed or not, start the whole process over again. If you get rejected, don’t get discouraged. And don’t let it be the last time you try to guest post. Sometimes, the topic is just wrong. Other times, it’s the wrong audience. Regardless, you need to guest post more than once for it to be an effective strategy. So don’t give up.
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One final thought: If the blogger is local (or a traveler), try meeting up with him for coffee. The best blogging relationships are birthed out of relationship.
The most elite bloggers on the Internet have grown their blog readerships through this simple, but effective strategy of guest posting. And you can grow your blog by doing the same.
This is good advice. I currently run one guest post on my blog each week. The bloggers who have participated in this often report their biggest traffic day ever. But it is also a huge help to me: it is one less post I have to write and it gives my audience some variety. The bottom line: it’s a win for both of us—and the online community.