How to use guest blogging to get traffic to your website

You have amazing content. You’re on the right social media platforms. Your clients love your work and you have awesome products. But for some reason, you just can’t get the traction that you want.

If this is happening to you, it might be that you simply need more traffic. After all, if customers don’t know your product exists, then they can’t buy it. That’s where guest blogging can be helpful.

Guest blogging is a simple way to partner with another blogger to get traffic and build backlinks to your website. If you appear on a major blog, you could easily double or triple your traffic. More targeted traffic means more visitors discover your brand, join your mailing list, and buy your products. That’s a win for you!

The bloggers who host your post also benefit. They get unique content for their blogs. This saves them time and helps them fill in their content marketing calendar. Plus, they introduce someone new to the community, which boosts authority status.

With guest blogging, the audience wins, too. They get to read quality content from a trusted source with a slightly different perspective. They also find a new niche leader to follow and favorite.

Now that you understand how guest blogging is a triple win, it’s time to tackle a big question…

How do I get someone to publish my guest post?

The first step to getting your guest posts published is to find blogs in your industry. The reason you want to do is this because you want readers that are already interested in what you have to say.

If you’re in the health and wellness industry, you don’t want to guest post on unrelated niche blogs, such as an automotive blog. Sure, you might get a little bit of traffic, but it’s not your target market, so the traffic doesn’t convert to sales.

Once you’ve found a few industry blogs that you might like to guest post on, start studying them.

Before anything else, see if they have any other guest posts. If not, they probably don’t accept them and you can move on. If they do, study other guest posts on the site. Look for common factors the posts share. This can give you insight into the type of content the blogger prefers to see. For example, does every guest post start with a personal story from the author’s life? Does every guest post feature links to well-documented medical studies?

You want to pay attention to how long the posts generally are and what topics appear to be the most popular. If you’re not sure, check the sidebar. Most bloggers keep a list of their popular posts on the side of their blogs.

You should also note their headline style. Do the posts tend to have question headlines? Does the blogger like headlines with statistics like “33% of Nutritionists Aren’t Telling You This Important Diet Tip”?

Start interacting

Next, you want to begin interacting with the blogger’s community. You can do this by commenting on their posts. Choose recent posts and make comments that add value to the conversation. If a blog post is about the health benefits of coconut oil, a comment about an unusual way to use it could be helpful.

After you’ve been interacting with the community, it’s time to figure out what the blog owner likes in a guest post. Well-known blogs that accept guest posts have submission guidelines. These guidelines spell out exactly what the website owner wants to see in your post. So, take your time and read this page carefully. You want to make sure you hit every point so the blogger can quickly say, “Yes” to your post.

Smaller blogs won’t have guidelines, but you can use what you’ve learned from checking out other guest blog posts. You can also ask the blogger. Besides the content questions, you want to know:

• Which format the blogger prefers. Word document? Text file?
• How images should be handled. Embedded in a Word document? Included separately? Both?
• How to include a link to an opt-in page for a free gift. Or a link to your website. This is a big part of why you do the guest post, but check to be sure exactly what is acceptable.

2 ways to suggest your blog post

When it comes to submitting a guest blog post, there are two ways to do it.

1. Write a short pitch: A brief paragraph or two that sums up your blog post and what it will cover. You can also include a paragraph about why you’re a great fit for the blog. For example, if you’re pitching a guest post about nutrition and you happen to be a fitness trainer, mention that. It adds weight and authority to what you’re saying.
2. Write it out and let your work speak for itself: The advantage of this method is that the blogger can quickly make a decision on whether your work is right for their site. The downside side is that you may spend hours writing a post that doesn’t get published.

Some bloggers prefer pitches because they make it easier to evaluate your ideas. Other bloggers prefer getting to see the whole post before committing. If you’re not sure what the blog owner prefers, read their submission guidelines carefully or just ask.

In almost all cases, the blogger will expect your content to be unique. That is, you can’t copy a post of your own and repeat it on the blogger’s blog, so you’ll need to write it from scratch.

One thing to keep in mind when you’re trying to get guest posts published is to stay open to feedback. The blog owner may ask you to edit or tweak your words. They may do this for clarity, length, or style. If you stay open to these changes, it cements you as someone that’s easy to work with and may allow you to make repeat guest posts on the same blog.

Follow up

Always ask to be notified when your post will be published unless it’s such a popular blog that no one has time to tell you and you’re expected to check that yourself. Usually, the blogger will be happy to let you know.

Always mention that you’ll promote the blog to your list. Although you want the blogger’s visitors to click the link in your post to go to your site, bloggers want you to bring traffic to them. It’s a 2-way street.

In fact, it’s not uncommon for 2 bloggers to agree to swap guest blog posts. This is especially true if they have similar readership.

Guest blogging is terrific for driving traffic back to your site. Use it right and you can elevate your business in exciting new ways.

Have you had success (or not) with guest blog posting? Share your experiences and please use the Share buttons to help others.

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