Guest Posting: What it is? And how to get started?

You have a website with several articles that you hoped could generate traffic and rank on Google.

However, you seem to hit a dead end. Traffic is not forthcoming, and your articles are barely on the second page of Google. What can help you get out of this desperate situation?

Guest posting could be the answer. The word guest post combines two words guest and post. A guest is a visitor to another’s home or social event, while a post is a piece of writing published online. So, guest posting is posting your articles on another person’s website. Simple ugh!

Guest blogging also called “guest posting,” consist of writing content for another website. Typically, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry to attract traffic to their website and boost their domain authority by utilizing external links to high-authority domains.

But how do you do it? Worry not; this article will answer this question and much more. But before I explain how you can effectively guest post and help your website, let’s define what it is.

You might also enjoy reading: How to Optimize Your Blogs for Google’s Featured Snippet (With examples)

What is Guest Posting?

Guest blogging, also called “guest posting,” consist of writing content for another website. Typically, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry to attract traffic to their website and boost their domain authority by utilizing external links to high-authority domains.

Why do people guest post? One reason is to increase your brand awareness and your site’s traffic.

Before we get into the steps you should follow to be successful in guest posting, you want to define your blogging goals.

Guest Posting Goals You Should Set

If you want to achieve anything worthwhile, write down your goals. You should determine the type of blog you intend to publish your guest post on.

Generally, guest posting intends to achieve three things:

Present yourself as an authority in your area of specialization
Generating traffic to your site.
Building backlinks to your site (Many bloggers mistakenly make this their primary focus, displeasing Google gods).

You will undoubtedly accomplish these goals if you create informative and exciting content—guest posts on blogs with high traffic and an engaged audience.

It is essential to know your guest posting goal; otherwise, you may end up publishing your content on the wrong website that cannot generate leads.

It is also worth remembering that guest posting works well with B2B and not B2C blogs. So, if you are selling directly to consumers, you will do well with building content for your site, not guest posting.

Another thing to remember is that guest posting takes time and consistency to start generating revenue. Experienced bloggers advise guests to post over 500 articles for at least two years to generate seven-figure revenue.

Step 1: Find Guest Posting Opportunities

The first step is identifying guest posting opportunities. Before visiting your friend, you must know if they can accommodate you.

So, find relevant sites for your writing niche. The site you want to submit your guest posts should fit these criteria:

Have content related to your niche or industry
Have an audience interested in your niche
Have engaged readers who socially share and comment on various articles on the site.
The site owner has an active social media account to promote pieces on their site.

For instance, if you sell accounting software, you will look for banking blogs with an engaged audience of managers and bankers.

So how do you find these opportunities?

Google searches: You can use relevant keyword searches to help you find relevant blogs that welcome guest posting. Consider these examples:
- Your keyword “write for us.”
- Your keyword “submit a guest post.”
- Your keyword “writers wanted”
- Your keyword “guest blogger.”

Know well-known guest bloggers: If you don’t know a blogger who writes many guest posts, I recommend you find out and read their work. You can search where they have guests posted because you can get an opportunity there.
Leverage Twitter: You can search for guest posting opportunities by including keywords such as “paleo guest post”- if that is your niche- and find suitable sites.
Check your competitor’s backlinks: I know you are interested in how your competitors perform. If you check their backlink, chances are that you have identified some guest posts they have done.
- Explore tools like Open Site Explorer to check your competitors’ guest post blogs.
- Use My Blog Guest– My Blog Guest is a community of guest post bloggers, and every blogger can sign up for free. This community allows you to search for blogs that welcome guest bloggers.

Step 2: Prepare Your Guest Post

Now that you have outlined a list of blogs that accept guest posts, you should move to the next step.

I will show you how to win over blog owners and find suitable sites for your guest post.

You should first know that not all websites are worth your guest post—so separate winners from losers.

Let’s make one thing clear; I am not saying you be picky by preferring popular blogs. Actually, you may want to focus on quality blogs that may not be that popular. Why?

Because big fish like Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur may not accept your request to guest post on their sites.

After posting guest posts for some time, you can try your luck with popular sites.

In a nutshell, you want a guest posting site that:

Have a related niche
Have high authority
Can increase your traffic
Publish only high-quality content
Have a worthwhile number of social media followers

After identifying the right site, it is time to warm up the targets before you can start pitching. But how do you do this?

Consider some practical steps:

Share their content on your social media page: If you share a blogger’s content on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you will be on their mind.
Leave an excellent comment: Once you have read an article on the blog, take some time and leave a genuine and insightful comment on the site.
Send them an email: You can also take a bold move and email the site owner how you have benefited from one or two of their articles.

Guest Posting: What it is? And how to get started? – theentrepreneurjourney.com

Step 3: Send a Pitch

This is probably one of the most valuable steps in guest posting. Avoid sending generic pitches because the site owner will rarely read them.

Your pitch competes with numerous tasks, such as responding to tweets, writing posts, and reading emails.

Here are what you can include in the template:

Write something that interests you about their site
Use short sentences, not more than 150 words
Suggest three topics they can choose from
Outline your writing experience

Step 4: Write Quality Content For The Guest Post

The pitch has been accepted, and you are excited, but actual work begins. Ensure your content is top-notch, something that will make the site owner want to read it.

One way to succeed is to divide your target sites into two tiers.

Popular sites in tier 1: These blogs are the big fish with high authority in your niche. These are popular sites you visit to read stuff.

If you are writing for this site, you want to create an excellent article that should be equal to or better than what you would publish on your site.
The article should be top-notch. No fluffs. I am talking about stellar content that generates conversation and encourages action.
You will probably spend a week or more writing, proofreading, and optimizing to encourage publishing.
Ensure the article has a good length: 2500 words and above. Lengthy actionable content is perceived more positively than short ones.
You will also include original and custom screenshots to enhance visuals. Of course, the article should contain internal links to enhance SEO.

Tier 2 sites: Tier 2 sites are blogs that have considerable authority to warrant creating high-quality content for. However, they may not be worth spending seven days to generate a mind-blowing piece.

While you may not send them mind-blowing articles, you want to ensure you send them something valuable.

Step 5: Follow Up

Following up is probably one step that most guest bloggers miss. When you guest post, you want to stay around and be ready to answer questions to keep the conversation going.

You can show your availability by posting a comment right after the blog, indicating your interest in the readers and their opinions.
Ensure you respond to all comments in the first two days after the post.
You can also promote the post on your social media with your community. It also helps create some traffic for the site you have posted on.
Send a thank you note to the site owner, expressing your gratitude for the opportunity.

These simple follow-up actions make you stand out and open the door for future collaborations.

The Bottom Line

The process and emotions involved in pitching and writing a guest post are exhilarating. The process is simple:

Use online tools to find guest posting opportunities,
Prepare your guest
Pitch for targets
Write mind-blowing content
Follow up

Are you guest posting? What challenges have you met in the process?

What to read next: