This guest post is from Adam Bruk. To submit your guest post, see submission guidelines here.
I recently started a job as an online marketing specialist with hardly any knowledge about SEO and other online marketing strategies.
My first assignment was to find three bloggers to write a guest post for. The topic was sun safety and I had to find blogs and website where a guest post like this would be appropriate.
Being new to the blogging world, I started where every amateur would begin, Google. I started by searching under the blog tab, but wasted a lot of time running into blogs and sites that were no longer being maintained or appeared to be spam.
Haley, a director of marketing for our discount sunglasses company, shared three tips with me that helped to find blogs to guest post on and made sure they were actually posted:
(1). Search For Top 5 Niche Blogs
When searching for different blogs to guest post on, start with a Google search for the top 5 or 10 blogs on the topic you are writing about. These blogs normally list other blogs they follow,and then those blogs list other blogs they follow. I discovered that most of the blogs other bloggers linked to were maintained and up-to-date. I used a list of top 10 blogs to find close to 100 blogs related to the topic!
(2). Research The Archives
Take just a few minutes and read through one or two of the articles on the site or blog before reaching out to the owner. I was lucky enough to start up a conversation with one of the first bloggers I emailed and he explained to me that he receives hundreds of similar requests a week.
He deletes almost all of them, but responded to mine because he could tell I took the time to read through his site. I referenced an article he wrote and gave my opinion on the issue, which he claims is rare to see in an email requesting to guest post. This showed that I actually cared about his site and was interested in adding value to the blog. Plus, you’ll be surprised at what you learn by reading so many articles!
(3). Add Value With Your Guest Posts
Your content needs to add value to the site or blog. Repeating a topic that has been exhausted and discussed several times will not add value and consequently won’t be posted. By following the second tip and thinking outside of the box, you will be able to write about a topic that is
original and related to the theme of the site.
When sending an email to a blog or site owner, be aware that they receive hundreds of similar emails a week. You need something that will help differentiate your email to stick out from the others.
Success Take Away…
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when sending emails to blog owners:
1). Have a catchy subject line:
Generic, mundane subject lines such as “request to guest post” don’t cut it. There are probably more than a dozen emails with the same subject line. They all get either moved to a separate folder or deleted. Make your subject line unique and relate it to the blogger. If possible, try to relate it to an article you read on their site. You always want to make a great first impression, and the subject line is your first impression.
2). Keep the email short:
People generally have a short attention span, especially if they are sifting through several comments and emails. Be short and to the point!
3. Be personable and try to sound as human as possible:
There are dozens of form emails that are
sent by bots and bloggers can easily pick them out. Never send a form email and personalize all
of them.
4. Be careful of your signature: If your signature includes SEO, they are less likely to believe you are actually interested in helping them and have other motives behind guest posting. You don’t want this, so it never hurts to take out these words such as SEO and online marketing and replace it with just your name or the title of writer.
Following these tips will help ensure that your guest posts get published on relevant blogs. Google will give you a head start on finding relevant blogs to your topic, but following their links to blogs they follow will open up a slew of active, relevant prospects. By spending a few minutes on their site and reading an article or two, you can personalize your email which signals to the blogger that you are not a spammer.
They put a lot of time and energy into their blog because they want others to read their work, so show them you’re doing what matters most to them. And when you finally get the opportunity to write a guest post, make sure that it adds value to the blog or site. Redundant articles about a topic that has been discussed several times recently will not get published.
If a blogger is going to allow you to post on their site, they want a quality article that will add value or else they would write something themselves. By following these tips, you are destined for success when you write your next guest posts.