Guest blogging can be a great way to achieve several different goals. It can help drive traffic to your own website or blog, increase interest in your products, help establish credibility for you as an author, and even increase your income. Guest blogging spots can be wonderful marketing tools if you use the right approach. Finding the perfect guest blogging spot is easy if you know how to find the best sites to showcase your ideas, and how to pitch your ideas correctly. The following tips will help you find the best sites for guest blogging so you can get started right away.
1. Research blogs that interest you.
Identify all the goals you'd like to achieve by guest blogging. Are you trying to promote your website? Do you want to increase sales in your shop? Do you want to increase page views on your own blog? Do you want to reach an audience that might be interested in your products and services? Once you have identified your goals, begin researching blogs that align well with those interests.
2. Keep an ongoing list of potential blogs that seem like a good fit.All blogs that relate to your topic are going to be a little different. Some may be run by your direct competitors. These are probably not going to be great places to pitch. Others may be run by bloggers who are simply enthusiastic about topics that relate to what you want to write about. Among these blogs, you will find that the quality varies greatly. Ideally, you want to narrow your search to high quality blogs with lots of traffic and comments.
3. Become a regular reader of the blogs on your list.Once you have narrowed your options down to your favorites, read as many posts as you can. This will help you do several things: it will help you learn the general tone the blog looks for, it will tell you what topics have already been covered, and it will help you identify the blogs where you really want to guest blog.
4. Leave comments on the blogs that make your short list.When you leave comments on a blog, it allows the blog administrators to become familiar with you as part of their audience. Leaving thoughtful, intelligent comments will help prime the site owner for your pitch. As tempting as it may be, don't leave comments that read like spam. Your promotions can come later when you write your guest blog. The goal at this point is to establish yourself as someone who has a shared interest with the blog you want to write for.
5. Take notes about site traffic.Some blogs obviously get a lot more traffic than others. This does not always indicate the importance of a particular blog, though. Sometimes a blog reaches a small audience that has a great deal of influence and economic resources. Don't discount a blog right off the bat simply because it has a small audience. On the other hand, make sure you keep sites with the most comments high up on your list, because these clearly have a large audience. Some of their readers may be interested in what you have to say.
6. Look for other guest posts on the blogs you have selected.Some blogs regularly use guest bloggers. Others do not, but are willing to if the right person asks. If you notice that some of the sites on your list features guest blogging on a regular basis, put those sites at the top of your list. Those will be the easiest to pitch blog ideas to, because they already understand why it is useful to publish guest bloggers on their site. The sites that have no guest posts should not be automatically marked off the list, but they will require a different sort of pitch that explains why they need guest bloggers, and why their first choice should be you.
7. Outline the blog posts you would like to pitch to the site.Already having ideas prepared before you pitch makes good sense. You can hand pick the ones that are the best fit for each individual site. As you make your outlines, you can also check each site to make sure the topics you want to write about haven't already been worn out. If so, try to come at those topics with a fresh angle. Also, notice the approximate length of the typical post on each site. Outline your ideas so that they would be around the same word count. You want your guest blogs to seem like a natural fit.
8. Write a pitch letting the blog know you are interested in guest blogging.Once you have strong outlines, you can begin writing your pitch. Include a brief introduction, and explain that you are interested in guest blogging. If your site gets a great deal of traffic, make sure to include that information. You essentially need to convince the person who decides what gets published that posting your guest blog will benefit their site. Some blogs pay for guest posts, and others don't. Find out as much as you can about their normal policies on guest blogs, and in your email, show that you've done your research.
A guest blogging spot can increase site traffic to your own website or blog, increase your sales, establish you as an authority, and broaden your audience. Some people are so successful at guest blogging that they are able to turn it into a full-time job. Because some sites pay guest bloggers very well, it can be a very competitive gig. Some sites will ask guest bloggers to write for them on a regular basis. Using the eight steps outlined above, you highly increase your chances of successfully obtaining guest blogging spots. Finding the best sites for guest blogging means creating new marketing opportunities for yourself that can continue opening doors far into the future.
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