Here’s a proven way to increase traffic to your website, improve the position of your website in the search engines, establish yourself as a trusted authority, and quickly build your email list. Today is all about the right way, and the wrong way, to do some guest blogging.
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So, what qualifies ME to teach YOU about guest blogging? Well, that’s a fair question. You see, my inbox is flooded every day with people who want to become a guest blogger on one of my websites, so I know, from an editor’s point of view, what works.
And also, about 7 years ago, I was invited to become a moderator on one of the best resources for guest bloggers. And while I haven’t been very active lately, it has allowed me to see what works and what doesn’t. And that’s a website called MyBlogGuest.com and it’s a great place to network.
It was started by a marketing expert called Ann Smarty, who is among a handful of people whose advice I trust when it comes to SEO. And if you want to find blogs that accept guest post, or if you’re looking for guest bloggers to contribute to YOUR site, then My Blog Guest is a good place to start.
Ok, so let’s have a look at the right way to do it and the wrong way to do it. So let’s go to my email inbox and I’ll show you the kind of thing I receive, and what works and what doesn’t.
Right, here you can see that it’s full of people asking to post on one of my websites. Now because the volume is so great, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have the time to publish all of these guest posts. The sad thing is, I have to reject most of these, in fact, I reject more than 90% of the submissions I receive… in truth it’s actually closer to 98%.
So roughly, out of every 100 people who want to post on the site, I only end up accepting 2 articles. And that’s because most of the people who contact me are screwing things up.
Which is great for you though, because I’m going to show you how to do it properly, and that means I’m going to give you the best chance of success. So when you do it the right way, you’re already miles ahead of everyone else.
Common mistakes
Right, let’s take a look at how it SHOULD NOT be done – so you don’t make these mistakes. Obviously, I don’t want to embarrass anybody, so I’m going to hide their personal details.
Let’s start with this one. Things start off ok, this person is asking who she should contact about the website, it’s a reasonable question. No problems there. But once she gets that information, look at the response.
She asks 4 questions, and they are all about what she can gain from the guest post.
At this point, we haven’t discussed if I’ll even accept a submission, we haven’t discussed the nature of the content, we haven’t discussed payment or anything else.
So this immediately tells me that this person isn’t interested in helping my readers, she’s only concerned about what she can get. Which is ok, that’s normal, but when you approach websites it’s important to think about their readers and their needs.
Ok, let’s look at another one, in the ‘how NOT to do it’ portion.
Here, the person is sending the SAME article to dozens of editors. In the subject title, he is begging all of us to publish his article. And what happens on the Internet when you try to appeal to everybody? That’s right, nobody pays attention.
Right, one last example of the wrong way to do it. Here we’ve got someone who hasn’t really looked at my website, and he wants to publish something that isn’t relevant to MY audience. And because he didn’t receive a response from me the first time, he comes back to negotiate the link in his bio. This isn’t cool.
The right way to do it
To make sure you don’t make the same mistakes as these guys, I’m going to show you how to do it the right way.
First I’ll show you a guest post offer that I DID accept, and then I’ll give you some additional ideas you can use to make your offers more appealing to editors.
So, look at this. In this email, the sender introduces herself in the correct way. She tells me directly which website she runs, and how it shares the same values as my website.
She’s clearly looked through my site. She makes article suggestions that WILL be of interest to my readers. Then, she provides examples of her previous articles and asks for more information about my posting guidelines.
And that’s how it’s done. It’s courteous, it’s professional, it’s direct and most importantly, it shows that she cares about my readers. Fantastic. Of course, I jumped at the chance to publish her work, because her values aligned with the values of my readers.
Right, so next I’m going to give you some extra tips so you can get the best possible results.
Do your research
Number 1. Do your research. Yes, it’s boring, it’s tedious, but it’s essential. You need to know exactly WHO is going to WANT to read your guest posts. When you’re looking at potential guest blogging opportunities and finding sites to approach, you need to understand the demographics and psychographics of their readers.
So find out their average age, the countries they live in, what their problems are, what they’re afraid of, what they aspire to become, what their goals are. Don’t skip this step, it’s vital. Specifically look for topics and issues that are NOT being covered on the blog – maybe the blog needs someone to fill that gap.
Grab attention
Number 2. Grab attention. You only have a few seconds to grab and hold an editor’s attention, so it’s important that you make the right first impression. They will decide if your guest post will be accepted or rejected. And grabbing their attention starts with the subject line of the email. If you know the editor’s name, use it here.
Also mention the name of the website – without the suffix, without the dot com, for example, otherwise it looks spammy. Then in the body of the email get straight to the point. Don’t waffle about how much you love their website because most editors are immune to flattery. Tell them what you’re offering, and how it might appeal to their readers.
Give editors a headline
Number 3. Give the editor some ideas for a headline. When you’re pitching content ideas, even if you haven’t written the article yet, ignite their imagination. This also makes an editor’s job easier. You see, headlines need to be punchy and catchy, so take some time to think about this.
Think about the SEO impact of your headline, does it have the right keywords, is there an emotional trigger? Are you making a promise or including a benefit in the headline? And also, it could be a good idea to study the kinds of headlines the website is already using, and match yours – but don’t copy, just make sure that your headline shares the same voice.
Solve a problem
Number 4. Solve a problem. Because you’ve done your research, you now know the precise type of content the blog readers want. And because you know what kind of problems they’re trying to overcome, you’re in a fantastic position to help them solve some of those problems.
But don’t overdo it, keep your guest post tightly focused on solving just one problem. Simplify the process for them – make it quick and easy, show them how they can get results and dispel some myths along the way.
Use your link to convert
Number 5. Use your bio link to convert traffic. Most blogs have some kind of guidelines when it comes to linking to external sites, so double check what the policy is. Almost every blog will allow you to have a link in your author bio.
And while a lot of guest bloggers just link to their homepage, I encourage everyone to use this opportunity to convert the new traffic you’re getting into prospects, by sending them to a lead capture page, a squeeze page, so you can follow up with them another time, and convert that cold traffic into buyers.
Ok, so that’s 5 simple tips that you can use to get better results from guest blogging. But, you know me, and I like to go the extra mile for you, so here’s an extra bonus tip for you.
Bonus: Track your results
Bonus tip. Track your results. Ok, this is more than just keeping an eye on your analytics. Here you’re going to track what’s working and get organized for repeat guest blogging opportunities.
This is important because it’s not always the big traffic sites that produce the best results, sometimes you might find that traffic from smaller blogs can give higher conversions because they could be a lot more ‘niche’, more tightly focused.
If you’re solely looking at the traffic stats, you will miss a lot of vital info. So for this, we need a way to keep track of everything. We’re going to use Google Docs or any other spreadsheet software you like.
In fact, I’ll give you a spreadsheet that you can download and use for yourself because I want to make life a bit easier on you. So download it now, the link will be underneath this video. So download it and save it to the folder you made earlier.
Ok, the spreadsheet has 7 columns, and I’ve done most of the work for you and added everything you need, right off the bat. The first column is going to be the blog’s address, this is the URL of the blog you want to post on. So drop that in there. Next, we need to keep a record of the editor’s name, and then their email address.
The next column is the niche, or the passion, the reason for the blog to exist. Then we keep a record of the editor’s response. Even if they ignore you, it’s worth making a note.
Then you need to track of WHERE your guest post has been published. This to help us to find the article and reply to comments and see how it’s doing.
And then finally we keep a note of the results that we have achieved, so things like traffic spikes, a boost in email subscribers, a jump in sales and all that kind of thing.
.And, in the spreadsheet I’ve also added my contact details in there for you, should you want to guest post on Profit Co-pilot.
Ok great. If you apply everything you’ve learned here today, your guest blogging efforts are going to improve. You’ve seen the right way to do it, and the wrong way to do it. You’ve learned 5 tips to get awesome results. And you’ve got a spreadsheet for free, to help you to keep track of your results and organize all your guest blogging efforts.