Guest posting is one of the top methods to gain traffic, subscribers, popularity, your blog branding and friends. It is one of the most effective ways to reach people from different blogs, niches and interests.
Apart from helping you to build authority to your blog, guest posting also makes you a better writer, one of the top benefits I have experienced about guest posting.
I have had some wonderful guest posts published in A-List blogs including Problogger, Daily Blog Tips, ComLuv, FamousBloggers, YoungPrePro, Technshare, iBlogZone and others.
You can check out the complete list at this page: Jane’s Guest Posts.
Let me tell you the benefits of getting featured so:
1. Got a BIG boost in my traffic.
2. Gained more subscribers.
3. Boost in Affiliate sales.
4. Received offers to hire me as a writer.
These are very few of lot more benefits I don’t mention here. You can reap these benefits too! Let me tell you how I was able to achieve this.
I Kept The Best For The Hosts
You know it is hard. When you have a great idea on your dashboard or even when your lame idea turns out to be a killer post, you have the urge to publish it in your own blog post. I too had that urge.
But fortunately I had controlled myself from clicking the “Publish” button when such a post occurs (and usually occurs quite often to me; I am not boasting ;)).
So what do I do with those posts?
I keep them for the host blogs. The big brothers and sisters, the A-Listers.
I Had the Passion
If you have started to do blogging without passion better quit now. Or find out a niche in which you are passionate about and start blogging in that niche.
Blogging is not an easy or get rich quick scheme.
You will have to go through hard times, making no money, no traffic, no followers while you are still offering quality content; you have to wait for some time to really see the changes and results.
I am not scaring you, but blogging basically needs a lot of passion and motivation.
Well that was bit off topic.
Coming back to the point, you should also be passionate about writing guest posts, if you want to do it.
I know you badly need traffic, backlinks and exposure. But those should not be your main goals to write guest posts.
If I can elaborate a bit on my feeling for writing guest posts, I enjoy writing guest posts as much I would enjoy eating myfavorite chocolate bar.
As I would enjoy every bite of the chocolate I would enjoy writing every sentence. I will not eat the chocolate in haste. I take my time to slowly enjoy the experience of eating the chocolate.
I do not finish the last couple of bites just for the sake of finishing the chocolate. I do not eat my chocolate amidst doing 100 things alongside. I can go on telling, but you get the idea.
I Tailored my Guest Posts
I don’t write a guest post and send it to one blog in the list of blogs I have. And, then if my post gets rejected I don’t simply submit it to another blog on the list.
When I first get the idea for a guest post, depending upon the nature of the idea, its importance and so on, I decide the host blog to submit that guest post. And then I start writing the post, tailored for that particular blog.
This in turn means that I already know well about the host blog, the style of the articles written there, the community and so on.
So I just cannot jump into a blog one day and submit a guest post. More on it below in the next point.
Even if my guest post gets rejected, I do not submit it right away to another blog.
I do a major rewriting of the post, keeping only the idea but changing the style, and other things to suit the new blog I am aiming at.
I Studied the Host Blog Before Sending my Post
No I never have jumped into a blog, and have submitted a guest post. Well, there are two ways in which all the host blogs accept guest posts”
1. You send your guest post as an email attachment via the contact form or if you know the email address, send it from your email provider.
2. Register for a contributor account at the host blog, write a post and submit it for review from the Dashboard of that blog.
In both these cases, just imagine the host blogger receive an email with the subject line “Guest Post” or a new user registration notification followed by your guest post for review, with your name on it.
Will he/she be happy to at least read your post to see if it is worth publishing?
I bet not! Not from a stranger. You should have had earlier contacts with the blogger and the blogger should be able to recognize your name.
No I am not saying that you should be a friend of Darren Rowse and meet him daily at the pub near your house for a chat.
You should be a consistent reader of the blog, and be leaving comments consistently. You should have made some tweets or RTs of the blog posts with @ mention so that the blogger is able to recognize you.
You can basically do whatever to grab the attention of the host blogger.
I was Actively Engaging Already
This is different from just leaving comments. This is about interacting with the blogger and his/her community. I did the following things:
1. Appreciated the blogger by sending an email via contact form.
2. Appreciate via one tweet (with link) of the blogger with @ mention via Twitter.
3. Give a like on Facebook.
4. Reply to questions and comments by the commenters on a particular post at the host blog.
5. Network (Twitter following, FB friends and/or contacts on other social networks) with the host blogger and the commenter.
Well, it all depends how actively you are engaging with people. If the people at the host blog already know about you, more than simply getting accepted in A-List blogs, your guest post will go viral if all the readers know well about you - they will be willing to leave comments, promote it in social networks and so on!
So what is stopping you from getting featured in A-List blogs? Share them in the comments and I’ll help you. If you want to guest post effectively check out this post.
