Tips on guest blogging

Guest blogging can be a great way to build your on-line reputation and drive traffic to your sites. It's a win-win situation for both the guest blogger and the host. 

You write content for their site, which you will of course be promoting and sharing the link to everywhere you can, and they allow you to include a byline and/or link back to your site. You get exposure to a new audience and they get new readers to their site.

Here's a few tips on how to be a good guest blogger:
  1. Research the blog and submit a post that is well suited to the site and it's readers. For example in my current virtual tour for my children's picture book Out and About at the Zoo I have written posts like 'Being a writing mum' for the site of a fellow mum writer, 'Tips for children's writers' for the site that offers tips to writers and 'The challenges and rewards of writing for children' for a site for avid young readers. Each post is directed towards it's individual audience.
  2. Supply them with content their site is missing. Whilst you need to make sure your post is in keeping with the topic niche of the hosts site, you also want to try and give them something new. Use your own unique experience and skills to fill the needs of the host and their readers.
  3. Make the job of the host as easy as possible. If they have guidelines, follow them to the letter. Supply them with appropriate images to use with the post and any other additional information they might want to use.
  4. Be reliable. If you promise to send your content by a certain date, send it by that date. Don't leave your host and their readers hanging. Not only is this unprofessional, it will also damage your reputation.
  5. Promote your post. Don't just write the guest post and leave it to the host to promote it. It's part of the deal as a guest blogger that you help bring readers to the site. Share the link to your post everywhere you can to drive as much traffic as possible. 
  6. Reply to comments. Part of the reason for guest blogging is to connect with new readers. If someone takes the time to leave a comment on your post, make sure you reply to them. Even if it's just to thank them for their input.
  7. Give thanks. Thank the host publicly by leaving a comment on the post. Thank them again by email and/or via their social media pages. If they have accounts with applications like branchout write them a testimonial to thank them. And then thank them again! 
Bottom-line: Be the sort of guest you'd like to have visit your own site.

6 Comments

  1. David M. Brown23 June 2012 at 13:34

    Great post.

    I've written many guest blogs and believe it's crucial to interact with the readers that post comments and share the post via social media.

    In doing that you maintain a good working relationship and the chances of guesting again will always be very high :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jo Linsdell23 June 2012 at 15:19

    Thank you for your comment David. Yes, definitely. The whole idea after all is to help build your reputation and connect with your audience. Hosts that see your post receives a lot of comments and share are also more likely to invite you back.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fiona27 June 2012 at 06:52

    Great pointers, especially that the guest needs to promote the blog too.
    Best,
    Una Tiers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jo Linsdell27 June 2012 at 23:11

      They can't expect the host to do all the work. It's in their interest too as more people will know about it and that increases their chances of their post going viral. A positive for both the host and guest.

      Delete
  4. Write a book6 July 2012 at 11:45

    Hey ya its a great blog... thanks for the post here

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous23 February 2013 at 11:36

    The quality of your articles and contents is great.
    writing

    ReplyDelete

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