“How do you find high-paying freelance writing clients?”

“How did you get backlinks from Site XYZ?”

“How did you get interviewed by influencer ABC?”

I get emails with these questions every week.

And the answer to all of them is guest blogging.

There, I said it.

Guest blogging has been my number one client acquisition, personal branding, and networking strategy.

And it has been working for me flawlessly from the day I started my freelance writing business.

Plus, it’s a great way to make money online with your content.

But is it as simple as it sounds? Not really

But it also isn’t as hard as some people say it is.

In this post, I’ll tell you exactly how guest blogging has benefited me and my business, and how you can create guest posts that every blog editor would love to publish.

This is going to be a long post, so stay with me all the way.

The Key Lessons From This Post

• Getting backlinks and traffic is great, but guest blogging has many other benefits as well.
• The key steps you need to follow before writing a guest post
• The most common mistake that instantly kills your guest post pitch
• The key elements of an irresistible guest post
• How to build a long-lasting relationship with the top blog editors

If you’re short on time, I’ve created this infographic so that you can view the key lessons from this post

Click on the image to view the enlarged version

Copy/Paste This Code To Embed The Infographic In Your Site

<p><strong>Please include attribution to WritingMyDestiny.com with this graphic.</strong><br /><br /><a href=’https://www.writingmydestiny.com/guest-blogging/’><img src=’https://www.writingmydestiny.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/guest-blogging-infographic.png’ alt=’Guest Blogging Tips’ width=’798′ border=’0′ /></a></p>

What Is Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging is a content marketing strategy in which you create high-quality content and publish it for free on a site that’s relevant to your audience and has more search authority and traffic than your site.

Why would you do that?

Because it has several benefits for your site eg. backlinks, traffic, brand awareness, etc. (more on the benefits later)

But why would any established blog publish your content?

The following stat answers your question

More than 60% of content marketers consider content creation their biggest challenge.

They won’t refuse your offer if you approach them with a high-quality guest post on a topic they need.

The Key Benefits of Guest Blogging in 2022

Backlinks and traffic aren’t the only benefits of guest blogging.

They’re just the obvious ones.

But there’s so much more you can achieve with a strategically planned guest blogging campaign.

Here’s a quick look at some of them.

1. Guest Blogging Gives You Exposure and Traffic

What makes more sense when you’ve just started a new blog

• Publishing great content on your new blog with no traffic?

• Or writing a high-quality blog post for an established site with hundreds of thousands of readers?

The latter of course!

Because it’ll get more eyeballs on your content, send you more traffic, and give you an opportunity to turn your visitors into subscribers.

It’s a win-win for everybody.

You get targeted exposure and the blog owner gets free high-quality content.

Plus, in my experience, the visitors referred through guest posts are much likelier to take action on your website because they’ve already consumed your content and trust you at a certain level

This brings me to my next point.

2. Guest Blogging Builds Your Brand Image

Have you heard of the Halo Effect?

It’s a tendency of the human brain to make a judgment about someone’s overall personality based on just one of their traits. For example, we perceive good-looking people as more intelligent and smart.

 

 

You can leverage the Halo Effect and borrow credibility from the other established websites in your niche with guest blogging.

When people see your name associated with the top industry publications, they assume you’re an expert who’s trusted by the industry leaders

This opens up all sorts of opportunities from new clients and speaking gigs to interviews and podcast invitations

I’ve experienced this first hand

Even when I just started guest blogging back in 2013-14 I had started getting interview requests and mentions on different blogs.

Here’s one that I dug out from my email archives.

This was just the start.

I’ve received countless interview requests, mentions on leading blogs, backlinks, and clients as a direct result of my guest posts because people started seeing me as a credible content marketing expert whose work is regularly featured in the top marketing blogs.

3. It Grows Your Network

Influencers in every industry have a huge role in creating brand awareness and shaping consumer buying decisions.

According to Mckinsey, influential bloggers and marketers generate 2x more sales for brands as compared to paid advertising.

When you guest blog for a well-known publication, your content gets in front of thousands of readers including the top influential bloggers in your niche.

This gives you an opportunity to connect with them, build new relationships, and explore new opportunities.

4. It’s Great Way To Build High Authority Links To Your Site

Why do backlinks matter?

Because more backlinks to your content from relevant and high authority sites means stronger SEO and higher search rankings for your site.

This assumption is backed by a recent study conducted by SEMRush.

My blog (the one you’re reading) has backlinks from Adweek, HubSpot, NeilPatel, SocialMediaExaminer, and dozens of other A-list marketing blogs.

Because I’ve written guest posts for them.

Trust me, it’s hard to get links from those blogs because they rarely link to content by new bloggers, don’t accept paid links, and have very tight editorial controls.

A backlink from any of them can skyrocket your search rankings. A brand once offered me $900 for a single link on one of those blogs (they wanted me to feature them in my guest post).

That’s the value of relevant and high authority backlinks.

With guest blogging, you can get those links without paying anyone (Spoiler: it’s still a lot of hard work though)

5. It’s Your Shortcut to an Influencer’s Social Media Followers

When you get published on a top blog in your niche, its social media followers will be notified about your post as well.

Because most blogs share their latest content with their social media followers (and the content on popular blogs gets shared a lot).

For example, here’s one of the guest posts I wrote for Jeff Bullas, a major social media influencer.

 

Okay I know 18 Retweets is not a lot but it’s still better than what my Tweets get.

Here’s another Twitter shout out I got from SEMRush for being one of their top writers in 2018.

 

If I remember correctly, this Tweet alone got me 20-30 new Twitter followers. Not bad at all.

But I’m not saying all this to brag about my guest posts.

I’m just trying to prove, by sharing my personal experiences, that guest blogging can be a huge window of opportunity for you to build your own social media following.

6. It Opens Up New Business Opportunities

When your guest post reaches thousands of readers and industry experts, you’re likely to get new business opportunities (assuming you have a quality product).

Over the years, I have found numerous freelance writing and consultancy clients because of my guest posts. In fact, guest blogging is a big reason why I rarely have to go looking for freelance writing clients.

The referrals just keep coming in.

7. It Gets You More Guest Blogging Offers

When you write a guest post for a high-traffic blog in your niche, many other blogs approach you to write for them especially if your post gets a lot of social shares and comments.

This can trigger a chain reaction for your business where you publish quality guest posts on leading industry blogs and keep getting more guest blogging offers from other leading blogs.

I say this from personal experience.

Here’s an example of the kind of emails I regularly receive because of my guest posts.

That’s just one example.

I can share dozens of them of because guest blogging works every time

You may even be contacted by the same blogs for follow-up posts as well. Every editor loves quality guest posts that attract visitors to their blogs.

8. It Improves Your Blogging Skills

To write for a leading blog in your niche, you need to produce content of the highest quality that not only gives valuable and actionable insights to the readers.

Most blogs have guest post submission guidelines that are designed on the basis of prior experiences of the editorial team. They know exactly the type of content that works well with their readers.

When you follow those guidelines and produce content that does well, it helps you understand the type of content that works well with your target audience.

This will help you improve your writing skills and help you create better content for your own blog.

I can see you’re already excited to start guest blogging after reading all those benefits.

Not so fast, though.

We’re still a few steps away from writing a guest post.

4 Crucial Things To Do Before You Start Guest Blogging

The success of your guest blogging strategy largely depends on your preparation.

You must align your strategy, your content, and the sites you target with your goals.

For example, some of the best marketing blogs do not allow “Do-Follow” links in guest posts. If your primary objective from guest blogging is to get backlinks for SEO, those sites are useless for you.

But if you’re looking to establish yourself as an expert, talk to a larger audience, and create brand awareness, you’d still target the best blogs in your niche even if they deny you any “Do-Follow” backlinks.

Getting my point?

Let me share a few things you need to consider before writing a guest post.

1. Choose the Right Blogs for Guest Blogging

The success of your guest posts depends largely on the blogs you choose to target.

I look for the following things in a blog before pitching a guest post.

• The popularity of the blog among your target audience
• The average level of engagement (comments and social shares) on its content
• The domain authority of the blog (needs to be equal to or higher than my site)
• The editorial standard of the blog. If a blog publishes promotional content only and links to dubious sites, it’s best to stay away from it.

Here are a few ways you can find such blogs

• Use Google Search

You can easily find dozens of blogs that accept guest posts with just a few simple searches on Google.

Try the following search terms

your topic/niche keyword + guest post

keyword + contribute

keyword + write for us

keyword + guest author

Here’s what I found when I used one of these search terms

• Search for Popular Guest Bloggers in Your Niche

Do you know any regular guest bloggers in your niche? People who write for multiple blogs and publications?

If yes, you can follow their trail to unearth dozens of guest blogging opportunities

For example, in the digital marketing niche, Neil Patel is a well-known blogger who contributes to many leading sites.

To find all the sites Neil contributes to, simply grab his author bio from any of his guest posts and search for it on Google.

Here’s what I found when I searched for it

The search results show several sites where Neil contributes as a guest blogger using the same author bio. Which means these blogs accept guest posts.

Being in the same industry, I can reach out to them with my own pitch and get published easily.

• Search Twitter for Guest Blogging Opportunities

I’m always the first one to share my guest posts on Twitter and other social networks.

I’m sure most bloggers do that.

Why not reach out to the same blog with your own guest post pitch?

Here’s how to do it.

Search Twitter for your topic keyword + [guest post] or [guest author]

I searched for “Entrepreneurship+guest post” to find guest blogging opportunities in the entrepreneurship niche.

The first two results are guest posts on the topic of entrepreneurship by different authors.

I can reach out to these sites with my own pitch and get published.

You can do this in any industry.

2. Get Familiar With Your Target Blogs

A common mistake is to approach a blog with a guest post proposal without familiarizing yourself with its content style.

Your pitch will have a much higher chance of getting accepted if you understand the voice of your target blog, its formatting style, and the topics that its audience love to read more about.

Here are a few things that you should watch out for.

• Look for the most popular posts on the blog to get an idea of the topics its audience loves the most. Many blogs have a “Popular Posts” section in their sidebar that you can use for this.

• You can also find popular posts on a blog by using BuzzSumo. When you search for the URL of your target blog on BuzzSumo, it’ll show you the posts with the highest social shares.

• Explore the archives of the blog and look for the posts that are similar to the guest post topic you have in mind. See if everything related to the topic has already been covered or if there’s any unique angle or a different perspective that you can offer on the topic

• Also, go over the comments on the more popular posts and see what the readers are saying about the topic. This can help you identify improvement areas or additional points that you can cover in your guest post.

• Blogs that accept guest posts usually have detailed guest post submission guidelines as well. Read them carefully stick to them while pitching your idea.

3. Build a Relationship With Your Target Blog

Having a prior relationship with the editor of your target blog isn’t necessary to land a guest blogging opportunity.

But it does help (especially if you’re targeting a top-tier blog)

Thankfully, online relationships can be developed very quickly.

Here’s how.

• Follow your target site on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks

• Like and Share some of their posts on Facebook and give them a fewRetweets and mentions on Twitter.

• Leave insightful comments on some of their recent posts. And please, “Great Post”, “Awesome, thanks” etc. do not qualify as comments.

Write something like this.

• You can send a short email to the blog owner as well with some quick feedback about the blog or just to say thanks for the great content they publish

Relationship building requires regular interactions, so you should spend a few minutes every day to comment on your target blogs and share their posts on social networks.

Do this for a few days and then send them a well-crafted pitch with the details of your guest post idea.

4. Prepare Your Website for Visitors

What happens once your guest post goes live and the referral traffic starts coming in?

Do you have a website with the right systems in place to turn that traffic into a business asset (subscribers, leads, customers)?

You don’t want people to visit your site just once and never get back, do you?

It’s a mistake I made in my early blogging days and I still rue it.

A guest post on a high-traffic blog can send you thousands of visitors in a matter of hours. If you don’t have your email opt-ins and pop-ups ready to turn them into subscribers, all that traffic will go to waste.

So get your own website ready to properly receive your guest post visitors and make it easy for them to take action.

You can do that either by setting up a dedicated landing page using LeadPages (my personal recommendation) or by routing them to a page that showcases your products and services in detail.

Use a free plugin like Sumo to configure pop-ups so that you can capture email subscribers.

That’s the minimum you should do to ensure that all the hard work you put into guest blogging adds value to your business.

Writing a Winning Guest Post- 6 Steps To Getting Published on Any Site

All popular blogs receive hundreds of guest post pitches every month.

But only a few are accepted.

Why are so many pitches rejected?

Because blog editors are busy people who do not have time to pursue generic and poorly prepared pitches from writers they’ve never worked with before.

Here’s an example of an easy to ignore guest blogging pitch (I’ve seen worse)

There’s only one place for such emails – the Trash folder.

I learned this the hard way (after dozens of rejected pitches and unanswered emails)

But once I got a few guest posts under my belt, I started noticing a pattern with most editors.

It helped me improve my pitches and gradually increased my acceptance rate until I started publishing guest posts for fun (I have 600+ guest posts to my name till now).

Based on this experience, let me share some ways you can improve your chances of getting published even on the best blogs in your niche.

1. Write a High-Quality Article That’s Hard to Reject

This goes against the popular view but, in my experience, it’s always better to reach out to an editor with the complete article instead of an article pitch.

This approach has worked for me over the years and helped me feature on sites like HubSpot, Adweek, and so many others.

Why does it work?

Because it saves the editor’s time and allows them to have a quick look at my article to see if I’m worth their time.

But first, you need to write a super high-quality article that’s hard to reject.

Thankfully, I’ve developed a certain article structure that really resonates well with most blog editors. I’ve shared it with many other aspiring guest bloggers and it has drastically improved their acceptance rate as well.

What is it? Let me break it down for you.

Note: I’m assuming you’ve already identified an article idea after analyzing the content of your target blog

• Write an In-depth and Actionable Article

Unless the editorial guidelines of your target blog say otherwise, always write a long, detailed, and in-depth guest post (around 1500-1700 words)

Because editors just love them.

Numerous studies have proven that longer articles not only tend to rank higher in search results but also attract more backlinks and social shares.

Here’s one such study by Backlinko that shows the relationship between content length and search rankings.

A different study by HubSpot in which it analyzed all of its blog content (hundreds of posts) found that the longer posts got more backlinks

It takes at least 3-4 hours to write a 1500-2000 word article (most writers take longer) so it’s a lot of hard work.

But pitching long-form articles instead of thin 500-750 word posts drastically increases your chances of getting accepted by the top sites.

Use Grammarly to ensure your article has no typos or grammar mistakes. If you’ve never heard of this tool before, read my Grammarly review to learn more about it (it’s a free tool, you should get it.)

• Use Images, Screenshots, and Animated GIFs

Who likes reading long blocks of text? Not me.

Visuals make your article easier to read and help your readers consume more content.

It also makes your article more desirable for an editor.

An easy way to add images to your article is by using screenshots of different infographics related to your topic (like I’ve done in this article)

Simply search Google with your topic + infographic

Whenever you’re describing something, attach a screenshot with it to make it easier for the readers to understand

I use Evernote Webclipper to create screenshots with annotations. Once installed, it appears as an extension in your Chrome browser.

If you want to create original images for your blog posts, use Canva, Design Wizard or Pablo.

And if you’re really in the mood to blow away the editor with visuals, try creating animated GIFs for your article (best suited for tutorials). I use CloudApp for creating GIFs.

Use one image, screenshot, or GIF for every sub-heading in your article. It’s a lot of hard work, I know, but it really makes your content stand out and almost guarantees you approval from the editor.

• Back Your Claims With Data, Numbers, and Case Studies

Opinions have little value if they’re not backed by proof.

And there’s nothing better to prove your arguments than lots of data from scientific research or case studies.

Numbers not only do a great job at convincing people about something but also make you look more intelligent.

Here’s where I find credible data for my content.

a. Research and data sites like Statista and Pew Research.

b. Industry specific journals

c. A quick Google search [topic + statistics]

d. Studies published on Google Scholar.

e. Infographics related to my topic [search ‘topic+infographic]

• Format Your Article Properly for Online Readers

Research shows that most online readers skim over articles instead of reading them in detail.

Like it or not, you have to adapt accordingly.

If your article is formatted like a giant block of text under a single heading, good luck finding readers for it.

You need to format your content so that readers can easily scan it.

Like this.

Here’s how you can make your article more reader-friendly.

a. Break down your article into multiple headings and subheadings

b. Use bullet points and lists

c. Use short paragraphs 2-3 lines max.

d. Use short sentences.

e. Use bold, italic, and underlines to highlight key points

f. Write in a conversational tone using words like You, I, me instead of us, we, our.

2. Write an Irresistible Headline

A weak headline might get your post discarded without even a first look from the editor.

Studies show that 80% of people only read the headline of an article to decide if it’s worth their time.

So make sure your headline is compelling and generates interest in the readers.

Here are a few headlines templates to save your time.

I would recommend reading Jon Morrow’s “Cheat Sheet for Writing Posts That Go Viral” and “How to Write Magnetic Headlines” by Brian Clark of Copyblogger.

Both of these resources have awesome tips and techniques for writing effective headlines.

3. Link to the Older Content of Your Target Blog

A great way to win favors from busy editors is by sharing some of their workload.

When a guest post gets accepted at a popular blog, the editor has to spend some time adding internal links to their archive content.

It might take a busy editor a few days or even weeks to get the time for this small activity. This can also result in unnecessary delays in publishing your guest post.

So why not take the burden off the editor, and get in their good books, by linking to their older content yourself?

To find relevant posts on your target blog, use this search query

“site:sitename.com [your topic]”

This is a better way to search for content on a site since most WordPress sites have poor search functionality.

While linking, though, just make sure you keep the anchor text natural and don’t over-optimize them

4. Use a Descriptive Author Bio

Popular blogs usually allow a 2-3 line author bio that briefly describes you as a professional and contains a backlink to your site.

Also, use this opportunity to impress the editor.

Instead of wasting this precious space with buzz words, use the language that resonates with your target audience and describes you as a potential solution to their problems.

Learn from the top bloggers in your niche and see how they describe themselves in the author bio section of their posts.

5. Send a Targeted Guest Blogging Pitch

Now that you’ve written a great article with an eye-catching headline, it’s time to reach out to the editor of your target blog.

It’s great if they’ve listed the editor’s email address on the blog’s contact page. But if they haven’t, there are a few ways you can find it.

• Check the blog’s “About” page to see if they’ve mentioned the names of their team members. Some blogs do this on a separate “Team” page.
• If you find the editor’s name anywhere on the blog, search it on Google with the blog’s name.
• See if you can find a LinkedIn or a Twitter profile of the editor.
• Sometimes you can find the editor’s personal website on their Twitter profile from where you can get their email address.
• If you still can’t find their email, try using some common email address variation eg. editor@[domain], [blogger’s first name]@[domain], info@[domain]
• If nothing works, use the dreaded contact form on their site.

Okay, so what do you actually write in your pitch?

For starters, be concise and clearly state what you can offer.

Busy editors get hundreds of pitches every month so your best chance to stand out is by writing a short email that

• Highlights your achievements to build credibility
• Shares your best writing samples [this is the key]
• Quickly describes your guest post

The following image perfectly describes an effective email pitch.

Here’s the pitch that has worked well for me over the years

Nothing fancy, I know.

But this very pitch has got me featured on numerous blogs.

Here’s why it’s so effective

• It addresses the editor by name [super important]

• Builds my credibility by mentioning all the different blogs I’ve written for

• Offers a quick overview of the post by sharing its title and word count (this is crucial)

• Makes me stand out by highlighting the fact that I’ve used screenshots, images, and animated GIFs. Most guest bloggers don’t do that.

• Shares a couple of my previously published articles on other high authority sites to build more credibility.

• Has the complete article for editorial review.

The word “Data-Driven” which I’ve used in the subject line ensures that the editor doesn’t ignore my email.

I’m sure you can see this email is quite different from the generic pitch that I shared earlier in this article.

6. Follow Up If You Don’t Get a Response

Don’t expect a reply from the editor as soon as you send the email.

It might take him a few days or even weeks before he comes back to you.

So you need to be patient.

However, it’s always wise to drop a polite follow-up email just in case you do not hear from the editor for 3-4 days.

I’d also recommend using HubSpot for email tracking. It’s a free tool that’ll let you know the moment someone opens your email, clicks on a link, or downloads an attachment.

Important: Discover all the freelance writing tools that helped me make $100/year.

4 Things To Do After Your Guest Post Is Published

Your article has been published and you’ve started getting traffic from your guest post.

Great!

But your job isn’t done yet.

Follow these steps to get the maximum benefit from your guest post.

1. Respond to the Comments on Your Post

Many bloggers disappear from the scene once their guest post goes live.

It’s their loss.

There are three reasons why responding to the comments on your guest post is important.

• Once you’ve put your points across in your post, it’s your responsibility to answer the queries of those who have taken the time to read your post. You can’t leave them unattended.

• More importantly, however, reader comments can give you a fair idea of how successful your guest post actually is. You can use these comments to identify the real problems of the readers and develop future guest post proposals based on this feedback.

• Every blog has its own set of loyal readers. So when your post gets comments from any of them, it’s a chance for you to make new connections and expand your reach in the blogosphere. Never underestimate the power of networking.

Genuine responses to reader comments can earn you a lot of respect and admirers, and can potentially open doors to new guest blogging opportunities.

2. Promote Your Guest Post Everywhere

You’ve worked so hard to get your name on a top blog. It’s time to brag about it to your social media followers.

It’s only going to enhance your brand image and open new opportunities for you.

Here are some of the ways you can promote your guest post.

• Share it with your email list subscribers. Don’t worry about sending visitors to an external website. It’s your own post, and will only strengthen your reputation with your readers.

• Share it on Twitter and Facebook and use Buffer to repeatedly share it in different time zones.

Here’s a really good example of how to share content on social media.

• Share your post with the relevant Facebook groups.

• Connect with Twitter power users in your niche and let them know about your guest post. It builds your reputation and might get you a few Retweets as well.

• Make sure you let the host blog know how aggressively you’re promoting your post. You can do that by tagging them in every promotional activity.

3. Stay In Touch With the Editor

A few hours after your post goes live, send a thank you email to the editor for giving you the opportunity to write for them.

Let them know you’re open to any new ideas they want to work on.

4. Add a Link of the Guest Post to Your Blog

Guest posts are votes of confidence for your content from other established websites. Use them to promote the credibility of your blog/business.

You can do that in a number of ways,

• Add a “Guest Posts” page to your blog and list the links to all your latest guest posts on it.

• Make the links No-Follow just to be safe from any Google penalty for reciprocal linking. Here’s how to do it in WordPress (Gutenberg)

• Use references to your guest posts in your blog content.

• Create a “Featured In” or “As Seen On” section on your site’s home page with the logos of the top sites you’ve written for.
•  

When Are You Writing Your Next Guest Post?

This has been a long post in which I’ve told you almost everything I know about guest blogging.

I could’ve gone into more detail but this is more than enough information for you to start shortlisting your target blogs, writing your next blog post, and creating a winning guest blogging pitch.

It’s time for you to take action.

If you still have any questions, let me know in the comments section.