Unlock the Power of Guest Posts: A Guide for Bloggers and Businesses

Guest posts offer a valuable opportunity for writers to share their expertise and reach a new audience, while also providing fresh perspectives and diverse content for readers. They also help build relationships, increase engagement, and boost SEO.

A guest post is a blog or article you write and publish on another website, following its editorial policies. The post contains your byline on that site, showing you are the contributor. 

Guest posts are useful for gaining backlinks and help bloggers and website owners build an online reputation. Blogging for someone else’s website is a proven ROI improvement tactic in content marketing. 

Don’t believe it, but experts from the social media tool app -Buffer acquired 100,000 customers within a span of nine months with 150 guest posts. 

And so can you!

If you are a site owner or have started freelance writing, you should consider guest blogging to build brand awareness and credibility in your niche. Learn how to do it today. 

Guest Blogging Strategy in 5 Simple Steps

Your approach to guest posting can bring great results with these five steps. 

Define Your Goals

Guest posting can serve various purposes. Figuring out a single purpose can streamline your content marketing strategy. So try answering these questions. 

• “Is the post for SEO link building?”
• “Will the guest blog increase brand awareness?”
• “Is the blog post going to help me find a professional network through my expertise in a specific subject?”
• “Is it to improve sales or conversions?”
• “Will I get more readers and be able to have a positive influence online?”

Prepare a List of Guest Blogging Sites

Do a Google search. It’s as easy as it seems. 

Type “blogs that accept blog posts”. You can also use your industry keyword+guess posts/guest contribution/submit a guest post, or keyword + write for us.  

With similar variations, you will find a long list of results. And it is recommended to research sites ranking up to the 5th page of search results.  You can search for sites even further on Google SERP. 

Another way to find out about guest blogging opportunities is to analyse your competitor’s backlinks. You can use backlink analysis tools from SEMrush or dedicated ones like Monitor Backlinks.

And, if you are unsure of the top sites in your niche, visit AllTop.com. It aggregates the best websites and topics across every niche. 

If you have exhausted all the options above, find opportunities on social media, especially, Twitter. Just type in ‘guest post’ and find the links to blogs in your industry accepting guest bloggers. 

Ensure Guest Posting Sites Have Decent Domain Authority

A good domain authority of the guest posting site should not be overlooked. Tools including Moz offers its own domain authority (DA) checker. The ones close to 100 are better, as they have more traffic and are reputable. 

But to be realistic, Search Engine Journal experts mention a domain authority of 30 and above is adequate for finding opportunities for guest blogging. These mid-domain rating sites may also compensate you. 

Sites with DA below 25 are not recommended. Nor sites with no editorial process. These sites with low domain rating will not provide quality backlinks even when you write quality content. 

Apart from that, even when the publisher site is not too good with its SEO practices, you can find out their social standing. If they have a good presence as a brand, it can be a good opportunity. 

Brush up on fundamental concepts with our SEO interview questions.

Prepare a Personalised Pitch

Once you have researched the websites, focus on preparing a pitch. This is what is usually known as guest blogging outreach. 

There are some dos and don’ts to a guest post pitch as well. 

• Personalising your email instead of sending a generalised email that gets instantly ignored. Do not send generic emails that look like copied templates or they will be considered spam.
• Knowing that the guest post is not about your product or service, but about providing high-quality content for the publication you are writing for and possibly becoming a reputable expert in your niche.
• Showing interest in the publication where you are thinking of submitting a post. Instead of sending a straight-up email about your interest, reach out to the publication a little before sending. Maybe you can comment on their blogs or engage with their social media posts and how the blogs helped you. 
• Describe what you are offering in brief and how it may bring value to the guest posting site. 
• You can also set up an exchange for the website you are writing for. Mention that you can publish their blogs on your website. This shows you are genuinely interested in building a relationship with the guest posting site and their target audience instead of just going for a link building opportunity. 

Write Shareworthy Content 

The first thing to consider while writing content is following all the editorial guidelines on the guest posting site.  Second, don’t fixate on writing as only a link building opportunity. Offering value to readers and the website is what actually matters. 

Write for the website’s audience and follow the format it uses. Ideally, you should follow basic blog writing guidelines that search engines like Google love. 

The length of guest posts can go beyond 1000 words but removing any unnecessary writing is important. Focus on actionable words and on-page elements including heading divisions, meta-descriptions, and good readability. 

If the website you are writing for has a high domain rating, interlink some of its relevant pages. On top of that, include high quality images or infographics. These are the best elements that you will find across great content. 

You can also add some external links if the website allows. But your bio link should be allowed in the byline, so readers can find your content on your website.   

Once published, reply to comments. Don’t forget to share your published guest post on social media. 

Top Guest Posting Sites

For guest posting opportunities, here is a list of the top sites industry wise. These sites accept guest content and have high domain authority and can help you get quality backlinks.  Do note that pitching to these site owners means you are an established blogger who writes quality content. 

Industry	Guest Posting Site
Marketing	HubSpot
	Content Marketing Institute
	Copyblogger
Business	Harvard Business Review
	Inc.
Technology	Tech Crunch
	The Verge
Lifestyle	Lifehacker
	Medium

Also, check out the best affiliate marketing websites to take your guest blogging game to the next level!

Parting Thoughts

Guest posting is a helpful content strategy for small businesses, and there are many options for being a guest writer in any industry today. Remember, your success boils down to how you pitch your guest posting service. 

Knowing what works in the digital marketing domain will further help you craft effective strategies for content, social media and emails. Take up digital marketing courses and enhance your learning today.