How to Guest Blog for Business in 10 Steps
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2024 6:04 am
Have you ever thought about guest blogging for business? Or perhaps, you have been dabbling in it but not seeing any results? In today’s post, I am giving you my 10-step process for getting published on the leading blogs in your space, attracting readers and clients.
I have tried and tested this method myself and with hundreds of clients. I have taken the guess work out and made everything as clear as it can be.
Let’s get right into it!
Step #1 Decide on your goal
Why do you want to publish on other blogs? What’s the telegram database purpose behind it? Your job is to get super clear on it. There are two main reasons why you, as a business owner, would choose a blog to guest post on. One, it will build your credibility. Two, it will build your email list.
Now these two goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive and leading blogs in your particular industry can give you both of these results at the same time, but it is wise to choose one goal and treat the other outcome as the icing on the cake.
Blogs like Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, and Lifehacker are great for raising your profile and give you the right to display those highly coveted ‘as-seen-on’ logos across your website.
Then you have industry specific blogs. For example, for a life coach blogs like Tiny Buddha, Pick Your Brain, The Daily Love, Mind Body Green, and Elephant Journal are great sources to potentially build your credibility and list, both. When your focus is on building your list, look for blogs that are run by a single owner, who write majority of their own content and their audience is super engaged.
Step #2 Make a list of target blogs
This step takes a fair amount of research. This is the step which people tend to keep procrastinating on. Business owners are busy overseeing their Facebook ads, sending promotional emails, or creating their next product which will always be more urgent and important than doing research which may or may not provide a great return on investment.
The way I get around this is that I give a list of about 30-40 blogs to my private clients so they can get started straightaway. Unfortunately, you will have to do the work so let me teach you how.
I want you to make a list off the top of your head. Think about the leading blogs in your industry you follow. Add blogs that you recall from people talking about them in various Facebook groups or online forums you visit. And then also look at your own email subscriptions or RSS feed.
Run some searches on Google. Look for relevant keyword based phrases such as Top 50 Personal Development Blogs, or Self-improvement Blogs that accept guest posts for example.
Lastly, try going to alltop.com, a site that curates the best content as it appears on blogs. You also have an option to search for blogs using their search bar.
I recommend starting with a list of at least 50 blogs because most of the blogs won’t make suitable guest blogging targets. Let’s discuss why.
In this post, you’ll find more ideas on how to identify appropriate sites for guest posting.
Step #3 Short list your targets
You will continue your research and dive even deeper here. Start by choosing one blog from your list. Your job at this stage to determine whether this blog accepts guest posts in the first place. Scrolling through their blog and see if you can locate any evidence of posts published by guest authors. You will often see it as ‘this is a post written by guest blogger …’
Another way to be sure is to spot their guest posting guidelines or write for us tabs, usually found on the navigation bar. Discard any blogs that don’t appear to publish any guest posts. Do not annoy the blogger by emailing them and asking if they do. Have a look around and find that out for yourself.
At this stage I would recommend creating a spreadsheet and start recording information such as blog’s title, URL, accept guest posts (check), guest post guidelines, popular ideas, relationship status, pitch sent, post status, etc.
to_do
Step #4 Pre-pitch process
As you are going through each blog, see if you locate their guest post guidelines and read through them. Make a note of if they want you to submit a completed post or send an idea for approval first. They might even say that guest posts are invitation only.
If you don’t see the guest blogging guidelines and they routinely publish guest blogs, check out their about or contact pages because sometimes the information can be listed there.
If they accept completed posts, move that blog up to the top. These blogs are relatively easier to write for. You don’t need to do much ‘pre-pitch’ process. Choosing the right idea is still very important and I will talk about that in a minute.
If they require you to submit an idea first, or if guest posts are invitation-only, then you need to warm them up. This is what I call the pre-pitch process. Your goal is for them to take you from ‘stranger’ category to ‘a valued reader/colleague’ one. You ideally want them to recognize your name in their inbox. So how do you do it?
Firstly, follow them on social media if you haven’t already. Then read a few blog posts written by them and leave a thoughtful comment. All bloggers read their comments even if they don’t reply to all of them. Interact with them on social media and share their stuff. Be helpful and show that you respect their work.
Step #5 Choose a winning idea
Now, regardless of the fact that if you are sending in a completed blog post that is ready to go, or if you are sending a blog idea, it is super important that you find out what will resonate with the blogger and their audience.
For this reason, I highly recommend that you go through 5-7 posts published on the blog. You don’t have to read them word for word but get a sense of what the blogger publishes and also what is getting popular.
Go through the reader comments. Which posts are receiving most of them? Where do you see the most social media engagement happening? These will give you clues into what their audience finds to be really useful.
Another way of doing this is to have a look at their most popular or best content listed on the sidebar. This may be latest favourites or evergreen content. After spending these 15-20 minutes you should have a pretty good idea of what will make a really great blog post submission. Your idea can make or break your pitch so don’t skimp on this step!
While you are at it, keep an open mind for ideas you can get after reading the comments. Can you do a follow up post? Can you create an in-depth post on something the blogger covered previously?
I have tried and tested this method myself and with hundreds of clients. I have taken the guess work out and made everything as clear as it can be.
Let’s get right into it!
Step #1 Decide on your goal
Why do you want to publish on other blogs? What’s the telegram database purpose behind it? Your job is to get super clear on it. There are two main reasons why you, as a business owner, would choose a blog to guest post on. One, it will build your credibility. Two, it will build your email list.
Now these two goals are not necessarily mutually exclusive and leading blogs in your particular industry can give you both of these results at the same time, but it is wise to choose one goal and treat the other outcome as the icing on the cake.
Blogs like Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, and Lifehacker are great for raising your profile and give you the right to display those highly coveted ‘as-seen-on’ logos across your website.
Then you have industry specific blogs. For example, for a life coach blogs like Tiny Buddha, Pick Your Brain, The Daily Love, Mind Body Green, and Elephant Journal are great sources to potentially build your credibility and list, both. When your focus is on building your list, look for blogs that are run by a single owner, who write majority of their own content and their audience is super engaged.
Step #2 Make a list of target blogs
This step takes a fair amount of research. This is the step which people tend to keep procrastinating on. Business owners are busy overseeing their Facebook ads, sending promotional emails, or creating their next product which will always be more urgent and important than doing research which may or may not provide a great return on investment.
The way I get around this is that I give a list of about 30-40 blogs to my private clients so they can get started straightaway. Unfortunately, you will have to do the work so let me teach you how.
I want you to make a list off the top of your head. Think about the leading blogs in your industry you follow. Add blogs that you recall from people talking about them in various Facebook groups or online forums you visit. And then also look at your own email subscriptions or RSS feed.
Run some searches on Google. Look for relevant keyword based phrases such as Top 50 Personal Development Blogs, or Self-improvement Blogs that accept guest posts for example.
Lastly, try going to alltop.com, a site that curates the best content as it appears on blogs. You also have an option to search for blogs using their search bar.
I recommend starting with a list of at least 50 blogs because most of the blogs won’t make suitable guest blogging targets. Let’s discuss why.
In this post, you’ll find more ideas on how to identify appropriate sites for guest posting.
Step #3 Short list your targets
You will continue your research and dive even deeper here. Start by choosing one blog from your list. Your job at this stage to determine whether this blog accepts guest posts in the first place. Scrolling through their blog and see if you can locate any evidence of posts published by guest authors. You will often see it as ‘this is a post written by guest blogger …’
Another way to be sure is to spot their guest posting guidelines or write for us tabs, usually found on the navigation bar. Discard any blogs that don’t appear to publish any guest posts. Do not annoy the blogger by emailing them and asking if they do. Have a look around and find that out for yourself.
At this stage I would recommend creating a spreadsheet and start recording information such as blog’s title, URL, accept guest posts (check), guest post guidelines, popular ideas, relationship status, pitch sent, post status, etc.
to_do
Step #4 Pre-pitch process
As you are going through each blog, see if you locate their guest post guidelines and read through them. Make a note of if they want you to submit a completed post or send an idea for approval first. They might even say that guest posts are invitation only.
If you don’t see the guest blogging guidelines and they routinely publish guest blogs, check out their about or contact pages because sometimes the information can be listed there.
If they accept completed posts, move that blog up to the top. These blogs are relatively easier to write for. You don’t need to do much ‘pre-pitch’ process. Choosing the right idea is still very important and I will talk about that in a minute.
If they require you to submit an idea first, or if guest posts are invitation-only, then you need to warm them up. This is what I call the pre-pitch process. Your goal is for them to take you from ‘stranger’ category to ‘a valued reader/colleague’ one. You ideally want them to recognize your name in their inbox. So how do you do it?
Firstly, follow them on social media if you haven’t already. Then read a few blog posts written by them and leave a thoughtful comment. All bloggers read their comments even if they don’t reply to all of them. Interact with them on social media and share their stuff. Be helpful and show that you respect their work.
Step #5 Choose a winning idea
Now, regardless of the fact that if you are sending in a completed blog post that is ready to go, or if you are sending a blog idea, it is super important that you find out what will resonate with the blogger and their audience.
For this reason, I highly recommend that you go through 5-7 posts published on the blog. You don’t have to read them word for word but get a sense of what the blogger publishes and also what is getting popular.
Go through the reader comments. Which posts are receiving most of them? Where do you see the most social media engagement happening? These will give you clues into what their audience finds to be really useful.
Another way of doing this is to have a look at their most popular or best content listed on the sidebar. This may be latest favourites or evergreen content. After spending these 15-20 minutes you should have a pretty good idea of what will make a really great blog post submission. Your idea can make or break your pitch so don’t skimp on this step!
While you are at it, keep an open mind for ideas you can get after reading the comments. Can you do a follow up post? Can you create an in-depth post on something the blogger covered previously?