Starting a blog is one of the best ways to build passive income this year. Once you have the blog up and running, the next challenge is building your audience. One way to do this is to submit a guest post to other blogs that have a high readership. This is an option that every blogger should consider for building traffic and getting recognition in your niche.
What is guest posting?
The concept of guest posting is simple. It simply means posting an article on someone else’s blog or website. The main reason why you might want to do this is to be able to tap into someone else’s audience and build brand awareness of your own products and services. This also allows you to build links back to your own website, which will help you to further grow your traffic. One of the main benefits of guest posting is that you can direct more traffic to your own blog, but there are many other reasons why you should consider it.
What are the questions you might have is, Do guest bloggers get paid? For the most part, the answer is no, you will not get paid money for your blog post. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few and far between. Many of the sites that do pay are either highly-specialized niche sites or for a general audience. If you find the right blog and do a well-written SEO guest post, it can reap rewards by the way of traffic, brand awareness, and getting your name known in the blogging community for your niche.
The main reason for searching for guest post opportunities is not to make money directly. Most bloggers have three main goals in mind when they guest post.
- To gain authority in the field
- Get more traffic back to your site
- Build backlinks to your site
If you create an excellent guest blog post, it is possible to accomplish all three of these goals in a single post. Many bloggers and webmasters do not allow guest posts on their sites, so if you do happen to find one that does (such as InspireFirst), you need to optimize the opportunity and make it count. This means knowing your goals, analyzing the audience, and making sure your SEO is on target. You want to put your best foot forward in every way and be grateful for this golden opportunity.
How to write guest blog posts
Submitting an effective blog post takes careful planning, research, and constructing an article that will draw the readers in and make them want to learn more on your own blog. Just as with writing posts for your own blog, success takes a methodical approach and careful planning. Here are a few tips to help you create a successful guest post.
1. Finding opportunities
The first rule when finding guest post opportunities is to make sure that the audience of the blog or website is focused on your niche or audience. They should have an active audience that engages in comments and follows their posts on social media. One way to find opportunities is through typing in the keyword that you want to target followed by the words “guest post.” You should come up with an initial list and then narrow it down to the ones that fit your topic best, and the ones that are likely to get you the most exposure.
2. Find guest blog post examples
One way to find out what works and what does not is to find prolific guest bloggers in your industry and read their posts. You need to try to find the most influential guest bloggers and read their work regularly. This will give you an idea of the style that works and give you a few ideas of popular topics.
3. Pitching your idea
The next step before you are ready to submit a guest post is to get to know the blog that you intend to pitch intimately. Read as many articles as you can and try to understand their audience. For instance, are they beginners, or seasoned professionals in the industry? What topics do they write about? What is their preferred tone and format?
4. Read the guest post guidelines
Many blogs that accept guest blog posts have a set of guest post guidelines that you must follow. You’ll find InspireFirst’s guest post guidelines at the end of this post. It is essential you read guest post guidelines and make sure that you follow them. Submitting a post that does not meet a site’s guidelines is a certain way to have it rejected. If the site you found does not have formal guidelines published, then you need to use content analysis and try to understand the style and tone that they prefer.
5. Make it personal
When you are ready to pitch your idea, make sure that you have a specific contact to use in the greeting. A generic greeting sounds like spam and is likely to land your pitch in the trash folder quickly. One way to find the name of the real person is to look on their about page or their social media. It may take some effort to find it, but do not submit your pitch until you do.
6. Writing the post
Assuming that your pitch is accepted, the next thing you need to do is to write the article. First, make sure that your SEO is on point, and that you follow SEO best practices. The most important thing to remember is that it is not about you, your product, or your services. Your primary goal must be to add value to the content that is already on the page and give the audience information that they did not already have.
7. Write a good bio
The next thing you need to do is to write an excellent guest bio. Be sure to keep it short and highlight your best selling points. Your goal with the bio is to grab the interest of readers so that they will visit your blog as soon as they are finished reading the one they are on. When writing your bio, make sure to include a link to your website, social profiles, and keep it concise.
8. Focus on the future
Remember that a well-written guest post is your ticket to be invited back for more. You should never treat guest posting as if it is a one-time deal. You want to build a relationship with the Blogger or Webmaster so that you can keep coming back. Guest posting can be the ticket to future opportunities that can drive traffic to your own website and help you grow your audience quickly.
9. Tracking your results
The final step in the process is measuring how well your blog does so that you can make adjustments in the future. One of the best and easiest ways to do this is to create an advanced segment in your Google Analytics Console. This will allow you to see data that reflects referrals from your guest host. It gives you a way to track the traffic and conversions that come from your guest post over time.
Writing a guest blog post takes research and effort, but in the end, it can be worth it. The main thing to keep in mind is that you want to focus on your target market. The second most important thing is to make sure you add value to the person’s blog. You must keep your audience and the value they will receive from the article first and foremost in every step of the process.
Finally, don’t forget to extend an invitation to the person you wrote the blog for to write on your blog, too. Allowing guest posts on your blog is an excellent way to give your audience a different perspective and add some fresh content. This cooperative approach helps both of you build your audience and gain new readers. This can be an excellent strategy for building your audience and gaining new relationships in the industry.
Now you know many of the reasons why you should include guest blog posting in your content marketing plan. It is an excellent way to expand your own audience and gain authority in the industry. Make sure to follow these guidelines when you submit a guest post, and we have a few more tips on how to build your brand and grow your audience this year. This is the year to take your brand to new heights.
How to Submit a Guest Post to InspireFirst
Would you like to write a guest post for InspireFirst? We are always on the lookout for good guest posts! We are especially looking for high quality blog posts about writing written by #ownvoices. Here are some things you should know if you want to submit a guest post to InspireFirst.
Where to Submit Your Guest Post Proposal
Before you send us your post, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Some things you should know:
At InspireFirst we have fun. Most of our content is authoritative yet conversational in style. We like articles that contain an eye-opening finding and/or share actionable ideas (how to, listicles).
Categories that our blog covers:
- Blogging
- Book Publishing
- Book Writing
- Featured Articles
- Freelance Writing
- Goal Setting
- Passive Income
- Self-Publishing
- Quotes
- SEO
- Time Management
- Writing Tips
InspireFirst Guest Post Basics
1. Articles should be at least 1500 words.
2. Articles cannot have been published elsewhere (duplicate content is a no-no).
3. Ideally, your post should include 2-3 images (GIFs are fine) or screenshots, feel free to submit these plus a featured image, but understand these may be edited or changed by us.
4. Make sure your article is well structured, proofread and grammatically correct.
5. Use short sentences, short paragraphs (2-3 sentences max), numbered lists, bullet points, and subheads (H2 to separate major sections and H3 to subdivide major sections).
6. Please provide references and links to all of your quoted or included sources and statistics.
7. Try to include a couple internal links to other InspireFirst articles/pages that relate to your topic, in addition to any external links to resources, stats, services, products.
8. Write a 2-4 sentence author bio in third person. (Include your blog if you’d like a backlink.) We need this information to set you up as a contributor on our blog.
How to Submit a Guest Post Proposal
Use the contact form and submit a blog post proposal with several samples of your writing. In your proposal, suggest a well-researched long-tail focus SEO keyword that you will use 2-4x within the body of your guest post and once within the first paragraph. *Uncertain of your keyword? Go ahead and do your best, and we can always help tweak it! *
If you have any questions about how to submit a guest post to InspireFirst, feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!
