Getting Guest Blog Posting Opportunities

Unlike most SEO companies, here at our search engine marketing company we are always looking for ways to provide our clients with even better, more cutting-edge SEO services. Why? Because search engines evolve very rapidly and as an SEO service provider your techniques must keep up with the evolution of the search engine’s algorithm. For those of you who don’t already know, search engines use algorithmic-based programs that scan the web for content that links to your website to determine whether or not it is relevant and reliable enough to be “page-one” worthy for any given keyword term. The search engine programs for the most part, analyze the pages that link you website and the content surrounding those pages/links to pick up on keywords. If your links and content are optimized correctly, you end up showing up on page one of Google which is what we do for hundreds of clients. You as the content writer, play a vital role in this process…

What Are Guest Blog Posts?

Guest blog posts are a blog posts that are placed on someone else’s blog. I (Sergio Aicard) frequently write blog posts on websites like searchenginejournal.com which is a really well known blog that is all about SEO. I also blog on various other blogs that are in some form or fashion ralted to online marketing & SEO. Here are some examples:

• Ahrefs.com’s blog  – Ahrefs is a back link reporting tool for SEO’s to check what backlinks any page on the www has pointing to it.
• SEMRush’s blog – SEMRush is the most popular SEO research tool known to SEO’s. If you enter the URL of any website, it will instantly show you what keywords that page is showing up for on Google and a lot of extra data such as keyword search volume, competition and cost per click.
• Content Marketing Institute Blog – CMI is one of the most respected sites that is all about content marketing. It has hundreds of industry experts that share tips on content production and marketing.

If you’ve clicked the above links, you can see my author page that shows the various blog posts that I’ve written on these website. At the end of each blog, there is a link to my website and a bio where I include keywords that I want my website to rank for strategically. See the image below for an example of what a bio section looks like, you’ll need to provide this type of bio (including a bio picture) in most cases when you are approved to become a writer for that blog.

Additionally, in some cases (when permitted) I include links in the actual blog post that link back to other pages on my site or previous blog posts that I’ve written which I felt were worthy of referencing. Each blog that I contribute to has a set of rules that I needed to go over in detail to ensure that the blog posts I submitted do not get rejected or sent back with a bunch of revision requests. Some blogs don’t allow you to include links to other sites but most do (as long as the link being used is relevant and not just placed there illogically). If you do include links to your clients website, you need to do it carefully by referencing the most appropriate page on your clients site (based on what you’re writing about.

Let’s see an example of how I get away with linking back to my website from my blog posts. In one particular blog post that I posted on the SEMRush blog:

http://www.semrush.com/blog/5-easy-awesome-excel-tricks-seo-ppc-pros/

you can see that I included a link to my site in the last paragraph (not the bio, the paragraph before it). Specifically, I linked to a page on my site that is all about excel because in the body of that blog, I was talking about excel tips a tricks. The page I linked to, was a full list of excel shortcuts and tricks for SEO experts. It was a very relevant link that the reader would benefit from seeing. I used the phrase “Excel for SEO” and now my page ranks for that keyword when you search for keywords like “excel tricks for SEO” or “Excel tips for SEO” on Google, pretty neat huh?

How do I go About Getting Opportunities to Become a Guest Blogger?

There are a few ways to go about getting opportunities to become a guest blogger but they all involve proving yourself to be an expert in the field that you’re writing about. In other words, no one wants a person who doesn’t know what they’re talking about blogging on their website.

You need to first and foremost create some really good articles or posts (which you should already be doing with your article writing). You should really strive to create a few articles that are truly IMPRESSIVE. Once you have a few really impressive posts/articles, you should put them together as a list of links to those pages whether they are on your client’s blog or published on another site.

It’s also best to find the pages that are on your client’s website which are going to be linked to as your write your blog posts in the future like we talked about. These pages need to be really high quality and about something that readers will actually care to read like my excel tips list page that I linked to from SEMRush. It doesn’t hurt to ask your client directly if they have anything already on the web or written that can be accessed for this purpose of getting a guest blog posting opportunity for them. If they don’t have any content that you can use for this, you as the writer should focus on getting this created. Become your clients ideal customer, and think about what kind of information they would benefit from reading before purchasing your client’s products or services. For example, if I am going to buy a wheelchair or scooter for my handicap relative, I may want to read an article that explains how to choose the right handicap scooter or wheelchair for your body type. Which is what we did for a project here:

https://www.mobilityscootersdirect.com/blog/mobility-scooters/the-mobility-scooter-buyers-guide/

The above blog post could be used as an example of the blogs that I’ve written if I were a writer for this client looking to reach out to blog owners to become a guest blogger on their blog. NOTE: A really good place to get a high quality blog post published is on Linkedin Pulse which is easy if you have a Linkedin Account, its basically a blog post on linkedin which looks really credible in most cases. I could use this blog posts and a few others (such as the linkedin pulse post I just mentioned) with an introduction email or social media message that sounds something like this:

I’ve had great success with following the blog’s social media facebook page and or linkedin company page then sending a message like the one above via a social media message. If all goes well, the person you message will reply back explaining whether or not they are willing to accept your post for consideration and provide you with a set of guidelines or a page on their site that explains the rules and process for getting started.

When you do get a reply from the person you try to reach, you should be very thankful for even getting a reply. Tell them that you will go above and beyond to ensure your blog post for consideration is going to please your audience and that you are going promote the post on your social channels and encourage your followers to share it too. Blog owners like it when authors get their blog posts shared on social because it drives traffic to their site which is why it helps to mention that you’ll be sharing it on your social platforms as well as the companies company profiles on the various social platforms.

The blog post that you prepare for the person who allows you to write for their blog needs to be the best blog you’ve ever written. It needs to be extremely high quality and about a topic that is fresh, and worth reading for their audience members / readers. Before sending the guest blog post out to the blog owner for approval, you will need to send the blog to the project manager of your account for approval. Use the blog post training video that we created for blog training by clicking here if you need a refresher course on blogging. Also use the Power Point Presentation that Jason made which explains how to write a great blog post.

How do I Find Blogs That I Should Become a Guest Blogger on?

So now that you know how to approach the blog when asking to become a guest blogger, let’s talk about how to find blogs that you want to target as a source to become a guest blogger. Note: I highly recommend hopping on a call with the project manager of the account to get some direction and feedback as to where you can start finding guest blog posting opportunities as the project manager usually knows the client and the business very well. Your project manager can also help you better understand the mindset of a potential customer so before you go and freely try to do everything yourself, reach out to the project manager and setup a call to discuss the guest blog post outreach campaign.

In order to find the best places to search for getting guest blog posting opportunities from, you’re going to have to become intimate with the business. Learn as much as you can about the products or services offered by your client and essentially become the ideal customer for your client. Think of the many different topics that are researched by your client’s customers and what they may be researching from time to time. Consider what the business itself utilizes to stay in business such as partnerships, manufacturers (for clients that sell products) or any type of relations that the business owner (your client) might have.

Let’s go over some examples of how this can apply to a few scenarios.

Example: client sells products (eCommerce website)

1. Identify the manufacturer and maybe you can get links from the manufacturers website or blog. Ask your client to put you in touch with the manufacturer reps or to simply ask if they would be willing to put a blog post on their website for being a re-seller of their products.
   Find topics that consumers would research before buying the products your client sells. Then find existing blogs that are related to these research topics by searching for it on Google. Reach out to the blog owner via social (depending on the blog you find, it may be a company page not a personal page that you’ll have to connect with or message for a guest blog post opportunity). When you search on google for these types of blogs, use the following examples of search themes:
   -buyers guides
   -how to find the best prices on the product
   -product review style blog posts
   -blogs related to that product in general
2. News about the industry is a great way to find blogs that contain relevant content for your client to get links from. Let’s say for example if your client is selling handicap products like wheelchairs, you may find blogs that are related to handicap people or people with disabilities. When you find some good blogs related to the industry connect with the person or popular author either via the contact us page, social or any way you can. Try searching google for things like:
   -handicap blogs
   -blogs for handicap people
   -blogs for those with disabilities
   -disability blogs
3. Indirectly related blogs for example if you have a client that sells bathroom furniture, you may find a blog that is all about home decor or remodeling of homes. Search google for topics that can be indirectly related to the products that your client sells. If your client sell bathroom furniture or any type of home furniture, search on Google for things like:
   -remodeling blogs
   -remodeling ideas 2015
   -home decor blog
   -home fashion blogs
   -home remodeling blogs.
   -furniture blog
4. Search Google using keywords like: “[keyword related to the industry] blog write for us”.

An example search term would be “home decor blog write for us” if you were writing for a client that sold home furniture or products related to home decor. The result page for that keyword is shown below and as you can see there is a lot of blogs in the home decor arena that will allow guest writers to submit blogs on their website.

How Do I Get Started?

First and foremost, you will need to set up that meeting with your project manager to get some ideas for topics that will be engaging enough to use. The steps needed to get the job done right are outlined below:

1. Setup a meeting to discuss the strategy with your project manager and to get ideas for topics, types of blogs to find and industry knowledge that will allow you to target blogs which will be a good fit.
2. Create really good blog posts based on topics that you and the project manager come up with to use as “bragging rights” when you reach out to the blog owners you’re trying to get a writing opportunity on. Start with one or two posts that are really good on your clients blog, one on linkedin pulse and then try and have one published on Hub Pages which is a great site for getting blog posts.
3. Find the blogs that you want to target for guest blog posting opportunities and the way you’re going to contact that person. Create a basecamp writeboard to keep track of your progress and to-do’s to follow up with individuals that you don’t have success with reaching the first time around. If email doesn’t work the first time, try the contact us page, if that doesn’t work try social media. Don’t give up on the first try when reaching out to blog owners and keep up with your outreach by staying organized.
4. Once you get a response or replies from the people you reach out to for guest writing opportunities, let your project manager know and draft a response + post for consideration after getting it approved by your Project manager.
5. Send the post and hope that they approve!

If you get this done, you are getting links for your clients that not many other competitors can get which means your client is going to be showing up on Google for search terms that bring them more business. Make sure you include keywords that are likely to be used by potential customers in your blog post but of course, don’t over do it. The blog post should only include 2 or 3 keywords at most and should not be easily spotted, they should be well hidden in the content in a natural way that doesn’t even seem like you tried to inject keywords in there for SEO purposes. Check out any of my blog posts to get an idea of how I did it by going to our “where we are featured page” and clicking on the author links. There are a bunch of great blog posts that we have done which are well formatted and that use all of the best practices for guest blogging.

Good luck!

About The Author

Jason Hawkins / http://www.themiamiseocompany.com

Jason Hawkins is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Miami SEO Company. He has over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization and lead generation. His core responsibilities include identifying ways to increase value of services rendered, training staff on advanced SEO topics, and A/B testing internal processes to consistently improve client return on investment.