The Ultimate Guide To Guest Blogging (With Sample Guidelines)

Table of Contents

• What is Guest Blogging?
• Benefits Of Guest Blogging
• What Are Your Guest Blogging Goals?
• How Do I Guest Post?
• How To Pitch Ideas For A Guest Post?
• How To Write A Guest Post?
• Key Takeaways
• Conclusion
• FAQs

Blogging is a vital tool for marketing in today’s times. With blogging, you can get the right kind of traffic on your website. Guest blogging has emerged as an interesting field in recent years. It keeps your blog page niche-oriented, interesting and also helps establish meaningful relationships within the blogging community. With definitive guest blogging guidelines, you can easily find and reach out to guest bloggers. Guest blogging can also help you get in touch with companies/brands/individuals you hope to partner with in the future.

What is Guest Blogging?

Publishing an article or a blog on someone else’s website is known as guest blogging and guest posting. Guest posting has proven to get brand awareness and visitors to the site as well as the guest blogger. If you are contributing content in the form of guest posts to other sites that are relevant to your niche, your own site also attracts traffic. 

Guest posts can be written by almost anyone. But a good guest post has to-the-point content, is crisp and relevant. Generally, the length of guest posts ranges from 500-1000 words. While some guest posts might be as long as 2500 words and still be engaging to read. More content increases your chances of a high ranking on search engines. But more content does not mean you unnecessarily stretch the length of your blog posts just because the rule states so. Blogging is all about sharing on-topic and relevant content that the audience finds useful and worth reading. 

 Benefits of Guest Blogging

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Guest posting has numerous benefits, some of which are listed below:

• Guest blogs expand your network by connecting you with influencers, other guest bloggers, industry experts, and a wider audience. It even allows you to brainstorm and discuss guest post ideas with other collaborators.
• It increases your online reach. If the blog page you are guest posting on has an active social media presence and shares its blog content to its socials, your online reach also increases manifold.
• Your followers on social media platforms will increase in turn. Social media shares will lead to more people coming across your brand/ business or individual social profiles. This will impact your lead generation. In guest posting, you also get the option of including information about your socials, in the post that you have contributed.
• Allows you to backlink your website. If the website or blog page you are guest posting for is a recognized page that has some authority within a particular industry, your site is guaranteed to be discovered by more people via the backlink on the post. Your site becomes indexable to Google search. It is therefore an effective SEO technique.
• Helps you generate leads. If you have your blogging goals clear in your mind and you have chosen a site that is relevant to your niche, you will become visible to an audience that is already interested in your area of work/ business. 
• Brings you closer to the community you are writing for. As a guest blogger, not only do you attract visitors to your site, you also establish yourself as an important contributor within a particular community. This enables you to receive feedback from other bloggers and contributors within that community. 
• Improves the quality of your content over time. Guest posting encourages you to put in more effort and dedicate more time and research to your own niche and the posts that you are creating. Because your blogs will be shared with a wider audience, it subconsciously makes you put in more hard work and diligence into what you do as a blogger. 

What are Your Guest Blogging Goals?

Before we move on to guest post guidelines and guest posting tips, it is important to know what are your goals for guest blogging. Unless you are sure why you want to guest blog or what you want to achieve by guest posting, you cannot choose the right blogs to pitch your guest post ideas to. The three main goals for guest blogging are as follows:

• Getting traffic back to your site
• Carving out a position for yourself as a known blogger in your niche
• Building backlinks to your website via guest posts

If getting traffic and visitors on your website is your goal, then you will have to find blog pages with a good audience engagement and following. A blog page with a wide audience will automatically draw exposure to your site. In case you aim to get recognition in your own niche, then you should be looking for pages that are popular within your industry. In case your goal is building backlinks, which advisably should not be your sole purpose for guest blogging, you will have to approach blog pages that have a strong root domain. 

How Do I Guest Post?

After learning about the benefits of guest posting and determining your goals for posting as a guest blogger, it’s time to find out how to get started with the process of guest posting. The first and foremost on the list of guest blogging guidelines is to find avenues for guest posting. 

Ensure the following when looking for guest blogging opportunities. 

• Is the content of the blog you are pitching relevant to your niche?
• Will their audience be interested in reading what you share?
• Does the site have a visibly engaged readership?
• Is content actively shared on the blog page?

Method 1- Make use of Google Search

The simplest and most useful of all guest blogging tips is, turning to Google Search to look for opportunities. Use keywords and keyphrases to find blogs associated with your niche or blogs that accept guest posts. Some examples of keyword searches are:

• Your Keyword ‘guest post’
• Your Keyword ‘accepting guest posts
• Your Keyword ‘guest blogging opportunities’
• Your Keyword ‘submit a guest post’
• Your Keyword ‘want to write for us’
• Your Keyword ‘guest column’
• Your Keyword ‘guest post courtesy of’

And so on. 

The above-mentioned searches will lead you to blog pages that accept guest posts, their submission pages, and guidelines, etc. Google Search Strings is your first stop on the roadmap to guidelines for guest posting. 

Method 2- Find popular guest bloggers

It is a good idea to read a lot of blogs relevant to your niche. Reading gives you an insight into what kind of content others within the industry are sharing. It also keeps you updated on information like- who are the popular bloggers in your niche,  known for guest posting? For example, some prolific bloggers in the marketing industry include- Kevin Rowe, Kirk Williams, Tony Right, Jenny Halasz, etc. You can search for the names of popular bloggers in your industry or use the key phrase ‘guest blog by ______’. 

The search results will list all the guest posts by the blogger you have searched for. Now make a list of all the blogs and websites they have contributed to. It would be great if you could form a connection with a known blogger in your niche and learn from them. 

Method 3- Reverse image search

In case you have difficulty finding guest posts by your favorite guest bloggers and popular contributors in your niche, you can go to the website of that specific blogger and copy the URL or their headshot from the author bio. Paste it into Google reverse image search and you Google will enlist all the sites they have guest posted to, in front of your eyes.

Method 4- Tap into Twitter

If Google is not proving to be a helpful source for finding out guest blogging opportunities. The search results generated by Twitter are also more current than those of Google. All you have to do is- go to Twitter search and enter any guest post search string in it. 

Method 5- A readymade list of sites

While guest blogging guidelines mostly suggest that a current and self-searched opportunity is a better option, in case you want to save time and quickly find a lot of sites that offer guest posting, with minimum hassle, thus saving your time- your search ends at readymade lists. There are compiled lists available on the internet that have several websites with their links attached. 

Method 6- Social searches

Another great way to find sites that accept guest blogs is by keeping a close eye on the content shared by fellow bloggers on their social networks. Guest bloggers usually share the link to their guest posts on their stories and posts and even tweets. 

How to Pitch Ideas for a Guest Post?

So far you have scaled the easier portion of the guest blogging journey. What lies next, is the actual process of reaching out to blog pages and sites, and pitching your ideas to them. Here is a sample guideline to guide you through the process of pitching:

Step 1- Understand the blog’s content

Start by carefully observing and understanding what type of content within the niche, is a particular blog posting. Find out- who is their audience, how are they interacting with their audience, what type of content is shared by them, what formats do they prefer? Having a close understanding of the blog you are pitching to, increases your chances of getting accepted. 

Step 2- Observe other guest posts on the blog

See how other guest posts are performing on the blogs you have shortlisted, to contribute to. Are they getting a good number of comments? Are they sharing links to their socials, how have they written author bios or introduced themselves? Compare the engagement guest posts and the owner’s posts receive on the blog site. 

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Find out if there is a common element in the guest posts featured on the blog.

Step 3- Find out a little about the contributors

Take a closer look at the guest bloggers who have been frequently contributing to a site, you will observe there must be a reason for this preference. Is it the type of content they write, is it because of their popularity on social media, are they friends or associated with the blog site owner? Read their guest blogs and their author bios. This will help you in pitching.

Step 4- What posts perform the best

The best way to make sure that your pitch is not turned down is to have a basic knowledge of what topics perform the best on a particular blog site. Take out some time to read a few guest posts on the site you are planning to pitch to. 

Step 5- Pitch when the time is right

While there is no predictable perfect time to pitch a guest post idea, you can always make use of certain favorable occasions. When a blog tags you or mentions your business/brand/social media handle on one of their posts, it is a ripe time to tell them you would like to collaborate with them or write a guest post for their site. Certain blog pages list when an opportunity opens up and they are looking for a guest writer or blogger. If you see a guest post by a blog, you can always send them an immediate query email. 

Step 6- Leave a blog comment

To engage yourself in a conversation with the owner of the site you want to pitch for, leave a comment on one of their posts. Make them notice that you are genuinely interested in what they write and share. 

Step 7- Choose the perfect topic

Before you send an email requesting a guest post collaboration, make sure you have chosen the right topic, and have done thorough research. Choose a topic that the site owner might be interested in or something under the niche that has featured several times in the form of guest posts. Prepare a rough draft of your post. You should thoroughly know your topic and ideas related to it, beforehand. 

Step 8- Send your pitch via an email

It is a professional way to approach a blog owner via email. Make your email template engaging and effective. Ask yourself- why will the blog owner want to read just another guest blog proposal, what are you offering them via your post? Start with something that you have noted or observed about their site, specific and not generic. Keep your email short and crisp, preferably under 150 words. Give them 2-3 topics to choose from. You cannot expect anyone to readily agree to a single idea you have sent, just because you feel it will make for a great blog post. Include a brief touch of your experience and one or two links to posts written by you, which are relevant to what the guest posts. 

How to Write a Guest Post?

After your pitch has been accepted, it is now time to follow the guidelines towards crafting a guest post that is impeccable and will give you an identity within your niche. Before you start writing your guest post, read the guidelines mentioned for guest posts on the site. Try to adhere to it as much as possible. While writing, keep in mind the conversation you have had with the site owner (over email or phone call). Stick to what you have promised to them. 

There are a few guest blogging tips to keep in mind when crafting your guest post:

• The blog that you are about to write has to be better than your usual blog posts. It is a guest blog for a reason. Sites invite guest bloggers for quality posts.
• Longer articles have a better chance of appearing in search results. But do not fill it with fluff, make it actionable. 

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• Add screenshots, flowcharts, and images that make your post stand out. Tell the audience something they don’t already know about that particular niche and tell it in a crisp unique manner.
• Add internal links in your post, preferably to some of the same site’s other posts.
• Write for the audience of the site. At each step make sure you are catering to their interest. Speak directly to the readers through your guest post. Pay attention to the tone of the site while writing
• Align to the blogging format of the site. 

Most importantly, the guest post is not about you. You are not there to advertise yourself (not directly of course). Make the guest post interesting, educational, informative yet fun, and engaging for the readers. People will lose their interest if your post sounds too self-promotional. Give them something of value through your guest post.

Key Takeaways

• Guest blogs expand your network by connecting you with influencers.
• Publishing an article or a blog on someone else’s website is known as guest blogging and guest posting.
• Before you pitch your guest post ideas, make sure what are your guest blogging goals.
• Guest posting brings you closer to the community of bloggers and helps you attract more visitors to your site.
• When pitching your ideas for a guest post, start with basic research about the niche, audience, and engaged readership of the site you are pitching to.
• Google Search Strings is your first stop on the roadmap to guidelines for guest posting. This will help you find opportunities for guest posting. 
• If you want to save time and quickly find a lot of sites that offer guest posting, with minimum hassle, your search ends at readymade lists.
• While pitching ideas to a blog/site, understand the site’s content and the interests of the owner.
• A guest post is not a place for your personal promotion. Make the guest post interesting, educational, informative yet fun, and engaging for the readers of the site.

Conclusion

While guest blogging is about adhering to the guidelines, tone, style, and format of the blog you are writing the guest post for, you also need to make an impression. With your content, you have to compel the readers to click on your social links and find you out or want to read more of what you share. Fit in with the requirements of the site as much as you can but stay true to yourself at the same time.

FAQs