Guest posting is seen as the miracle pill that cures all blogging ills. Got no traffic? Guest post… Got no subscribers? Guest post… Got no inbound links? Guest post… but like everything else in life guest blogging takes a bit of work. A lot of work actually, but pretend I never wrote that. You might be thinking that it's impossible to get a guest post, and that you cannot get a guest post anywhere. I understand.
If you want to guest post start with your friends.
Your friends are the most giving and forgiving people you will ever be connected to. They’ll help you with your grammar, your images, and how to write for their reader.
If your friend's blog then the chances are you’ve discussed all your blogging fears with them. They know all about your mean comments, they understand what it feels like when you say you have no idea what a terrabang is and where you would put it. Your friends that blog know all this and have their own fears surrounding many blogging myths. This means that you can talk to them about guest blogging and pitch them a post that isn’t likely to get rejected. That’s what we are fearing here: rejection.
Your guest post for a friend will be your best guest post ever.
If you replay in your mind every conversation about blogging you’ve ever had with her, you’ll know all about her audience and what she’s trying to achieve with her blog. That means your very first guest post will speak directly to that audience. It means you know the readers, where they come from and you know what their problems, their pain points, are. You have the tactical advantage and you should use it.
Your first guest post isn’t about traffic or building awesome links; it’s about confidence. It’s about someone believing in you enough to get you guest posting. It’s about leveraging your connections and deepening the relationship.
Don't have any blogging friends? Then join the 30-Day Blogging Challenge community and make some!
It's time to stop the pity-party and focus on your contacts and how to guest post for them.
Once you’ve got some guest blogging confidence then by all means go and pitch some other bloggers in your niche. You’ll have a published guest post to show them and then you can start building a relationship and finding out more about their blog in order to target your next post that speaks directly to their audience. It always, always, always helps if you are known to the blogger before you pitch to them.
- Comment on their posts
- Share their work
- Subscribe to their newsletter
- Study their content and their audience
- Look for an opportunity
This method may not be the fastest method to guest blogging success, but let me reassure you – slow and steady will win out for you.
Hi, Sarah,
I totally agree with you! I always recommend that new bloggers start with friends or even other bloggers they meet in a class or online.
Thanks for the great post!
Sue
I agree with your article. People should reach out to their immediate network first. As you said they will be more forgiving and even helpful.
From your experience, do you think that posting on a site that is not in the same niche is worth doing?
Different niche, same audience = yes. Different niche, different audience = no. If there’s no overlap it’s not beneficial to anyone and search engines may frown on links from unrelated content. That said… if you can’t guest post anywhere else for whatever reason… then a different niche is worth practising in.
Hello Sarah! This is a great post my friend! I for one have not done but a few quest posts and I would never have thought about pitching anything other then in my little about section, then it really was only a link back to my site not really a pitch. LOL
I do agree slow and steady do win out every time.. Thanks for sharing.. Chery :))
Good take on where to guest-post Sarah – always start with your friends or immediate connections. With Google now saying that guest posting is less desirable for bloggers, some could get cold feet when reaching out to popular blogs to guest post. i say there is never any harm in asking.
All the best,
Stuart
This is great advice! I’ve personally guest posted on two blogs. Unfortunately I’ve gotten very busy and haven’t written one in a while, something I need to do more of, but I have enjoyed working with the two bloggers I’ve guest posted for. Unfortunately not many of my friends prior to starting my blog had blogs themselves, but I have now networked, especially through tweetchats, with many many other bloggers. My blog is pretty new still, just 7 months old, but it is growing and I am seeking guest bloggers myself.
In fact, one additional point to add is that if you both guest post and accept guest posts, you can have steady content on your blog, help other bloggers out, and have more time to spread yourself out among other blogs via guest posting, so it’s win/win both for you and other bloggers. Just make sure that if you accept guest bloggers, you still post your own work regularly so they aren’t doing it all for you.
If anyone is interested in guest posting on my blog, with a primary topic of parenting, but I will accept other closely related topics like Education, Health and Wellness, and Frugality, or anything related to kids, maybe you’ve got young siblings or cousins, nieces or nephews, or you have other experiences with children, feel free to connect with me. I’d love to have some new blood on my blog, so to speak, and if you’re like me and don’t personally know any other bloggers, then reaching out to someone who specifically says they are seeking guest bloggers is the next great option. Now I’ve written a book in this comment, but I hope it has been helpful. I’m craftyfrugalmom on just about everything, Twitter, Facebook, and Stumbleupon, so feel free to connect with me. Do not underestimate the power of guest posting, or the fun!
Thanks, Sarah,
I hadn’t thought of it that way – glad I asked and thank you for your helpful reply.
And as I read this, I’m getting closer and closer to actually approaching someone about guest blogging. It’s going to happen. Watch for it folks. 🙂 Thanks for this encouragement, Sarah, and great to discover your blog. Just signed up for your email list.
I needed to see this. I’ve been trying to figure out how to start getting my posts on other people’s blogs. I’ll just start with someone I know!
Hey, thanks for this…I’m in this exact position, pitching to people and not getting anywhere…maybe once I follow your advice I will! Thanks so much. I wanted to ask about your challenge, does it offer some sort of support or is it solely by myself writing and toughing through it alone?
Hi Rania, the challenge is very supportive. There’s a thriving FB community where we are very active and encouraging. You’ll find many friendly people who will help and advise you if you get stuck 🙂
Good luck with the guest blogging 🙂