How to Guest Post on Other Sites in 3 Steps

If you're looking for a highly effective way to breathe life into your marketing strategy, guest posting might be your next move. For those unfamiliar with it, guest posting is simply having a piece of your content featured on another person's website. Though simple in concept, guest posting can bring a broad range of benefits to both the reach and engagement of your content.

Despite being a relatively low maintenance content marketing strategy, there are certain things you should keep in mind when getting started. Refer to this simple three step guide when you're seeking out guest posting opportunities.

Guest Posting 101

Identify Industry Authorities

First and foremost, start by identifying the key influencers and authorities within your industry. More often than not, the people in your field flock to the same online sources for tools, tips, and news. Such authorities have an existing following of users, making it the perfect catapult for you to grow your audience.

Guest posting is also a great way to build mutually beneficial relationships with other professionals in your industry. Site owners are always looking to share new content, so you have as much to offer as you have to gain. The more popular or credible the website is, the more difficult it will be to get featured as a guest writer, but even one solid guest post could dramatically increase your traffic. Start by making a list of the industry authorities whose sites you refer to regularly and could contribute a worthwhile piece of content to.

Develop an Outreach Approach/Pitch

Perhaps the most important part of guest posting is developing an outreach approach and pitch that the site owner won't want to say no to. Crafting an email that's more friendly and helpful than it is pushy is the best place to start. Here's an example of a very general outreach email:

Try and highlight why guest posting is a mutually beneficial idea and how you fit into the niche of their users.  It also helps to include links to your relevant posts in the email, as well as links to specific pieces of work they've done that interest you. It'll show that you've done your homework and can contribute in an effective manner.

Prep Your Content

When your work is going on another person's website, there's extra incentive to produce really strong content. It's the first thing users of a brand new audience will see of you, and in order to reap the full range of benefits from guest posting, you have to make a click-worthy impression. Moreover, you want to position yourself as a contributor of value to the site owner so they'll want to feature your work again.

Make sure your content is the best it can be by first developing your topic in detail, and then supplementing it with compelling evidence. Guest posts are a great place to populate your writing with data, proof, examples, and other convincing information. It's also important to consider the format of your guest post to ensure that it offers clear and actionable utility for both the website owner and users. Checklists, guides, how-to's, and infographics are all great structures that people can easily read, digest, and share.

Why It Works

A huge part of why guest posting is so effective as a marketing strategy is the trust factor that goes along with it. When your work gets featured on another noteworthy website, it gives you greater brand authority. Building that trust among users is essential for broadening your audience, and even more important for building connections with other influencers.

Republished by permission. Original here.

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This article, "How to Guest Post on Other Sites in 3 Steps" was first published on Small Business Trends