A Beginner?s Guide to Writing Guest Blog Posts
Those of you new to blogging and profiting off of it may often find that there are days when the website traffic isn?t as heavy. Sure, there are issues that may need to be addressed in order to drive more people to a site, but a lesser-known strategy of getting more readers would be guest blogging.
Guest blogging to put it simply is when you write articles for someone else?s blog or website with a larger audience. The purpose of this strategy is to gain exposure, grow your brand, and of course, direct organic traffic and build backlinks to your own blog. Of course, when you have a bigger following, you can do the reverse and get professional blog posts written for you.
In order to guest blog, you?ll first need to find a blog that will accept guest posts. But guest blog posts can be a little tricky to create. With that being said, here are a few guidelines to creating guest blog posts.
Stick to the familiar
A common mistake most beginners make when it comes to guest blogging is that they latch on to any website they find that is guest blogger-friendly. When starting out as a guest blogger, it might be best to write for blogs whose topics you can cover well. This will make guest blog posts easier to write, plus there?s a better chance that audiences from that blog will also take an interest in yours.
Read and follow the guidelines
Different blogs have different rules and regulations when it comes to submitting guest posts. It?s important to follow these guidelines to a T in order to get a submitted guest post approved. Guest post guidelines can be usually found on a blog?s About or Contact page, or it may even be on a separate WordPress widget. These will usually contain the type of content they would like to see, formatting, word count, and other guidelines.
Research, research, research
Another mistake newbies make is writing lots of guest blog posts and then finding sites whose content matches up with what they wrote. This can result in a lot of wasted effort. Instead, it is better to do research on the host blog. Read up on their latest content, figure out what topics the host blog covers, and find out if there are gaps that can be filled with a guest post. Then jot down a list of ideas to write about, and start writing from there.
Always come up with fresh content
While it may be tempting to submit content that has already been posted on a different site, this is a huge no-no in a lot of reputable websites. Having posts that have already been published elsewhere defeats the purpose of the host blog accepting guest posts. They also run the risk of being sued for plagiarism, which could have serious repercussions on your own blog. So always create new material when guest posting.
Guest blogging is a great way to boost traffic on your own site, but in order for guest blogging to be effective, it needs to be done properly. By following these guidelines, writing blog posts for other sites should be easy.