A while back I wrote a couple of posts on why you should be guest blogging and how to find guest blogging opportunities. Now that you know the how’s and why’s of becoming a guest blogger I thought I should give you some useful tips to make the process of guest blogging easier on you AND on the owner of the blog you are writing for.
Before putting together any guest post, make sure to review this checklist. It will ensure you cover all your bases when providing quality content and making it as easy as possible for the target blog to publish your content
Note: “target blog” simply refers to the blog on which you want your blog post published
Post Content:
Put your best foot forward with the content of your post. Here are some tips to help you do that.
- Read Through the Blog: Look at recent posts and dig deep into the category you want to write about. You do not want to duplicate something that has already been done. Take note of the voice and style to see how your writing might fit in well. Also, take note of the perspective the blogger takes on certain subjects. While there may room for varying perspectives, you do not want to directly contradict the opinions of the blog owner.
- Read the Comments: Understand the people who are reading the blog. What posts do they seem to resonate with? What questions do they have? How can you help with something they seem to be looking for?
- Create a Quality Post: Obviously, you want to make sure your post is of the highest quality possible. If you want it to be noticed by the blogger and to make an impact on the audience, it just has to be.
- Create an Original Post: You will also be creating completely original content and offering exclusive publishing rights, unless the blog does not require it. While you can write on topics you’ve covered before, make the text is original.
- Create a Targeted Post: In addition to having a quality and original post, you want it highly targeted to the audience. Mention things that are relevant to the readers and link to previous posts and any relevant products the blogger may have.
Post Formatting
Formatting is also important. It shows extra care and attention and makes it easier for the target blog to publish your post.
- Use good web writing format by using short sentences and paragraphs. Use bullet points and subheadlines to make your content easy to read.
- Format your subheadings with <h2> tags or whatever is appropriate for the blog.
- Format your links, so they can be pasted into a blog and be clickable. For example: Jeff recently <a href=”http://clickme.com/previous-post”>fly fishing</a> here.
- Include images as they can add interest to the post. Make sure you have created the images or you have permission to publish them. You can host the image on your site and include the html code for the blog to automatically, but you may want to also attach the image, so they can upload it themselves. Name the image something descriptive and make sure the file size is appropriate for web publishing (i.e. Not too big!).
- Do keyword research and optimize the post for a relevant keyword. Don’t let SEO take over as the quality of your post is key, but doing that extra bit of work will make your post attractive to the target blog and will more likely result in long-term benefit for you.
Overall, it’s important to put your best foot forward. Don’t skimp on quality or polishing your post before submitting it. Do your homework, write your best work, check it twice and you’ll do just fine.