Guest posting involves submitting posts to other people’s blogs as a strategy for promoting your business and enhancing traffic to your own blog. It is a mutually-beneficial deal for the guest poster and the blog owner. However, not all guest posts submitted are posted or published.
Here are some strategies which will help you increase the possibility of your posts being accepted and published.
1. Establish your goals
Before submitting any guest post, you need to consider your reasons for doing so. Rather than doing it for the sake of building back links to your blog, you should aim for branding and building relationships. Consider how you can use guest posting to share your knowledge, have a stronger voice and establish your brand. Once you have done all this, then you can be guaranteed of getting back links.
2. Select a blog
Before writing a guest post, think about where you would want to submit it. A guest post offers a great opportunity to present yourself as an authority in your niche. Therefore, make sure you select a blog which is somehow related to yours. For instance, if your blog is about home improvement, don’t select a blog on web design.
3. Select a topic
After finding a suitable blog, take time to read the posts published on it. This will give you an idea concerning which kind of topics that would be acceptable. As you think of topic ideas, make sure it is something that has not already been covered on the blog. However, if you still want to cover on an old topic, think of how you can approach it from a new angle. This will enhance the chances of the post getting published.
4. Read the guest posting guidelines
For successful guest posting, you need to ensure that your post adheres to the guidelines of the blog. Therefore, take time to read and understand the guidelines. What is the minimum word count? How many links are you allowed to have in the bio section? Are you required to submit an image alongside the guest post? Following the guest posting guidelines will make things easier for the owner of the blog, and thus increase the possibility of your post getting published.
If they are not provided, you could get in touch with the owner of the blog.
5. Maintain high standards
Guest posting offers a great opportunity to promote and advertise your blog. Therefore, don’t settle for less than the best. Make sure your guest posts are of the highest quality possible. If readers are impressed by the quality of your writing, they are likely to visit your blog for more. When submitting your post, make sure it is free from grammatical and spelling errors, complete with an author bio and relevant links.
6. Write a proper bio
Guest posts usually have an ‘about the author’ section where a bio can be inserted. Take time to write a compelling bio which will make you appear credible to readers. However, keep it short and only offer the necessary details.
7. Follow up
Check the guest posting guidelines to find out how long it might take before you get published. If the post is not published within the stated period, you could then follow-up the matter with the blog owner via email. Remember to keep your tone polite and positive. In case there is no response, you could send another email after about one week. If there is still no response, it would be advisable to submit the post to a different blog.
8. Promote and interact
If your post gets published, that’s not the end of it. You need to promote and share it with others in all your social networks. Remember to send a note of appreciation to the blog owner. Take time to interact with readers in the comments section. This will make readers feel valued and enhance their chances of visiting your blog.
Charles Mburugu has a great passion for sharing blogging and web development tips. At the moment, he is writing for Flash templates.
Image by Reinis Traidas
Charles Mburugu is a professional content developer and an entrepreneur. He often writes about real estate, finance, business start-ups and internet marketing.
good post. i am a new blogger and i really need these kind of tips
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:31 am
Glad to be of help Naveen. All the best as you get started with blogging!
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The best advice I have for someone new to guest posting is make the person you’re pitching to do the least amount of work possible. If that means you edit the raw HTML and send it to them “copy and paste” ready, do it. If that means sending along suggested pictures and media for them to include in the post, do it. If that means formatting your original email pitch like you would your own blog post, do it.
The less they have to do, the better your chances are of getting a “yes”.
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:27 am
Very true Sofiya. The better you follow instructions, the more likely it is for your post to get published. Thanks for sharing!
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Yes! Great reminders for all of us. … Thanks, Charles, for teaching us that guest posts are an important element of the social media/author platform; and that it doesn’t just include writing the darn post. It’s so important to connect, and when someone does comment, that’s a person who’s actually read our writing! It’s up to us to continue that relationship. Best, Laura
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:25 am
I couldn’t agree more Laura. Indeed, there is more to guest posting than just writing a post. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for these tips. I totally agree with number 8. I like it when authors reply to comments to their guest posts. It gives me a clearer idea of how they think and makes me want to visit their blogs, too.
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Guest posting is a great way of improving your online visibility. It’s a win-win situation. Make sure you read the guidelines and you check your post for any errors. Thank you for the tips, Charles!
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:33 am
You are welcome April. I’m glad you found the post helpful.
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Guest Posting for the Win! Is there a better way to gain exposure and build relationships? I think not. Particularly important, at last to me is the guidelines! If a blogger posts rules and conditions for what they want to see in a guest post pitch – for goodness’s sake FOLLOW THEM! It amazes me that people don’t do this!
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Great set of tips!! This post is quite helpful for the newbies. For them the post offers the crucial words of wisdom. Right selection of the topic as well as the blog is the crucial aspect. Thanks for sharing.
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Hey Charles! Really a nice post
!
I also own a blog and trust me I am flooded with guest blogging requests daily. I receive around 300-400 guest blog requests in a month.
I select around 15-20 of them depending on the method and mail they write to me. SO in my opinion the first few lines that you write for requesting the guest blogging opportunity is really important
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:42 am
Hey Bina, thanks for the compliment
. And thanks also for sharing that very important piece of advice from your personal experience.
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Guest Posting works great for both contributor and blog owner. Blog owner gets quality and information post to publish on their blog, which has good chances to get appreciation from blog readers. Contributor gets an opportunity to attract audience on their site, plus acquire quality backlinks. So before sending your article make sure it’s upto the quality mark maintained by your targeted blog.
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Dear Admin
thanks for sharing and giving such a wonderful article.I really appreciate your work.
And I love to read your coming articles.
Regards
Rihaaz
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Really very impressive post. I must say this is one in the most well written posts, that I have seen with this topic in a very long time. Indeed, it was. Will probably get a link up here at some point. Thanks go to Dutch for asking me to come on once again. Keep us posted like this guys.
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These are great and succinct tips. Thanks so much. I want to do more guest posting.
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I think writing a very good article is important, too. If the content is unique and interesting people are likely to remember it more. I’ve just had one go out about 10 classic modern books that’s been a hit. I think people are also attracted to these “X number of ways to do this or that” lists as they’re easy to digest and interesting. So thank you for your insights; you’re certainly right about commenting on the comments! Very important practice.
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Hi kimathic,
Fantastic post for bloggers.These 8 points are vary important and content is king always,Thanks for sharing and giving such a grate suggestion to us.
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:21 am
Thanks for stopping by
. Keep visiting this blog for more great content.
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In fact Stacy is one of only a few bloggers I have found that allows your to set up a contributor account with her blog. This allows you to actually write a post in full before she gets to see it and approve/deny.
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Hello kimathic
Guest Posting is one of best way increase vsiblity on internet.Thanks for provding accurate and focused information related to guest posting.
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Charles Reply:
December 3rd, 2012 at 3:18 am
Hi Amit. I’m glad you found the post helpful.
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Really nice site, congrats! I like it a lot! It’s a nice run down of the kinds of things you often forget to do!
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Guest posting is no doubt one of the most effective way to get yourself out there if done properly.
Its just a matter of writing a mind browing post and submitting in a high persived blog, if accepted and published….boom, you’ve gotten yourself some benefits.
A nice post.
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For the successful guest post first of all,make your article free from errors and have a good knowledge in the niche where you want to publish your contents.
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Excellent post. I agree that the first impression is the last impression. Once a good impression fails to materialise in the first instance than its rather next to impossible to retain the visitor. Hence quality content is of utmost importance. The first and the most significance of all is the content. You have mentioned all the points that is required to get that success in blogging. The things mentioned on the”learn the basics of SEO” heading makes a lot of sense. The plugin mentioned is top quality and can really assist the blogger to make all the on page SEO right.
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I like the approach and I like the change in SEO, Guest posting has been FUN since I undertook it. I’ll take note of these and try a thing or two.
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Thank you for the article you submitted. Those are some nice tips. I agree, Guest posting is more beneficial when certain blogs were selected. Blogs that have something in common with your blog or website. It is good to know people who came to a blog that shows flower pictures aren’t going to jump to a totally new topic like fashion books. It’s common sense!
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I have recently taken up guest posting on a number of blogs and it is surely a great way to promote business and get quality backlinks. These are bang on tips you have mentioned here, Stacey. Thanks for the share.
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As a newbie in blogging, these tips are very important for me. Thank you for posting them here. Writing a proper bio is something I would never think of doing. It just never cross my mind to actually extend my “about me” bio. Thanks for the help!
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Choice of blog topic to comment on and then keeping a follow up is most recommended. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you very much for the great post. I am a new blogger and I don’t know much about these kinds of stuff
but thanks for shedding light on this 
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I agree you should definitely participate in the comments on your own blog. It keeps the real blog readers coming back, and like you said, let’s them know there’s a real person behind the blog. This also goes along with #9, in that you should engage your visitors on all levels, and make it more of a community feel, letting people know they are welcome to participate.
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I really enjoy doing guest post for a number of popular blogs and have been benefited by it. These are very useful tips and will surely consider these from now on. Thanks for this great piece of advice.
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Good blog! I truly love how it is simple on my eyes and the data are well written. I am wondering how I might be notified when a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed which must do the trick! Have a nice day!
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Now-a-days guest blogging is crucial for ethical link building. Guest posting is a win-win situation and that is why I always really like it, either being guest blogger or host to guest blogger.
Regards
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It is very important to be sincere with your posts. Some people fail to get their posts published because they don’t actually read the blog before they make a comment. These are nice guidelines and very true as well.
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Well nice collective information you gathered here to educate your reader about guest blogging. I have great expectation with my blogs hope this will help.
Thanks
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@KIMATHIC @Stacy…
I am newbie in field of guest blogging,was doing a research work online to enhance my skills your article and the comments helped me build my confidence!!
Thank you guys!
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I have considering getting into doing Guest blogging lately. I believe that guest posting is most important to enhance the value of blog and can help improve the development of blog into more positive direction. I agree with Kimathic and specially number 3. So this topic will clear many points why a new blog hit by guest posting. Actually it is more productive and this will work out better for me as wellas for the publisher.
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Hi Kimathic
This is really such a wonderful lesson to learn more about guest posting. Guest posting is latest & valuable trend to build good quality links. “Topic” matters in guest posting. I have noticed that most of Blog owners & admin always demands good quality content & a attractive topics.
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yes it is an remarkable post,i learned more about guest posting from this article.
waiting for more information.
Thanks for sharing such a good article with us, keep sharing.
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