Two facts about hosting
The fastest way to grow a blog worldwide is through guest posting.
The hardest way to grow a blog worldwide is to guest post.
Posting isn’t easy and it takes quite a bit of work. To make guest posting a little easier for you, I’ve put together a guide on how to find, secure, and track great guest posts. news I used this exact strategy to go from 2,000 to 10,000 subscribers on a gaming blog in 6 months, so over 40 guest posts in that time period.
Find a website
Google blog search makes it not hard to find a hundred blogs in your niche. However, the best sites for guest posting are: A. Accepting them, and B. Blogs you already read and like. Go to sites you already know before you start looking for new ones. Trust me, even though the site is huge, if they say they accept guest posts, you should be able to get published there. If you can’t write something good enough, you’ll have to work at it until you can.
Do your research
Of course, you’ll need to look at the sites you choose to write for and double-check their guest posting requirements. The last thing you want to do is waste the time of everyone involved by not following their instructions that are already posted. For the creation of the content itself, I want you to look at what the author already has on his website. See how they write, what html they like to use (bold, h tags, italics, quotes, lists, etc.) and try to incorporate that into your writing. I also want you to look at the writing style and also what thoughts have already been published. Ask yourself if you’re really bringing something new to this audience, because if not, you’ll have to go back to the drawing board. The last place to look for ideas is the comments on the author’s blog posts. There you will find people asking questions or maybe even specific topics to write about.
Create an introductory post
Once you have your ideas and are ready to write, you should take the time to properly outline and prepare your post. Get the main point and create a variety of supporting bullet points to go with the main point. Then write a paragraph or more for each section of the outline, as well as an opening and closing paragraph. Be concise, thorough, and make this the best post you’ve ever written. It should be easy enough to read for grandma to understand his point, yet engaging and thought provoking. Really push yourself and go at it more than once to get it just right.
Email the author
This does not require nearly as much finesse as most people think. All you have to do is say, “Hello, my name is Chris and I wrote a guest post for you on the following topic. Can you review it and let me know if you want to publish a guest post on your site? If not, can you give me some ideas on what types of posts you would like to publish on your site? Thank you! Chris. [The guest post itself follows].” That’s really it, and honestly, as a blogger, I’d rather have guest posters contact me that way. I don’t want flowery talk or ass-kissing, give me some great content and I’ll post it the same week!
An alternative method to this direct “guest post in hand” approach is to come to the author and list a few post topics you’d be willing to write about. The blog owner can then choose which one they want you to write about on their blog. I actually went that route with my first guest here at Traffic Generation Cafe.
Follow
Once your guest post has been accepted by blogger, you need to keep checking the emails as it gets closer to the date it will be published. People forget things and appreciate a friendly reminder before the posting date. I can actually count on both hands the number of times an author has forgotten my post and moved it to another date, so now I like to remind them in advance. This way I won’t have to count my toes either.
Answer the questions and discuss in the comments
After posting, you’ll still have plenty to do as a conscientious guest! You need to fuel the fire of conversation that your guest will ignite at the destination. Be helpful, honest, and try to keep the conversation healthy.
Repeat
Guest posting is hard work, but it will grow your business faster than any other form of online social activity. It basically lends you the credibility of the blog author and the time of a new audience, so if you do a good job, a good 2-5% should follow you on the spot. What’s more, you’ll get a great backlink to your site and hopefully an ongoing relationship with the blog writer in question. But don’t stop guest posting, keep at it and do it for as many sites as you can.