How to Guest Post Effectively on a Blog

Guest posting is a very powerful linkbuilding technique. Basically in a guest post, you have full control. You can direct the title tag, anchor text of your backlink, number of words, images, author bio, etc. Let me show you where you have to start

Looking Out

First thing’s first. You have to look for blogsites where you can guest post in. Usually this is done through link prospecting. If you have established your list of blogs where you want to be heard, it’s now time to look for a way to get in touch with the webmaster.

Building Bridges

If you want to let your voice be heard, you have to sing to the webmaster first. Like his pages, Share his stuff, Retweet his entries and updates, leave insightful and encouraging comments in his blog. If you want to gain favor from the webmaster, you have to earn it. There is almost no other way on the web – unless you’re Justin Bieber.

Another option is to just shoot the webmaster an email even without investing much social media effort to catch his attention. This is a less effective way, but if you’re buying time – this works. And just for you, I’m going to reveal the guest posting email template that SEO Hacker is currently using.

It is always better to establish and build on your relationship with the webmaster before asking for any favors. Guest posting is a mutual act but most webmasters think of it in a way that they’re giving you a favor instead of the other way around. You won’t want to go against that. Ride it. Make them feel how much you appreciate them and mean it.

Climbing the Mountain

Success is achieved only if your guest post gets published the way you want it to – with your keywords in the title tags, your anchor text in the backlinks, your link placements, etc…It’s not easy to have it all under control – simply because it’s not your blog. There are lots of factors affecting your guest post success rate:

• Length and quality of the guest post – Too short is always bad. Too long is only a bad thing if you’re beating around the bush and you don’t have the best grammar. Be straight, informative, and entertaining.
• Links inside your guest post – Too many links may signal to the webmaster that you’re a person who has no shame. Put in a little humility – only include links that are really relevant.
• Relationship with the webmaster – This is your best bet and leverage. Having a relationship with the webmaster alone puts your success rate up by more than 50%
• Topic of the guest post – Topics that have already been written in the webmaster’s blog will be unacceptable. You need to put in a unique one with a catchy title, attractive pictures, and reader-friendly style.
• Quality of your own blogsite/website – Webmasters will take a look at what they are linking to. Having a crappy website never helps.

These are just some of the most important factors you don’t want to overlook. And to help your success rate increase, we also added another factor – which is your email template’s effectivity. We’re happy to share with you our own email template outlined below.

Guest Post Sample Email Template

Hey there, (name of webmaster)!

My name is (your name)– I’m a (profession) and the editor over at (your website), and I’m very interested in guest posting here at (webmaster’s website).

I discovered you through Twitter, followed your updates, and dig how informative you are. Checking out your blog this morning, I was really impressed and wanted to get involved.

Here are a few ideas I think your readership might enjoy:

1. “Is Your Title Tag Optimized for Search Engines?”

This post will explore the importance of title tags (basic stuff), then invite your readers to submit their site for review in the comments section — I’ll personally visit each website and offer a little feedback. You can see an example of this over at… (sample website)

2. “Why Google Wants You to Get Social”

This post will cover the reason behind Google’s launch of G+, how it affects SEO, and how we can approach SEO with social in mind.

3. “Front Page Title Tag: Are You Going for Optimization or Branding?”

This post explores the decision you need to make regarding your front page title tag … whether to go for optimization or branding. The solution I have in mind is optimization first, in order to help you gain footing in the early stages of your website, then moving to branding once you gain that footing.

Let me know what you think, (webmaster). Hope all is well!

(your name)
(Your blogsite)

This email template is composed of three major parts:

Introduction – Of course there is a need for the webmaster to know who you are, what you do and why you’re contacting him/her

Ego-boost – You need this as leverage. Webmasters are very, very busy people. Getting a hint of their attention demands more than what you think. A good ego-boost will almost always guarantee you a reply.

Alluring Options – If the first topic you send his way is not a good choice, you will waste time trying to send him another one, and perhaps another one. Getting that topic that will clinch the guest post is crucial.

This email template usually fetches us a good reply rate with a good success rate to boot. It goes a long way from the usual ‘Dear webmaster…’ which really sucks and ends up in the spam folder. I’m sure you’ve received an email like that somewhere in your life.

Once you receive a reply and an invite to guest post in their blog, you need to write the article – and write it well. But that’s the easy part.

Upload all the pictures to your own blog, then translate the entire guest post to HTML (you can do this through your WordPress editor). All the while, make sure all pictures are sourced from your own blogsite/website to get more links. Then submit it to the webmaster for publishing.

Keep your fingers crossed that the editing will be few and minor. And that’s it!

Tips for keeps: Only your relationship building method with the webmaster can increase your success rate to 100% – invest on it. You can also download Ann Smarty’s Guest Blogging eBook for more guest posting strategies.