Guest-blogging is usually a one-off affair. You dash off some keyword dense, SEO-friendly screed on ?How To Guest Blog from a Federal Penitentiary? or ?Top 5 Ways Guest Blogging Can Improve Your Sex Life? with the understanding that the blog’s host will preserve the precious ?back link? from their blog to yours.
Naturally, the link is intended to drive traffic from the guest blog to your blog but not by the once-vaunted click-thru as one might assume. Rather, the back-link juices your mojo with the great and powerful Google Bot because its algorithm needs to see that some other site has vouched for yours. It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world and even robots need personal assurances these days.
This is one of the primary reasons you should guest blog. You need the vouching, we all do. I used to guest blog only when my own blog was being fumigated and I need a place to crash. And possibly burn. Now, I guest blog not only because its an effective traffic and awareness builder but a fine way to network within my industry without having to leave the house. I should retitle this post ?How to Guest Blog for Shut-Ins? but I’m afraid of being deluged with guest blogging requests from agoraphobics.
This is how you do it:
The Cool Kids
Find a blog covers the same subject matter as yours but better with a much bigger audience. Essentially, assess who the cool kids are and then pick the second coolest ? they’re more susceptible to flattery. You can get to the top dog later ? after all, you?ll need a place to go after you ‘ve achieved your first goal, Mr. Ripley.
Invite Yourself to the Guest Blog Party
Cyberstalk this second-coolest kid with kiss-ass comments on their posts for about three weeks. Ditto sharing their content on Facebook and Twitter, et al. Then write an obsequious email to them offering an opportunity to take a micro-vacation from the quotidian drudgery of being such a fine blogger. Make sure your own blog indicates you know what you’re talking about and aren’t merely a party crasher.
Pump the keg
Once you ‘ve scored the gig, write purposefully and informatively, whilst graciously pointing to your host’s myriad accomplishments as one of your examples. Offer free ebooks and other party gifts to the host’s readers. Make sure your bio and backlink is short and sweet but memorable. Be the guy everyone wants to see again. Don’t trash the joint.
Kiss and Tell
Drive as much traffic as you can muster from your not-as-cool spheres of influence online (don’t forget to post to Reddit and ?tip? aggregators in your niche). Don’t be daft about SEO and other considerations (Faustian deals with the devil included). If your post doesn’t drive traffic to your host’s site, you won’t be invited back and you?ll look like a link troll.
After you ‘ve published your first guest blog use it to solicit additional opportunities and continue doing this until your own blog becomes a destination for other aspiring guest bloggers. Then take a much needed micro-vacation from the quotidian drudgery of being such a fine blogger. You ‘ve become a cool kid. Now what…?
I’d love to guest blog for you, by the way ? contact me here!
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