Secret Tip to Getting Your Guest Blog Accepted

Guest blogging is an excellent way to boost brand awareness and generate powerful backlinks to your website.

However, that’s only if you can get your guest blog accepted.

Understandably, pitching your guest blog to other sites can be intimidating. Furthermore, you don’t want to spend so much time trying to get blogs approved that you lose time to work on your core business tasks.

Fortunately, there is one secret tip for getting your guest blog posts accepted, and I’m here to share my secret with you today. But first, let’s talk about the pre-work that is necessary.

How to Get Started with Guest Blogging

  1. Know your goals. What are you looking to accomplish with guest blogging? For example, you may be looking to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry or to promote one of your products or services.
  2. Determine where to post. Not every website is suitable or helpful to guest blog on. You must know your audience and your purpose so that you can find the best opportunity to guest blog.
  3. Research the site. Make sure you know the blog content style, target audience, message focus, and what their submission guidelines are. This will help you craft a guest blog that they will want to publish.

Pitching Topic Ideas

When it comes to submitting guest blog posts people generally pitch topic ideas.

Here are a few tips to pitching your idea:

  • Research submission guidelines. When looking for sites you want to guest blog for, research the submission guidelines. This helps you streamline the writing and application process.
  • Subject lines. Blog posts are similar to emails in that you need a captivating subject line to grab an editor’s attention. Use compelling subject lines that also suit the style of the website.
  • Respect the editors’ time. Give editors at least a week of review time before following up. Also be real about expectations; sometimes they won’t publish your blog for at least a month.
  • Diligent editing. If your work has grammar or spelling errors, most editors won’t even continue reading it. Be extra diligent when it comes to editing and consider getting a few extra eyes on the article before submitting it.
  • Writing style. Be mindful of the site’s writing style. Are they academic, technical, casual, etc.?
  • Offer creative content options. Come up with unique content ideas, or an unexplored angle. You don’t want your pitch to be another copy of something they’ve already seen 20 times that day. After deciding a final topic, provide 2-3 title options and visuals.
  • Keep it short. Your pitch doesn’t need to be your life story. Keep it short, including a brief introduction of who you are and the relevancy of your article. Add the shortlist of topic ideas and the benefit to readers.
  • Feature alluring visuals. Putting visuals into your guest blog pitches not only helps editors but also makes content more appealing to readers. Don’t forget to provide the image source too.

The Secret Tip for Getting Your Guest Blog Accepted

There’s one secret tip for getting your guest blog accepted that many don’t talk about (or maybe they just don’t know!)

Write the article out and submit a ready-to-post copy. That’s right! Don’t just submit ideas like everyone else. Submit the entire article, ready to post.

This tactic has been the most effective for me. Every time I did this, my post was accepted. Of course, I did my homework to submit something specific and unique to their site and audience. But I have not been turned down or away.

In fact, after one of my writings landed on Arianna Huffington’s desk, she herself said she would “love to feature Valeh Nazemoff’s voice on HuffPost” and gave me my own blog column. How cool is that?! I am still stoked!

Why is this method so effective?

For one, sending a complete article saves the editor time. They won’t have to try to envision how you may bring your ideas to life, they can see it right in front of them. If you were an editor, would you rather accept a pitch or a ready-to-go article?

This also demonstrates your credibility and your enthusiasm for their site. You took the time to create a post that suits their style, audience, etc. You have a full post to show for it, so they can easily assess your writing style. Of course, they will also appreciate the effort.

End of Post Tips

As a guest blogger you need to be mindful of two very important details.

  1. Make sure to include a call-to-action item to lead and engage the reader to the next action you want them to take. Maybe you want to draw people to a launch promotion or give them a free download, or something else.
  2. Be mindful of how you craft your guest author bio.

A guest author bio can tell readers and editors who you are and opens you up to more recognition.

Here are some advice for writing a guest author bio:

  • Be concise. Only include what’s most significant about yourself professionally.
  • Include relevant details. Name, title, current place of employment, and maybe a fun and interesting fact that’s relevant.
  • Professional photo. If possible, use a professional headshot. Make sure the photo is crisp and clear.
  • Limit links. Only link to your site and/or your primary offer with a custom landing page. If there’s room for social media icons with links (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram), then include them too.
  • Stick to your current job. Tell readers who you are and what you do right now. If they want to know more about you, then they can look at your website, LinkedIn, or where you direct them.
  • Craft unique bio. Have a unique author bio description for different sites you guest blog for. Make sure to keep it fun, interesting, and inviting.

Tracking

Guest blogging is not a “set it and forget it” method. You should track your posts to measure how they do.

One of the easiest ways to do this is using the Advanced Segment in Google Analytics. Create a “guest blog” segment. Then, add a domain and statement for each place that you guest-blogged for. You can add up to 20.

Using this method, you can view all of the referrals from guest posts.

By tracking your guest blog, you can understand its impact. This can help you determine where and how to focus your future guest blogging efforts.

Engage 2 Engage is Here to Help

Creating a great guest blog can lead to exciting opportunities, but it’s not always easy to get them accepted and track the results. Engage 2 Engage is here to help you leverage the secret tip for guest blog acceptance and how to leverage results. Learn more about our programs today!

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