10 Tips For Guest Blogging - Put a Plan in Place to Pave the Way For Easy Guest Blogging
One of the best ways to build online content is through blogging. Wouldn't you like to build content faster, have diverse content, and support your strategic business partners? There's nothing better than to open the door to guest bloggers.
If you find it challenging to think about how this relationship would work, let's look at a fictitious company called Joan's Landscape Design. Joan helps homeowners and commercial properties plan their plantings and hardscapes to enhance the beauty of their structures and garden harmoniously with the natural environment. Joan regularly blogs about weather forecasts, pest infestations, nutrients, plant and gardening events and seasonal issues. Her blog has a nice following and she's becoming known as the go-to gal in her area of expertise.
Joan the landscape designer has also made some great networking connections with other related local businesses: a deck builder, a plant nursery, and an outdoor furniture store. Each of these business partners support her business without being directly competitive, making them perfect partners to write a guest blog article. The deck builder writes a blog post on seasonal deck maintenance and submits it to Joan. The nursery writes a post on evergreens to liven a winter landscape. The outdoor furniture store owner writes a blog post on over-wintering patio furniture.
Before you start asking for blog articles you'll need to have a plan in place so you and your guest bloggers understand what is expected and how their article will be used. Having a plan means less work for you and the best exposure for the authors.
1. Identify subject matter for submissions.
2. ID your strategic business partners or aligned businesses
3. Ask guest bloggers to supply a title.
4. Limit article length (300 words is the best length).
5. Request first time publication rights for 30 days.
6. Offer to include a byline with link to author's website (60 words is enough).
7. Accept only digital submissions (email or Word document) for easy cut and paste.
8. Promote guest bloggers on your website and newsletter
9. Avoid the temptation to edit. Tell submitters up front you don't edit.
10. Have a "thank you" email to acknowledge submission and to give author scheduled publication date.
Lastly, ask if you can guest blog on your partners' sites as well to gain more exposure for your own blog. These synergistic partnerships are becoming very popular because the easy content saves time and the increased exposure is powerful at no extra cost. Everyone wins including your readers!
Vanessa Wood believes "All the world's the web!" There's room on the internet for your venture to be the next Internet phenom. Vanessa has years of corporate and small business experience that she brings to clients' web and blog design. She is the owner of Design to Spec LLC. Vanessa is an avid blogger on social media topics and best practices for the web.