Getting your site or blog noticed when you first start can be an mind boggling task. In fact, this is the number one reason why people start blogging and simply quit. Why? Because, they are getting no traffic and feel they are expending all their effort on writing and getting no satisfaction from it. This would be similar to writing in a journal and asking your journal to answer you back. It's probably not going to happen. If you get it to happen let me know!
Way back quite sometime ago, I remember wanting to be successful online really bad.
Tried everything from Paul and Angela's backlinks (no longer effective), forum marketing, article marketing, video marketing, blog commenting, press releases, etc.
Nothing seemed to be nearly as powerful as guest posting. Why? Because, I didn't get a lot of engagement with some of those tactics.
On top of that, a lot of those strategies are very time consuming. However, I am not stating that you shouldn't mix up your strategies because they can be effective as well. I found out something about myself though. I really liked guest posting because I never knew who I was going to meet and so often people would ask me to post on their blogs after they saw another guest post that wrote.
How awesome is that?
It's About Authority Not Quantity For Guest Posting
But, here is the thing – you need to guest post on authority sites in your niche. I remember back in the day I really knew nothing about blogging. Then one day I met Ms. Ileane and pitched an idea for a guest post through MyBlogGuest. I remember this clearly because it was my first time I ever used the system and after sending what seemed like millions of emails, someone actually said to me, “Why don't you check out the popular guest blogging service called MyBlogGuest if you are trying to find guest blogging opportunities.” I did and that's honestly how I discovered the benefits of guest posting and landed my first guest post on Basic Blog Tips.
A lot of persistence combined with mindlessly working until something clicked. I remember at the time I had no clue Ms. Ileane ran a very successful blog. I was strictly SEO at the time. But, I noticed something big. I got a ton of traffic from my guest post on her blog. Still not knowing that she was a very successful WordPress blogger and had a great following and implemented tons of social media and networked her blog exceptionally well; it overwhelmed me.
Now let's fast forward to the present day. I'm no longer just an SEO (madman, well that is debatable), but social media expert (somewhat), blogger, and full time affiliate marketer. It's really crazy how stuff worked out! But, who cares about me right?
Guest Posting Tips – Here Are Some Effective Tactics
- Go to Fiverr.com and find someone that has a SEOmoz account (I have one so I just use mine, but unless you want to pay $100 a month the 5 dollar trick works). You can have them run a backlink report on authority sites in your niche. To find out who is an authority check the Alexa Rank and take note of how many comments they get on each of their post. Make sure you sort the list by domain authority and contact everyone that is relevant in your niche. It might take a couple days to get a response, but it will happen. Also, don't use Fiverr for backlink building – they are junk!
- Once you have done your first guest posting post ask for referrals. This is a great way to get more authority sites in which you can post on. I can't count how many times I have done this and it's true the better you network online the easier life online is. Keep a Excel spreadsheet of your contacts for these guest post and don't be scared to send an email once in awhile to see if they have any referrals. Over time you will be surprised on how many contacts you have.
- I take it one step further once I make a guest post. When I see all the comments as long as they leave a quality comment I will stop by their blog and leave a quality comment. Not a comment that is like wow I really liked this post or something (we all know when we see that they probably didn't read the post and just want a backlink). If their blog is relevant to mine and I like it I usually approach them with a guest post idea or better yet ask them what they want you to write about. It's all about adding value to their site, not yourself!
- Now back to MyBlogGuest.com, post a thread on the forums for people to write on your blog. I know it sounds weird on why I am doing this. But, have ideas of stuff you want to cover and ask them to write an article on that. Once, they do and you go over it and put your own special touch to it then ask them for referrals, and since you helped them they are more willing to help you with your guest posting. It works great and I love this tactic.
- Some newer tactics that people might have heard of is using Triberr. They are a goldmine for finding guest posting opportunities. True, they are a blogging syndication site, but they do have a section called bonfires. These are simply a fancy word for people that gather around to network with other likeminded bloggers. What you're going to look for is the section called “looking for guest authors”. Over the past months I have came into contact with various people that I would have never been able to reach via email.
- Another site I am loving right now is BlogEngage. Not only do they syndicate your content automatically, but its like a mini network where you can do a blog search and send personal messages to people. What I do is approach people via personal message and ask for a guest posting opportunity. Just like Triberr.com this is more personal that filling out content forms in hopes of getting a guest posting on authority sites.
- BizSugar is another site; just like the two above they are a great place to syndicate your content. However, I have found that if you actively participate on their website you can really make some strong connections which would be very hard to obtain without their website. It's all about making relationships with people in order to provide them with quality content, in which you'll receive an awesome link to your website.
Really, the possibilities are endless and if you work hard at it you will see excellent results and no longer stress over a blog or website that isn't ever getting noticed. Lastly, make sure you are writing awesome content for their blog. Don't send them some rehashed article on how to do article marketing or something lame like that. Make it interesting and use your own voice.
What all tips and tricks can you add to getting good quality guest post? Also, what do you find the most effective ways to get started with guest posting?