When it comes to blogging, when you start guest posting will determine how fast you can succeed with your business. No matter where you turn now days, you will find loads of people, myself and Ileane included, talking about how guest posting is a great way to build your blog traffic, especially if you are brand new.
But, I got a question the other day about when to start guest posting. How much content do you really need, and how much harm can you do to your site by guest posting too early?
Generally, I find that when people ask a question like this, there are a lot of others who have the same thought, but never say anything, so I thought I would explore this today, and talk about when to start guest posting.
“How Much Content Do You Need?”
Although you can get some traffic with little content on your own site, most sites simply won't let you guest post if you don't have any content up yet. I would recommend getting at least 15-20 pages of content on your site before you try to do a guest post.
However, I have gotten guest posts before with a 3 page site, so you don't HAVE to have that much. A lot of that will depend on the guest posting guidelines of the blog you are guest posting on.
Networking Helps You Start Guest Posting
I just started up my Relationship Marketing Conversations Blog, and don't have a whole lot of content on it yet. I have about 6 posts as of writing this, plus a few pages in the background. The main purpose for that particular site is to host my members area where I am working on developing some of my own products. The blog is mainly just to drive people into the members area as well as updating members with news related to the niche.
However, because I have spent 2 years networking with people in the niche, and I have a lot of contacts already, I was able to start guest posting early on. I just did my first guest post over at Attraction Marketing Online, where I discussed How to Get Traffic From Product Owners, and it is leading some really great traffic into my new site already.
So far, it is doing Amazing. I got a ton of free traffic to my new blog within the first day of the post going live, and a lot of new leads. It also is helping me with incoming links to my blog, both from the post itself, and the CommentLuv links in the comments.
But, I wouldn't have even been invited to guest post if it wasn't for the relationships that I had built through networking.
Join Guest Blogging Contests
When I started guest posting, I started by joining a contest. I didn't do all that well, but part of that was because I was trying to build my following. I didn't have one in place to promote my contest entry for me.
However, that contest led me to more guest posting opportunities, as well as helping me build my email list and my reputation. The good news is that there are loads of contests going on all the time, you just need to look around and find them.
Often, even if you aren't blogging in the IM niche, guest posting on a few of the contests about blogging will help you get exposure with people in the business. Although they won't necessarily be relevant leads for your site, they can be beneficial because you can make contacts with other bloggers who ARE in your niche. These bloggers can help you start guest posting on relevant blogs!
Also, you never know how you will do. I had an entry in a contest that got me $100 in cash just for writing a post and sharing it on a few social sites. Even with my small following, I was able to make a little cash. I didn't put on airs, or try to be a blogging expert. Instead, I just shared some of my own insights based on the limited experience that I had at the time.
“Does It Hurt You To Start Guest Posting Too Early?”
This is a really popular question that almost all of my consulting clients ask me when I start discussing guest posting.
Really, it will depend on how your site is set up. Whenever I start a new site, my focus is to build an email list first. I usually set up an autoresponder with at least 1 weeks worth of emails and an opt-in giveaway before I do anything else. A simple squeeze page is all I generally set up with a brand new site before I start promoting it. Later, I will set up a blog and start posting regularly, once it has had some time to age a little.
If you have your opt-in funnel set up, and provide a good reason for people to sign up, you can build your list pretty quickly through your guest posts.
However, if you just send them to a site with a few articles and heavy advertising, you can damage your reputation. In fact, this is where most people (especially those building affiliate marketing sites) go wrong.
You might get a few sales, but you will drive most people away.
Instead, focus your efforts on list building and creating a relationship of trust and value with your new leads first. This will get you a steady flow of traffic that not only read your post once, but come back time and time again to see what you have to say.
Overcome the Fear of Rejection
Guest posting can be really hard on you if you fear being told “NO!”, especially with a new blog. Many people will not want to share your new blog if you have little content, or no name within the industry. However, the more you try, the more chances you will have to succeed.
Learn to take rejection as a way to improve yourself, and get over your fear. If you just keep trying, start networking with the right people, and get involved with other bloggers, you will find that you get a lot of benefits for yourself and your blog.
Don't hesitate to get your blog seen in your niche. Start guest posting today, and start seeing the results that it can bring to your business!
Nice Info on Guest posting James. I just start guest posting thats way i havent participate on any Guest Blogging Contests. After getting some idea i’ll take part for Guest Blogging Contests and really its a best way also to expose yourself. Thanks a lot for this nice share.
Amit, I really recommend getting started as soon as you can. Even if you don’t really do that well in the contest itself, they still help you out alot. For example, last week, even knowing I wouldn’t be around to promote it much, I went ahead and joined the Blog Engage contest that was going on. Through that guest post, I have gotten over 100 people to my blog, and 5 new requests to guest post on other people’s blogs. I met Ileane here last year through a guest post contest on Brian’s blog as well. It has lead to a really great relationship that is really helping me to build my brand.
James,
I’m glad to hear that you are experiencing much success with your guest posting ambitions. Keep going the extra mile in all you’re doing, and passed the inspiration of bundling among others. Please keep us posted on your guest posting progress 🙂
James you are right, first we have to writer killer post on our blog then we should go for guest posting. Our own blog contents will be a milestone for publishing guest post on other blogs.
Hi James.
Thank’s for sharing some great tips on a subject that I keep sidelining.
I have over the last six months got quite a little community going at my blog but guest posting is something that I keep thinking about doing and then not doing.
I’m busy creating a product at the moment but this is something that I should get serious about when the dust settles. I think it’s great, not only for traffic but for credibility too.
Have bookmarked this page as a must read when ready to go.
Hey Steve, the best thing i can offer is to not put it off. just writing one or two articles a week, guest posting can be your primary source of leads and traffic pretty quickly, but don’t put it off!
I am afraid! Now you go and tell me I do not have enough content on my site. 🙂
I am a doer, so for me to speak about SEO, Website Building, Social Media in an expert type of way, is above my head. I just know how to get found and get rankings.
One would say then “you are not an expert”, I would say look at my website rankings compared to some “Professional SEOs”. Maybe I do not give myself enough credit for the actual stuff I have written or accomplished, I suppose I have yet attempted guest blogging.
Thanks for diminishing my dreams of being the greatest Guest Poster ever!…lol Great article James!
LOL Bryan, actually, my point was to stop putting it off and get out there. Although you have a better chance getting accepted with some content on your own site, you can get them with very little online.
The worst that anyone can do is tell you NO, so get out and start trying to get guest posts today…
Hi James. Good point. I know that somehow it can be frustrating when someone rejects our request for guest posting. I have not yet tried guest posting because I am concentrating only on writing contents in my own blog. But someday I may try it to increase exposure on my blog.
Two things happen when you guest post too early–you waste good posts that would have contributed to content on your own blog, and readers see that you don’t have much on your site, so they don’t return.
Your suggestion of 15 to 20 posts is excellent, as long as folks understand that these articles should be good ones and not simply thrown together in a couple of hours. If you are writing snippet posts, the number should be far greater. Thanks for the tips!
Quality content is also definitely a must Doug. thanks for pointing that out. I don’t really do snippet posts, and sometimes I forget to tell people that I mean high quality posts.
Most of my posts are 800-1500 words long!
A good guest posting entry shouldn’t be less than five hundred words, in my opinion. If you’re only hitting 250, then you really don’t have much to say about your topic at the moment and might want to hold off a bit until you have more to say. I prefer to read something that is more in depth, rather than a two paragraph fast and loose sort of post.
Then again, it could be that a subject doesn’t require that much depth, so it really all depends on exactly what you are posting about. The key, I think, is to make it of a manageable length and make it informative as well.
It really depends. On ocassion, I do a short guest post, and include a podcast, video from my Youtuve channel or infographic, without a lot of text involved. However, I agree, short guest posts are killer for branding. Most sites won’t even accept a guest post with less than 500 words.
Top notch James. I agree with you that a guest blogger should have a good amount of content first before they actually jump into the guest blogging saga. One particular tip you provide that immediately caught my attention was the part about “joining guest blogging” contest. That is actually a great tip as blogging contest have an added “spice” when it comes to gaining exposure and for that, the rules are normally different with that of normal guest posting. On top of that, there is always a chance to win. That is “one hell of a great idea”.. kudos my friend and good luck with your online endeavors.
Thanks DiTesco. I started out with contests myself, and although I have only ever won anything in one of them, the rest were all well worth the effort. Every contest I have joined has given me new contacts, more guest posting opportunities, and fresh leads to my site.
One of the reasons why people guest post aside from getting new readers to discover their blog is to get high quality back links, which is why I think its important for your blog to be in good rankings before you open the guest blogging door.
The best way to do this is to wait until your site has not only decent traffic but also a good page rank, that way you provide a reason for people to guest post on your blog.
I would wait until my blog hits at least Google Pagerank 3 before I open guest blogging on my blog.
Great post thanks. 🙂
That can be true. However, allowing guest posts on your blog also helps you get more exposure, and can help you achieve higher search rankings faster, especially if the people guest posting actually do it right and take time to promote their guest post on your blog. However, this post was actually more about guest posting on other blogs, not so much allowing them on your own blog.
I’ve got my blog gaining popularity lately and I’ve definitely been thinking about trying out the whole guest blogging idea but I just haven’t gotten out there yet. Any other tips you have to offer?
Best thing to do is get on some blogs that have open guest posting to start with. provide really great content. Often, my guest posts are actually better than the content that I have on my own site.
Other than that, be willing to get engaged with the people who read the blogs you guest post on, and share your best info. You don’t have to be an expert either. Just get out there and share your experiences, whatever level you are at.
No point in advertising if you have no stock. I agree you should have something for people to get interested in before inviting them to your site. Otherwise, it might have the opposite effect you hoped for.
Hey James,
great post you have here about guest blogging in your niche. Like yourself, I too am a marketing addict. Online marketing is a beautiful labor of love, as well as a skewer means of employment and $ gUaP $. A while back, I started guest posting on the hip-hop site Thisis50.com, just to see if I could post my YouTube videos there with AdSense and it, and affiliate links to Amazon books. Coincidently, it worked, and also encouraged me to guest post on other sites more often. While I haven’t been to that site recently put out another guest post with YouTube videos and Amazon book links, I now value [guest posting on other sites], so that not only do I build natural inbound links, but, also forge new meaningful relationships on the World Wide Web with new site visitors.
I’m encouraged nowadays to guest post more often in business discussion forums and other sites, so that I can build those targeted meaningful relationships, which will enhance the growth of my online visibility and strengthening business simultaneously. Additionally, one thing that really helps me grow my business online besides guest posting “like you’ve mentioned in this blog post” is networking with others meaningfully. I’ve learned online networking “without trying to sell people something direct” will convert them to not only repeat site visitors, but, will convert those site visitors, without putting forth a direct effort in trying to seldom something. In my networking efforts online, I often just have general conversation and nothing more. This way, I plant a seed in their mind to not only remember who I am, but to also check up on me and or my site regularly, based off of the strength of just having online conversation with someone. Online conversation is part of the beauty of building a business and its foundation for long-term success online.
I’m not too knowledgeable on how to work an auto responder. If someone would like to show me state by step how to do so, I’d really appreciate it. My goal is to become better in everything I do on the World Wide Web, while putting out informative killer content, and serving people meaningfully at the same time. Thank you for your time James in reading this comment, as I appreciate being a part of basic blog tips, and sharing meaningful comments on guest posts bloggers of this site put out 🙂
Always thankful,
Drewry
Thanks for your insightfull response Drewry, I agree networking and guest posting combined are the best ways to get out and drive a ton of traffic.
There are several programs that teach you how to use an autoresponder. I also can help with that through my consultation services that I offer through my site.
Hi James I really appreciate this lesson that you have share, I never tried participating in guest posting. but as I have read your post before joining this kind of competition we must think a unique content that will sure hit the readers.
I still have some confusion about guest posting , and I think not ready yet to start , but will surely try it in near future but currently I am focusing on my Blog…….
Thanks For your great tips and Heads about this path…:)
hey Vimal, exactly what about guest posting is causing you confusion? there ae a lot of ways to go about it, but it can often be one of your best sources of leads and taffic, especially with a fairly new blog.
Hey James,
I couldn’t agree more. I am a great fan of guest blogging and the exposure it might bring to a blogger. Its been over a year since I started blogging and have written over a dozen guest posts! In addition to the people I meet, I get to work on my writing and that helps me so much.
However, there is a new approach I read recently, that guest blogging is good for exposure, it might bring in traffic and readers but it does not necessarily bring in customers. And this might be important for people who are offering services through their blogs.
It really depends on how you go about guest posting. One of my favorite places to go is to find blogs run by the product owners of poducts that I am promoting. they have a loyal following that are always eager for relevant news stories within you niche, and they often share their updates with their buying customers.
I never thought of WHEN to guest post. I did have the fear of rejection, but I am pleased to report that all of my guest posts submitted have been accepted. Now, it’s time to submit more.
I recommend submitting 2-3/ week. I have been doing that this year and so far only 2 have been told no, and one of those with some edits will get approved.
Yes, I am agree that guest posting is good for your success. i like guest posting also doing guest posting but by doing guest posting niche is very important factor and i found lot of people do guest posting with different niche, It’s may be not so good for their success.Thanks for sharing.
I have been reading that some bloggers will turn down guest posts if they aren’t related to their own blogs central theme. What do you think?
-Joe
Hey Joe, I am all about relevancy for the most part. Guest posting contests are different, since many of them are geared towards getting people from a variety of niches to interact and share their experiences. However, outside of contests, it is all about creating something relevant to the blog you are guest posting on.
However, it also comes down to being able to get your mind out of the “niche” box and think about who would be relevant customers for your site.
For example, if you are in the weight loss niche, guest posts on fitness and weight loss blogs are obvious choices, but think about other people who would be interested in that niche. You will find loads of people who want to get in better shape and look better on dating sites. You can write something that would be relevant to their audience, while also making it relevant to your niche.
However, you would probably struggle to find a way to make it relevant to the audience for a dog training site.
Knowing your target audience, and other problems that they might be facing is critical to finding the best blogs for guest posting on. As long as your guest post is relevant to their audience though, it should be okay.
Just as an example, I got a request for a guest post on my IM blog from someone running a dating site. I refused the guest post, since my audience isn’t really in their niche.
I also look at the sites that are requesting guest posts. I am all about differning views, but at the same time, if they are spouting things that I am strongly against, like spam marketing methods and black hat tactics for example, I will automatically refuse them.
Thanks for the reply James.
I don’t think blogs have to follow a general theme or topic for the sake of Google, because most of the content is performing on the fringe, or long keyword phrases.
Despite this, I have been reading that a lot of people turn down guest posts for this very reason as if the article will poison their SEO.
I respect a blog owner for wanting to stick within his theme or site’s character and find that totally reasonable that you like to do so as well.
Thanks again,
-Joe
Again, I don’t really do it so much for SEO. SEO is important but is not a controling factor in my business decisions. Everything I do or don’t do is based on how it will affect my customers (everyone who reads my blog is a customer, whether they buy something or not…)
Hey James!
This is such a valuable information regarding guest posting. I’ve always tried to grab guest post opportunity on high page rank websites with a lot of readers & commentators when ever possible. You’re right about Networking because it helped me a lot when I started guest posting.
Great Article!
guest posting is definitely one of my top traffic sources. However, I look more at traffic than PR. PR is so easy to fake that its unreliable. besides, PR only really matters to marketers. It actually doesn’t do much for your SEO. IT used to, but so many people learned to scam the system that it isn’t as much of a factor any more.
very indepth thank you for the wealth of info – networking is a key indgredient when it comes to promoting your site and generating more traffic – it is near impossible to go it alone good post
i dont feel confident yet to do some guest posting but i can imagine that it can be frustrating when someone rejects your request for guest posting.
Why don’t you feel confident in your ability to guest post? Guest posting is just about sharing your experience with your niche. IF you don’t have any, you are probably in the wrong niche to be blogging anyway.
Yeah, networking indeed helps alot. Our niche is more towards WordPress related article. If there’s anyone interested, just drop us an email at tutorial@wpwebhost.com and you’re most welcome as we offer up to $100 per article.
I have slowly started guest blogging. Truthfully I have to make a big effort to post regularly on my blog, so posting on others requires more dedication than I currently have.
Hey Lilibeth, blogging definitely takes a commitment, especially when you are getting in front of someone else’s audience. However, once you see how powerful it is, it works as a strong motivator. I didn’t really get tthat into posting on my own blog at first, because I didn’t have enough comments to see how people reacted. through guest posting on well established blogs, I get a lot of feedback that motivates me to post more often.
I’ve started guest posting right after I have around 10 posts on my 2nd blog. Actually, it’s not really that bad to start too early whenever doing a guest post just as long as you have got some solid meaty content along with you. Also, guest posting builds greater reputation and exposure for new bloggers so having a few content won’t be that bad unless of course, they’re all crap. The downside usually comes along in guest posting too late. Anyway, great topic James ! 🙂
hey Argie, I couldn’t agree more. I have started guest posting with as little as 3 pages on a site. However, it is much easier to get guest posts as you have more content that you can refer people to.
One thing I find helpful is having a “my guest posts” page that you can refer to when you request posts on other blogs. (thinking about that, I need to go update mine!)
Hey James,
You know, I started guest posting by joining blogging contest. It’s not over yet. I’m still promoting it. And I got a very good response. 300+ comments. I never imagined this much comments on my post. You can read it, I’ve linked it below.
My second guest post was on BBT here, I did a few days back. “10 Reasons – Why I Will Not Visit Your Blog Again” Got good response in this, too.
At least, now I don’t fear about rejection. My two guest posts gave me so many new friends, readers for my blog. It’s a really good experience.
The fear of rejection is often what stops people. letting go of that fear and just gettiing out there is one of the best things that you can do. I love contests myself, and have entered quite a few over the years. Every one of them has given me a lot of exposure in the niche, even if I didn’t win anything.
300 comments…WOW! I don’t think I have gotten that on any of mine. I think my all time best was about 150.
I am WOWed, too. The counter is still increasing. And my second GP over BBT got 200+. Now, I’ll write my 3rd soon. Let see what I’ll get in that.
It is very frustrating at times when you write a good comment and it doesn’t get posted cause you don’t agree with the blogger so I usually just brush if off and move on.
I so agree with you James, that “Join Guest Blogging Contests” is an excellent way to generate leads that will increase traffic to your site.
Generally i find that when comments don’t get approved, its because of how I worded it, not necessarily because I disagreed. When I moderate my own comments, I don’t mind publishing one that is a differing opinion, but I don’t allow flaming comments, or people just out to start a fight.
I don’t think you should wait so long. I find that guest posting early on can be effective, its just easier to get approved by having more content available. That said, I just did one on a new blog I am building up , and the blog has a squeeze page and 2 articles on it. You can get them, but its harder with a brand new blog, unless you have proven yourself in other niches. Part of the reason I was able to get that guest post was because I already knew the blog owner from my work in the IM niche, and they knew my commitment to quality and engagement.
I just have only 4 posts on my blog. It seems I have to wait for some time to make guest posts as you said. Thanks for sharing, otherwise I will waste my time on guest posting with 4 posts on my blog.
i wouldn’t say it is a waste of time. On occasion, you can get guest posts early on. However, you do stand a better chance of getting approved once you have some good content.
Generally, with newbies I recommend getting 20 posts written before starting up a new blog anyway. Get those posted ASAP, and then get yourself into a regular posting schedule.
Thanks for clarifying it very clearly. I’ll make first 20 posts within next week and start on guest posting.
Thanks again for replying.
Good luck.
Hey James it’s great to see you posting on basicblogtips. I love your blog and your posts always add true value I’ve started guest posting as well. It’s by far the best way to build relationships and market your online activities. Right now this is the largest platform I’m writing on I still feel a little practice is needed before I write at pro blogger or john chow. I would like to eventually.
yeh, I have actually been in contact with Problogger already, working out an idea for a guest post on their blog. But, they are hard to get into early on. Two years ago, when I approached them, I didn’t have any guest posts out, and I was totally ignored. Now, I had a whole list of previous guest posts that they could look at and see how I work, which gives me a better chance.
One thing that I would recommend to get into the big blogs is to have a reference page on your blog where they can find other guest posts that you have done. For example, at IMRealtions, I have a “My Guest Posts” page where people can find most of my guest posts that I have done in the IM niche.
yea..guest posting is a good place to get some traffic as well as incoming links to my blog. But the post should be good quality & unique
I am e new blogger James and I find your tips very useful. I consider that guest posting is one of the best opportunities to promote my blog. I have posted only 3-4 post already, but when I reach the 10 posts I ‘ll go for it. I am newbie, can’t stand the rejection! 🙂
REjection is something that you will have to be able to accept in your life as well as your business. The most successful people in the world understand that rejection is just a part of life.
When I get rejected, I take it and look at it as an opportunity. I look at the approach, and see if I did something wrong (which is usually the case…), but if I can’t find that I was in the wrong, I don’t take it personally.
You never know why someone says no. Maybe they don’t accept guest posts at all, or perhaps your pitch wasn’t interesting to them. If anything, I might follow up and ask why I was rejected so that I can improve my strategy, but I don’t take it as a personal attack.
You will be told NO way more than yes in this business. I have been told no more times than I can count. I have had more sites that failed than actually made me money. EVery one of them was worth the time and effort because I learned valuable lessons along the way that I wouldn’t have learned any other way.
There are two things in life that I have found the successful people in this business master, and the people who give up in shame fail to learn: 1 take FULL responsibility for your own actions. 2 Never take responsibility for the actions of others.
Hey James,
All of your tips are awesome 😉 Guest blogging is awesome too.
But I have one more thing to add: Guest posting doesn’t work for all industries. Yeah, sure it works for blogging related and many others, but it doesn’t work for a LOT of industries (there aren’t really any “popular blogs” in those niches, everyone is about on the same level, and you won’t make much out of it anyways).
What do you think?
Hey Jeevan, thanks for your insight. It is true that not all niches have a lot of blogs in them, However, often it depends on the community. If you get a really tight subniche like Yeast infection cures for example, you won’t find many blogs. However, there are a lot of more general women’s health blogs that would have relevant traffic.
When it comes to guest posting, I try to think outside the specific niche, and consider who would have relevant traffic for my topic.
Like you said, not all niches will be able to do even that though. When it comes to any type of link building and website promotion, you have to know your niche, and find the sites where people interested in your niche hang out. Sometimes it is on blogs, sometimes it is in forums, and sometimes it is in social sites.
If you have a profitable niche, there has to be some kind of site that is an authority that people turn to for news and information. I try to get my content on those sites in some way. guest posting on blogs is just one way to do that.
right on brother 🙂
Great ideas! No subscribers would ever look up to a guest blogger who hasn’t set up his or her own blogging site. And you are definitely right, sometimes it’s not about how expert you are in the field but on your relationship with authors. Although it would be awkward to ask them to guest in their blogs but I guess if want to be successful in any business you just have to fight any negative vibes to pursue your goals.
Spatch
Hey Spatch, thanks for your comment. I don’t necessarily think that you have to have a blog, but you do need at least a static site up with some content on it. I know a lot of people doing really well with static affiliate sites and guest posting.
I’m going to start guest posting more often, because not only do I hear everyone getting reviewed views about it, but it also benefits relationship building as well as search engine optimization for years to come 🙂
This is one of the most important aspects fo guest blogging. I have guest posts that I did almost 2 years ago that still bring traffic to my sites today. Several of those earlier posts have now gained PR and SEO rankings much easier than I could have done on my own brand new sites.
I think that an important thing about guest posting is often neglected. You want to make sure that you aren’t posting on a site that has the same readers. I finally tried my first guest post a few weeks ago, after reading about it here and in several other places, and much to my surprise, I got essentially no traffic from it! This shocked me because it was a site with good traffic, and I really felt like I put my best foot forward. Then I realized – the people that traffic that site were already familiar with mine; there was no need to link from there! Next time I’ll need to look for a site a bit further out of my niche.
Josh, although that can be true, it can still benefit your site. Every guest post is an opportunity to brand yourself within the niche and build stronger relationships. I don’t get a lot of fresh traffic from BBT anymore, since after the first few, most of the people who will sign up have already done so. However, Ileane is always getting new readers into her blog as she continues building her following, and you can funnel these people to your site, especially if they do a good job at promoting their own blog and creating internal links to the existing content.
However, it is a good idea to get out and guest post on new blogs as well. I recommend becoming a regular contributor to 3-4 blogs. I contribute here at least once a month. However, also continue looking for new blogs to get in front of.
Yeah, I have a few other blogs where I have an opportunity to post guest posts. The main issue is determining the value of it since my blogging is only a hobby and I have limited time to dedicate to it.
Thank you so much for the article. I haven’t gone through a blog post from this angle. I too want to guest post on some blogs (Actually I’m thinking to do that this month).
But, after reading this post, I have to re – think about it. You made really valuable points there. 🙂
really, you need to start thinking about guest posting early on. If you don’t have enough content on your blog yet, at least start networking with the bloggers in your niche while you build up your content. Commenting like this, engaging them on social media, and striking up a conversation with them will all help you when you are ready to guest post on their site.
Thank you so much for the suggestion and glad you replied 🙂 How many comments one should made each day? Any specific number?
I am in 5 niches right now, and I do about 20 comments on various blogs per day. However, that is something you need to set for yourself, depending on how much time you have and what other tasks you have on your daily list.
If you are only working 2-3 hours per day on your blog, you might do 5 per day. Or, you might just set a weekly goal like doing 25-30/week, and follow your plan that way. the important thing is to find a number that is comfortable with your schedule, and doing it consistently.
20comments a day? Its sounds great. I usually work on my blog for more than 10 hrs a day (it’s a new blog though) but unable to comment that much.
So, I really need to have a proper blogging schedule from now on. Especially I should work out more on niche related comments.
Thanks again for providing your valuable suggestions James, it means a lot for me. Can you give any suggestions for me to enhance my blog’s growth. I’m doing everything for it. Content creation, Social networking, comments, started guest posting too. But not getting much traffic to my blog. That’s the only problem I’ve now with it. Could you suggest?
Well i would be very frank to say that i was Rejected atleast 10 posts till now in my own niche but i guess after reading this its not yet the right time to do it , I would have rethink on my strategy and then utilize the complete benefit of this Great posting method , Thanks for the info !
rejection is going to happen, even once you become an experienced guest poster. Accept that it isn’t a personal attack against you, first of all. Just keep trying. All you need is 1 to get started. My first guest post led to an invitation to do a second. I got an invitation from Ileane to guest post here after one I did on Blog Engage.
Just keep trying and it will work out.
“Be a regular visitor
Comment on their blog
Go above and beyond the Guest Post requirements ( if there is any )”
I got that advice from another blog a long time ago and all of the tips stated are true. A person is more likely to accept you if they have seen you around their territory before.
Plus, they can’t deny you if the content you are providing is too good to pass up xD
hey Josh, spot on, and excelent insights. thanks for sharing
I’m inspired to make a guest post sometime this week: thisis50.com. you get automatic search engine optimization and back links in less than 15 min. after you hit the publish button on 50’s site…LOL
🙂
Great post. Great advice. You are absolutely going to attract people if they are familiar with you and your work. If they aren’t you are relying on them to stumble across you.
good morning Ms. Ileane. Did you get a chance to check out the blog post on DrewryNewsNetwork? 🙂
oh I see. I understand now about YouTube annotations. I’m glad I focus more on creating unique content in my YouTube video descriptions, and adding relevant and valuable keywords. I’ll focus more on that, instead of putting annotations in my YouTube videos… LOL 🙂
Guest post is indeed one of the successful link building technique that you could use in able to gain natural backlinks to your site. Though this technique requires a lot of time specifically in finding blog sites that will allow you to post content in their website. You also need to be patient in waiting for blog owner to approve your articles and get posted, though everything was worth it, as you will see fast results.
Just look at the Google guide to write best content. Although you can get some traffic with little content on your own site, most sites simply won’t let you guest post if you don’t have any content up yet.
Commenting like this, engaging them on social media, and striking up a conversation with them will all help you when you are ready to guest post on their site.
That is true, however, if you engage right, you can get guest posts to a new site with little content. At the same time, I prefer at least 15-20 pages of good content before submitting guest posts.
For me, I started guest posting in the first month that I started blogging in 2010. I would recommend that new bloggers to start guest posting asap because this is where great traffic comes from.
Great post bro!
hey Kharim, I know what you mean. It was a while before I started guest posting. that and building an email list are the two things I really wish that I had started doing sooner.
Me too. I haven’t capitalized on a mailing list as yet either. Still waiting on my traffic to build up.
I had that attidude myself and it is the wrong one. My list is one of my top traffic source. I often recommend people start with nothing but an opt in page for their niche and start building a list from day 1, then build the blog on the back end of the list. the entire focus of my blog now is to build my list,
Great post. I particularly like the part describing how much content you need on your own site. Makes sense. I mean you need some basis for credibility before attempting to guest author for other blogs. I wonder about the exceptions… someone who does soooo much guest posting they don’t need a site.
How do you go about guest blogging. I’ve read the plethora of stories and watched another virtual plethora of videos about guest posting. But NONE of them tell you how to go about it! Do I just need to email other bloggers in my niche, which is ‘green’ blogging? Could someone please help me out by telling me where to start please?
And my blog is at engineergreen.blogspot .com and I am a disabled engineer, thus the name.
Hey Cory, although you will find tons of info on guest posting, the free stuff that you find won’t give you a step by step plan. Also, the thing with guest posting is that it is different for every blog, so its hard to create a training program that really works. Every blog that I guest post on has been different. However, the one thing that is consistent is that every blog I guest post on is with people I have already engaged with through social media and become a regular commentor on their blogs.
One Book that I found really helpful in getting started with guest posting is Jack Humphrey’s Bending the Web. it gives some really great advice on how to engage people better, find blogs that accept guest posting, and even a few tricks to get links to your site in OTHER people’s guest posts (giving you the link juice without all the hard work….)
But what if my blog is consistently in the upper reaches of google, yahoo, and bing already? Furthermore I already had the CEO of one company, Envia systems, comment on my blog and had a productive exchange with him; see article here (link removed by Ileane)
Do I really need to guest post as I am high up on all three search engines when I search the subject my posts are about? This is my quandry, as I did a google search about what to do if the CEO of a company posts on your blog; there were no answers, which leads me to believe I am in uncharted territory here. What do you think about this and what conclusions would you draw from these facts?
Cory, please don’t include links in the text of your comments. I understand that you are trying to learn something here and I can see that you are confused on certain issues. That’s why I let the comment go through.
Normally I delete comments with links in them. However, I’d like to respond to your question and share some advice.
I’m very familiar with “green energy” and because of my day job I spend hours visiting blogs and reading articles in your niche. With that being said, let’s forget about guest posting for a minute and ask yourself a few questions.
Have you set goals for your blog?
Are you trying to sell products?
Do you need more traffic?
Did you start a blog to support an offline business?
If you can answer those questions then you are halfway there. The next move for you would be to migrate your blog from Blogger to WordPress (unless you are only blogging as a hobby).
Let me know if you have answers to any of those questions and then we can talk more about your need for guest posting.
Thanks.
Well I am very new to blogging, but I ave been coding on them since back in the days of the apple IIE. Plus I have been doing web design and consulting for abt 10 yrs before I had my stroke and discovered that I had MS on top of that. I would have just deleted the web address if you do not allow those, and you have my permission to do so.
As for your questions I will attempt to answer them in the order the were asked.
1) Have not set any goals officially or otherwise.
2)No I have no products to sell as I told you in my intro I am disabled now
3)Yes, the more traffic the better right?
4)No there is no business either offline or online.
Initially, I started my three blogs to have something to do because being disabled sucks! Yes I have two more blogs in addition to the one I told you about. You can email me at my gmail address if you would like to know their addresses.
But I would just like to ask you one more thing– you said to move to wordpress. What advantages do they offer that blogger does not?
Hi Cory,
Really all this surrounds having a goal for your blog. having a clear and concise goal for why you are blogging will help you answer all your questions. If you want to make a little money from your blog, you don’t need your own products. the green energy niche has a lot of programs as well as different physical products you could promote as an affiliate. If you want to nometix it at all.
As far as why you should move to wordpress,
WordPress is better than blogger in every way…
Better SEO
Easier interfaces
more professional look and feel
customization
The biggest reason though is the hosting. Free hosting is a complete waste of your time and energy. most of the free stuff is not worth your time, and you have no control over what they do.
they can come in tomorrow and delete your blog with no warning, and for no reason. it is their site. you don’t own it. you have no control and yyou can lose years of work in an instant.
Self hosting your blog gives you the freedom to blog how you want, and do what you want with your readers,without constantly changing rules. Blogger is well known for changing their TOS and deleting hundreds of blogs for non compliance, before even telling their users about the change.
I have seen many bloggers over the years put out of business over night after months or even years of hard work building their blog just because Blogger changed the rules and deleted their blog without giving them a chance to become compliant with the new rules.
Thanks for the info which I manged to find in the first place after digging around for it. I have already moved mt blog to wordpress. But I am still not up to speed on their system yet. That is one of the things I love about google blogger, being a techie myself, it just feels native to me. But as for page rank, to give you an answer on that, I recently published a post about the Philips Freedom bulb and if you check into it there is a fair amount of competition for those keywords. Well I can gladly say that thanks to G+ my post instantly had a 4th or 5th place ranking.
What I need now most of all is links back to my blog. I will continue to write great stories and be forever in search of ways to get back links before I tackle wordpress. Thanks man
P.S. Nometex is a unfamiliar term to me– I’ll have to google it. And btw, I am an electrical engineer and journeyman wireman by trade so I have an excellent handle on the subject manner than most
James,
Great article on guest posting. Especially like the part about don’t be scared of rejection. It seems to get anywhere in life you need to take risks and face the possibility people won’t be interested. It just makes you stronger.
You mentioned contests, can you elaborate a bit on what those are in the blogging world and where to find them?
Contests come in a variety of forrmats, but basically some blogs will host a contest to allow guest posters to submit entries and you are scored on content, engagement, social shares, things like that. each one sets their own rules. Often, they get sponsors who put up prize money or offer free products or services as prizes to the winners. Different people will have different contests at different times, some do them regularly. For example, Blog Engage does one every 6 weeks. some also do one or two a year, like FamousBloggers. You can find a wide range of contests mainly by being active in the blogging community and finding out what is going on. I read a lot of blogs and follow a lot of people on social media, and that is usually how I find out about the contests that are going on.
Now, for niche bloggers, these contests may not bring you a lot of “targeted” traffic so people who aren’t in the “blogging” niche don’t always enter. however, it can give you exposure to tons of bloggers many of whom might be in your niche, and can help you gain more relevant traffic through guest posts on their blogs.
You can also find blogs running contests in various niches. by following the most popular blogs and bloggers who are involved in your niche, if they are happening, you can find them. if not, maybe you could get some major link mojo by starting one yourself, but you would have to ask someone else about putting one on, since i have never done that.
If you are interested in that side of things,I would talk with Brian over at Blog engage. He will tell you how to find sponsors and bloggers to join in. its a great way as a blog owner to 1 give your blog massive exposure (most contests require you to link to the host blog and all the sponsors, giving you free backlinks as the host) and some great content for your readers. and it can help build your readership since contest entrants will promote the heck out of their posts trying to win.