Quick Online Tips

15 Secrets of Highly Successful Guest Bloggers

Posted: 29 Aug 2008 09:03 AM CDT

Are you a great guest blogger? Guest blogging has become very popular in the blogosphere as most bloggers write a guest post on top blogs to gain exposure, more readers and free traffic. But successful guest bloggers are smart, know their goals and work hard to achieve the best results.

When you post your best article on another blog, remember it has to benefit you. You have to believe that your great article will work better on another top blog and put in all your passion and best skills to write this article, since it has to work for you. We also publish guest articles on QOT and share some secrets of highly successful guest bloggers.

Guest Blogging Tips for Great Guest Bloggers

1. Know your goals - Note down what you want from your guest blogging experience - free publicity, readers, traffic. Identify the blogs related to your expertise and niche, carefully study the previous guest articles on the blog and their reader response, then see what works for you in terms of your goals. Once you know what you want, then only get started…

2. Let your blog talk - When you approach with a guest post, let your blog URL do all the talking. Your blog will easily display your writing habits, topical interests, your social network and blogging skills. Remember to have a easy-to-find About page, because it speaks for who you are. Its easier to get a post accepted when your blog rocks. If you don’t have a blog, reference some other content you created.

3. Experience works - If you guest blogged before, link out to previous articles to show your blogging skills. Superb guest articles are trusted resources, and those posted on bigger blogs, give more credibility. You want publicity for your site, you need to show your credentials.

4. Stick to niche - If you write great tech hacks, guest blog on a top blog which posts great tech hacks. Staying topical in your niche will drive the most targeted traffic and readers your way. Always remember you need to know what you are talking about.

5. Cut the chase - Most guest bloggers send the first email asking if they can blog, second email discussing the topic, third email with the article, fourth email editing the format. Most blogs which accept guest bloggers will post some guidelines about content and format. Simply follow these guidelines, study the format of previous guest articles, study which type of articles get the most comments and backlinks - and then send in your article with the first email you send. If it is a great article, the chances are very high you cut the email exchanges and the article goes live faster.

8. Get original, be yourself - No one wants to publish rehashed content. You want to write your best stuff and share your viewpoint about an issue or topic. Write about what you truly feel and speak from your genuine experience and your passion for the subject will reveal itself. Give it your best shot.

7. Proof read. Do it again. - Busy bloggers like a well formatted, grammatical error-free copy that they can instantly post without much editing. No one likes to do your spell checks. Many spell checking agents will pick wrong spellings, but may not be able to correct sentence structure etc. Proof read thoroughly. Then do it again.

5. Don’t be oversmart - Although it is a good idea to link to your blog, don’t overdo it. Its a bad idea to stuff your article with deeplinks to your blog, cloak affiliate links, promote your partners, use copyrighted content, send in a modified version of your older content etc. Such newbie efforts land your article in the Recycle bin faster with no response.

9. Create Impact - If you can add an original image to your article, it will make an impact. Try avoiding use of free icons, free stock images, linked flickr photos which someone else snapped - instead get in some original photos related to your article which can create an impact. See how best you can use bold, italics, lists, indents, headers like h3, h4 etc to create a high impact article that makes readers go wow and bookmark it.

10. Ooze credibility - Research your facts thoroughly before posting them. Its a great idea to reference the sources of information by linking to them, as it gives more credibility and authority to your article. If you are discussing a controversial topic, its essential to have the facts right. Big bloggers will not publish defamatory articles, rumors and unreliable information without references.

11. Participate Actively. Once the article is live, your job is not over. Now is the time to draw the readers in. Get ready to discuss and interact with the readers via comments. It’s your articles, your platform, your limelight, so reply to comments and keep the discussion going.

12. Don’t Embarrass Yourself. - Blog smartly and comment intelligently. Top blogs have a wide expert reader base, which will critically analyze and comment on your article. Be prepared with the answers and support your views, tips and tools. Wrong facts, ill informed views and ignorance about your subject content can backfire easily and work against your goals.

13. Don’t Embarrass Your Host - Your host blogger was gracious enough to publish your article. Don’t push them in an awkward situation by posting retractions, requesting post edits after it has gone live, modifying and re-posting the article on your blog or elsewhere, demanding money, spamming commentors and readers etc.

14. Get Analytical - Guest blogging is a learning experience which makes you a better blogger too. Track the response to your article in terms of traffic, feed count rise, comments etc and analyze if the guest article met your goals. If it did not work, then rethink what went wrong, learn from your experience, write another new article with more passion, and do it better.

15. Reload Article II - Smart guest bloggers learn from experience and once they know what works best for their goals. If the first guest article got you a phenomenal response,prepare and send out another guest article… after a few weeks. Its will mostly be accepted as the host blogger is now more interested and receptive, as it creates great content for them too.

Suggest more guest blogging tips in comments below. We invite our readers to write an article on QOT.