How to Start Guest Blogging – Beginners Guide

Regardless of your motives for wanting to start as a guest blogger, it needs to be pointed out that guest blogging is by no means a simple job. It is also true that it can be extremely rewarding, enriching experience. You will not only greatly develop your writing skills, but also improve your chances of making a name for yourself online.

The road towards internet fame is long and winding, and the one which will take a lot of effort and dedication on your part.

In this article, we will provide a brief, but a useful guide which will help you start as a guest blogger.

Set Your Priorities

It goes without saying that before you even come close to writing anything, you should know what exactly you want to write, who will be your audience and what are your goals and expectations.

Consider writing down your priorities so that you can have a clear overview of where are you going and how you want to execute your plans.

It is also highly recommendable to have a strong overview of your skills. You will need this at a later stage of guest blogging efforts.

Search for Guest Blogging Opportunities

Even more importantly, your next step is to find your guest posts target. In short, you will, of course, need a place to publish your guest posts.

You will need to gather all relevant info in your niche to find the right guest blogging opportunities. One of the best and simple, way of doing this is by using Google search.

Use specifically targeted keywords to find opportunities which best suit your skills and goals.

Of course, much will depend on your goals, so you must choose very carefully.

If your goal as a guest blogger is to build your online reputation, generate traffic and visibility, big and established blogs are your best chance for success.

Research

Once you have collected a list of blogs you are interested in, you will need to conduct a research about your competitors, and the current trends in your guest blogging niche.

This will point you in the right direction in discovering relevant content. Social networks are the right place to conduct your research, as many guest bloggers will share their post on social networks.

Another extremely important factor is conducting proper research on the blogs you are considering to use a guest blogger.

Your research should include, but not be limited to the content published on the blog, blog authors, and other guest bloggers.

Without effective research, your chances of getting your posts published are not that great. Think of research as a basic prerequisite of your guest blogging efforts.

Preparing Your Guest Post

In the last stage, before you actually start any writing, it is necessary to prepare yourself. Present yourself, outline your skills, strengths, and advantages. Send a clear message that you are different and explain why should they chose you over your competition.

As a guest blogger, you need to establish a strong personality and a distinct style. Personality plays a crucial role in brand awareness and is also of great importance when it comes to successful communication.

To sum up in only a few words: show that you are unique.

The Writing Stage

At last, this is the moment when you actually start writing your guest post. Here are points you have to keep in mind while composing your guest post:

• Originality – always write 100 percent original content. This is absolutely important both for your credibility as a writer, but also for the blog you’re writing for. You can, of course, use citations and helpful links, but your content should otherwise be unique.
• Make sure your content conforms to blogging guidelines – carefully examine all the guidelines. This demonstrates your ability to work according to the rules.
• Engage your readers – the content you are writing must be able to engage readers by offering them real value. Your content should not be limited to declarations and statements, but provide genuine examples and guidelines.
• Formatting – this will depend on the blog you are writing for. Ensure that your post is properly formatted.

Things to Keep In Mind

Ensure that your posts contain hyperlinks to relevant sources. Also, depending on the type of your post and the message you want to send, your post should include a Call-to-Action, but this should not be done in the way of pushing sales message.

Consider posting a CTA which will encourage readers to subscribe to your posts. This will also benefit you in the long run. Online reviews are an important aspect of your guest blogging and are of vital importance for establishing your reputation.

Proofread Your Post

Before submitting your post, make sure there are no spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. This is especially important for your very first post when you are still in the process of establishing your authority as a writer. Nothing can be more harmful to your efforts than a post containing spelling and grammar errors.

Make sure your posts are thoroughly proofread before you go and submit your post.

Submission

At this stage, your post should be completed and be ready for submission. Submission can be of vital importance, especially if you are sending your query message along with the post.

If that is the case, write a brief overview explaining who you are and describing the content of your post in few sentences.

Some bloggers might proceed and read the whole post, but chances are, most of them are not going to bother reading every single post offer they receive, so you will need a strong overview to capture their attention.

Analyze and Interact

Assuming that your post is eventually published, the next task you are faced with is to analyze your results. Gather all the relevant info about your posts performance, and if necessary, examine statistics and other vital info.

To keep your audience engaged, you should actively interact with them on social networks, and also dedicate some time to comments on your blog.

Remember, this is your chance to attract new readers and demonstrate your commitment. The more you interact, the greater the benefits.