We have talked about the benefits of guest blogging, and its significance for bloggers and company websites alike. We’ve also given you the tools of the trade, so to speak. Now, this article will focus on where to guest post, how to maximize the benefits guest posts give and when to allow guests posts in your site too.
Hunting sites to guest post means adapting to the various types of audience in the blogosphere. Oftentimes, you need to be creative on how you clinch the guest post and where and when to do so. Here are some techniques that might help you:
Perhaps the first logical choice on where to find quality sites is in your own site’s Comments section. The visitors who have found the time to reply on your site are most oftentimes the individuals who wanted to interact with you. Look for repeat commenters, especially the ones who have something worthwhile to share. Communicate with these persons and hopefully, that will lead you to a lasting partnership.
Second, look for networkers. These are the people who has a veritable list of followers and contacts, and who sanction (even endorse) approaching fellow writers to make the list even bigger. Naturally, these networkers are a plus to have – both for hosting your article, and as guest posters in your own site.
Third, look for rapidly growing sites, especially the “fresh ones”, even though they are those of your “competitors”. In business, branding is very important, and how visitors and potential clients see your site will reflect on the chance that they visit again and avail of your products and/ or services. And although blogs have no real “competitors” since each blog has a unique voice and perspective, it is still good to find these fresh faces and see how they are faring in terms of followers and content quality.
Watching your competitors’ site is very enlightening: you can learn new things on how they present new ideas, promote their products and/ or services, even how they deal with visitors and potential clients. The same is true for blogs. New bloggers are attention-seekers, and many find ingenious, creative ways on having a piece of the blogging pie.
Fourth, track trends in search engines, like those used in Yahoo! and Twitter. Similar to using Google, these “trends” give you a real time look on what most of the online community is talking about. You may even find one or two fresh guest posting opportunities just by looking at those trending keywords.
Fifth, look offline. If you already have a site, never hesitate to have a newbie contact and write for you. Having experienced bloggers posting in your site is a definite advantage, but sometimes, the most willing guest posters are the ones who has no knowledge of guest posting before, or those that are just starting out and hoping to make a name in a niche related to yours. Guest posts being a win-win situation, your accepting this newbie’s post could open you to his/ her own contacts, widening both of your audience in the process.