Why and How To Guest Post: B2S/B2B Week 3 Guest Post

I’m delighted to have my good friend, Alexandra at Good Day, Regular People, writing about guest posting today. She is a prolific guest poster and she has had much success with it, so definitely check this out!

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 I have been so very lucky with how I “fell” into guest posting, and how much I have learned about it. I am enthusiastic about guest blogging and have seen how powerful it is.

WHY guest post?

* It truly is a lot of fun

* It develops your writing style

* It takes your blogging friendships to another level

* It helps build community.
 
There are some extra fringe benefits to guest posting, too. {Kind of like being able to eat what you want over the weekend, and still managing to lose 2 lbs. Good stuff, like that.} 

 * increased traffic

* exposure to a new audience

* allows you to showcase a side of your writing (or self) that your blog doesn’t

* and -if you kick butt–gaining new followers and subscribers
 
I had no idea what guest blogging was when I was first approached to do it.  I had written a post on my oldest son’s piano playing.  One of my readers passed my post to another blogger, who was part of a collaborative site called Four Perspectives. Four Perspectives ran my post on their Guest Post Friday. 

I was thrilled to have a post of mine published other than my own blog. It was so flattering and encouraging! It was music to my ears.
 
I am a hardcore believer in karma. So on the day that my piano playing post was featured at Four Perspectives, I asked my readers to visit me there, and encouraged people to submit their own guest posts to Four Perspectives for their review. I also emailed bloggers whose posts I felt would be a fit there. Gigi had one written that I thought was stellar and I suggested she submit it there for them to feature. She did, and they did.
 
Are you starting to see why this is exciting?
 
Now, it gets even sweeter. I came across another post on Four Perspectives that I felt would fit in perfectly at LOL, www.livingwithlaughter.com, the humor blog. Turns out the post was by the reader who had initially sent my post to Four Perspectives! I told him about LOL, and encouraged him to submit. He did, and LOL featured his post.
 
What goes around comes around. Gigi, my follower, and I all gained new followers and got to showcase our writing. That’s why I love guest posting.

Now let me move on to some tricks I”ve learned about guest posting. 
1.  Think outside yourself. When you come across an opportunity to guest post that may not be for you, think about whether it’s right for another blogger you know. If so, forward that contact information to them.  They’ll appreciate it.
 
2.  Just ask. When you see a blog you like, email them a short, sweet note asking if you could guest post. All they can say is no. Take the risk.
 
3.  Use it as a test bed. If you know you want to try writing something new that your blog’s niche doesn’t allow, search out a site that will. Say, you like science fiction. Well Google,  “Guest Posting for Science Fiction,” and “Submitting Guest Post on Science Fiction,”  and “Guest Post Submission on Science Fiction.”  

  4.  Utilize Twitter. Follow the tweets of a blogger you like. Some bloggers will tweet “looking for guest posts. I’m feeling very generous today.” Respond!

5.  Utilize search boxes. When visiting a collaborative blog you’d like to contribute to, enter “guest posts” in their search box: good chance that everything you need will pop up with one click.
 
6. Look for “write for us” and “about us” links. Many community blogs will have a “write for us” link in their top navigation bar. {Usually all the way to the right.} Also, click on “about us.”  There will usually be an email address for guest post submissions there.
 
7. Check out guest blogger communities. Want to take your guest blogging to a new level? There is a new site that is wonderful called MyBlogGuest.com.  They are a community of guest bloggers which aim to connect guest bloggers to hosts. They seek high quality content and a fresh perspective. Very exciting collaboration. 

8. Start out small.  Exchange guest posts with a bloggy buddy. You can reach a new audience there that you are somewhat familiar with, in a niche you know well.  Consider hosting a guest post once a week at your site. Tweet it out! You’ll meet new people, and bring traffic to your site for others to meet you.
 
9. Bring your A game. This is the most important thing I can say about guest posting. I would not say to myself, “it’s a free post for them, I’ll just hammer this out in ten minutes.” No, no, no, no, and No.
 
Bring it! Provide the awesome content that will have people wanting to know more about you and follow you. Make your host proud. Make your host beam with “look what I found to show my readers!”  Be a guest, as in “guest post.”

That’s it! Good luck with your efforts to guest post!

Tagged as: B2SB2B Challenge, Blogging Tips, Guest Post