29 Useful Resources for Learning About Guest Posting

Writing guest posts on top blogs in your industry can be a great way to build awareness of your business by getting in front of new audiences, earn a link to your site, and get referral traffic. The following articles provide helpful information on how to effectively approach guest posting as a marketing tactic.

The Ultimate Guide to Guest Blogging Kiss Metrics
-Review the type of people who have published guest posts on the site before.
-Your guest post should be similar in style to previously published guest posts.
-Share articles from the site on Twitter before you pitch a guest post so you are not a stranger.

5 Jaw Dropping Tips for Guest Posting Success Point Blank SEO
-If a blog owner asked for payment, explain that the article costs $120 to write and if they can waive the fee.
-Using a well written email template can be effective.

The Ultimate Guest Blogger’s Guide for 2013 Search Engine Journal
-Consider hiring a professional writer.
-Be willing to give away your best content as guest posts.

6 Signs That Site Isn’t Worthy of Your Guest Post Small Business Trends
-Avoid sites with infrequent content updates.

The Definitive Guide to Guest Blogging Backlinko
-Reverse engineer your competitors on the first page of Google to find niche guest posting opportunities.
-Reach out to people who leave a positive comment on your blog and pitch a guest post.

Getting Started With Guest Posting (Video) SEOMoz
-Search Google for “guest author”, “guest contributor”, “guest post”, etc.
-Search for a guest poster’s name in double quotes to see sites that they have guest posted for.

A Guest Posting Process Distilled
-Buzzstream is a useful paid link building relationship manager.
-Be upfront with your intentions so you don’t waste their time.
-This article provides a good email template for outreach.

How to Evaluate Guest Post Opportunities SEOMoz
-Look for sites with signs of integrity. You don’t want sites that will sell links.
-Google could eventually filter out low quality guest posts.

Will Pitching Guest Posts Be The Death of Marketers? Search Engine Land
-Using a company email address can increase credibility.
-Don’t be afraid to follow up in about a week after the initial request.

Putting Guest Post Outreach Theories to the Test [With Some Real World Data] SEOMoz
-Following up a second or third time resulted in 30% of the successful outcomes.

Power Guest Posting for SEO Search Engine Watch
-Don’t waste time writing guest posts on blogs that few people read.
-Follow the trail of other guest posters (search for their name in Google).
-Don’t write the articles in advance and try to shop them around as it comes across as desperate.

How Guest Posting Propelled One Site From 0 to 100,000 Customers Search Engine Watch
-Relationships are the most valuable thing you get out of guest posting.
-Provide links to examples of your guest posts in your pitch.
-Copy the structure of other successful posts in your niche.

15 Bite-Size Tips For Getting Your Guest Posts Accepted Almost Every Time SocialMouths
-Read past articles and guest posts to see what type of content the site owner wants.
-Provide your idea for the topic of your guest post in your pitch.

The Power of Guest Blogging John Doherty
-Accepting guest posts on your site can be a good way to build relationships.

10 Incentives to Increase Your Guest Post Acceptance Rate [Outreach Examples] Stoked SEO
-Offer to match the blogger’s donation to a charity.
-Offer free swag (like t-shirts) as a thank you.

Guest Blogging? Exercise Caution! Dejan SEO
-Link out to other sites liberally in your guest posts.
-Keep an eye on past guest posts to make sure the site doesn’t start selling links.
-Avoid low quality sites that lack purpose, identity, and social signals.

5 Tips For Getting The Most From Your Guest Blogging Slingshot SEO
-Send your guest post outreach from your company email account.
-Make sure to participate in the comments to your guest post.

7 Surefire Tips for Courting A Guest Blog Post Marketing Tech Blog
-Work on developing a long term relationship with sites that you guest post on.

Guest Blogging as a Future-Proof Marketing and Linkbuilding Strategy SEOGadget
-Look for guest post opportunities that your competitors can not take advantage of.
-Provide the topic of your proposed guest post in your pitch.
-Consider avoiding sites that only publish guest posts.

5 Important Post-Penguin Guest Post Prospecting Questions Search Engine Journal
-Look for sites that focus content on a single topic.
-Avoid sites with an overwhelming amount of adds.
-Look for sites that are well connected on social media.

Could Guest Posting Be Dead? Search Engine Journal
-Matt Cutts says to avoid spinning guest posts or doing the bare minimum.
-Matt Cutts said to avoid taking it to extremes like outsourcing a lot of articles to crank out links.

Write a Guest Post for I Will Teach You To Be Rich I Will Teach You To Be Rich
-Include writing samples in your pitch like guest posts you have previously written.
-Make it easy for the publisher to post your article. (Example: put the article in HTML format)

Rules for Guest Posting: Guidelines & Best Practices Geoff Kenyon
-Link out to helpful resources in your guest post.
-Only the first link to a page passes Page Rank.
-Use exact match anchor text with caution.

Taking Another Look at Guest Blogging and Outreach Search Engine Watch
-Google doesn’t like any manufactured links.
-Be aware that quality blogs are inundated with poor guest post pitch emails.
-If someone asks for money to publish your guest post, it would be smart to get the link no-followed.

The Stalker’s Guide to Highly Effective Guest Posting Shopify
-Leave high quality comments on blogs you want to contribute to.
-Provide three ideas for your guest post in your pitch.

The Ultimate Guide to Advanced Guest Blogging SEOMoz
-Sites with few or no previous guest posts are more valuable opportunities.
-Avoid blogs that will publish anything or don’t publish their own content.
-Write articles about keywords the site already ranks well for (your post will be more likely to rank well).

Guest Blog Where You Don’t Belong: Find Links From Outside Your Niche Northside SEO
-Links from outside your niche are helpful if they are from authoritative sites.
-Aim for a natural link in the content or one branded link in the author bio.

37 Mind Blowing Secrets About Guest Blog Posts Search Engine Journal
-A catchy headline is a key to getting your guest article accepted.

Creative Commons photo by Emi Yañez