In the post, I am going to ignore things that are already quite seen, such as that the content of a guest post has to be quality, that it has to fit into the theme of the host blog to add value to the public, that it is good that you provide references to your best post when you introduce yourself to the blogger, etc. All this, at this point I take it for more or less known.
Instead, I will focus more on how to connect with the blogger whose blog you want to publish, a topic that I have not seen much written about, but which is essential to get them to accept your guest post.
Things to do and avoid if you want to get a guest post
In order of priority, for me the most important points would be these:
Show from the first second that you are not wasting people’s time
This is the point that personally can irritate me the most and that, from what I see, we share many bloggers. I don’t know of a single blogger with a blog of some visibility (which is the type of blog you are interested in publishing) who is not cramped with time.
Therefore, we hate wasting time and we flee from people who waste it or give us the impression that it will be hard to work with them.
My advice is that you keep this very, very present when you intend to get a guest post and write your first email to the blogger in question. It is one of the points where you can screw up the most if you create the perception that working with you is “heavy”.
But precisely for that very reason also one of the best opportunities if you manage to create the opposite perception: Believe me, if you show the blogger you work in an agile way, that you have clear ideas and that he will not waste time with you, you will have already greatly increased your chances of success.
Then we will see how to create a positive perception by simply taking advantage of your first email for it.
Take the initiative and attract positive attention
In the line of saving time and annoyance for the blogger you ask to publish as a guest, it is much better to be proactive than excessively cautious.
This is much better than simply proposing a collaboration without further ado, without specifying anything, as most bloggers do. With an email like that with clear ideas, you give that positive feeling that said of agility and rapid progress, without giving the blogger you are addressing the ember. This will make it much less lazy to embark on a collaboration with you.
Another extremely positive and effective way to get the blogger’s attention is to leave a series of quality and helpful comments. An excellent example is the case of Deisy Rubiyal, a writer who knows the ins and outs of Amazon very well when it comes to publishing eBooks.
It turns out that one fine day I suddenly came across 6 excellent comments from Deisy in this post about how to publish books on Amazon that answered questions from commenters that neither I nor the guest author had been able to respond to. I was very impressed because it is something totally out of the ordinary and logically you are very grateful as the author of the blog.
What has been the consequence of this?
A mention from this blog, a thank you email from me, and a proposal to make an interesting guest post about her experience as an author on Amazon.
Not bad for a job that I don’t think took more than 15-20 minutes, don’t you think?
Minimize the exchange of emails
This is very much in line with the above because precisely the abuse of email is one of the things that consume the most time and with which you can most piss off the blogger who publishes your post.
It cannot be, as it has happened to me, that a guest post goes through +30 email exchanges because the collaboration with the blogger then is costing him more time than making your own posts. If that happens, the guest post, except in exceptional cases, simply stops making sense and goes from being a benefit to being a problem.
I know it might sound very cold to say this, but when you find yourself in an extreme situation of unavailability you simply cannot afford these things, and you have to understand it.
Interactions via email should not go beyond the following:
- One of the proposals along the lines that I propose a little below
- Another one of acceptance of the blogger, one of delivery
- And, if anything, 1-2 of doubts and details, no more
Beyond this, many bloggers (myself included) will start to get nervous.
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Take care of the finish, especially that of the images
When you have a blog with high visibility that you know will be helped by a blogger who has substantially less, one of the things you hope for is that they are professional enough to go the extra mile to deliver excellent work. Apart from being the first person interested in making an excellent impression on a new audience.
In that sense, it is annoying to receive a post where it seems that the author has made the minimum effort and only seeks to take advantage of your blog to get some quality links. It is not a receipt, nor is it professional.
Things like that the post has a spelling not even checked with an automatic corrector or poor quality images (that are blurred or pixelated, that do not look good due to an inadequate resolution, or that do not fit the context) are not acceptable.
Address the blogger personally
I receive many emails that try to sneak some kind of post for promotional purposes.
That said, I have no objection to someone posting a guest post with a promotional background as long as they maintain “honesty”, that is, they strive to add value to the community of this blog. What’s wrong with it if it really adds value?
However, this is a great exception. Almost everyone tries to color a rehash on your blog with minimal effort, an obvious sign of this is that they haven’t even bothered to personalize the email. That is, do not stop even to know the blog to which they are directed.
For this reason, practically 100% of bloggers are very bothered by receiving mass emails like these, both in my case and in the others, they usually go directly to the trash can.
Conclusion:
even if you are not a company, always address the blogger in a very personal way. Show him that you know his work with some reference and that you are not just an opportunist looking for his links.
How to collaborate in the most effective way possible
Continuing with the idea that, apart from quality (which is taken for granted), you have to take great care of productivity in collaboration in a guest post, I will now make a series of recommendations and proposals that should pave the way for you.
Think of all the important details at the beginning
Collect as much as possible all the important details in your first contact email and try to avoid the annoying process of clarifying doubts and details by dropper in subsequent emails.
In that sense, you should:
- Talk about who you are, how long you have been and a number of posts, along with references to your best posts.
- Be proactive, do not simply say that you propose to publish a guest post, indicate about what
- Also indicate why you think your post adds value to the blog (typically because the blogger hasn’t covered your topic yet)
- Propose specific titles and a content outline for each one (see below)
- Delivery commitment dates
- Form of delivery of the post for the text and images part
Although the mail may be a bit long, it does not matter. It is much less cumbersome to read a slightly longer email but that closes the topics than to be exchanging 10 or 20 short emails about each of the details.
Research the author’s blog beforehand to find the right topic.
A very good way to win over the blogger is to give him the job that he still has ahead of him. In that sense, analyze your blog a bit and try to detect gaps within your topic that you might be interested in filling.
The other day, for example, a blogger wrote to me saying that he had seen that I had not touched the security issue in WordPress for years and that, therefore, he proposed a guest post about it.
Indeed, you are absolutely right, so chapeau and your post will come out shortly
Specify with 2-3 different titles and 4, 5 key points
If you have clear ideas of how to add value, it will not cost you anything to make 2 or 3 proposals for specific titles, along with the 4-5 key points that you would touch on each of them.
If you have researched the blog well enough, it is very likely that at least one of them will fit you. And with that, you have already eliminated the transfer of emails by discussing what could be published.
Ask for possible rules and there aren’t any, propose them
So that collaboration is fluid and there are no surprises or the need to think about corrections and modifications, it is good that there are a series of rules.
These can be rules that specify, for example, how to deliver the post, whether to edit it directly on the author’s blog with the corresponding user of the guest blogger or to deliver them, otherwise, with a Word document.
If you want to get an idea of the rules that may make sense, here is my guide for guest bloggers, although I anticipate before seeing them that I am somewhat fussy-maquis and maniac.
In any case if, despite my hobbies, you like my guest blogging guide, feel free to take it as a template for your guests.
If the blogger does not specify anything for you, my advice is that you propose a series of basic things to avoid later surprises. For example, that you are going to deliver the post as a Word document and the images separately in their corresponding files, with indications in the text of where to insert them when the post is laid out on the blog.
Consider creating your guest post beforehand
A very effective alternative way to approach a guest post that eliminates many of the problems discussed here is to create the post beforehand and, once done, offer it to bloggers that interest you and with whose blog it fits well.
Think about this possibility, you have nothing to lose because in the worst case (no one accepts it) you always have the option of publishing it on your own blog.
Conclusions
My final advice is that by putting together your ideas and the ones you take from here, you make a template since many points such as your references or your proposal on how to deliver the material are repeated.
You adapt that template to each of the bloggers you address and if your proposals are good, if there are enough blogs in your niche and you work on it by contacting people, I am sure you will get more than one guest post.
