How to Write a Guest Post and Get it Published
(This is Part 3 of my series “The Guest Post: The Ultimate Guide To Guest Blogging.” To become a total guest posting badass, be sure to read the entire series.)
In Part 1 of this series, you learned why guest posting is a super terrific way of marketing your blog and probably realized that you should do it.
In Part 2 you learned how to find the perfect blog(s) to guest post on.
And now, in Part 3, you’re going to learn how to write a successful guest post and actually get it published on the blog you’d like to get it published on.
Away we go…
How To Write A Successful Guest Post
Before we can go any further, you’re going to need to know what the definition of a “successful guest post” actually is.
Simply put, a successful guest post is a guest post that is both:
- A success on the blog it was posted on (in terms of it generating a lot of comments, positive feedback, discussion, as well as getting lots of links, social bookmarks, traffic and really just anything that shows it was popular and well liked on this blog or anywhere else)
AND - As beneficial to you, the guest poster, as possible (in terms of how much traffic it sends you, how much (and what kind) of exposure it gives you, how many new subscribers/users/customers it gets you, etc.).
You really can’t have one without the other, which is why the success of a guest post is really equally dependent on making both happen.
So, just how do you make your guest post a success? Simple. Do all of this:
Make it useful, awesome and full of value.
Everything you’re going to read below is pretty important, but nothing is more important than this. Your guest post needs to be useful and awesome and full of value.
It’s really easy to get caught up in the fact that what guest posting really is is a way for you to market your own blog. As true as that is, you can not lose sight of the fact that goal #1 is to write a great post that this blog’s readers will truly love.
No matter how perfectly you get every other aspect of guest posting, this is the one that carries the most significance in terms of how well it all works out for you. Get it right.
Follow instructions.
If they recommend a specific post length, do it! If they recommend a specific post format, do it! If they recommend using a picture in the post, do it! Whatever instructions or recommendations/suggestions they give (if any), DO IT!
And don’t just do it… do it to their exact specifications.
Write for their audience, not yours.
This isn’t a post for your own blog, and this isn’t your audience. That means that whatever you write needs to be geared specifically towards this blog’s readers and no one else.
Just because it’s a similar niche does not mean you are writing for a similar audience. You need to spend some time on this blog getting to know the people who read it, and make sure you keep them (and them alone) in mind when writing your guest post.
Make sure you end up with something that this specific blog’s readers will like and find useful, and make sure it’s something that is completely relevant to this specific blog.
Make it click-through enticing.
This is the hardest one to explain, the hardest one to teach, yet one of the most important ones to make happen. You need to write a guest post that entices everyone who reads it to click through to your site immediately after.
What’s that you say? There will be a link to your site at the beginning or end (or both) of your guest post and people will click it when they see it? Ha, that’s cute.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Here’s how it does work…
If your guest post doesn’t grab its readers in some way and make them WANT to check out the site of the person who wrote it, your link will be completely invisible to them. Sort of like ad blindness. Unless you cause a thought along the lines of “I want more of this person” to pop into the head of the people reading this post, your link might as well not even exist.
So, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to not only write something that is great and useful and full of value, but to write something that makes people want more of you, the writer.
Whether your post leaves them wanting to learn more about you and your background, read other stuff you’ve written, subscribe to your blog right then and there, or buy whatever you’re selling, it doesn’t really matter.
As long as you can get them to WANT to click through to your site when they see your link at the end of the post, you did your job.
Research what type of posts work best on this blog, and use them as guidelines.
I don’t mean find out what posts on this blog are the most successful and then rip them off. I mean figure out what kind of posts tend to work best on this blog (most comments, most social bookmarks, most traffic, etc.) and then use them all as guidelines for your guest post.
For example, if you see list posts (20 ways to blah blah blah, 10 best blah blah blah) work fantastically on this blog, write a list.
If you see that posts with a massive collection of data complete with graphs and charts work tremendously well, try something like that.
If how-to posts work best, write a how-to post.
If you see posts about one specific topic work best, make your guest post about that topic.
Basically, do some research on this blog. Find out what posts seem to be the most popular and successful, and then use them to your advantage.
Show your personality.
Just because you are writing a post for someone else’s blog, it doesn’t mean you should try to act like them or sound like them. In fact, you should do your best to do the complete opposite of that.
The less you sound like them, the more you’ll stand out. And the more you stand out, the more likely you are to catch the attention of this blog’s readers. Let your personality come through in your writing. Feel free to be funny if it calls for it. Be original and unique and write in your voice only.
As nauseating as this is going to sound, it’s the truth: just be yourself.*
(* Unless of course you suck. Then feel free to pretend to be someone who doesn’t suck.)
Be confident.
It’s easy to get a little scared/nervous/intimidated at the prospect of writing for a big, popular blog (or really just any blog that is bigger and more popular than your own).
Don’t.
It will come through in your writing and probably hurt the quality of your post. Not to mention, people won’t want to click through to the site of someone who pees their pants due to guest posting. And trust me, they’ll notice (that is assuming the blog’s owner actually accepts the post of someone who clearly appears to be in way over their head).
Instead, be confident in your writing ability, your knowledge of the topic you’re writing about, and how truly capable you are of writing something for any blog, anywhere, at any time.
This too will come through in your writing, and it will be a good thing.
Don’t repeat something they’ve already said and done.
Imagine if this blog accepted guest posts, and I got an email from someone who wanted to do a post about a method of building links whereby you create content that is relevant to both your own niche and some other completely different niche thus allowing you to sort of “crossover” into that niche for the purpose of having a whole new audience to get links from.
Sound familiar? (Link Building Method: The Niche Crossover)
Don’t be that guy.
Do a quick search of that blog before you write your own post to make sure you aren’t writing something that this blog has already written. (Or, better yet, check your idea over with the blog’s owner before running with it.)
Don’t guest post about a topic they JUST posted about.
Imagine if this blog accepted guest posts, and someone emailed me today about doing a guest post about guest posting.
Don’t be that guy, either.
Check the blog’s most recent posts and try to stay away from topics they literally just finished blogging about.
Make sure this is all new, original content.
I’m not talking about posting some new, original idea (sure would be nice, though), I’m talking about the content itself and making sure it’s not something that’s already been posted on your own blog or anywhere else for that matter.
I for one can’t believe that I actually even need to include this part, but it happens often enough that I do. Don’t be an idiot. Or an asshole. Don’t try to pass off your own already-written stuff as a brand new guest post, and don’t steal content from other sources and try to pass it off as your own.
The blog’s owner will find out eventually, and you can bet your sweet ass that they will make you look like the idiot you are when they do. I know damn well I would.
How To Ensure Your Guest Post Gets Published
Alright, so you have a pretty good grasp on what goes into creating a successful guest post. All you need to do now is actually get it published on that perfect blog you want to get it published on.
There’s just one teeny tiny problem… most guest posts will get turned down.
It’s easy to understand why if you think about it. For starters, most people can’t write worth a damn, and many of the ones who can lack the creativity, knowledge and whatever else to actually use that writing ability to create great content.
Not to mention, there’s a lot of people out there who understand the benefits of guest posting, and a lot of these people are submitting guest posts to the same blogs you (and many other people) are. These blogs just can’t accept the majority of them because they really aren’t interested in posting 40 guest posts a day.
For these reasons, many people will fail at this point. They’ll find the perfect blog to guest post on, write what they think is the perfect post, and fail to actually get it accepted by that blog.
So I guess what you’re probably wondering now is, how do you get around this and be the person who gets their post accepted?
Good question.
The single biggest factor in getting your post published on your blog of choice is your ability to create great, well written content. If you can’t do that, the rest of this doesn’t matter because you’ll be screwed no matter what.
So, take your creativity and knowledge and combine it with everything I mentioned above to ensure that the post you’re submitting is truly worthy of being submitted and truly has “successful guest post” potential written all over it.
Once you have that, there are still a bunch of additional factors playing a large role in whether your post gets accepted or not. Getting them right may not guarantee your post gets accepted (it will certainly help, though), but getting them wrong may very well guarantee that it won’t.
So, pay attention.
Follow instructions.
I know, I mentioned the importance of following instructions earlier, but I was talking about guest post writing instructions. There’s actually a whole other set of instructions that you can fuck up following… the guest post submission instructions.
Take it from someone who has gotten hundreds of guest post requests over the last few years… there is nothing that guarantees your guest post request will be turned down on sight quite like your inability to follow simple instructions.
For example, if a blog says to email all guest post requests with the words “guest post” in the subject, DO IT! If they say to fill out a form instead of emailing them directly, DO IT!
And please, for the sake of all humanity, send them what they ask for! If a blog says to email them with your guest post idea, email them with your guest post idea! Don’t email them a full post, or to tell them you’re interested in guest posting, or to see if they accept guest posts.
Email them what they asked you to email them. If it’s ideas, send ideas. If it’s a full finished post, include the full finished post.
Whatever instructions they give, follow them to a tee.
What if there are no instructions?
Here’s a very quick and simple template to follow when emailing a blog about doing a guest post. If they don’t give any specific instructions, do it basically just like this. If they do give some specific instructions, just edit where needed.
Hey [Blog Owner's Name (see A)],
[Something short about you being a fan of their blog (See B)]. [Something short and to the point that shows you aren't making that previous sentence up even though you just might be (See C)]
I noticed that you accept guest posts and would love to do one. I had an idea (or a couple of ideas) in mind. [Very briefly explain your guest post idea(s) (See D)].
You can find some examples of my writing here: [link to your blog or to a couple of your best posts (See E)]
Let me know what you think or if you have a specific topic in mind you’d like me to write about.
Thanks for your time.
[your name/link to your blog]
- A – Nothing says “don’t bother reading this” quite like an email that starts “Dear Website Owner” or “Dear Webmaster” or “Dear Sir” or “Dear Anything-equally-generic-that-proves-I-didn’t-actually-spend-a-second-on-your-blog-and-am-probably-sending-this-exact-email-to-1000-other-people.” Take a few minutes to find something resembling a name of some sort and put it there. Be it their first name, nickname, username, screename, or just whatever the hell it is they call themselves (or other people call them) on this blog.
- B – Put something along the lines of “Love the blog, been reading it for a while.” or “Big fan of your blog, subscribed to it a few months ago.” Basically, in one short simple sentence, show that you are a fan of their blog and not someone who just discovered it 5 minutes ago while looking for blogs to guest post on.
- C – Here’s where you prove B even though you may have been lying. And again, you do it as quickly and briefly as possible (noticing a theme here?). The easiest way to do this is by referencing a specific post of theirs that you like or by agreeing with/complimenting something they said or did somewhere on their blog. Basically, something that shows that you are a real live human sending a real personalized email to a blog owner whose blog you’ve spent at least 20 seconds reading.
- D – The key word here is “briefly.” Just give a very quick and to-the-point description of your guest post idea(s) and, if possible, why this blog’s readers will like it/find it useful. Once again, be brief and to the point.
- E – Don’t link to 100 posts. Either link to the front page of your blog, or link to a couple of what you think are your best posts.
Check grammar and spelling. Then check it 10 more times.
Seriously, the blog owner you are contacting is not your 5th grade English teacher, and the last thing they want to do is play the role of your 5th grade English teacher. Don’t give them the job of having to correct spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and typos. That’s your job.
Make sure you check your post over (and then over again) before submitting it. You’d be surprised how many guest posts are turned down as a result of them looking like they’ve been written by an elementary school dropout.
Always give 100%.
Some people (this is me raising my hand) have a really hard time giving 100% of their best when creating something that they’ll pretty much be handing over to someone else (it’s a big part of the reason why I stopped taking clients a decade ago).
Case in point… the guest post.
Sure, you’re certainly not doing it for free, as you are going to get something out of it. But even still, some people (hi!) find it really hard to create a great piece of content and then just let it exist on someone else’s blog.
This will usually cause one of two things to happen for these people. Either they’ll end up hardly ever guest posting (this is me raising my hand again) and thus miss out on all of its potential benefits, or they’ll end up trying to guest post a lot but rarely (if ever) actually get accepted.
And in the rare case that they do get accepted, they won’t get much out of it due to the low quality of the post.
So that brings us to yet another nauseatingly cliche line: always try your best.
Especially when guest posting.
The better your post is, the better the benefits will be. I promise.
Be patient.
Assuming you paid attention during Part 2 of this series, you should be trying to get this guest post on a blog that is fairly popular. The thing about a blog that is fairly popular is that the blog owner will probably be fairly busy.
And this of course means that you need to be a patient guest poster if you really want to get your post accepted.
If you submit your post and don’t hear back that day, or the next day, or even the day after that, chill out and keep waiting. There are few things quite as annoying as receiving a “Hey, haven’t heard back from you yet, blah blah blah” type email.
It’s one thing to do it a week later (and if a week or more passes without hearing back, you should email them and see what’s up), but to do it after a day (or a couple of days)… that’s just annoying and enough to get me to tell you to shove your guest post up your ass.
So, be patient.
Don’t write about something that will piss off the blog’s owner or readers.
Meaning, don’t trash products this blog sells/recommends, don’t trash blogs this blog regularly links to, don’t trash people this blog is friends with, don’t disagree with something this blog and its readers agree with, and so on and so on.
Save the trash talking, anti-establishment rebel routine for your own blog. This is a guest post. You don’t have to be a complete sheep, but the “sheepier” you are, the more likely you are to get your guest post published.
And since that’s your goal here, it’s a pretty good idea to hold off on doing stuff that will piss off the owner and readers of this blog.
Don’t make any special requests.
Do NOT submit your guest post, get it accepted and then make special requests for when and how it gets posted. Stuff like “I’d prefer it gets posted on Monday at 9am” is the kind of thing that will end your guest post career at that blog.
Just write a great post, get it accepted, and let the blog owner do whatever the hell they want from that point on. In the future, when you have formed a relationship with this blog and its owner and you are comfortable enough with each other to make requests like this, go for it.
But until that point, keep your requests and demands and preferences to yourself because, quite honestly, nobody gives a shit.
Don’t link to your own site (yet) and don’t include affiliate links (ever).
I think it’s a really good idea and in really good taste to NOT even attempt to include a link to your own blog within your post when you are guest posting on a blog for the first time. In future guest posts on that blog? That’s a whole other story. But the very first time? Nah, I strongly advise against it.
It’s certainly doable and does happen, but more often than not it will be the reason you get turned down. Sure, guest posting is all about self promotion. The blog owner definitely knows that. But even still, going that extra step to include a link within your first post just screams of being overly self promotional… and that’s a big no no.
A much better idea is to safely get that first guest post on the blog so that some sort of relationship gets formed and the odds of you doing future guest posts for them increases. Then, in said future posts on that blog… if it makes sense for you to include a link, go for it.
Real life example: look at the 2 guest posts I did for John Chow. I included a link to a post of mine within the second guest post. Could I have gotten away with it in the first post? Maybe, but I know it really wasn’t worth the risk of getting turned down because of it and then not getting anything published there ever.
Instead, I made sure that first post got published and created an opening for a second. I then used that second post to up the self-promotion a little. Unsurprisingly, that link within the second post brought more traffic in its first few hours than the first post brought in its first few weeks.
The moral of this story: it pays to hold off on links within the post until you’re a little more confident in your ability to get away with it.
Speaking of “getting away with,” here’s something you’ll never get away with in a guest post: affiliate links. Unless the blog owner flat out said “hey, feel free to include some affiliate links in your guest posts,” don’t even try it. EVER.
The End Of Part 3
There you go. That’s pretty much everything you will need to know to ensure that you write a successful guest post and get it published on whatever blog you want.
So uhhh, what’s left now?
Oh, that’s right, knowing what to do (and not do) directly before and after your guest post gets published so that you end up getting as much out of it as you possibly can.
The 4th and final part of this series will take care of that: 10 Guest Posting DOs and DON’Ts for Maximum Success
(This is Part 3 of my series “The Guest Post: The Ultimate Guide To Guest Blogging.” To become a total guest posting badass, be sure to read the entire series.)
