You need to choose your host blog wisely. This means picking a realistic blog or publication that already takes guest posts. And I know this might sound obvious, but aiming for the very biggest blog or publication in your niche with your very first try, will only let you down and set the wrong expectations when you’re first getting into guest blogging. With this incremental approach, you can also gain valuable experience before you pitch the blog of your dreams.
I’m a living testament to the truth of this approach in steadily growing my own blog over the years—and I’ve structured my entire blog business plan around this core blog strategy.
If you’re looking for a little more guidance with growing your blog, then pick up my free blog planner bundle that’s packed with templates and resources to help along the way.
When I first started guest blogging few years ago and began to have my work published on other (much higher authority) blogs, I didn’t yet have a personal brand or reputation at all.
What I did have, however, was the ability to write a blog post that could tell a compelling story, draw readers in and also serve to help my host’s blogging goals. Having the growing skill of writing that you’re constantly working to improve—and the willingness to be persistent with your outreach efforts—will go a long way in helping your guest blogging campaigns succeed.
On top of that foundational writing ability, I started with pitching startups I’d either already worked with in some capacity through my day job (as a content marketer at CreativeLive) or companies that would at least be familiar with the brand of my employer.
Instead, think about the blogs that you already read that cover the same topic, or a similar one, to what your own blog talks about. These are great types of blogs to pitch because you’re already very familiar with their style and the types of content that they publish.
You already have some sort of connection with. Perhaps you’ve commented on the blog before, chatted with the blogger on Twitter or even have a similar blog name to. Starting with some sort of simple connection can make it easier to get your guest post pitch looked at.
Is larger than your own, but not ridiculously huge. Aim for a blog that’s roughly five to ten times the size of your own. If you have 100 email subscribers, aim for a blog with ~1,000. If you’re aiming for blogs (like Forbes) that are more like a thousand or more times the size of your own, that’s a bit too ambitious when you’re brand new to guest blogging.
Is on-topic for you. While you might gain some benefits from writing for a blog about cats when your blog is all about gadgets, there’s not going to be a lot of audience crossover, so you shouldn’t expect to see much of a gain from that time investment.
Has a somewhat similar writing style to yours. It’s fine to modify your style a bit to suit the blog you’re guest posting on, but if you’re normally very “out there” with lots of off-color jokes, and the blog you’re writing for is more conservative, you’ll either find that (a) they reject your post because your style isn’t a good fit or (b) you modify your style to suit them–and readers who click through to your blog come down with a fit of the vapors. Both situations result in a less than desirable outcome.
You’re proud to be associated with. Avoid guest blogging on sites that have been heavily criticized in your niche (unless you want to show your support for them), and avoid blogs that don’t fit with your personal moral or ethical values. If you’re a staunch liberal, for instance, it doesn’t make much sense to write a blog post that’s strongly in favor of a conservative ideology. The content won’t come off as authentic, and you’ll probably regret the decision in the future anyway. Consider your fit from a design perspective too—if the blog you’re considering guest posting on feels old and outdated with their blog layout, but you take a bold and fresh perspective with your ideas, will that really be the right place to publish your work?
Offers a do-follow link. This is usually the case, but look carefully at the guest blogging guidelines to make sure that your bio link (or in-post links) will be “do-follow” rather than “nofollow” (as a nofollow link won’t do anything to help your blog SEO efforts). If there’s nothing stated either way in the guidelines, check out a past guest blog post, scroll to the bio, right-click on it, and select “Inspect” (in Google Chrome) to see the HTML code for that hyperlinked text snippet. If you see the word “nofollow” within the HTML description of the link, then it’s a nofollow link. If it doesn’t explicitly say the word “nofollow,” then you’re good to go.
Again, you’re looking for any mention of the word “nofollow” in the description. So if it’s not mentioned there, then the link is considered “dofollow” which passes SEO benefits to the destination link (i.e. a post you’re promoting on your own blog).
Of course, it’s crucial to first check that your target blog actually accepts guest posts—and if they do, whether or not they allow clickable links back to your own content too.
Different authors cropping up on the blog (bonus points if something like “guest blogger” or “guest post” is used to introduce their work). This doesn’t necessarily mean the blog will be open to unsolicited guest blogging submissions though, so don’t automatically assume the flood gates are open.
If a blog says they’re not accepting guest posts, don’t expect them to make an exception for you. However amazing your blog post idea is, you’ll want to spend your valuable time elsewhere.
This is also true if a blog says they only take guest posts by invitation—though in that case, you can potentially contact the blogger (if you have an existing relationship with them) and ask if they’d be willing to look at a blog post outline to get a feel for your style, or go through a mutual connection to get an introduction.
Instead, you want to come up with ideas that are perfect for each and every target blog you’re going to reach out to… not just ideas that are a halfway decent fit for a hundred different blogs. Think bespoke, not off-the-rack.
How Many Guest Posts Per MonthTo come up with a guest blogging idea that’s going to work perfectly for your prospective site, you’ll want to start by doing some keyword research using a free tool (like mine).
Read lots of recent posts on your target blog. If you’re not a regular reader (or if you used to read the blog but haven’t done so recently), you really need to get up to date with the type of content they’ve published recently. If your target blog often writes about blogging costs and web hosting-related topics, then you could pitch them on a guest post that covers more niche blog topics like the best cheap web hosting plans, offering up a review of the top monthly hosting plan options on the market, or exploring the free hosting plans out there—all of which could ladder up to a bigger piece they already have about the overall best web hosting plans for their readers.
Make notes about these posts. What topics have they covered? How long are the blog posts, roughly? Do their posts tend to be high-level and strategic, or focused on specific tactics? Are the posts aimed at beginners or people with a lot of experience? All of this can help you hone your ideas appropriately.
Look at the categories the blog covers, if these are listed in their navigation. You might want to pay attention to categories that haven’t had many (or any) posts recently. These could be good targets for content that fills a “gap” on the blog. Keep in mind, though, that a lack of recent posts in a particular category could signal that the blog has changed direction.
Brainstorm a list of ideas. Don’t just come up with one or two blog post ideas… aim for at least five. Some of them might not be great: that doesn’t matter. You want to keep going till you get an idea that you think would be a perfect fit for that blog.
Perfect your headlines. Be sure you’re taking care to learn how to write a headline for your guest post that’s in a style & tone your target site will resonate with. If not, then it’s likely they’re either decline your submission (because your guest post doesn’t sound like the right fit), or substantially rewrite it before publishing. Use my free blog title generator to come up with AI-powered headline ideas that’ll capture your host blog’s attention.
If they’re not in either of those places, search for “guest post guidelines”, “write for us,” “submit a post,” or “guest posting” on the site. To do this site search, you can type the phrase plus site:[nameoftargetblog.com] into Google, e.g. “guest post guidelines site:ryrob.com” and get more accurate results.
The type of content they do/don’t accept. This will often be common sense (e.g. they don’t want plagiarized content or posts you’ve already published somewhere else), but the guidelines may also cover the topics they’re particularly interested in, or topics that they don’t want right now.
Whether they want you to send them an idea and outline, or a full draft. It’s best to stick to what the blog asks for here (though most won’t reject you just because you sent the wrong thing).
How to format and send your guest post. Some blogs like a Word document, others will want a Google doc, and a few still ask for raw HTML (though this is becoming increasingly rare). You may be given instructions on how to use headings.
There may also be other instructions (i.e. some blogs will ask you to submit your guest post using a specific form, or to use a specific subject line for your email to them).
Make sure you follow these guidelines, as failing to do so could mean your pitch never even gets seen. And if you need some help on the writing front, grab my free blog post templates to jumpstart your process.
If you’re struggling to find guest post guidelines, or if the guidelines don’t make it clear who to contact, I’ve got some actionable tips in this guide to blogger outreach about tracking down the right person to contact (and finding their email address).
Some blogs are happy to be contacted with a full draft of your guest blog post, but many want you to “pitch” the idea first. That’s where smart blogger outreach comes into play.
This normally means writing them an email where you briefly introduce yourself and your credentials, share your suggested guest blogging idea or prepared a great blog title, and outline what your post will be about.
Alternatively, another couple of posts I had in mind are [title of second post] or [title of third post]. Just let me know if either of those sounds like a better fit: I can whip up a quick outline to send over if you’re interested 🙂
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