Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention… What’s my favorite word? If you said “steak” you were close, but the answer I was looking for is “LEVERAGE”.
Let’s define leverage as using other people resources to multiply the outcome from your efforts. Guest blogging is one of my favorite ways to use leverage because:

  • The most influential bloggers in your industry have access to thousands of people you don’t. When your content gets published on their blogs, you automatically gain access to all these people.
  • The most influential bloggers in your industry are seen as experts and they’re highly trusted. If they trust you, so will their readers.

So, How Do You Become a Guest Blogger?

  1. Do a Google search for [keyword] blog.
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  2. Check the top 50 results and find blogs with a lot of readers. The best way to find out if a blog gets a lot of traffic is by checking how many comments their posts get. Good, active blogs get plenty of comments.
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  3. Subscribe to the blogs and start commenting often. Bloggers love it when people comment on their blogs.
  4. After a while, once they know you, send the bloggers emails and congratulate them on their blogs. Don’t ask for anything yet. Just say something nice.
  5. Keep building these relationships. There’s no magic number as far as how many emails you need to send them. Just play it by ear. Find ways to help them. If you have suggestions for ways to improve their sites or topics for them to blog about, send them your suggestions.
  6. Once you have a great relationship with them, tell them you have a great idea for an article and ask them if they’d like to publish it. Don’t ask for a “guest blogging position”; ask for a small commitment instead. Just one article on a great topic. Tell them that you can write it and if after reading it they decide not to publish it, you won’t be offended.
  7. After your first article gets published, ask you friends to check it out and comment on it. Most bloggers love comments and the more they get the happier they’ll be.
  8. At this point, go for a slightly bigger commitment, like 2 articles per month or 1 per week.

Very Important: Build real relationships with the bloggers. Don’t just kiss their butts to get something from them. This won’t take you very far.

guest blogging