How to Stalk A-List Bloggers Until They Publish Your Guest Post

Guest posts are in.

Surely, that’s not news anymore, is it?

If for any reason you think guest posts are not your thing, then you need help as blogger.

Now we have disbelief out of the way, it is appropriate to ask: Have you written your first guest post?

In writing this post I had two kinds of bloggers in mind. The first, those bloggers who know guest posts are an important but never got around to doing it.  Second, those die hard conservative bloggers who believe their best posts are best served to their local audience.

I know part of what is keeping you away from that first guest post may be mental laziness or just plain selfishness.

You may be surprised at how many bloggers linger over the send button after writing a great guest post.

It should have been published on their site, they ponder. 🙂

Well, I have come today to burst your bubble.

And just in case you are still in need of excuses, I have more bad news: I will show you how to come up with a guest post strategy, locate top blogs, pitch your guest post ideas and finally, how to write the greatest guest posts you can dream of!

What are we waiting for?

Developing a Guest Blogging Strategy That Works

It all begins with quality content. The thing is, quality content does not just happen. That is why you need a strategy that works. Posting one or two posts per month may not be sufficient to give you the kind of results you desire.

Put differently, guest posting involves hard work.

1. Drip-Fed Guest Posting: In this approach you target a couple of blogs and slowly build reputation in those communities by and cut your teeth in the field. While most bloggers can survive with this method, the results may take a longer time period to be evident.
2. Rapid Guest Posting: This is the short-gun approach to guest posting writing. Here you write as many guest posts as you can as fast as you can. Wondering about where you will get to publish them? That should not be a problem. Just announce to your audience that you are on a guest posting marathon. You will be surprised how many persons will accept content from you! Bloggers need content and as far as you’re your blog is rich, they will be glad in hosting you for some days.

Of course, the approach you choose would depend on whether you price quantity over quality.

Being socially active won’t hurt you

Bloggers love it when guest post offers don’t come from the blues.

Building a relationship with bloggers you want to pitch first before asking to guest post will significantly reduce the number of rejections you receive. So, it is smart to create an excel document with at least five fields: Blog URL, Blogger Name, Email, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus profiles. Start following them on social media.

It is critical that you actually interact with them.

Do not make the mistake of adding them and leaving the rest to chance. The best way to do this is to start following him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ and interact with him. Here are some other things you must do:

Here are some other tasks you can perform to leverage your social gusto:

• Comments: Now you have a shortlist of bloggers you hope to write for, start leaving thoughtful comments on their blogs. By thoughtful comments I mean you should engage with the author by asking questions are bringing perspectives that move the conversation forward. Of course, if you have the opportunity, answer questions left by other readers. That is a good way to demonstrate your expertise before the blogger and inject yourself as a member of the community. The benefit of doing this will come in two ways:

1. The blogger will be very pleased that you are taking some burden off his shoulders.
2. When your guest post goes live, the community will already know who you are and would be comfortable commenting and sharing your post.

• Join his newsletter: If the blogger has a newsletter, join in. After a couple of emails, it is smart to let the blogger know you are on his list by responding to one of his mails, preferably one that publishes a smart tip. Make sure your email contains your signature, which by the way should include your blog address. Most bloggers would click on that link and give you a look over, further breaking the ice for you.
• Email: At this time sending a direct email to the blogger is a good idea. Note that it does not have to be about a guest post. Remember, you want to build that relationship. Compliment their writing, make an enquiry or ask for advice. I have had bloggers who asked me to send in a guest post after exchanging a couple of emails.

Note that some of the top bloggers have guest post guidelines. If you find one on a blog then you may focus on the guidelines given instead of these tips.

Do you think going through all of this is just too much for just a guest post opportunity? It depends on how far into the future you are looking. Relationships you establish with bloggers for the purpose of guest posting will have value that goes beyond that guest post.

It helps to keep things in perspective by thinking long-term.

Wrapping it Up

So now you have it. You can be sure that if you follow these steps, you will have more guest post opportunities in a month than you would care to handle. Now all that is left is for you to start the actual pitching.

It is important for you to realize that guest post pitching is a numbers game. If you can write twenty guest posts, pitch 40 bloggers, remembering that not all bloggers will say yes.

You may notice that I have not gone much into the actual writing of the perfect guest post in this post. That is because that subject is a full-length topic of its own and I will be doing a post dedicated to that alone in the weeks to come.

Have I left out a magic tip that works wonders for you?

You are welcome to share in the comments!

Image courtesy of Graeme Weatherston at FreeDigitalPhotos.net