Advertising your business as a freelance copywriter is daunting. Guest blogging offers a way to grow your copywriting business and promote your skills without spending any money - you even stand to make money from guest blogging.
Read on with us to get the ins and outs of guest blogging and determine if it’s right for you.
What is guest blogging?
Guest blogging is writing posts that someone else hosts on their website. These blogs can be about any topic, making them a great way to expand your copywriting business into new areas. If you’re knowledgeable and passionate about a specific topic like pet care, you can write unique and informative posts for blog sites focused on animals.
You can get paid for some of these posts and use them to highlight your abilities to prospective clients. One great way to leverage guest blogging in your favour is to write about topics you want to explore professionally.
Say you’ve been writing a lot of content around FinTech, but you’re more interested in men’s apparel. Guest blogging around that topic allows you to build a relevant portfolio to send to clients and companies.
It’s easy enough to say that guest blogging can help you expand and grow your career, but how do you get into it in the first place?
How do I become a successful guest blogger?
The core of successful guest blogging is relevance and quality. Some marketers will swear up and down that guest blogging is a waste of your time. However, you can leverage it effectively if you do it right. Firstly, you need to establish your goals.
What kind of content do you want to create?
If it is the case where you’re looking to switch up your content, guest blogging is still an option, but it requires a lot of research to get it right. Not only do you need to know what you’re writing about, but you also need to be bringing something new to the readership for that topic.
It is a great jumping-off point for your content if you already have a wealth of experience or expertise in a specific area, like mountaineering. Writing around what you know and love is the best way to see actual results from your work and grow your copywriting business through guest blogging.
Where do you want your blogs to be posted?
High-quality blogs will bring you the best results for your guest posts. Plenty of blog sites accept guest blogs with a backlink for a fee, but these are becoming less and less valuable with Google’s new measures.
Rather than waste time and money contributing to a site that Google’s search engine regards as being spammy and low-value, focus on genuine, high-quality blogs that focus on the standard of their material.
How do you get your posts accepted by blogs?
Once you’ve found some authoritative blogs you’d like to feature on, more research is ahead. Read some blogs they’ve posted to get a feel for their style. The blog should have the following features:
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Similar writing style to yours
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Your target readership
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Guidelines for guest blog submissions
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Readership engagement on blogs
Next, you must establish topics for your posts that the blog hasn’t covered. Say you write about mountaineering and other extreme sports and find a blog about outdoor living. Maybe you notice that the blog has no articles about the best climbing equipment for the year.
You can also check out the site’s blogs and identify any popular topics that receive more interaction from readers. Writing on similar or related issues could make you more likely to be featured on the blog - you can even point out the topic’s popularity in your pitch.
Focus on quality and relevance
When planning your guest blogs, write quality content relevant to your intended readership. Be original with your pieces and ensure you bring real value to the subject. Not only are high-quality blogs looking for content like this, but it’s also the best way to make the most out of guest blogging.
