Guest Posting Outreach

It has been proven that authentic link-building is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness.

Even though getting suitable and favourable backlinks may seem daunting initially, writing high-quality guest posts is easily achievable. However, as a beginner, anyone can find it a bit challenging to reach out and ask other websites or blogs about submitting guest posts.

By immersing yourself in your industry, you can discover enthusiastic and reputable bloggers open to collaboration. Consider exploring blogging networks that serve as intermediaries, connecting guest bloggers with blog owners for effective link building.

We have developed this informative guide to let you know almost everything about guest posting outreach to make your process easier. We hope that this information will lead you to efficient guest blogging opportunities.

So, let’s dive into it!

What Is Guest Blogging?

Before we get to the planning of guest post outreach, let’s briefly talk about what’s guest posting. In general, guest posting or guest blogging stands for any content you create that gets posted on a blog owned by another person. The main reason for collaborating with others in the industry is to gain brand awareness and generate referral traffic to your blog or website.

Apart from blogs, guest posts might be accepted by other platforms like websites of magazines, online publications, or specific company websites. Instead of charging for the written piece, the guest blogger expects a backlink, which is valuable for SEO and gaining traffic.

Embracing guest bloggers is highly valued as it benefits both the blog owner and the writers involved. As these blogs must maintain high quality, even the reader can enjoy an informative and useful piece. Guest blogs have also increased search engine authority when you choose blogs or websites of the right niche.

Before Google clarified its stand on backlinks, people used to add random or paid backlinks to their blogs. But the current guidelines state that the value of backlinks increases when generated from websites or blogs with a higher domain authority (DA). As a business or a new blogger, one should build top-quality, credible links by posting on reputable websites or blogs.

That’s why spending time on a guest blogging strategy that will let you reach out to reputed blogs or websites that accept high quality guest posts is essential.

How To Find Your Guest Post Opportunities?

Once you have determined the goals of writing guest posts, it’s time to look for the right opportunities. At first, new guest bloggers find the process time-consuming as it may lead to nowhere. But, with proper research, you can find relevant blogs or websites that accept guest posts.

When searching for blogs and websites, ensure they are relevant to your niche or industry. You should also look at the particular blog’s audience to check if your writing style matches the usual posts. Another feature to look for is the presence of engagement, as you don’t want to write a guest blog post for a website lacking the potential to bring traffic.

For instance, if you have a brand relevant to the culinary industry, it would be best to connect with food-related blogs and websites. Choosing blog owners with substantial social media presence as it helps garner more credibility online when they share your post.

So, let’s look at some practical tips to search for opportunities.

1. Search On Google

Most of us would agree that Google is one of the most helpful search engines we have right now. The variety of searches you can do on Google can easily lead to great guest posting opportunities. But first, you’ll need to find relevant keywords that match your instance.

To them, you can add phrases like “submit a guest post,” “accepting guest posts,” “write for us”, or simply “guest post” while searching to find relevant blogs and websites. Using keywords and phrases can lead you to guest post submission pages or even guest posts written by renowned writers or reputed sites.

Have some frequent guest writers that you follow? Use the Google reverse image search options to find websites where they may have been guest authors.

Find individuals in your industry, as it can introduce you to essential blogs and websites with higher domain authority. You can use the information of owners to contact them and build a rapport before pitching ideas about writing guest posts.

Along with finding opportunities, search engines like Google let you pick up guest post ideas by learning from experienced contributors. The guest posts can help you understand the quality needed during content creation to get relevant backlinks.

2. Check Competitor Backlinks

Be it for marketing or search engine optimisation, keeping an eye on your competitors is always essential. One of the best ways to find guest post opportunities is to research the backlinks gained by your competitors. This will give you a fair idea about the blogs and websites that regularly work in your industry.

A trick is to search on Google using your competitor’s domain name or business name followed by “guest posts.” The search results should point out the blogs they might have contributed to. While pitching to one of these sites, try to push yourself as the better alternative regarding the value of content without mentioning your competitor.

3. Make Use Of Social Media

Gone are the days when you could only pitch ideas through cold mailing. As more people have jumped on the social media bandwagon, you can use it as a platform to connect with websites or bloggers. Remember that social media is much more personal than sending someone an email. So, you’ll need to build a relationship before putting forward the guest post request.

Your social media platform of choice may vary based on your industry. However, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are the most popular options for connecting with potential bloggers or website owners. You can also search on social media channels with relevant keywords from your industry and the phrase “guest post” to check for recent posts or shares.

Before reaching out to anyone on social media, it’s best to research them. You can review their posts for a few days to get acquainted with their work. This may help you to find common ground for connecting with them. Also, rather than putting yourself in the forefront, try to focus on them, which might be more appealing.

Even though flattery does work, the successful guest blogger of your interest might get hundreds of messages in a day. Try to drive personality in your message and add specific, genuine compliments rather than generic statements like “Your blog is inspiring to me.”

4. Post In Community Sites

In addition to discovering guest post opportunities, you can actively participate in blogging communities that align with your niche. This can help you connect with desirable bloggers and even gain an audience that likes your content. You can also look for guest blog communities that connect with blogs and websites looking for guest writers.

How To Prepare Pitch For Guest Blog Outreach?

After acquiring sufficient information about guest post opportunities, it’s time to prepare for the pitch phase. At this point, you might be anxious to quickly write a pitch and send it to the blog or site owner. But your time researching and connecting with them increases the likelihood of getting noticed. So, let’s check out some ways to prepare yourself before writing the pitch.

1. Know The Content Of A Blog Or Website

Your probability of getting a response increases by sending a well-researched pitch for a guest post. That’s because bloggers are usually interested in collaborating with writers or content creators who like their work and are aware of their audience. So, prior to composing the pitch, familiarise yourself with the blog’s target audience.

Another thing to check thoroughly is the content on the blog or website. Along with meeting the niche, you should also be able to write or create the type of content that goes on the blog. It would also give you a few ideas about the topics commonly approved by the blog for guest posts.

Furthermore, developing something fresh that the blogger and potential readers would find interesting is essential. You can also find a gap in the topics already covered on the blog and pitch content ideas to improve them. But the topics should still be under your expertise to add value to the content.

There are instances where blogs that frequently accept contributors provide guest blogging guidelines. Your task is to go through them carefully and develop sample write-ups following the guidelines, closely emulating the quality of content on the blog.

As mentioned, keyword research is integral to writing timely and relevant content. Therefore, when brainstorming topics for guest blogs, consider researching their search volume. It’s best not to include topics with a value of less than a hundred searches, as it will likely have a bad SEO performance.

Depending on the blog owner’s wishes, you can mention in your pitch email that you would be willing to write on any topic.

2. Become Familiar With The Blog Or Website Owner

One of the ways to form a more valuable connection with a blogger or website owner is to interact with their posts. You can follow their blog or social media accounts and like or comment on the new posts. This increases visibility, and they might recognise your name when you decide to send them a pitch request.

If they reply to your comment on a post, you can even use it as a talking point in the email or message. Being present for at least a couple of weeks is always preferable to sending an email pitch out of the blue.

3. Assess The Quality Of Your Content

Once you’re familiar with the type of content a blog or website accepts, it’s time to evaluate what you can offer the bloggers. Content marketing demands relevant, accurate, timely, informative, and original content. Meeting all these points through your write-up or content will guarantee value to the audience.

When you pitch a guest post, the bloggers or website owners may review your past work. If you have a website for your business or brand, ensure it showcases the value you bring.

Along with that, you should come up with samples for the outreach campaign to show the potential value of your content. We especially like to stress the point of originality as it improves search engine rankings, brings more traffic, and increases your reputation as a guest author.

Writing Guest Post Pitches

There are no particular rules regarding writing a pitch for requesting a guest post. The only thing you need to follow is maintaining good etiquette and being formal. Your aim should be to write a pitch that catches the blogger’s attention, leading to a response.

Historically, email has been the primary method of delivering guest post pitches. However, nowadays, you can utilise web forms, social media platforms, and even blog comments for submission. Remember to tweak your pitch based on the platform you’ll be using to get a desirable response.

Here are some actionable tips for writing a better guest post outreach email.

1. Write A Clear Subject Line

When pitching the article idea through email or contact forms, it’s crucial to write a good subject line. It should be able to address your request without beating around the bush. Great subject lines can deliver the message in as few words as possible.

Some recommend mentioning the phrase “guest post/blog request” as the subject line. But we think it would be better to add the article title along with the phrase or develop something innovative. For instance, you can write the subject line as “Guest post request: 10 cooking essentials to have in 2024.”

If you’re unsure if the website or blog accepts guest posts, you can directly place the question in the subject line. Here are some engaging subject lines to include in a guest post email:

• Let’s discuss something exciting for your blog/website
• Would you be interested in covering the topic of (topic name)?
• Future guest posts for your blog

2. Guest Post Pitch Format

As we have said before, there are no specific rules that you need to follow while writing guest post pitch emails or messages. But, following a formal approach does help to keep it short and sweet. Remember that the person might get hundreds of requests every day. Having a brief yet effective pitch is what you should aim for to get a positive response.

The usual outline should include the following:

• An engaging subject line
• Salutation with the full name of the blog or website owner
• An attractive and strong opening line with a brief introduction for your business/brand/yourself
• Ideas for the articles
• Examples of guest posts that you might have written recently or mention attaching a demo article
• Reasons for which you would be a valuable guest contributor
• CTA is requesting a follow-up
• End with a professional signature

Keep your tone in check whenever you’re writing an email or message requesting to be a blog guest. Your pitch should sound exciting and amusing but never too angry or self-centred. Keep the body brief and edit your email until it conveys your message or request as clearly as possible.

We know that there are lots of pitch email templates available online. They can guide you to write a compact yet effective email in most cases, but they lack personalisation. So, when you include a bio, try to make it impactful while mentioning a bit about your brand.

Also, try to address the blogger or website owner by their full name as it helps to bring more attention rather than writing “Dear Sir or Ma’am.” You may need to hunt a little for the name, but using it in the salutation helps build a good first impression.

3. Requesting Follow-Ups

It’s a common consensus that follow-up emails can be irritating, especially to someone who gets hundreds of requests daily. However, a sworn marketing tactic has been to request a follow-up in case there’s no response. That’s because it’s believed that a single point of contact may not be fruitful in establishing the desired relationship.

When you send a follow-up, it might just draw their attention to your old email. Hence, you should always send a follow-up to respond to the earlier email rather than creating a separate email thread.

People can often get overwhelmed with follow-ups and send blunt emails. Try not to do that and keep the message as light as possible. Remember that a follow-up email should be brief and have fewer words than your initial pitch. This helps maintain the point of your initial email.

Bloggers and website owners are very busy with work, so follow-up emails should consider that. For instance, frame it like, “I know you must be busy with all the seasonal postings, but I wanted to follow up about the pitch I sent last month.”

Another thing to note is that you should not send the follow-up email too early. Most contributors recommend waiting for at least three weeks before following up on the pitch. Also, check for any specific clauses in the contributor guidelines, as some bloggers don’t like to receive follow-up emails.

4. Negotiations

Getting a response from the desired blogger calls for celebration. But the journey of pitching is far from over; in most cases, you’ll need to spend time having follow-up conversations regarding the topic.

The initial decision often includes picking the most crucial topic among your suggestions. You may need to spend some time making the blogger understand your point of view. Always remember to back up the topic with traffic potential and SEO metrics.

Even though guest posting aims to gain relevant backlinks, your first aim would be to get a positive response from the blogger. Pay attention to the guest post’s requirements and learn more about the blog or website. Additionally, be transparent when discussing the terms of your guest post, which includes the number of external links you can add.

Once you have got a hold of the guidelines, it’s time to negotiate about the publication. Most blogs or websites follow a publishing schedule, so you may need to wait a while before publishing your content. You should never submit your first draft late, especially when writing for highly authoritative blogs.

Keep in mind that the guest post you create should provide value to the blog or website where it will be published, which can positively impact search engine rankings. So, try to mention relevant information without promoting your brand or business, which may get the post rejected.

Building Your Website Authority Through Guest Posting

That’s everything we had to tell you about guest post outreach. It may take a while before acquiring that first full-blown guest posting opportunity. So, keep sending pitches to relevant blogs and websites without worrying about the outcome.

Remember to focus on connecting with other guest contributors who frequently write on reputed blogs. Experienced writers can give you better input about essential factors to make pitches work without fail.

Above all, be confident about your content and marketing tactics, and try to make them more valuable to attract more responses. We hope that our tips will help you create engaging and valuable pitches. Don’t hesitate to contact the team at sitecentre® if you need assistance with your website, content writing, or SEO on the Sunshine Coast. It would be our pleasure to assist you!

Until next time, goodbye, and take care!

Danny Mahoney

As the accomplished head of web design at sitecentre®, Danny boasts an impressive career of 20+ years in web design and digital marketing. He employs a highly effective approach, harnessing user-behaviour metrics to enhance UX/UI to fuel conversion rates. Danny’s unique skill set allows him to deliver award-winning websites to SMBs at an unrivalled pace while maintaining superior results. His unique skills and vast experience make Danny a powerhouse in the industry.

Find them on their website: sitecentre®.