adpapa Editor
6 July 2020
Have you ever wondered how do I become a guest blogger or how to start guest posting? Well this article will help! I will share with you exactly how to land guest post gigs, and how they can get you tons of exposure.
How can you, as a writer without any experience, actually start to build a name for yourself? This is the thing is that a lot of people kind of feel intimidated at first or start to doubt if they are good enough or I can’t write well enough or they’re not going to accept me into their publication or website. Yes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed however that’s the thing; you just have to start.
Just to give you a quick back story, I actually guest posting on websites two years ago, and now I am proud to say my work has been read by millions of readers and it is really just changed the outcome of my freelance writing career. There is so much opportunity however you need to learn how to do it you need to learn kind of the best practices what you should be searching for.
I want to share with you how when you do land a guest posts that you actually write really quality content that will make them want to work with you so again let’s dive in I’m going to go behind the computer and show you exactly what I did some of my posts and how you can do it as well alright folks so going in to show you exactly how I landed my first guest posts and again it’s been kind of cool to go back and pull all this stuff up. I’m going to share with you what you should do plus exactly what I did.
If you want to start guest posting, guest blogging, guest articles; whatever you want to call, it is super important because you’re getting your name out there. You’re getting huge amounts of exposure and eventually it can lead to paying gigs so at the end of 2017 the beginning of 2018 is really when I went all in on freelance writing and before that I was blogging quite a bit and I was just kind of working on my own stuff however again I wanted to really make some serious money and I wanted to have consistent income and that is again one of the beauties of freelance writing
What I was writing about at the time was made mainly personal development and a personal finance so basically what I did was I went to the biggest websites that I was already reading and websites that I wanted to potentially write for and just found out if they were hiring or looking for guest posting. It’s usually as simple as finding the domain name and then having a backslash and then write – for – us usually it’s a write for us you can just type it in on Google and that’s exactly what happened here.
I kind of thought what are you know 3-5 of the big websites that I would be okay with writing for free for at the beginning because I can just have huge exposure it can link back to my blog and again it can start to get my name out there so this was a big one for me and they have been a client now for a year and a half ever since I wrote that first guest post so again you just really never know where this guest post game can get you and this guest blog has paid me a lot of money and has given me tons of exposure however also just been a great client.
I found what the requirements were all right so then I simply went on found their instructions and I followed the instructions. I wrote an article and saved it as a word doc and then emailed them my guest post, author bio, social media links and picture. Again, you want to follow the instructions to the T. That’s the biggest thing is I have guest posting on my blog and people will send me stuff that is nothing like the instructions that I have. That already shows that you’re not really committed as a writer you’re not reading the instructions and again it might not be the best fit.
If they tell you to have a social media link, if they tell you to have an author bio of 200 words or 500 words, do exactly what they say. You can basically just create a guest writer bio in a Google Doc and then copy and paste it for different guest blogs. Again, this is crucial because it can follow instructions that they want and they are going to be more likely to accept your guest post and then again if you get the guest post then you can get more recurring gigs.
Let me know if you need anything else thanks for considering and as your site has been incredibly helpful in my own life. If you are trying to pitch forward you already read or use their stuff on social media or you just found it impactful, then let them know. It gives people a compliment, and is never a bad idea.
This is not anything crazy folks. The article I wrote probably took me 40 minutes at the most however again it was something I liked writing about I wanted to be featured on there and it got accepted so this is my first post here so it basically got accepted I think within two days it was live and then I had another post that I did a couple weeks later and then I think I did another one a couple weeks later however now you can see folks that I have six pages worth of content here.
I have a lot of work that has made it to this website and it’s free traffic to your blog. It has been so cool to write this much for a website that I really love, and it all started with a guess post. The first few were unpaid all right so again it’s important to understand the first you were unpaid however then after I think the third one I had pitched them and let them know hey I really enjoy writing for your site if you are accepting more posts and you’d like to hire me, I would love to do that. I had availability and from there, we’ve been working together for a year and a half.
There is over 6 pages of different posts I think I’ve published over 100 articles on here since I began to start guest posting. I’m their number one contributor and it’s just been an awesome opportunity. I’ve really got to connect with the owner of the site and really again help them build their brand, so it’s a win-win.
This is just something that I wanted to share with you to show you the potential and why you need to reach out to these big blogs really get going when you first get started because it’s a huge opportunity in the long run so alright so here’s another one I did actually about a year not quite a year ago however about a year after first started because I was trying to want to help my backlink profile for my website and build my SEO.
Guest posts can be a huge leverage to land more clients. so this one also turned into a paying gig I probably did 20 or so posts for them and again it has been great exposure for myself and to help me make money as a freelance writer alright so now that you have kind of seen exactly what I was able to do and how it has benefited in more than just making a few bucks and getting some exposure however actually landing clients.
I want to share with you what I would do now so again let’s assume you’re in the personal finance niche and this works for any niche all you need to do is go to Google type in your niche so we’ll go personal finance and then add the plus right for us Google will then go ahead and do its magic and find different people and websites and blogs that are looking for guest bloggers
When you start guest posting, it’s literally as simple as that. I can’t stress this enough – follow the instructions for each blog. Do not do your own thing and try and be too crafty and creative. Each blog has a very specific feel and look for their website so they want that from their writers they want to see that you follow instructions and can do the work.
Not all them are going to be paid some of them aren’t most of them aren’t in my opinion however again if you can get one to do that great however the goal is just to get your name out there and then from there once you’ve written a few free articles for them then they can decide if they want to pay you or not and you can figure out if that’s a mutually beneficial relationship
Here is like another one so let’s say you start guest posting in the remote work niche. Again, remote working is very popular. I mean the opportunities are out there for people who want to start guest posting. That’s why I think freelance writing is one of the best side hustles in 2020 and beyond. If you just get out there and pitch yourself, you will find some great opportunities. I do want to stress that there’s no need to be scared. I have people comment sometimes on my articles saying they are nervous, or scared, or “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen”… there’s nothing to be afraid of. You either get a yes or you get a no, and if you get a yes it can be a great opportunity and it can lead to a long term gig if it’s a no you know what just move on to the next one
As you can tell here there are tons of places that need writers, so don’t dwell on it instead just make a pitch goal try and pitch 10-20 websites in the day and see what happens. Once you get gigs and you follow the instructions here is a quick article and I’ll link to it down in the description however just to give you a few heads up again to make yourself stand out and to make yourself look like you’ve been doing this a long time and that you’re a successful writer.
Make sure to not skip these steps. The first one like I mentioned already read the guidelines they want an image include an image they want to buy out include your bio stick to the guidelines number to let your expertise shine again I think this is really good give some character too you don’t want to type like a robot you don’t want to just you know basically replicate other articles out there. You should figure out how you can make yours unique, how you can let your character and your experience shine and again that will help you kind of craft your own identity as a writer. Usually, websites are going to resonate more with that as opposed to someone that looks like it’s just a robotic thing it’s not something they enjoy and again if you’re writing about what you like that it makes it a lot easier
Always make sure it is search engine friendly. This is huge, because SEO is important and if you don’t know what SEO is, study it and start learning it however in the search engine optimization which basically means the better content you write in the correct format that Google wants, the higher that it will index in their search results. This means those websites will get more traffic, which will look good for you as a writer.
Always have your first paragraph make the meta description things like that like all these little things add backlinks this is an easy one to do however a lot of people that I see don’t do it so for example let’s say I’m writing for fearless motivation back when I was I actually would find related articles within their blog and then link to them because that not only helps with SEO however it’s just a better user experience because if I’m talking about how to stay motivated and there’s another tip in there or another article that says how to stay motivated when you’re working out I would then link to that in the text that I’m writing and basically they’d be able to click right over.
That helps the editors that’s one thing they don’t have to do and then it makes you look professional alright number seven include images another big one if you’re just writing tons and tons of text especially how it’s going to look on the mobile if you don’t have images it’s got to look really chunky and if people aren’t going to want to read it that mean so click out and it’s not great for the bounce rate so you want to include images as much as you can there’s all kinds of free websites out there things like that find some free images that match your topic and include those as well.
Always proofread your work this is a big one I suck at this still. It doesn’t matter if you start guest posting, or have been doing it for ten years. Always proofread! Make sure you proofread as much as you can you only get one first impression you only get one first guest post so make sure that you don’t have a bunch of spelling errors and things like that so proofread your work maybe have your significant other or a friend or someone else take a look at it as well especially if it’s a client that really that you want to land for write with authority I think this is a good one as well and then always include a call to action so tell them to leave a comment or to follow them on social media join this Facebook group whatever their call to action is.
Normally I can do a little bit of research and you will see that that is going to help you out and it’s going to help the client out and again it’s going to help you stand out as a writer so hopefully that guest blogging kind of walk through makes a lot more sense now and you’re able to figure out where you can land gigs and what the best spots are. It’s really about getting a name for yourself and controlling your brand online and getting featured in big publications.
Once you start guest posting, and you land those then you can put it on your freelance writing website millions of people could see you know new clients could see you you’re going to motivate or you’re going to inspire or teach or whatever niche you’re in you’re going to help people and that is a really cool thing and then from there again guest posting can directly lead to paid gigs.
I don’t want you to feel like you should write forever for free and do all these great works however and not get any money for it however again it’s about how you can start guest posting and then leverage that into paying clients and like I said if I’ve been able to do it I know you can as well.
