When I started writing about Guest Blogging earlier this week with my post Why Guest Bloggers are Great for a Blog I didn’t intend it to end up as a series of posts – but then people started asking about how to find guest bloggers so I wrote another one. Today I’ve been asked about how to get guest blogging gigs – so I guess this is a series of sorts after all.
So as a blogger looking to guest blog on other people’s blogs how do you go about getting the gigs?
1. Watch for Opportunities – keep an eye on blogs in the niches that you write about and look for the opportunities. If the blogger mentions that they are going away, that they are busy with family or business, that they are looking for submissions etc – shoot them an email with an offer to help share the load with them.
2. Be Relational – when I’m pitched by potential guest bloggers I’m far more likely to take them up on their offer to write for me if I already know them. In fact these days I rarely accept posts that have been pitched to me – I prefer to approach people that I already know and have some level of trust and respect for. So get yourself out there before the opportunities arise and interact with other bloggers in your niche.
3. Sell Yourself – if you don’t already know the blogger that you’re volunteering to help out with you need to do so quickly. Include a short bio outlining why you’d fit with their blog (don’t include loads of irrelevant information). Include links to your own blog and examples of work that you’ve done that relate to their topic to illustrate your style, voice, expertise and ability to communicate. Also include some headlines/titles of posts that you’d like to write for them to show that you’ve already given it some thought.
4. Be Proactive – another option is to actually write the blogger that you’re pitching a sample post and something that they can use immediately. Pick a topic within the niche that they cover (preferably something on a topic that they haven’t covered and/or something that they might have a weakness in themselves) and write a medium sized post. When you email them include it and invite them to use it. This will get their attention, give them a living example of your work and give them something to use immediately. If they don’t use it you can always write it on your own blog so what have you got to loose?
5. Keep Your Expectations Realistic – I use link to about 20-30% of the posts that people send me and I suspect that the ratio of guest posts that I use would be similar. Perhaps this is partly due to the numbers of pitches that I get and on other blogs it might be higher. The point is that you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high. Make your pitch professional and short but don’t take it personally if it doesn’t come off.
Read the full Guest Blogging Series at:
What an extremely useful thread, Darren! I think you’ve been reading a lot of minds lately – this has come up in a lot of different blog ‘neighborhoods’ recently.
I would hate to hear about what is going on in John Chow’s mind now that he has his OhMiBod – so if your telepathy is working overtime, please save us the details on that one. ;)
Wow thats a nice one!! I have to go on holidays for a month in July.Andi I am really worried about it.Guess these tips can do well.
But I have one question….When does a blog choose for guest blogging when it is pretty old or new ? New blogs having guest bloggers around can kill their readers.
Thats one thing going in my mind and my blog is not even a year old and if i let somebody blogg on mine what affect will it create.
Ashish, wouldn’t you approve the guest blog post before making it live? That would keep the posts in line with your blog vision.
Also isn’t it blog etiquette for the guest blogger to link to your site? I’m always done that and the host blogger has never failed to grow his/her readership with my contribution. I figure the goal is to grow both readerships.
@Darren >> 4. Be Proactive – another option is to actually write the blogger that you’re pitching a sample post and something that they can use immediately. Pick a topic within the niche that they cover (preferably something on a topic that they haven’t covered and/or something that they might have a weakness in themselves) and write a medium sized post. When you email them include it and invite them to use it. This will get their attention, give them a living example of your work and give them something to use immediately. If they don’t use it you can always write it on your own blog so what have you got to loose?
Uhh, that’s exactly what I did. But you haven’t responded, yeah or nay. It’d be nice for you to at least give it a thumbs down so I could take it elsewhere if you are not interested… (or if you are going to use it, to let me know. :-)
P.S. for those reading, I submitted the unsolicited article for his use last week, not in response to this post.
[…] Darren Rowse over at proBlogger recently wrote an article on how to get guest blogging jobs. It is a great article and has alot of useful information. Guest blogging can be a great way to get your name out there and gain some credibility. I am open to having a guest blogger on here every once in a while, feel free to message me or leave a comment with any topics you would be interested in writing about here. Tags :blogging, Darren Rowse, guest, income, problogger, UncategorizedShare :These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Lol, I’m sure Darren gets hundreds of e-mails of these kinds. Like he said, he’s only taking guest bloggers that he knows.
I personally had great success getting guest bloggers, in the past 12 hours I have gotten 5 confirmed guest bloggers, some of which will be posting next week. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.
Between two vacations this summer and a week volunteering at a camp for disabled teens, I need a bit of backup to keep the blood flowing.
Thanks for the tips Darren. What I did was ask people that I’ve had some interaction with, who’s writing I enjoyed, and who would be of interest to my readers. The rest was left up to good sales techniques, great bloggers and faith ;)
Darren:
This is really interesting. It looks like a checklist of suggestions a journalist would write in a MSM environment. Another recommendation might be to look at the blogger’s topic (the one you’re pitching) with fresh eyes.
Maybe the relational blogger can relate the information in a new way or share some research that can help drive a point better *and* build on your current work. In other words: advance the conversation, take it to a new place.
I was astounded to read the great number of responses to your post asking people about the reasons why they unsubscribe to RSS and finding that most of the responses where quite similar if not identical. What can you *add* to the conversation? That’s what I would add;-)
Keep up the great work!
Apologies Mike – didn’t see your email come in and am still working through 1000 unanswered ones in my inbox – will it ever end! :-)
Will reply shortly.
Nice post!
I’ve actually thought about this. I mean, since I’m now living in Australia there is going to be a time within the next year where I’m going to head off for maybe up to 4 weeks and drive to Ayers Rock and then across and down the east coast and I doubt if I could post on a regular basis while doing that. So I’ll need a guest blogger.
However, I don’t know if anyone would be willing to post on a ‘personal’ blog.
See I understand one of the big things is trying to get a link back to your blog from a guest post. My question is what about just a name like this article was written by Damien Passehl. NO LINK just a this was written by. Would that increase your odds of getting the opportunity to write a guest post. Personally I think that if someone stumbled across a blog that I wrote and seen my name there is the possiblity that they might be like “Hey Thats that Damien kid who wrote that article on ProBlogger. I Think Ill investigate a little further.” If the person really liked your post enough they would google your name and find you. If they didn’t well o well they werent going to contribute to your blog by leaving the occasional comment anyways. So by posting just to get your name out rather than just to get a link you may just weed out any lazy visitors and find readers that really appreciate the content that you write. What do you think Darren. (see I listened to what you always say and I asked the reader to contribute)
This is a timely post series for me .. I’m doing a little bit of guest blogging over the next month but posts like these will help me find even more.
[…] How to Get Guest Blogging Jobs […]
[…] Problogger wrote a series on Why Guest Blogger Are Great For A Blog, How To Find A Guest Blogger For Your Blog, How To Get Guest Blogging Job, and How To Be A Good Guest Blogger. He also showed you 34 reasons why readers unsubscribe to a blog. […]
Thanks for very informative thread. I have my chemical engineering blog (http://chem-eng.blogspot.com), and it’s quite technical….i offered people to contribute some content for the blog…but unfortunately there was no response….This method you’ve shown here might work…I’m going to try later…..Thanks
Excellent information Darren…gears are turning and wheels are spinning. =)
[…] But to be frank, the opportunity to make money by writing for other people exists on many other sites besides this one. I think many site owners, if you approached them, would be more than happy to pay you a reasonable fee to write fresh articles for their webistes. As most website owners know: content is king. And an opportunity to have you provide content for them, may be quite welcomed. […]
[…] social sites aren’t your thing, branch out to other bloggers. Perhaps you can get a guest blogger spot on another blog in your niche. You don’t have to be famous. Just write well, make it fit […]
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Thanks for the tips again. I’ll especially heed the advice about keeping an eye out for when a fav blogger is going on vacation/break.
Thank you for your article. On my site I just launched “The Great Guest Blogging Experiment” at http://fishtrain.com/2007/10/01/the-great-guest-blogging-experiment/
If you have been interviewed on other sites, especially live internet radio, would you recommend including a link to the archive in order to convince the blog’s owner that your knowledge would be a good fit? Or would audio archives be a “difficult sell” to the blog’s owner because audio may not translate well to text?
Thanks for any advice or experience with this!
Hi Darren,
Is there a site that brings bloggers and guest bloggers together? Like a free ebay for blogging?
[…] explored this topic further in posts like How to Get Guest Blogging Jobs and How to Be a Good Guest […]
Thanks for the great post.
… but I`t seems to be a very non secure method, because if I write the post and send to other blogger then there is no guaranty that he/she will really put it on his blog even if he/she sad YES before…
but allover it`s a great thing to do
hi, i am hari, beginner in blogging and write about money making in online and the tips and facts in it. now i am searching for guest to my blogs, thanks friend your 5 step explanation to gain guest is really helpful.
thanks keep going…….
Guest blogging is a great opportunity to get exposure that you normally wouldn’t get. If you ever get a chance to submit a blog post to a top blogger, make sure the blog is well-written and a resource to the blog readership. If it becomes link bait, you could get asked to write more blog posts – which means more links and recognition for your site.
Great advice. One question – any suggestion as to how to build relationships with current blogger?
Great post, glad you mentioned the pitch. It is easy to get discouraged when you don’t here back but then again the web saturated with users your right it is nothing personal. It is funny dealing with rejection in such a non personal setting like the internet.
http://creatingbusinesssuccess.com/
Great post.Thanks for sharing
Great tips and good lesson for bloggers.
Why not pitch your guest post to smaller blogs?
Whilst you won’t get the same benefit from a guest post on a huge blog like Problogger you can build up a portfolio of guesting assignments and use this as social proof that you can deliver quality content for the bigger blogs
How often would you say is fair to post in return for a blogroll link? I’ve been offered a link in return for one post a week, but that seems like quite a lot for what will be a long technical post?
I feel like a kid in a candy store with all your great posts and insights. Though I am actively promoting my blog and in the process of a re-design–there are definitely areas of self-promotion that I could improve on. Your insights on guest blogging give me that extra boost of confidence this blogger needed to go out there and get that guest spot! Thanks!
Great post! Just what the doctor ordered. I always knew that guest posts are a great way to build your brand and to get more traffic into your blog. But never knew how to get the job!
Will start trying now.
@ Neil Matthews : That’s a great tip! And that’s precisely what I am gonna start with.
Thanks,
Sanjay Nair