How to write a guest blog post for another website
If the idea of guest blogging brings you out in hives, don’t worry: I totally get you. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a cold call email asking if you’re open to guest blogging opportunities, from someone you’ve never heard of — and who in all honesty, has probably never heard of you before contacting you! — and if you haven’t yet, get your Small Business Owner Bingo Card out, because it’s coming I’m sure. But when it’s not done in an icky way, guest blogging can be really great for your business. That’s why today’s blog is all about how to write a guest blog post for another website.
Why should you think about guest blogging?
Guest blogging has loads of benefits, including:
Getting in front of new, already warm customers
If you pick your guest blogging spots well (more on that below!), you’ll be getting your business in front of new but already warm potential customers. These are like gold dust, as you know they’re already aligned with what you’re doing, so more likely to vibe with what you do straight away.
Juicy SEO backlinks
The game of life SEO is signalling to search engines that your website contains useful content; and a good way of showing this is by getting other websites to link to yours (note: this should be your website, not your instagram — you don’t reap any of those rewards, other than the occasional potential follow). Just like every other element of SEO, some people try and ‘hack’ this and make it feel weird and gross: but when it’s done properly, it’s still a really powerful, organic way of improving your website ranking.
Giving you more content to promote
If you feel fatigued with promoting content on your own site, promoting something on someone else’s platform can be the injection you need to feel inspired sharing again.
What’s in it for them?
Now that we’ve established that, you might well be thinking “Ok, that’s what’s in it for me…but what’s in it for them, as the recipient of the guest blog post?” You selfless soul, you.
Guest blog posts work for them in much the same way: their website is signalled to The Search Engine Gods as being a place that houses helpful content, they benefit from getting in front of your audience when you share it too, and it gives them more content to promote, too.
How to write a guest blog post for another website
So how do you write a guest blog post for another website?
Photo by ready made from Pexels
Find the right place for it to go
Any feelings of ickiness about guest blogging should hopefully dissipate when you find the right fit for a guest blog, because it’ll feel less like you’re forcing yourself upon someone and more like you’re working in harmony with them (which, of course, you are — as above, it’s a mutually beneficial thing.)
Most importantly, you need to think about the audience of where you’re pitching: are they searching for, or interested in, what you offer? For example, if your audience are small business owners, you might want to ask a fellow b2b business owner. (Of course, that isn’t to say that a b2c business’ blog wouldn’t be read by some b2b customers too…but in terms of maximising the opportunity, it doesn’t make the most sense).
A good place to start thinking about who to pitch a guest blog to is any business mutuals you have — other business owners who you chat to a lot in DMs, maybe, or know from networking circles.
Email them and ask
I’ve deliberately not used the word ‘pitch’ here, because a lot of people have a strong reaction to that word (myself included.) But all pitching is is emailing them putting your best foot forward, and explaining what you’d like to do for them. Explain a bit about what you’d like to write about, your expertise (a.k.a. why you’re the person to write this article), and how you think it’ll help their audience.
Make sure the topic(s) you suggest to them are genuinely helpful to their audience, fit with what they talk about, and don’t encroach too much on the work they do/the blogs they’ve already posted; you want to add something fresh and new.
p.s. you can grab my templates for guest blog emailing for free here:
Write the damn thing
After you’ve pitched and they’ve said YES PLEASE, it’s time to write the blog! In this sense, how to write a guest blog post for another website is the same as writing a blog post for your own website: try and make your content as useful as it can be, and as easy to follow as possible.
Make sure you include plenty of line breaks and headings, and don’t do a Joey Tribbiani — write it in the same kind of language you usually write in. Read it back for exclamation marks, too — I’m all for enthusiasm (literally, it’s the name of my business) but too many can feel like you’re shouting at your reader.
Remind people who you are
Don’t forget: part of the usefulness of the opportunity is in introducing you and your work to new people. That means that a key part of how to write a guest blog post for another website is including an explanation of what you do and your work too, so that people have the full context. It can either be in the intro, or a bio section at the bottom (like mine down below) — best of all is woven through the text naturally. Don’t forget the links, too!
Remember pictures, if need be
Make sure to clarify if you need to provide photos to go alongside the blog post, as well as a photo of you. Make sure you own the copyright or have permission to use the ones you send over. Plus you could be an extra hun and resize them, too — you can use something like tinypng.
Share it with your audience
The final stage of how to write a guest blog post for another website is sharing it with your audience once it’s published! Show off your good work and share it with the people who need to read it.
And there you have it: how to write a guest blog post for another website! How are you feeling about it now? Let me know how you get on, and share the results with me when you’re done!
