Not solely is visitor running a blog properly and alive, it’s nonetheless extremely efficient. On this put up, you’ll study the whole lot that you must find out about visitor running a blog.
However first, let’s be certain we’re on the identical web page.
Visitor running a blog is the follow of writing and publishing a weblog put up on one other individual’s or firm’s web site.
For instance, I wrote a visitor put up for Develop & Convert a number of years in the past:
Visitor running a blog is a win-win for each the author and the writer.
Advantages for the author:
- Construct hyperlinks again to their website
- Develop relationships with editors and publishers
- Expose their model to a brand new viewers
- Construct their repute and place themselves as a thought chief
Profit for the writer:
- Leverage the experience and expertise of writers. For instance, we couldn’t have written about Zapier or Pet Eager’s firsthand search engine optimisation expertise with out visitor writers.
Getting your first visitor put up revealed may be daunting. I’ve been there. Following the steps under will make the method simpler and maximize your possibilities of success.
1. Discover visitor running a blog alternatives
Most individuals use Google search operators to search out blogs with “write for us” pages. Nevertheless, if everybody’s following this tactic, then everybody’s discovering the identical alternatives. Competitors will likely be rife, and publishers might ignore your pitch.
You don’t must restrict your self to this small pool of blogs. Even when they don’t promote it, most blogs will likely be blissful to publish a visitor put up so long as it’s good.
So right here’s the best way to discover related blogs to pitch:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Content material Explorer
- Enter a broad key phrase or phrase associated to your area of interest
- Choose In title from the drop-down menu
- Run the search
Right here, you may see greater than 2 million potential alternatives. That’s too many, so let’s slender the listing down by making use of these filters:
- Area Ranking (DR) from 30 to 60
- Click on the One web page per area filter
- Click on the Exclude homepages filter
- Click on the Exclude subdomains filter
Then click on on the Web sites tab.
These are the potential web sites you might pitch.
2. Develop visitor put up concepts
The blogs you pitch will need successful content material concepts. So how will you provide you with good visitor put up concepts?
Listed here are some methods you may use:
Copycat Method
Three issues are true:
- Each weblog desires extra search site visitors.
- To get search site visitors, that you must goal matters individuals are trying to find.
- Each weblog has extra matters to write down than sources to cowl them.
So why not assist your goal blogs out? Discover matters they need to be rating for and pitch them these matters.
Right here’s the best way to discover them:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Aggressive Evaluation software
- Enter the area of your goal weblog within the Goal part
- Add the primary three instructed competing domains within the Opponents part
- Click on Examine
This report reveals you the key phrases the competing domains are rating for, however your goal weblog isn’t.
Undergo the report and search for key phrases which can be related to your goal weblog. For instance, this looks as if a possible matter to pitch:
Refresh Method
Refreshing outdated content material can present an enormous site visitors increase, as seen after we up to date our put up about free search engine optimisation instruments:
Your goal weblog will seemingly have outdated content material that has declined in search site visitors. Pitch them an replace.
Right here’s the best way to discover pages with declining site visitors:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Website Explorer
- Enter the area of your goal weblog
- Go to the Prime pages report
- Set the Examine filter to Earlier yr
- Kind the Visitors change column from lowest to highest
It will present you pages in your goal weblog which have the biggest decline in search site visitors because the earlier yr. Undergo the report and look out for appropriate matters, particularly these with declines in site visitors and key phrase positions.
For instance, SmartBlogger’s put up on membership websites has dropped in each key phrase positions and search site visitors:
In the event you have been writing for SmartBlogger, this might be matter to pitch.
Robin Hood Method
Well-liked blogs are well-liked for one purpose: They’ve nice content material. Lesser-known blogs are lesser-known for the alternative purpose: They’ve but to publish tons of nice content material.
So why not take content material concepts from the highest blogs and provide them to lesser-known ones?
We name this the Robin Hood Method, named after the English people hero who stole from the wealthy and gave to the poor.
Right here’s the best way to execute the Robin Hood Method:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Website Explorer
- Enter the area of a high-DR weblog in your area of interest
- Go to the Prime pages report
- Toggle SERP titles on
Look by means of the report and see if there may be any concept that resonates. Put a singular spin and pitch it to a lesser-known weblog.
For instance, should you’re writing for a private finance weblog, this looks as if matter to be impressed by:
A possible thought to pitch may be “free (or low cost) issues to do on a date.”
Splintering Method
Our hyperlink constructing information is so complete it spans 5 chapters:
Every chapter might be a put up on its personal.
So we will break this put up into “splinters” and create standalone articles. Every of those splintered articles may be pitched as a visitor put up.
Since we already did the analysis by creating the unique piece, the “splintered” articles would seemingly not take a lot time to write.
Perspective Method
You may simply reuse a subject by switching up the angle.
For instance, let’s say we wrote a visitor put up titled “Finest Distant Jobs for College students.” We will cowl the identical matter for various publications through a number of views:
3. Pitch the blogs
This step is each the best and essentially the most nerve-wracking. It’s simple as a result of it’s merely an e mail you ship. It’s nerve-wracking as a result of your destiny is within the different social gathering’s arms.
It doesn’t must be that anxiety-inducing, although. Listed here are some suggestions to enhance your possibilities of getting your pitch accepted:
Learn the rules
If the positioning you’re pitching has a “write for us” web page or writing pointers, learn and comply with them. For instance, that is what CoSchedule expects:
Discover the proper e mail
If the publication has a “write for us” web page, then it’s seemingly it’ll present both an e mail tackle or a type.
In any other case, you’ll want to search out it.
Publications and blogs are sometimes managed by a managing editor, head of content material or, in the event that they’re a small website, the proprietor themself. So that you need to first ensure you establish who that individual is.
You may normally discover them by visiting the “groups” or “about” web page. For instance, a fast scroll on our “staff” web page reveals you need to pitch to our head of content material, Joshua Hardwick:
If the “staff” web page is uninformative, then a search on LinkedIn or Twitter normally suffices.
When you’ve recognized that individual, use an e mail discovery software like Hunter to search out their e mail. Add their title and web site, and Hunter will do its magic:
Write a tremendous outreach e mail
A number of years in the past, I wrote a visitor put up for Develop & Convert. Benji Hyam, the co-founder, was so impressed with my outreach e mail that he did an evaluation.
Publications get lots of emails. You need to stand out; in any other case, your e mail will likely be ignored.
Relatively than search for a template which you could copy-paste, you need to perceive the ideas behind what makes outreach e mail.
You may take a look at Benji’s evaluation of my e mail to see what publications expect. You’d additionally do properly to learn the put up under and comply with the ideas it lays out.
4. Write the visitor put up
In case your pitch is accepted, then it’s time to write.
I like to recommend beginning first with the define. Some websites might request this. However even when they don’t, a top level view will assist flesh out your ideas, set up the put up, and stop clean web page syndrome.
To create a top level view, that you must know what subtopics to cowl. The simplest approach to discover these subtopics is to take a look at the frequent key phrase rankings amongst top-ranking pages and eyeball the listing for subtopics.
Right here’s how:
- Enter your goal key phrase into Ahrefs’ Key phrases Explorer
- Scroll all the way down to the SERP overview
- Choose the top-ranking pages you need to analyze
- Click on Open in and select Content material hole
For instance, if we analyze the subject “internet affiliate marketing,” we’ll see that the top-ranking pages additionally rank for:
- what’s internet affiliate marketing
- the best way to grow to be an affiliate marketer
- the best way to do internet affiliate marketing
These would make good H2s for a weblog put up on “internet affiliate marketing.”
When you’ve created your define, all that’s left is to fill within the “gaps,” i.e., write the precise put up. If they’ve one, ensure you return to the rules, learn it fastidiously, and comply with it to a T.
The place related, don’t overlook to incorporate hyperlinks again to your individual content material. Don’t overdo it, although; one to 2 hyperlinks ought to suffice.
5. Promote your visitor put up
You need to anticipate some back-and-forth because the writer edits and sends suggestions about your draft. As soon as they’re happy, they’ll inform you of a publishing date.
Don’t simply disappear when the put up is revealed. Comply with up! Thank the editor. And if there’s a remark part, keep round and reply.
Assist promote the put up by sharing it on social media too:
You may even go the additional mile by selling the put up in related communities. In my case, Benji did it for me by submitting it to GrowthHackers. However I stayed round to reply feedback.
It was seemingly the rationale why it received a lot engagement:
It was even the #2 put up in that yr’s year-end roundup:
Every little thing above will get you 90% of the best way. However visitor running a blog will not be a mattress of roses. So I’m sharing the guidelines under that can assist you overcome a few of the frequent roadblocks.
1. Pitch extra blogs than you may deal with
The merciless actuality of visitor running a blog is that even when they’re good, your emails may be rejected or ignored. That’s no fault of yours—publications are simply too busy.
So right here’s a controversial tip: pitch the identical matters to a number of blogs. Then provide the article to whoever replies first or has a better authority (should you get a lot of replies).
This fashion, you’re by no means missing for visitor posts. You received’t even have to be nervous about rejection, for there will likely be one other weblog keen to just accept your concepts.
In the event you get a couple of reply, merely inform the reality:
Sorry, you weren’t responding for just a few days, so one other weblog took this concept. I’ll be in contact with extra article concepts that’ll be simply as good.
2. Write for blogs which have by no means linked to you earlier than
Our examine of 1 billion pages reveals a powerful correlation between natural site visitors and the variety of backlinks from distinctive web sites (referring domains).
Which may be one purpose why you need to write for blogs which have by no means linked to you earlier than.
To seek out distinctive web sites, hit the Spotlight unlinked dropdown and add your web site as you’re following step #1:
These instruments will make your visitor running a blog course of extra environment friendly:
- Ahrefs – Analysis visitor put up alternatives, discover content material gaps to pitch blogs, construct your outlines, examine backlinks from visitor posts, and observe your visitor put up rankings.
- Hunter – Discover the e-mail addresses of web site house owners and editors.
- Pitchbox – Ship outreach emails at scale.
- Ahrefs’ free AI writing instruments – Generate outlines, titles, and proofread your drafts.
- ChatGPT – Generate visitor put up concepts, create outlines, flesh out posts, proofread your work, and extra.
Listed here are some regularly requested questions on visitor running a blog:
How does visitor running a blog assist search engine optimisation?
Hyperlinks are an vital Google rating issue. By writing a visitor put up, you may construct hyperlinks again to your pages and, due to this fact, increase their efficiency in engines like google.
Is visitor running a blog dangerous for search engine optimisation?
In 2014, Google’s former head of net spam, Matt Cutts, revealed a weblog put up proclaiming that “visitor running a blog is completed.” Nevertheless, he was primarily referring to low-quality visitor running a blog revealed on low-quality websites for hyperlinks.
Writing a beneficial weblog put up for a longtime website with a related viewers will nonetheless assist your search engine optimisation and is unlikely to harm it.
Can I get referral site visitors from visitor running a blog?
A number of years in the past, our chief advertising officer, Tim Soulo, requested 500+ bloggers how a lot site visitors they received from their visitor articles.
The common referral site visitors throughout 239 visitor articles was solely 50 visits.
So sure, you may get referral site visitors from visitor running a blog—however don’t set your expectations too excessive.
Remaining ideas
This information accommodates the whole lot our staff has realized about visitor running a blog over the previous few years. I hope it is going to assist take your abilities to a brand new degree.
Did I miss out on something? Let me know on Twitter or Threads.
