lightningblitz
Elite Member
- Nov 30, 2014
- 1,920
- 4,714
I am late to the party. @yakuzaemme taught me a trick in his thread which may make my personal method obsolete. But, I need to post something at 2 am as I am sipping whiskey, so why not share my process?
My beef with the 'Guest Post' crowd
I have a huge problem with people who say you can get great results with Guest Posts. Why? Some blog owners and niches are catty and very clique based.
Some niches are also filles with low quality blogs and websites that are worse than a PBN link. My third beef is low conversion rate for the effort I usually put in.
Let me not forget, my biggest beef. The big dogs tend to ignore cold emails. I remember going after a 'Mens Fitness' Guest Post and it never happened using the traditional methods. I could get ten regular Guest Posts for for the same effort, but some big keywords, you need these big links.
But, sometimes... you need or want to Guest Post. So to make my approach work, I had to make a system I could work.
Making Relationships
The crux of my approach is to build real relationships with either website owners or approved authors.
I use three methods.
1. Blog Comments
2. Social Media
3. Triberr
My approach for one and two are always the same. I cold reply to blog posts or statuses until I get a reply. I then compliment. When I hear back, I will sneak in a link to my blog.
It looks something like this:
"Great article! I really like your take on XYZ. I am sick of (insert authority group) preaching the opposite."
After a few of these, I normally get a reply. After I get a reply, I compliment and offer up my website URL.
On social media I then private or direct message, on a blog I email.
I offer a colaboration. I offer to share them on my social media / email list / mention them in a blog. I ask for the same in return. I most often get a yes once I get to this point.
Triberr is... different. I start by autosharring a specific websites posts, all of them. I usually cheat and have my posts retweeted or shared. I also may drive a little traffic.
With Triberr, the person is notified with the @username automatically. After a few of these posts, I soft email or DM and ask if they want to work together with an interview or Guest Post.
If I submit their Guest Post, or they agree to an interview / q and a, I then go back and ask the contact to post my Guest Post.
At this point I act like I know the audience and find a gap in their content. For blackhatworld, I may offer a guide to product development. Websites usually jump on this offer once we have a relationship.
My entire approach is about making cold emails into warm email leads. Once the target interacts with me, it is almost a surefire Guest Post Guarantee.
What didn't work for me...
Guest Infographic Posts never flew in most of my niches.
Most websites ignored my cold emails.
The automation approach normally did not fly.
I bet I was doing most of it wrong. Sure, different niches had different mileage. But even with a good pitch I was not getting results with traditional Guest Post outreach.
Why? The same reason I do not give most people guest posts on my sites.
Why I Reject Guest Posts
I normally trash all automated messages. I also normally auto decline Guest Posts from agencies.
Why? In my niches when someone approaches from these verticles, I know it offers no value. If an agency emails me (bill from redribbon marketing) I know I will get an article written for Guest Posting. It is always 'just enough' effort to get accepted.
I also decline most infographics guest posts. The reason is they tend to be preambled with a Guest Post of 'Yeah, I made this.'
The Guest Post Infographics I accept are those in which I get a full article in addition to the infographic. I treat the infographic as icing on the cake.
What do I accept?
People who follow my rules. On websites I accept Guest Posts I have a Contribute page. I always specify what I want. Most website owners are the same way.
If X website wants you to include 'Hootie and the Blowfish ROCK' in your email subject line, you should. As it passes automatic moderation.
I also accept people who tell me why they want a guest post, how it will help my audience, how they will promote the article and what they would like to write about.
The 'pick from these five articke titles and I will get to work' are autodeleted. I know your article is not for my audience.
Using this information to your advantage
As someone who receives a lot of Guest Post emails (and accepts a few) the writing should be on the wall.
Most website owners need you write for their audience. You need to promote the content for the website owner and tell them in advance. You must follow there rules.
Most important is you need to warm the website up. A cold email is likely to be trashed. A warm email from someone you interacted with on social media or in blog comments is much more likely to land.
I know this isn't groundbreaking, but when the traditional advice did not convert for me, I had to figure something out. A couple social replies, a blog comment or two, and I am on the way to a Guest Post.
And if you don't hear back, I bet it is because you missed something basic. The website owner most likely is not taking Guest Posts currently or has a specific format for submissions you most likely missed.
My beef with the 'Guest Post' crowd
I have a huge problem with people who say you can get great results with Guest Posts. Why? Some blog owners and niches are catty and very clique based.
Some niches are also filles with low quality blogs and websites that are worse than a PBN link. My third beef is low conversion rate for the effort I usually put in.
Let me not forget, my biggest beef. The big dogs tend to ignore cold emails. I remember going after a 'Mens Fitness' Guest Post and it never happened using the traditional methods. I could get ten regular Guest Posts for for the same effort, but some big keywords, you need these big links.
But, sometimes... you need or want to Guest Post. So to make my approach work, I had to make a system I could work.
Making Relationships
The crux of my approach is to build real relationships with either website owners or approved authors.
I use three methods.
1. Blog Comments
2. Social Media
3. Triberr
My approach for one and two are always the same. I cold reply to blog posts or statuses until I get a reply. I then compliment. When I hear back, I will sneak in a link to my blog.
It looks something like this:
"Great article! I really like your take on XYZ. I am sick of (insert authority group) preaching the opposite."
After a few of these, I normally get a reply. After I get a reply, I compliment and offer up my website URL.
On social media I then private or direct message, on a blog I email.
I offer a colaboration. I offer to share them on my social media / email list / mention them in a blog. I ask for the same in return. I most often get a yes once I get to this point.
Triberr is... different. I start by autosharring a specific websites posts, all of them. I usually cheat and have my posts retweeted or shared. I also may drive a little traffic.
With Triberr, the person is notified with the @username automatically. After a few of these posts, I soft email or DM and ask if they want to work together with an interview or Guest Post.
If I submit their Guest Post, or they agree to an interview / q and a, I then go back and ask the contact to post my Guest Post.
At this point I act like I know the audience and find a gap in their content. For blackhatworld, I may offer a guide to product development. Websites usually jump on this offer once we have a relationship.
My entire approach is about making cold emails into warm email leads. Once the target interacts with me, it is almost a surefire Guest Post Guarantee.
What didn't work for me...
Guest Infographic Posts never flew in most of my niches.
Most websites ignored my cold emails.
The automation approach normally did not fly.
I bet I was doing most of it wrong. Sure, different niches had different mileage. But even with a good pitch I was not getting results with traditional Guest Post outreach.
Why? The same reason I do not give most people guest posts on my sites.
Why I Reject Guest Posts
I normally trash all automated messages. I also normally auto decline Guest Posts from agencies.
Why? In my niches when someone approaches from these verticles, I know it offers no value. If an agency emails me (bill from redribbon marketing) I know I will get an article written for Guest Posting. It is always 'just enough' effort to get accepted.
I also decline most infographics guest posts. The reason is they tend to be preambled with a Guest Post of 'Yeah, I made this.'
The Guest Post Infographics I accept are those in which I get a full article in addition to the infographic. I treat the infographic as icing on the cake.
What do I accept?
People who follow my rules. On websites I accept Guest Posts I have a Contribute page. I always specify what I want. Most website owners are the same way.
If X website wants you to include 'Hootie and the Blowfish ROCK' in your email subject line, you should. As it passes automatic moderation.
I also accept people who tell me why they want a guest post, how it will help my audience, how they will promote the article and what they would like to write about.
The 'pick from these five articke titles and I will get to work' are autodeleted. I know your article is not for my audience.
Using this information to your advantage
As someone who receives a lot of Guest Post emails (and accepts a few) the writing should be on the wall.
Most website owners need you write for their audience. You need to promote the content for the website owner and tell them in advance. You must follow there rules.
Most important is you need to warm the website up. A cold email is likely to be trashed. A warm email from someone you interacted with on social media or in blog comments is much more likely to land.
I know this isn't groundbreaking, but when the traditional advice did not convert for me, I had to figure something out. A couple social replies, a blog comment or two, and I am on the way to a Guest Post.
And if you don't hear back, I bet it is because you missed something basic. The website owner most likely is not taking Guest Posts currently or has a specific format for submissions you most likely missed.