Carmen Rane Hudson

Now that I’ve told you how and why to guest blog and have given you a tool for finding great places to do it, I’d like to talk a little bit about how to become highly effective at it. These are some tips for really making the most of your guest blogging efforts.

1. Strive to Become a Regular

One guest post might get you a trickle of traffic. Multiple guest posts on the same blog could very well bring you a flood.

It’s going to take time for you to gain a following on someone else’s blog. You do this by becoming a regular face and voice.

This means that you need to plan on multiple guest posts. On ClickNewz.com, guest blogger Bruce Hoag, suggested planning an entire guest post series around a specific industry topic.

This isn’t a bad idea. Not only does it give you multiple reasons to come back, but it’s just good blogging. Series posts go over really well, and of course having to scroll through multiple “Part 1,” “Part 2,” “Part 3,” etc. posts gives people plenty of reasons to keep right on reading.

Once you’ve built the relationship a bit you might also plan a “sound off” between you and the blog owner. These are posts where both of you take two sides of the same issue and spend multiple posts debating that issue back and forth.

Let’s take plumbers.

I know I pick on plumbers a lot, but you guys are good sports and you can take it.

You might arrange a debate with a host blogger about tankless hot water heaters. You might notice, for example, that your host rags on them a lot even though you really, really advocate them to your customers.

A quick email exchange between you and the host could set up a friendly debate that consists of four posts: one post where each of you lays out your case and one point where each of you rebuts each others arguments.

This gives a little friendly controversy to the blog, sparks discussion, and brings in more traffic because hey – everyone likes to see a little bit of a rumble between some established experts. It’s also a great way to help readers see an issue from every side.

Content like this also allows you to build guest blogging content that you just wouldn’t use on your own site, which keeps you from feeling as though you are missing out by posting it on someone else’s blog.

2. Set up Your Own Guest Blogging Guidelines

Once you’re a part of the community you could be benefiting from your own guest bloggers, which helps you get some additional content into your site. It also means drawing more people over to where you are, since followers might come for the guest rather than for you.

This is okay. Once they get to your site they’ll find plenty to love.

Post your guidelines prominently on your site. The keywords “write for us” and “become a guest blogger” seem to be search terms that a lot of writers use, so you might want to use them.

You also might want to contact the bloggers who you’ve been working with to let them know that you’re now accepting guest posts. They need a free way to get traffic and back links for their sites too, after all.

3. Always, Always Follow Other People’s Guidelines

This should go without saying but it often doesn’t. Other people’s submission guidelines aren’t just suggestions.

They are hard and fast rules for how people want you to guest post for them. If that blogger tells you to send the entire article in the body of an email, that is what you do.

If he tells you to send it as a Google Doc, that is what you do. If he tells you to pitch the idea first and get permission to proceed, then do that.

You will not make any friends if you fail to do this. Indeed, you will get yourself labeled as a spammer instead.

The spammer label is really, really hard to shake. You don’t want it.

Watch your spelling and your grammar too. Nobody wants to read unintelligible content. I’ve found the blogging community is pretty forgiving of the occasional typo, but that doesn’t mean you should make a habit out of it.

It also doesn’t hurt to provide the host with a little bit of information about you when you send the post. Even a link back to your own website helps, since it lets the host check out who you are and what you stand for.

4. It’s Okay to Start Small

While getting published on a blog that has 10,000 readers a day would certainly represent a coup for your business you need to recognize that it’s harder to get published there. You will need a larger web presence and a great deal of credibility before those blogs give you the time of day.

But that’s okay, because getting published on a blog with 500 readers a day is pretty awesome too, and they’re often much more receptive and friendly. You’ll usually get a quicker answer on your guest posts, too.

You can work your way up to the bigger sites over time.

5. Be a Good Promoter

Make sure you provide additional traffic to the host blog by doing everything you can to promote your guest post. Make sure that you’re using social media to drive traffic to the blog. In addition, you should provide some links to the guest post from your own blog.

If you have an email list, send a shout-out there as well. That way the host really feels like he’s winning by offering you a portion of his web real estate.

6. Be a Good Participator

Make sure you subscribe to the comments on all of your guest posts so that you know what people have to say about it. Then, make sure you answer people who address you directly or who raise good points.

This is just good etiquette. Some hosts even demand this of their guest bloggers!

Besides, not commenting on your own posts makes you look unresponsive and reduces the number of people who are going to want to become your regular readers. Just make sure you see the comments on your email and answer them at the same time.

Today’s Action Items:

• Think of a series of posts you could write for a blog.
• Concentrate on approaching smaller blogs first.
• Create a guest blogging opportunities page on your own blog.

In my previous post, I talked about why it was important to guest blog. Now I’m going to teach you a quick, easy way to find guest blogging opportunities.

A manual search of industry blogs via Google is a bad way to go. It’s time consuming, frustrating, and not very much fun.

Fortunately, UltraMarketer.com has provided a very nifty tool for finding places that are looking for guest bloggers with no muss, and no fuss. It’s called, appropriately enough, the Guest Blogger Finder.

The Guest Blogger Finder is a simple web form that looks like this:

When you hit “Find Blogs Now” it will take you to a highly filtered Google search results page. A “V1” search for guest blogging opportunities containing the keyword “chiropractor” brought up 5 pages of blogs – a far cry from the hundreds of pages of results you might have to dig through if you attempted it without the tool.

Sure, it’s possible to type the right search string into Google to find it all yourself, but why would you if you didn’t have to? I couldn’t even tell you what that search string is.

Ideally you’d choose 5-6 blogs to follow on a regular basis anyway. You need to do more than blog and leave.

You need to look for places where you can insert yourself into the broader industry community. You see, content marketing is about much more than simply writing reams of content.

Content marketing is also about consuming great content and sharing it. This is one of the ways that you’ll find things to promote on your social media channels that aren’t your own work and links.

Content marketing is about consuming great content and commenting on it in a useful way. You can’t do that at random. It has to be a focused, targeted strategy.

In fact, in the coming weeks I’ll be discussing this community strategy in greater detail. For today, the point is that you want to find 5-6 blogs that you’d feel comfortable “sticking around” for awhile.

You’ll want to designate a day to read these blogs. Just find one hour or so during the week.

You will, after all, want to read at least a few entries before trying to submit a guest post. You want to make absolutely sure that you’re not proposing to write on subjects the host blogger has already written about.

If you’re truly lucky there will be a focused archive page that will list a simple title and hyperlink for every single post the blogger has ever written. The titles will usually give you an idea of what the blogger has already done.

The titles will also give you a good idea of what kind of content the blogger likes. This is very important when you decide to “pitch” a blog post to the blog author.

Your chances of acceptance will simply be much higher if you can align yourself to the host blogger. In addition, you’ll have a better chance of connecting with that blogger’s target audience, which is important since getting a following for your blog or website is kind of the point. 🙂

Fortunately, it’s not hard to determine this. Usually it works best if you are nodding your head to a lot of the blogger’s posts, or if you find yourself voraciously clicking through for more of what the blogger has to say. Both of these are very good signs that the blog will be a great fit for some of your content!

Today’s Action Items 

• Use the guest blogger tool to find 5-6 blogs you’d like to interact with on a regular basis.
• Spend some time reading these blogs and evaluating them.
• Submit a new guest post to one of these blogs.

Many business owners struggle on how to write an about us page. I’ve seen everything from people who mention their dogs, kids, and fishing hobbies to pages that are very “thin” because the writer was uncomfortable talking about himself or herself.

Most people’s About Us pages aren’t very engaging for customers. Some people’s are downright boring from the customer’s perspective.

However, it is possible to learn how to write a fantastic About Us page that really “sells” your business by implementing some of the ideas outlined in this post today.

This Is a Virtual Job Interview

If you were hiring someone for your small business you don’t want to hear about personal pets and hobbies when you say, “Tell me about yourself.” You really want to hear about what makes the other person a good fit for serving your needs.

The About page is exactly the same way. Everything about it needs to be attuned to helping the person reading it understands exactly what makes you or your business so good at what you do.

As Kassia Gardner on the Microbusiness Hub blog put it, your About page still has to focus on “What’s In it For Me.”

I like to do this by using “so” or “which means” statements. For example, if you want to tell your customer that you’ve been a real estate lawyer for 20 years you might write:

John Q. Doe has been in real estate law for over two decades, which means he has the experience to handle the toughest cases.

Or:

I’ve been in real estate law for over 20 years, so few cases can surprise me. I have the experience to navigate your case, too, no matter how tough it seems.

Demonstrate How You’ll Solve Problems

The job interview metaphor should continue as you write your About Us page. Think about some of the common problems that clients have when they seek someone in your industry.

You can do this one of two ways. You can either think about what kinds of problems you solve directly, like landlord-tenant problems, or you can think about what kinds of problems people have with people in your industry.

If you are a plumber, for example, consumers are probably going to be concerned about cost first and foremost. They may have a perception that all plumbers are expensive. Another concern might be your reliability – will you show up in a timely manner and will you be on time?

Knowing this, you might point out that you believe in absolute integrity and transparency so you always make sure your customers understand exactly what you’re going to do and what you’re going to charge. To address the reliability concern, you could highlight the fact that you guarantee on time arrival or they get a discount (if that is in fact your policy). The primary point is you tackle these concerns head on.

Share Your Mission

If you’ve taken the time to craft a strong mission statement or set of core values for your business and those things truly reflect how you do business then the About Page is a great place to share this information.

Simon Sinek did a great TED talk about the importance of a mission statement, and it’s worth about 18 minutes of your time to listen to him if you don’t have a mission statement already.

No other place on your website is as uniquely suited to offering your “why” as your About Us page is, so don’t waste the space.

Be Yourself

There’s no reason to wrap your About page in generic corporate speak. Speak like you talk and be who you are.

You can let your personality shine through even without talking about your latest fishing trip. You do it by virtue of the words that you use and the story that you tell. You do it by staying professional while playing to your strengths.

Remind the Reader to Take Action

It may seem a little bit unnatural, but you should have a strong sales call to action on your About Us page just like you would on any other page of your website. Reading is a passive activity and readers need a little help when it comes to making the connection between reading about why you’re a good choice to actually taking action on that information and hiring you.

Put another way, this is the point in the job interview where you close the deal by actually putting out your hand and asking for the job. In your case, however, you’re going to put out your figurative hand and ask for the phone call or e-mail.

Today’s Action Item:

• Review your About Us page.
• Eliminate all of the references to fishing, your parents, your kids, and your dog.
• Apply the ideas above.