As you are reading this, I know that you are interested in making money online. You’re interested in increasing the number of followers you have, you want clients, you want subscribers, and perhaps you’re selling an e-book. No matter your specific end goal, right now you want to figure out how you can connect with influencers and specific bloggers to help you magnify your voice and/or brand.  Well one of the best ways is to use guest blogging tips and write for other sites.

Guest blogging is a great way to promote yourself and your website, but before you worry about how you’re going to benefit, you must consider the wants and needs of the person/site you will be pitching your guest post to. Aligning your brand strategies and complementing what those bloggers hope to achieve will leverage the biggest return on investment for everyone involved.  By adding value and credibility to their blog, each person in the relationship wins.

Here are 4 guest blogging tips to help you pitch a guest post for you to consider:

4 Guest Blogging Tips

1. Target Your Guest Post At The Right People

Be smart from the get-go. If your blog/product is about “Self-Help”, don’t contact a blogger who is known primarily for “Dog Grooming”. An off-topic pitch will sink you quicker than you can say “outreach fail.”

Also, your initial approach when reaching out to a registered nurse or teacher, for example, will be different than if you’re contacting someone who owns a marketing blog and is business-savvy — they’re motivated by different things. A nurse is dedicated to improving patient outcomes and teachers want to make an impact on the next generation, so your pitch should outline how what you have to offer them helps achieve those goals.

A marketing blogger, on the other hand, might be more driven by how collaborating with you will elevate their visibility and draw more traffic to their site. Further, a mommy blogger will be interested in “lessons learned”-type content, as well as how a particular product may help ease some of the challenges associated with parenting.

2. Know Who You Are Pitching To

Mass emails are spammy and repellent, don’t send them. Any blogger who has reached a modicum of success will see through a boilerplate message of “Hi, I want to use your forum to launch my own business!”  There is nothing wrong with reaching out and emailing bloggers, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

Take the time to research each blogger’s strengths, voice and areas of influence. Does your voice complement or clash with his or her voice? Some bloggers prefer to have a harmonious tone to their online voice; others like to have a lively discourse and forum where lots of ideas are presented. Define whether or not if there is an underlying theme, motif or perspective that informs the blogger’s voice, and be sure what you’re offering them works with that.

3. Follow Submission Guidelines

Most bloggers have a specific section that states their parameters for submissions, so it’s simply common courtesy to honour them. Have your ducks in a row as it relates not only to your post, but your author bio, photo and other elements specifically defined.

Some bloggers explicitly state that they’re not interested in pitches of any kind. Some allow you to include external links in contributed copy, some don’t. Other blogs might be a little more lenient when it comes to soft selling yourself or the brand you represent in your writing. Make it your business to read any guidelines they’ve outlined, and if there aren’t any, ask for specifics.

Check out some of the things you should NOT do in our ‘How Not To Get Your Guest Post Published‘ guide.

4. Comment On Their Content

Without necessarily becoming the blogger’s No. 1 fan, do simple things to show some appreciation. Follow him or her on Twitter. If (s)he has a Facebook page, like it. Engage them by re-tweeting content or messaging them. Ask them what their favourite moment was at the recent 140edu conference they attended, or what they thought about The New York Times article that weighed the pros and cons of new technology in the field of medicine. Simply put: get involved.

Take the time to read their stuff. Comment where relevant without promoting yourself. Thoughtful, insightful comments will get you on the blogger’s radar and will, hopefully, remind him/her of your interest when you do eventually pitch them. Engaging their community will pave the way for you to ask, and make it easier for them to say yes.

Have you used some of these guest blogging tips successfully?  What other guest blogging tips would you recommend?  Please let us know by leaving a comment below!