Post by account_disabled on Jan 22, 2024 23:06:04 GMT -5
My business partner Adam Franklin attended the ProBlogger Event on the Gold Coast in 2014, and returned fired up and with a whole heap of take-homes. At the ProBlogger Event, Darren spoke of success being a matter of doing the ordinary things. Specifically, to start, put readers first, be useful, find your rhythm, create meaning, and persist! This has inspired me to share this recent guest blogging story. We’re not talking about guest blogging that Google frowns upon, but high-value blogging via influencer outreach. Guest blogging is a hot topic we’ve been asked a ton of questions about lately and with good reason. If creating great content is the first step, then promoting your content is the crucial second step. Guest blogging is a powerful way to do just that as you get to write for a whole new audience! As well as helping you dodge some of the key mistakes, planning your guest blogging strategy will help you find, evaluate and target the best blogging opportunities. When I blogged for fellow Aussie blogger Jeff Bullas Jeff Bullas was ranked #11 on Forbes list of “Social Media Power Influencers” and he accepted my post called 6 Critical Types of Social Media You Must Plan For. Here are some of the exciting results: > Record Month This post helped us hit a record month in website traffic.
Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.08.34 am > Landing page visits skyrocketed I had a call to action in the article and linked to our Negative Comments Response Template (for Social Media) landing page. Visits to this page skyrocketed and so too did email opt-ins. Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.09.10 am > 4000+ Social Shares Jeff’s huge social media community, and particularly his Twitter following, meant that the post received a ton of social shares too:urnalist replied and asked if I was interested in writing an op-ed piece for Fairfax Media (one of the largest media companies in Australia). Of course I agreed! So I wrote a more concise op-ed piece called “He’s been questioned by police” and it was published on the Sydney Morning Herald homepage two days later, and syndicated Country Email List across all 50 online Fairfax publications and three blogs: Screen Shot rom being a Forbes Social Media Power Influencer, there were a number of strategic reasons why we asked Jeff. In short, he has a hugely popular social media marketing blog, followers in excess of 250,000 and we had built a strong relationship with him over the years. We also knew he accepted high quality guest posts. I’d aspired to write for Jeff’s blog for a long time so I’ll use it as an example as we go. How to create your Guest Blogging Strategy For the rest of this post I’m going to take you step by step through the Guest Blogging Strategy Template. Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.11.26 am (If you’re really keen you might like to download our free Guest Blogging Strategy Template and fill it out as you work your way through this post – if not, then just read on!). 1. Brainstorm Your Targets This doesn’t need to be a long
drawn out process. Take 15 minutes to brainstorm and list some of the blogs you’d like to write for. An easy way is to simply google blogs in your niche; for example “social media blogs” or “gardening blogs”. Large or small, seemingly impossible or really easy, just get them down. Sometimes this can feel like you have waaay too many options. That’s ok – the next steps will help you prioritise your target blogs. 2. Research Your Numbers > Domain Authority: One of the fastest free ways to check domain authority is to use Moz’s Open Site Explorer tool:Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.11.58 am Jeffbullas.com has a Domain Authority of 71/100 which is really strong. To put this in context, Google.com is 100/100, Forbes.com is 97/100, and Bluewiremedia.com.au is currently 46/100. From an SEO standpoint alone, a backlink from Jeff’s website would be really valuable to us. The Mozbar plugin makes this step really easy by showing the Open Site Explorer info on any blog you visit: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.12.43 am> Traffic Rank: For this use Alexa’s free traffic rank analytics tool: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.13.06 am Result: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.13.45 am Jeff’s website gets a ton of traffic which means that the article would be seen
Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.08.34 am > Landing page visits skyrocketed I had a call to action in the article and linked to our Negative Comments Response Template (for Social Media) landing page. Visits to this page skyrocketed and so too did email opt-ins. Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.09.10 am > 4000+ Social Shares Jeff’s huge social media community, and particularly his Twitter following, meant that the post received a ton of social shares too:urnalist replied and asked if I was interested in writing an op-ed piece for Fairfax Media (one of the largest media companies in Australia). Of course I agreed! So I wrote a more concise op-ed piece called “He’s been questioned by police” and it was published on the Sydney Morning Herald homepage two days later, and syndicated Country Email List across all 50 online Fairfax publications and three blogs: Screen Shot rom being a Forbes Social Media Power Influencer, there were a number of strategic reasons why we asked Jeff. In short, he has a hugely popular social media marketing blog, followers in excess of 250,000 and we had built a strong relationship with him over the years. We also knew he accepted high quality guest posts. I’d aspired to write for Jeff’s blog for a long time so I’ll use it as an example as we go. How to create your Guest Blogging Strategy For the rest of this post I’m going to take you step by step through the Guest Blogging Strategy Template. Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.11.26 am (If you’re really keen you might like to download our free Guest Blogging Strategy Template and fill it out as you work your way through this post – if not, then just read on!). 1. Brainstorm Your Targets This doesn’t need to be a long
drawn out process. Take 15 minutes to brainstorm and list some of the blogs you’d like to write for. An easy way is to simply google blogs in your niche; for example “social media blogs” or “gardening blogs”. Large or small, seemingly impossible or really easy, just get them down. Sometimes this can feel like you have waaay too many options. That’s ok – the next steps will help you prioritise your target blogs. 2. Research Your Numbers > Domain Authority: One of the fastest free ways to check domain authority is to use Moz’s Open Site Explorer tool:Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.11.58 am Jeffbullas.com has a Domain Authority of 71/100 which is really strong. To put this in context, Google.com is 100/100, Forbes.com is 97/100, and Bluewiremedia.com.au is currently 46/100. From an SEO standpoint alone, a backlink from Jeff’s website would be really valuable to us. The Mozbar plugin makes this step really easy by showing the Open Site Explorer info on any blog you visit: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.12.43 am> Traffic Rank: For this use Alexa’s free traffic rank analytics tool: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.13.06 am Result: Screen Shot 2015-02-13 at 11.13.45 am Jeff’s website gets a ton of traffic which means that the article would be seen