How to Get Your Guest Post Published on a Pro Blogger's Blog

It is a known fact in the blogging world that the fastest way to grow your readership and attract new newsletter subscribers is to get one of your articles published on a pro blogger’s blog. By leveraging their large traffic and rss subscriber count, you are able funnel their traffic to your site by providing quality content on their large blog. One problem…large blogs are bombarded with hundreds…if not thousands…of pitches, guest post ideas and random emails on a daily basis. With hundreds of eager bloggers all begging for a spot on the Internets largest blogs, how do you stand out from the rest and get your article published?

Robb Sutton’s Recent Guest Posts

Before we jump into how I seek out high profile guest posts on large blogs, I want to show you that these methods actually work. Over the past week, I have been putting the push on robbsutton.com and Ramped Reviews to get more exposure for the blog and the eBook. As mentioned before, there is no substitute when it comes to traffic from high quality, large and targeted audience blogs.  While there are other guest posts currently in the works, I wanted to point out two at this time (some of you may have found this blog through these recent articles!).

Now…I think you would agree that both Darren and Yaro are leaders in the industry when it comes to blogging and how to build a credible blog, so with subscriber counts in the 110k+ and 70k+ range…they can provide an extreme amount of positive exposure for your blog and newsletter if you blog is related to blogging and how to build a successful blog. I have seen fantastic results through these to guest posts and I am going to continue to find other blogs to market my content through.

How to Get Your Guest Post Published on a Pro Blogger’s Blog

Let’s jump right into it. I know you are just foaming at the mouth thinking about all of that targeted traffic you can generate through guest posting.

Guest Post Beginning Research

Before you even type that first word of your guest post, you need to do some market research and seek out top blogs in your niche. Obviously, if you are blogging about gardening, hitting up a high profile blog on blogging is not going to do you much good. Hopefully, at this point in your blogging career, you have a pretty good idea who the top bloggers in your niche are. If you do not…go to Google and start to search for popular terms in your niche.

Once you have found 3 to 5 top blogs in your niche, take a look over their sites and see if they feature guest posts on their blog. Many top blogs do not publish guest posts. You can still contact these blogs, but just know it might be a waste of time. Ideally, you want to contact blogs that are guest post friendly and have large subscription counts.

The Contact Phase in Guest Posting

Once you have your 3 to 5 blogs picked out, it is time to contact the bloggers and pitch your guest posting ideas. Before you start writing your pitch email, there are a couple of things you need to complete.

  1. Read their blog – You need to know exactly what kind of information that blogger is posting on their blog. Your guest post ideas need to fit into what their target, core audience is already reading. Submitting an article on how to grow vegetables to a blog that specializes in flowers is not going to yield the results you are aiming for.
  2. Prepare 2 to 3 article ideas – Once you know what the blogger’s readers are looking for when it comes to content, come up with 2 to 3 article ideas to include in your pitch. This will give the blogger a choice on article topics that will best suite his or her needs.
  3. Read the about page – If you are not a regular reader of that particular blog, read the about page carefully to get to know the blogger and their goals. You need to have a personal interest in who they are and what they are trying to accomplish with their blogging.

Now that you have this information ready, it is time to contact the blogger with your pitch. Pitch emails for guest posting articles need to be short, sweet and straight to the point. High profile bloggers get thousands of emails, so you do not need to waste their time with a long, elaborate email filled with a bunch of unnecessary information.

Joe Blogger,

I would like to submit a guest post for your blog Ramped Gardening to help promote a new eBook I just published titled “A Beginners Guide to Happy Gardening” (or your blog/blog title here). I see that you write a lot of how to articles on vegetable growing, so I have a couple of ideas I wanted to throw by you.

  • How to grow the biggest tomatoes in any soil.
  • How to prepare your soil for the winter.
  • A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries.

If one of these would fit the needs of your readers, I would like to write a guest post and get it back to you no later than a week from today.

Thank you for continually putting out great content on your blog. The article on “Why I Grow My Own Vegetables” really hit home with me as I too am tired of over processed grocery store goods.

I have attached a copy of my eBook to this email and I look forward to hearing back from you.

John Blogger
Growing for Dummies – dummygrowing.com
john@dummygrowing.com

As you can see by the email, there is a personal connection and no fluff. Just straight to the point with examples and proof that you are not just sending out mass emails to the world. Your goal with any pitch email is to start a dialogue on content.

I Just Heard Back! Now What?

You sent your pitch email to the top blogger in your niche…he responded with a great email back and picked a topic for you to write about…now the pressure hits. It is time for you to deliver the goods. Guest posts on any blogger’s blog should be some of your best content. This is your first impression on their readers, so if you want them to click your blog’s address or perform some call to action, you better bring your A game. You also need to bring your best content because your content is going to have to be approved by the blogger and it reflects on the other bloggers blog!

After you have completed your amazing guest post that is going to be soak up by readers like sun on a desert, you need to email it off to the blogger for review. Typically…and this might be overkill…I submit guest posts with two files.

  1. Plain Text Document – I submit a plain text document (created with a simple text editor like WordPad or TextEdit) as an attachment to the email with zero formatting. The blogger can copy and past the contents of this file into their post screen and apply the formatting necessary to match it to their blog.
  2. Formatted Text Document – I submit a second html formatted text document that has all of the headline tags, list tags and any other relevant tags inserted. Before I submit this attachment, I check several of the bloggers articles by using view page source source in FireFox. By looking at each of the posts code, I am able to determine which of the H1, H2, H3, etc. tags that particular blogger uses and format the post to their needs.

Then I send the email.

Joe Blogger,

Thanks again for the opportunity to guest post on your blog. I have attached the proposed guest post for your review. Included in this email are two files.

  1. A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries – formatted.txt: A text document that is already formatted according to the tags that you use on your blog.
  2. A beginners guide to the tastiest strawberries.txt: A plain text document ready for formatting.

Please let me know if there is any further information that you need.

John Blogger
Growing for Dummies – dummygrowing.com
john@dummygrowing.com

Congratulations! Your guest post is live!

You did it! All of your hard work is paying off and your guest post is live. Your amazing content is engaging with Joe Blogger’s readers and they are visiting your site and signing up for your newsletter and rss feed. Life is great as you continue to watch the stats climb on your own blog…but you are not done yet.

You job as the guest poster is to keep the conversation going. Watch the comments section of your guest post and respond to the conversation that takes place. By engaging with the blogger’s readers, you are showing that you take guest posting (and their blog) seriously, and you are adding to the value of your guest post. The more you engage with their readers, the happier the blogger will be with the results of your efforts.

After the dust has settled and the guest posting event has come to a close, write a short email thanking the blogger for publishing your guest post. If you had a great experience over this time period, mention that you would like to try this again sometime in the future. If the partnership was beneficial for both parties involved, a future guest post will be welcomed.

Guest Posting on A-List Blogs

That is the nuts and bolts of how I approach guest posting on pro blogger’s blogs. While some of these actions might be going overboard, I have found that it is extremely efficient and rewarding. The next time you go to propose your guest post to a top blogger, really sit down and contemplate what you can bring to the table. The more value you present in your content and your interaction with other bloggers, the more long term relationships you will grow for future success and partnerships. Blogging is all about fostering and maintaining relationships with your readers and other bloggers, so you need to treat every one of these partnerships with respect and professionalism.

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19 comments

Roseli A. Bakar July 22, 2009 - 9:20 am
This is a very good insights on doing guest blogging Rob. I hope to get more of my articles published by following your steps :)
Robb Sutton July 22, 2009 - 9:30 am
Thanks Roseli! I have found that by taking that extra step...it really improves blogger to blogger relationships when it comes to guest posting. Keep us updated on how things go!
Keller Hawthorne July 22, 2009 - 6:21 pm
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! I've just started the process of reaching out to other bloggers for guest posts, but I've had 0 luck. Ok, I've only contacted 2 blogs :). When did you contact Darren about guest posting? How long did it take to get your post published?
Robb Sutton July 22, 2009 - 6:40 pm
You're welcome, You're Welcome, You're Welcome! I contacted Darren a little over two weeks ago with my ideas. He was in the middle of family stuff (everyone got sick at once) so it took a little time to get back to me. Once he told me it was going to be published...it was 3 days and it was live. I am really enjoying watching the comments on that one and Yaro's...great conversations.
Keller Hawthorne July 22, 2009 - 11:17 pm
Thanks for the feedback! I actually found you through Yaro's BM. I shared this post with others :)!
Keller Hawthorne July 22, 2009 - 11:18 pm
Ok, Yaro's name became a link after I posted my comment. What plugin are you using to do that? Pretty cool..
Robb Sutton July 23, 2009 - 4:57 am
How To Get Blog Visitors and Subscribers – Promotion Techniques That Equal Traffic | robb sutton dot com October 12, 2009 - 9:15 am
[...] Not sure where to start? Check out this article to get you rolling: How to get your guest post published on a Problogger’s blog [...]
Paula from Affiliate Blog Online October 16, 2009 - 8:09 pm
I really like the idea of that Ninja plugin. Just checking it out now. Thanks for posting it And great post - I am just starting to look for sites to submit guest articles to for my internet marketing blog. I have over 20 blogs so have done the guest post thing literally hundreds of times for all sorts of niches but always looking for new tips on how to do it better.
Robb Sutton October 16, 2009 - 8:48 pm
They are still the #1 targeted traffic marketing method I have found. At least the one that converts the best.
Nick Pepera November 9, 2009 - 11:00 am
Robb, Great information to know! Thanks so much for sharing your tips and advice. You are becoming an inspiration to me to get my site http://www.DrinkAColdOne.com read and subscribed to by millions of people. Thanks again! ~Nick
John Collins November 10, 2009 - 12:29 pm
I have never used the blog template feature in MS Word 2007, but I guess it would format an article nicely for a guest post. Wish I had read this before I sent my Kent Erkisen 29er article for your bike198.com blog. It would have made things easier for you! Next time buddy. Is it best to send pictures separately and let the blog owner decide the best place to use them in the article?
Robb Sutton November 10, 2009 - 12:31 pm
I like how you showed where you would have put the pictures...but...next time...include them in a separate file as well. Possibly zip the everything for easy download. That way...I don't have to rip them out of the doc. You did a great job submitting though.
The Shackled Muse | Cheryl-Anne Roelofsz December 25, 2009 - 9:18 am
Some great advice that I'm gonna apply. Thank you for sharing :D
Ursula January 25, 2010 - 3:12 pm
Awesome tips, Rob! Thank you for sharing! I've been wondering how to go about guest posting, and this is an awesome guide!
How to Find More Time to Blog | Robb Sutton dot com March 24, 2010 - 6:34 am
[...] for success. If you are interested in guest posting on RobbSutton.com, read this article on guest posting and hit me up via email.Let’s take a trip back to when you first started blogging.  Remember the [...]
Farai August 9, 2010 - 12:15 pm
Thanks for the great insight Robb. I think i will drop a mail to you for possible publication on this wonderful blog. Thanks for sharing.
"What Probloggers Don't Tell You..." How to Guest Post For a Problogger | Reading Between The Lines September 20, 2010 - 10:39 pm
[...] has an article about how to best approach probloggers as a potential guest poster, so check out his post and the template email he suggests to use.  It worked for [...]
Mandy October 17, 2011 - 5:55 pm
Just as true today as it was two years ago! I especially appreciated the part about formatting with the blog's tags, because it really shows that you took the time to a) research their site, and b) make it as easy as possible on the blog owner. I'll do that with my next guest post! Thanks for taking the time to share this. 
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