Blogger Blog Tips

How to Get Your Guest Posts Accepted Every Time

Posted: 30 May 2011 06:06 AM PDT

This guest post is by Ali Luke of Aliventures.

Maybe you've written guest posts, but they've been turned down.

Maybe you don't feel brave enough to target a big blog, because you're afraid of rejection.

You might see names popping up around the blogosphere with guest posts everywhere: I remember Glen Allsopp doing this a year or two back. And you might feel a little bit envious. How come they can get their posts on sites like ProBlogger and Copyblogger?

Well, it's not black magic. It's not about twisting arms, or offering bribes. It's not even about name recognition—I was getting guest posts published when I was a total newbie in the blogosphere.

It's about writing a great, targeted post that stands a very high chance of acceptance.

And that's exactly what I'm going to teach you to do here.

Step #1: Get into the right frame of mind

A great guest post doesn't start with the words you type. It starts with your attitude.

Some bloggers see guest posts as an opportunity to get a link from a high-PR site. I get pitches from these types of bloggers regularly, and I always turn them down. Their posts are uninteresting, regurgitated content—the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a huge content mill. Theirs certainly isn't the vibrant, engaging writing which I want on my blog.

A guest post is so much more than just a link back to your site. It's:

an opportunity to reach a huge audience of readers
a chance to establish a connection with a powerful blogger
a learning experience—especially if you rarely or never get comments on your own blog
a way to get your name known in the blogosphere.

Your guest posts should be your best work. That way, they'll be much more likely to get accepted—and they'll bring you an awful lot of benefits.

Step #2: Choose your target blog carefully

I know this is obvious, but I've had pitches from bloggers who clearly don't quite get it.

Only target blogs that actually run guest posts.

Many smaller blogs don't ever have guest posts, or very rarely accept them. Those bloggers might be keen to build up their own audience with their own voice—especially if they're blogging to promote their businesses.

Look for a page aimed at guest posters, or look through the individual posts for any that say "This is a guest post from…", or that have a bio for someone other than the blog's owner.

Of course, you'll probably know of plenty of blogs that accept guest posts. The tough part is deciding which blog to target. I'd suggest:

Don't go after the A-list straight away. If a blog has 100,000 readers and you've never guest posted before, you might want to aim a little lower.
Look for bloggers who'd welcome some help. If a blogger mentions an upcoming vacation (or house move, for example), then they'd probably be very grateful for a guest post.
Choose a blog which is in your niche. Not only will this get you better results, it'll make your post more likely to succeed because you'll have a great grasp of your subject matter.

Step #3: Read the guest post guidelines

Not all blogs have submission guidelines for guest posts, but many big ones do. Look for a page called "Submission Guidelines," "Guest Post Guidelines," "Write for Us," or similar.

The guidelines will usually let you know:

How long your post should be. Many blogs will want at least 500 words.
Whether you should pitch an idea or the completed post. Some bloggers prefer you to approach them with an idea in the first instance, though many others will be happy to receive completed posts.
What you're allowed to do. Are affiliate links okay? Can you link to your own blog in the body of your post?
How to submit your post. This may include the file format, who to send it to, and other details.

Here are a few examples:

ProBlogger's Guidelines and Suggestions for Guest Posts at ProBlogger
Copyblogger's What Makes a Great Copyblogger Guest Post?
Daily Blog Tips' Daily Blog Tips Guest Post Guidelines

Step #4: Study your target blog

If the blog doesn't have any submission guidelines, then you're going to need to do a bit of homework. And even if you do have a page of guidelines, it's still worth taking this step to maximize your chances of getting your guest post accepted.

Go through the most recent five or ten posts on the blog. Find out:

How long are the posts, on average? What's the shortest? What's the longest? This will give you an idea of what word count to aim for, and will indicate how much leeway you have.
What stylistic features are there? For instance, Copyblogger tends to have a lot of short, punchy sentences and paragraphs.
Which topics have been covered recently? You'll want to avoid writing anything too similar.

You can take this analysis even further, and look for anything which seems to be missing: perhaps you've got an idea for a post which would be on-topic and which fills a gap in the blog's content.

Studying your target blog also means finding out any unwritten rules. For instance, do guest posters tend to pitch their own products, or is that clearly a no-no? Is it okay to link back to your own blog once or twice in the body of the guest post? Is bad language acceptable?

It only takes a few minutes to find these things out, but by doing so, you'll avoid wasting your time by writing and submitting an unsuitable post.

Step #5: Come up with several ideas

When you're trying to write a great guest post, you need to start off with a strong idea. Don't pick the first thing that comes to mind—write down several possibilities, and decide which is going to give you the best chance of acceptance.

There are plenty of different ways to generate blog post ideas. A couple of my favorites are:

Mindmapping. Write the name of the blog, or a particular topic, in the centre of a page. Start jotting down ideas as they come to you, and draw links between anything that seems connected.
Making a list. It's pretty old-school, I know, but still very effective! Try writing the numbers 1 to 10 on a sheet of paper (or a computer document) and come up with an idea for each.

If you have a couple of good ideas and you're not sure which to pick, try asking on Twitter or Facebook to see what your existing audience would find more useful.

Step #6: Craft your post carefully

There's plenty of great advice on ProBlogger about crafting posts (including Darren's excellent series), so I'm just going to run through some basics as a refresher.

Your post should have an introduction, main body and conclusion.
The introduction needs to draw readers in and set up your post.
The main body is the bulk of your post, and it should be easy for readers to take in. That might mean using subheadings, lists, bold text and other formatting to help improve readability.
The conclusion to your post should round things off and provide some call to action which will help the blog—perhaps encouraging readers to leave a comment.
Your post should have a great title (though don't be surprised if the blogger changes it).

A great way to add value to your guest post is to include links to other posts on your target blog. This creates a much better impression than trying to stuff your posts with links back to your own site—and it improves your chances of getting your post accepted.

#7: Edit and proof-read your post

When you publish posts on your own blog, it's not a disaster if a few typos sneak in. You can easily edit those posts, and your readers probably won't mind the occasional slip.

When you're sending in a guest post, though, you want it to create the best possible impression. If a blogger is faced with the choice between a well-edited and typo-free post, or a hastily-written post with grammar and spelling mistakes, it's pretty obvious which one they'll pick.

If grammar, spelling and proof-reading aren't your strong points, you might want to ask a friend to take a look at the post for you, before you send it off.

Don't be surprised if your post gets accepted and then edited: it doesn't necessarily mean that there was anything wrong with your writing. Bloggers know their own blogs better than you do, and they may well tweak your post to make sure it's firmly on-message for the audience.

#8: Include a short bio

Don't forget to include a bio with your post, and a headshot, if the blog uses them. This saves the editor having to get back to you to ask for extra information. While this in itself won't usually stop them taking your post, it can mean that you'll have to wait longer to have that post published.

Make sure your bio conforms to any guidelines. If you don't have guidelines, look at other guest post bios on the blog. You can normally assume that you'll be allowed:

one to two sentences about yourself/your blog
one link (often two) to your own site(s).

And you're done!

All you have to do now is send in the guest post. I know this can be a scary step (my first guest post for Copyblogger sat on my hard drive for days until I got up the courage to send it in). Don't agonize over it: just write a short, polite email and attach your post, then take a deep breath and hit Send.

I'd love to hear about your own guest-posting successes (or disaster stories!) in the comments.

Ali Luke has just launched Blog On, a hands-on ecourse that teaches bloggers how to write four popular types of post, through step-by-step guidance and focused exercises. (There's even a prize draw at the end, to help encourage you to get all four posts written.) You can find out all about it here. Registration is only open until Friday 3^rd June.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How to Get Your Guest Posts Accepted Every Time

5 Product Creation Mistakes Most Bloggers Make

Posted: 29 May 2011 12:06 PM PDT

This guest post is by Henri Junttila of WakeUpCloud.com.

Creating your own products can take you from earning a few dollars a month to a few thousand. It can be scary, but as you learn to take action, and learn from the feedback you receive, you get better and better.

There are many mistakes I see beginning product creators make. The good news is that these mistakes are very easy to avoid if you keep them in mind.

Most bloggers know exactly what these mistakes are but don't incorporate that knowledge into what they are doing.

Don't let that be you. Take control of your life and your blogging by avoiding the most common product creation mistakes.

Mistake 1. Not asking what people want

One of the biggest mistakes I see new bloggers make when they are creating the first product is not asking their audience what they want.

This can be as simple as surveying your audience and asking them what their biggest frustrations and problems are in the area of your expertise. I also suggest you drill down from their answers to get even more specifics about what exactly it is that they want a solution to.

For example, you may discover that people want to learn how to blog, but as you drill down, you discover that what they really want is to learn how to create their own products.

You just never know until you ask.

Mistake 2. Aiming for perfection

Another big obstacle is perfection. It's easy to believe that you need to get everything perfect in order to get your product out there and selling.

The truth of the matter? You can do a pre-launch, where you give your audience a discount and tell them that you want feedback on how you can improve your product before you release it fully.

The beauty of the Internet is that you can tweak and revise your product at any time. Don't be afraid to get your product out there even if you don't think it's perfect.

Often our minds play tricks on us. It's impossible for you to know what "perfect" means for your audience. You might as well get your product out there, and ask them.

Mistake 3. Pricing and value misperceptions

If you feel that you're not ready to create your own products, instead, you may want to create a short and to the point report that you sell for $7.

This will give you confidence—if you've surveyed your audience and you're solving a problem, people will buy, and they will be happy to do so.

After you've gotten a few sales, you can set up an email autoresponder that automatically asks your buyers to give you feedback on your product. Ask them to rate your product on a scale from 1 to 10. And if they answer anything below a 10, simply ask them the following: What would I have to do to make this product worthy of a 10?

This is a simple way to build on what works. As you do this with more and more products, you'll see patterns around what people like and don't like. But the only way to learn how to do this is by taking action and getting feedback.

Mistake 4. Failing to build anticipation

A great way to get people fired up about what you're doing is to build anticipation. Just look at how Apple does this with each new product they launch: they tell you about what they are doing long beforehand.

You don't have to make this a big show. You may just want to tell your audience what you're up to and what they will be getting once you launch your product.

As you do this more frequently, you'll notice new insights about what your audience likes and how you can make the whole process better and more effective.

Mistake 5. Trying to make the perfect launch

Last, but not least is the launch. I see a lot of people having problems launching their products, because while the content of the product may be good, they just don't know how to go about launching it.

The truth is that you probably won't have a perfect launch on your first try. You may not even need to get affiliates for your products right away. I personally love to focus on getting things done instead of trying to get them perfect. It helps me learn and make progress that much faster.

Creating your own products can be highly profitable and a great way to monetize your blog. And always remember: the only thing standing in your way is you.

What kinds of mistakes have you seen beginning bloggers make when they create their first products?

Henri writes at Wake Up Cloud, where you can get his free course: Find Your Passion in 5 Days or Less. And if you liked this article, you will enjoy one of his top articles: How I Made $46,305.38 in My First Full Year Online.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

5 Product Creation Mistakes Most Bloggers Make