Guest posting on other people's blogs is a great way to get yourself out there. You can get more traffic to your site and more subscribers to your email list while presenting yourself as a thought leader.
But have you considered allowing others to guest post on your website? When someone guest posts on your site, they'll share their work, giving you free marketing for your blog. This gives you a chance to increase your traffic and can lead to more links to your site. Plus, you don't have to do any of the work.
Ready to reap the benefits of guest posts? Here's how to start accepting guest posts on your blog.
1. Build a community.
Before you start accepting guest posts, you need to build a community. Just because you have a blog with a lot of useful content doesn't mean you're ready to accept guest posts. After all, nobody will want to guest post for your blog if you don't have an active community of readers.
If you've got some website traffic but lack an active community, there are a few things you can do to build one. First, you should be starting a conversation with your readers. At the end of your blog posts, ask them a question, or ask them to leave their opinions in the comment section. Next, you should be engaging with readers in the comment section. Readers will be more likely to comment if they know they'll get a response from you. You should also spend time commenting on other popular blogs. This will help you build a relationship with other bloggers and their readers, who, in turn, will start interacting with your blog too.
2. Create guest posting guidelines.
Once you've built a community, you can start thinking about accepting guest posts on your blog. But before taking submissions, you need to create guest post guidelines. You should only be accepting quality guest posts, because your reputation is on the line too. Determine what you want to see on your blog and what you'll accept, and create guidelines for guest writers to follow.
Your guest posting guidelines should include the following:
How long you want the posts to be
What blog topic ideas you want to see
Your preferred writing style
Whether you accept pitches, drafts or both
What you won't accept in guest posts, such as self-promotion
In your guest post guidelines, you can also link to example posts from your blog to give writers a better idea of the quality you're looking for.
3. Determine how writers will submit.
If you want to start accepting guest posts on your blog, you'll also need to determine how writers will submit their work. The method in which writers will submit their blog posts has to be easy and convenient for them but also streamlined and organized for you. One method to keep things organized is to create a separate guest post email, such as guestposting@myblog.com, and instructing writers to send their work to that address.
But posting an email address on your website opens you up to receive a lot of spam. A more secure and convenient way would be to create a guest post submission form on your website. Using a contact form builder, you can create an online form for writers to fill out that also allows them to directly upload files.
4. Promote your guest posting opportunity.
Next, you need to put the word out that your blog is accepting guest posts. There are multiple ways you can promote your guest posting opportunities to writers. These are some examples:
Reaching out to writers you know directly
Posting it on social media
Joining online groups for writers
Creating a dedicated landing page on your website
Remember, most writers don't want to write for free, so if you're not paying for guest posts, they need to get something else in return. Be sure to show writers the benefits of posting on your blog. Share stats on how many monthly visits your website attracts, how many email subscribers you have, how many social media followers you have and so on.
5. Show your guest writers some love.
Once you start accepting guest posts on your blog, to get those writers to submit over and over again as well as attract new writers, you need to show your guest writers some love.
For instance, give your guest writers an author bio that includes a photo and link to their website. You should also be promoting their posts on your social media accounts so that they get the exposure they're looking for. Guest blogging should be a win-win relationship.
Accepting guest posts doesn't have to be a hassle. With these tips for how to start accepting guest posts on your blog, you'll start receiving a ton of quality content to boost your traffic. Your blog will become a go-to for finding helpful information from a variety of experts.