Guest blogging is a tried and tested method to introduce yourself and your business to an entirely new, yet relevant, audience. It can also help you establish yourself as an authority figure in your industry and help improve your SEO. As such, guest posting has been an important part of many successful content marketing and SEO strategies.

Creating guest posts at scale may seem like a challenging task, but it really isn’t, if you have a guest posting strategy in place.

Here are some tips that will help you create a scalable guest posting strategy for your business.

=====X=====

Disclosure: Please note that a few of the links in this article are actually affiliate links. This means that if you click on them, I will get a commission, without any extra cost to you. So, feel free to check these out as I only recommend products or services that I personally tested and highly recommend. For more information, please read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.

=====X=====

Disclosure: This content may contain a few affiliate links, which means if you click on them, I will get a commission (without any extra cost to you).

Step 1: Set Goals

The first and foremost step towards building a guest posting strategy is for you to set goals for your campaign.

Ask yourself questions like:

  • Why am I planning to run this campaign?
  • How will this project impact my business?

Your answer to these questions should help you determine which goals you want to target.

Clearly defined goals can help you gain more clarity on how to create an effective scalable guest posting strategy. A few common goals of guest posting campaigns include reaching a wider audience or improving the Domain Authority (DA) of your business.

High-quality backlinks from guest posts increase the referral traffic to your website, so that can be another goal that you can set up for your campaign.

Once you understand your goal and how your business can benefit from it, you need to align your process towards achieving it.

Step 2: Prospect Sites

Creating a guest posting strategy means you need to find platforms you can contribute to. You can’t just write something and send it to multiple sites, hoping they’ll read it.

It is imperative that your guest posts are published on sites that matter because being published on a platform that is not related to what your business does will not help you reach the right audience.

Here are some criteria that should be met while selecting websites that you write guest posts for:

  • Minimum DA of 40 (you can use a tool like Link Explorer to check this)
  • Shared target audience (if your business caters to only people who are 18-29 years old, then make sure the website you are writing for has a similar audience base)
  • A huge social media following (greatly helps once your post is published)

Find a network of authoritative sites in your industry that actively accept guest posts. These sites are more likely to help you reach your goal than random sites that do not belong to your niche.

You can easily find such websites by searching for “your industry/niche + become a contributor,” or “your industry/niche + write for us” on Google.

Pro Tip: Create a Database of Guest-Posting Sites

To take your guest-posting strategy to the next level, you should create a database of sites that you can post to.

You can even categorize the different sites based on industry, type of audience, and keywords.

As a business, you will definitely have a few different target customer segments.

Why does that matter?

To reach them all you will need to find websites that they frequent.

Having a database helps you find the right websites to post on to reach a particular target demographic.

What’s more?

A database organizes the process and makes it much easier for you to find websites for guest posting. This is an essential step if you want to scale your guest posting efforts. You cannot start your search from scratch every single time you want to guest post.

You should also use this database to see which sites to target with which keywords. You cannot keep writing on the same topics and need to diversify and target several different keywords.

To decide which websites are best for a post on a particular topic, you can simply look in your database.

Overall, creating a database can simplify things for you and help you publish guest posts much quicker than you normally would.

Step 3: Choose Content Topics

Now that you have a list of sites you can potentially contribute to, the next step is to choose the topics for your guest posts.

The topics you choose to write about play a crucial role in the success of your guest posting strategy. It is important that you choose a topic that is relevant to the industry as a whole, as well as for the site readers specifically.

To get an idea of such topics, you can browse through the site, find out what their content is mostly about, and which topics are popular. Your main aim here should be to add value to the site by writing something that readers will like.

Should You Use Keyword/Content Research Tools?

There are several online tools like Google Trends or SEMrush that you can use to find keyword and content ideas.

But should you use them?

These tools can help you find the trending topics in your industry and help you decide what keywords to target.

Your process does not have to start with a target site in mind and then deciding what to write for them. Your process could also be focused more on what keywords you want to target and then looking for the best site to post your content on.

Just like you have a list of websites for guest posting, you should also have a list of relevant keywords for your business. You can leverage these both for guest posting and for your own blog.

Guest posting for other websites does not mean that you write about something completely different from your area of expertise.

In fact:

It should actually be about what you’re best at. Using keyword research tools can help you get the right start.

Step 4: Build Mutually-Beneficial Industry Connections

Before you pitch your topic and content idea to the site owners, it helps if you familiarize yourself with their website and what it is all about. This is crucial if you don’t want your pitch to end up in the trash like most do these days.

Websites and blogs receive tons of pitches every day, so it helps if the site owners already know who you are. Building mutually-beneficial relationships is an effective guest posting strategy that many brands use to earn authoritative backlinks.

If you want that competitive edge, you need to follow them on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, share their posts, and comment on them. Alternatively, you can send them an email about how much you enjoy their content.

Step 5: Make Your Pitch

The next step in creating a guest posting strategy is to finally reach out to the editors of your target sites. This is where you will be selling your content idea to the site owners through email.

Don’t settle for generic and boring pitches that don’t stand out. If it’s ever going to get past being left unopened or going straight to the bin, your pitch must be outstanding.

Here is a good example of a guest posting pitch that you can replicate for your business:

make your pitch guest posting strategy

You can add your content topics to your pitch as well, as many writers do, but that’s ultimately up to you.

Make sure you keep it short because you don’t want to waste anyone’s time. Now let’s be honest, if you don’t know when to end your pitch and what you should include in it, the site owners aren’t going to be very excited to read it.

So, be prepared and use the following tips to create a good pitch.

  • Introduce yourself and showcase your areas of expertise.
  • Show your appreciation for the content posted on the website and why you want to post there.
  • Tell them about your experience and qualifications and why having you as a guest blogger will be beneficial for them.
  • Present your content ideas, ensuring that they are a perfect fit for the website that you are pitching.
  • You can also give a brief outline to show what all you plan to cover.

Step 6: Craft Your Content

If your pitch is accepted, then the next step in your guest posting strategy is to actually write your guest post. No matter what the circumstances may be, never compromise on the quality of content.

Remember, there's no substitute for great content. Creating high-quality, authentic, and valuable content should be your number one guest posting strategy.

Ask the site owners for guidelines as these will help you craft the perfect guest post for their blog.

Make sure you do your research carefully and use the right keywords. Have facts and figures to back up your claims and provide actionable insights to the audience.

Apart from this, make sure you have a great headline or title. Even if you mentioned your title in the pitch, it won’t hurt to provide alternatives that the site owners can choose from.

Always format your post correctly and follow the target website’s instructions carefully.

Step 7: Write an Interesting Author Bio

If you don’t think that your bio is as important as the content itself, you are wrong. Your bio is where readers get to know the person behind the post, the face behind the words, the brain behind the thought-provoking post.

Here, you get to market yourself directly by talking about yourself and providing links to all of your channels and resources such as your social media profiles and your website.

In addition to these, make sure your bio gives the readers an idea about the kind of person you are. Also, add a recent picture of yourself.

Step 8: Promote Your Content

After your guest post is accepted and published on the site, you need to promote your posts so as to reach as many people as possible.

Your guest posting strategy should include a content promotion plan. Share the post on all of your social media accounts and ask friends, family members, and colleagues to read and share them.

Don’t forget to tag or mention the site while sharing and write a few kind words about them too. This always benefits both parties involved by improving the relationship you share with the site owners. Much of creating a guest posting strategy includes building genuine connections.

Step 9: Keep Track

Your work isn’t done after your guest post is published. One important part of creating a guest posting strategy that is scalable is to check your published posts and monitor their performance over time.

This means that you will have to keep track of every post on every website and see how well they are doing.

Here’s an example of the checklist you can create for each post.

keep track guest posting strategy

Once your post goes live, make sure you go through the comments to see what readers think of your post. Respond to these comments, even if it’s just a simple “thank you.”

Actively read and comment on other posts on the site as well, as this can really help build a strong rapport and show how supportive and enthusiastic you are.

Also, remember to send an email thanking the site owners for publishing your work.

Remember:

There is always room to improve your guest posting strategy. And, keeping track of your posts helps you find areas for improvement and improve your future guest posting strategy.

Step 10: Work at Scale

An important part of creating a guest posting strategy that is scalable is to effectively manage your workflow.

Many writers have made a career from guest posting, but none of them did it by taking on more than they could handle or by procrastinating.

Always manage your time wisely so that you can complete all of your tasks efficiently and in a timely manner without having to compromise on quality.

Maintain an editorial calendar that will help you keep track of the status of your guest posts. Here’s an example of one.

work at scale guest posting strategy

Without a well-planned guest posting strategy, it may turn out to be a time-consuming task with low returns. Make sure you follow these tips to create a scalable guest posting strategy for your local business.

Conclusion

A guest posting strategy is essential to take your initiative to the next level and make it scalable. The ten steps mentioned here will help you formulate and execute a scalable guest posting strategy for your business.

Do you have any tips to add to this guide for creating a scalable guest posting strategy? Please share them with us in the comments below.

=====X=====

Disclosure: Please note that a few of the links in this article are actually affiliate links. This means that if you click on them, I will get a commission, without any extra cost to you. So, feel free to check these out as I only recommend products or services that I personally tested and highly recommend. For more information, please read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.

7 Comments

  1. Wow, great techniques you’ve described, thanks for sharing such wonderful information. Really guest post are very helpful for website traffic.

  2. Very useful information shared. Thank you 🙂

  3. Kristi Hines says:

    This is the best article on guest posting. I will share with my mates

    1. Shane Barker says:

      Hi Kristi, it makes me happy to hear that you liked my post about guest posting strategies. Share it with your mates and I would love to know their review as well.

  4. Guest posting is one of the best ways to drive huge amount of traffic to your website. There are various site that allows you to write for them. Through guest posting you also get a chance to build a strong relationship with other bloggers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *