Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2015. Its advice on guest posting and duplicate content in search engines dates from 2015; guest-blogging practices and SEO have changed since.
The business world has changed a lot in recent years. If you start a new business and have something to sell, forget the false premise of “build it and they will come”. That doesn’t work any more. In fact, it never did. And Jeff Haden is clear about it. As a writer, he knows that bringing a new book to market doesn’t mean people will line up to buy it.
And since they won’t line up to buy it, they won’t talk about it either. And since they won’t talk about it, they won’t buy it. And goodbye to Haden’s career as a writer. The same thing happens when you start a company.
The internet is everything when it comes to promoting your personal brand, your company and your product. But besides investing in advertising, you need people to talk about you and know who you are, especially the media and bloggers who specialise in your subject.
The audience will never come to you. You’ll have to go out and find it, and the more naturally, the better. That’s why Haden gives us some tips for making the internet notice you. After all, the internet is the biggest base of potential customers you’ll ever find.
Most of the recent revolutionary thinkers have built their reputations by writing for and appearing on blogs and media outlets… that weren’t their own.
That’s why these tips can be applied to a wide variety of media outlets and blogs, which will give you a broad range of outlets and free publicity, and on top of that, content on the internet lasts forever.
While a television appearance might generate a lot of exposure at first, once you’ve delivered the message, it’s gone. Afterwards the clip may be stored online… but your mother is the only person who’ll ever watch it again.
So, once you’ve made a list of the blogs and websites you want to appear on…
1. Don’t write anything yet
Any blogger who doesn’t want you to tailor your message to their audience probably doesn’t have an audience you’re interested in. Successful blogs and news sites have a specific focus. A site that would accept the same post you were going to write for your own blog probably isn’t worth writing for.
In fact, sitting down to write your post is the last thing you’ll do before contacting an editor or blogger.
2. Understand that nobody cares what you need
Your goal may be to spread your message, raise your profile and build an audience, but bloggers and editors don’t care. Their goal is to build their own audience.
Whatever you provide has to help them and their readers first. In other words, it has to be a message their readers like, which will win that blog more readers; and if your message goes down well, you’ll have gained reputation and visibility. You both win.
And the usual press releases don’t work. As a blog, we sometimes receive lots of press releases in case we’d like to publish them, along the lines of: “Company Xcom has raised 5 million in funding to offer its product in Spain”… Well, congratulations, but I don’t think our readers care about that.
3. Focus on the site’s needs
The key is to really get to know the site, not just the front page of the editor’s or blogger’s blog. Read a reasonable number of posts, look at readers’ comments, and read older posts to spot patterns, ongoing themes, and gradual changes in perspective or direction. See what works on that site and what doesn’t.
For example, on our blog we’ve noticed that printers don’t interest our audience, while a good business or finance book has a tremendous impact.
4. Understand how to tailor your message to the site’s audience
The site’s audience doesn’t care about what you want to say; they care about what they want to read. If they want something “different”, they’ll read it somewhere else.
What you write has to fit perfectly with the site’s overall theme, so you need to build a mental picture of the average visitor. You know your own audience; the goal is to know the site’s audience. If the two overlap, you’re in luck.
5. Understand how to tailor your post to the blogger or editor
These are three questions bloggers and editors ask themselves when they read a guest post:
- Will my current readers be interested?
- Will this help grow my audience?
- Would an association with this person benefit both them and my website?
When it comes to selling, your job is to make sure the answer to all those questions is “yes”.
6. Throw out 80% of your message
You may have worked hard on your unique selling propositions and your pitch to people. That’s great, but not in this case.
At least 80% of all the content must be useful to that blog’s readers.
When it comes to boosting your reputation, experience or credibility, it has to happen implicitly, not explicitly. Great actionable content implies expertise.
For example, if you’re a writer, avoid selling your book. If you’ve delivered a useful message in a post, your author bio will say you wrote book X, and readers will want to know more about you. So they’re likely to buy your book.
(See: 9 marketing strategies for small businesses with hardly any money)
7. Pitch each site individually, with real content
Now that you know the site’s needs and the kind of audience it has, you’re ready to make your move. Every site is unique, and every post should be unique. Avoid having a single post to hand out to blogs: nobody wants a post that’s already been published, because search engines treat it as “duplicate content”, which doesn’t benefit the website.
Don’t take the easy way out and just say, “I’d love to send you this guest post…”. Write the post and attach it.
While it might seem like a waste of time to write an article that may never be published, most bloggers and editors at least read what they’re sent, and that alone makes the effort worthwhile.
If it’s good and unique, there’s a good chance it will be published, so also include your details: who you are and how you’d like to be introduced in the post.
See also: 7 mistakes small businesses make on social media
Featured image: http://www.cgpgrey.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
