Guest Blogging for Small Businesses: The Strategies to Success

If you are a small business thinking about guest posting, you are definitely well on your way to ranking where you want to be in Google. The benefits to guest blogging for small businesses are astronomical.

In today's ultra-competitive online business landscape, it's more important than ever to seek marketing strategies that will position your small business in a way that it will separate from the pack.

By leveraging guest posts, you will not only increase your small businesses' online visibility but you will also begin to build relationships and establish credibility within your industry.

In this post, we'll be going over all the key strategies that will pave the way for your small businesses' success with guest blogging and all of its benefits.

Finding The Perfect Guest Blogging Opportunity

The first step to having a successful guest blogging strategy as a small business is to find the perfect guest posting opportunities.

To do this, you'll need to thoroughly research your niche, and search for authoritative websites that are accepting guest posts.

Here are a few ways you can find potential blogs to create guest posts for:

• Google your industry + "guest post" or "guest blog"
• Google Site:domain.com “guest post by”
• Use tools to help you such as content research tools and audience overlap tools.

Once you find a blog, you'll want to make sure the blog you are going to potentially reach out to includes the following:

• The content must be related to your niche or industry
• The audience must be interested in reading about your niche
• The blog gets a ton of engagement (if it does not, it might not be worth your time)
• Domain authority of the website is at a solid number

Build Bridges, Build Success

Once you've decided on a few websites you will reach out to, it's time to do some digging to find out who is behind it all, and who will be accepting your guest posting offer.

A great way to find out who is behind the website you wish to contribute a guest post on is using the tool Hunter.io. What Hunter does is pretty sweet, this tool allows you to find any professional email address in seconds, simply by entering the sites URL. It scrapes the website, and does the dirty work for you, at a low cost!

Once you have the blog owners email in your possession, it is time to start building rapport. You can start building rapport with business owners by doing the following. This will increase your odds of becoming a guest blogger on their site!

• Follow them on social media and connect.
• Send them a personalized email, complimenting their content and sharing that you've linked to them in your articles published.
• Start up some small talk; ask how long they've been at this and ask for advice.
• If they live in a town close to yours, ask to meet up and grab a coffee.

The goal here is to really get to know them before ever pitching your next guest writer or blog idea.‍

During this phase, it is extremely important to stay organized, as you don't want to be repeating things to prospects. To stay organized, I use Hubspot. This tool keeps all of my interactions under one umbrella, so I always know which stage of the relationship I'm in, with who.

Crafting the Irresistible Pitch

Now that you've built the rapport, it's time for the moment we've all been waiting for - The Pitch!

If you've done the rapport part properly, this part should be a breeze as the site owner you will be pitching to already knows you and has dropped their guard, which will naturally lead them to being more open to what you have to offer. (You might even have their cell phone number by this point, I'm telling you - rapport is the key!!)

Nonetheless, it is still important to get this part right.

Make sure your pitch is properly written, concise and highly personalized. Here are a few pointers for constructing your pitch, that work:

• Clear subject line.
• Make sure you offer something valuable, that their readers will love.
• Give samples of past writing.
• Admire their blog and mention how it would make your week if you'd be granted a guest blogging opportunity for it.
• Demonstrate expertise.
• Never come across as desperate.

If you follow these pointers, you should have no issues whatsoever constructing a pitch that will land you the guest posting opportunity you desire.

If you do run into issues, you can always reach out to me, I would be happy to help you with this.

Content is King: Crafting Guest Posts that Captivate

The Research

So you've secured the post, you're officially a guest blogger, congratulations! You should be proud, not many small businesses deploy this digital marketing strategy.

But... Now what?

Time to start writing that blog post.

Before you begin writing, understand the importance of high quality content. High quality content will not only soar through search engine rankings but it will also provide a great user experience for the readers.

To do this, make sure you spend a substantial amount of time researching the chosen blog topic, and make sure you understand it fully before you even start your outline.

The Outline

Once you feel that you've gotten to the point of understanding your topic in its entirety, it is time to write the outline. Here are some pointers for writing an outline that will position your blog post for success:

• Create a captivating H1, that includes your main keyword.
• Head to Google, and search for your main keyword. Look at the top 3 articles, and write down all their headings. Determine which headings are relevant to your article, rename them and add them to your outline.
• Include bullet points beneath each heading, indicating what will be written about in each section.
• Write down a bunch of links with existing content that you plan to link out to throughout your post.
• Write the introduction and conclusion ahead of time.

Pro Tip: Ask ChatGPT for some help if you are running low on ideas! It is sure to get your juices flowing.

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The Post

Introduction

Now that the outline is written, it's time to dive into the post.

Begin by adding the already written introduction first. It should be captivating and grab the reader's attention. It should also state the intent of your post, and what the reader can expect to learn if they were to continue reading.

Be sure to include your main keyword in the introduction to optimize your SEO.

Body

Now that the intro is written, it's time to focus on the juice of your post, the body.

Be sure to create original, valuable and engaging content that resonated with the target audience.

Make sure that the blogs architecture is highly legible, meaning more bullet points and shorter paragraphs.

This will keep the readers engaged in your blog post.

Be sure to incorporate relevant words for SEO optimization. This is something that many guest bloggers seem to forget.

It's extremely important to do your due diligence in regard to keywords, so that your guest article will begin ranking organically in search engines. This will have a significant impact on your business once your article starts getting a ton of organic traffic due to your keyword research.

For keyword research, I use SEMRush.

Another tool I love to use when writing content is Surfer SEO. This tool will give you a score on 100, and tells you exactly which words you should be using in your article, based off other articles that are ranking for the same target keyword.

As you can see below, I was using it for this article.

Conclusion

Finally, the conclusion.

Make sure to wrap up your post by summarizing all the key points you wrote about. Remember to keep the conclusion concise and to the point.

The last sentence should include a link back to your website and a little call to action explaining to the readers how they can read more from you!

Proof-reading and edits

DON'T FORGET!

It's extremely important to proof-read your article after you've written it.

Look out for spelling mistakes, typos or other awkward phrasing that could detract from the quality of your post.

Make the necessary edits, and proceed.

Spreading the Word: Amplifying your Guest Blog

Your post is now LIVE! Time to drive traffic to promote it! This is a crucial step because without the initial traffic, you run the risk of your article never being found...

There are plenty of ways to promote your new guest blog, we've listed our favorites below:

• Share on social media and other marketing platforms.
• Send an email blast to your email list.
• Engage with readers in the comment section of the guest posts.
• Join Facebook groups and create a post.
• Use paid ads (not necessary, but effective).

You'll also want to make sure that the author section on the guest post is well optimized. That way, you can leverage the exposure you are getting on this article to drive traffic to your small business website - which can lead to potential customers.

Analyze Results and Fine-Tuning your Guest Post Game

Once your guest post has gone live, it's crucial to keep track of its performance and analyze the data to determine what's working and what isn't. By doing so, you can make the necessary adjustments for future guest posts to improve your overall strategy.

To measure your guest post's success, you can monitor your website's traffic before and after the post's publication. An increase in traffic can be a sign of guest blogging' success and show that the post is resonating with the audience.

You can also keep an eye on the engagement metrics of the post itself, such as views, likes, shares, and comments. This can help you understand which topics are generating the most interest and how well your post is resonating with readers.

Based on the results, you can refine your guest post approach by tweaking your topics, targeting different blogs or publications, or trying new tactics to reach a wider audience.

Furthermore, you can use the insights gained from analyzing the performance of new visitors to your guest post to optimize your own website and content. If you see an increase in traffic to a particular blog post on your website, you can create more content on that topic to attract even more visitors.

By analyzing the results and refining your guest post strategy, you can continue to leverage guest posting as a powerful marketing tool for your small business.

Conclusion

Guest blogging for small businesses can be an effective marketing strategy if done properly.

By following the steps I have laid out in this guide, you will be well on your way to creating a successful guest post.

From the research, to the writing, to the delivery - this article has you covered.

Best of luck on your guest posting endeavors, and if you ever need any SEO related help, be sure to reach out to us!

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