Some Tips for Writing Good Guest Posts

Guest posting can be a terrific link building strategy and help to bring your own blog to a larger audience. Being able to write good guest posts is a bit different from posting on your own blog since the expectations and opinions of other bloggers may be wildly different from your own. Learning how to write good guest posts will help you to build a solid reputation, and if you’re just starting out in the blogosphere, it will help you to establish a self-brand and reach a larger audience. These tips are based on my own personal experience in writing guest posts.

Make Sure to Give the Blogger Exactly What They Want

A lot of bloggers will respond to your request for a guest post with a list of preferable topics. I always find these blogs to be the easiest to write for because I’ve already been told the topic. Other bloggers will give you carte blanche in selecting your topic, which will require a little more work on your end to come up with something useful to produce. This brings us to our next point of discussion…

Thoroughly Research the Blog You Are Posting On

Don’t just read the first few posts on the blog, but browse through the archives as well to get a feel for what kinds of posts the blogger likes to make. If you’ve been given carte blanche in selecting a topic, then once you know what you want to write about, make sure to search the site to see that your topic hasn’t already been covered.

Always Submit Unique and Useful Content

This can be tough for beginning bloggers that don’t have research experience. Writing for an internet audience is much different than writing for a teacher, and believe it or not but your peers will be much tougher on you than any teacher. Compounding this difficulty is the fact that there is already so much information out there on the web that it can be difficult to find your own slant. The strategy I personally use is to start off with a generic search term, such as “guest posting tips for bloggers”, and I will open ten or so pages to see what’s out there. After reading what others have to say, I then refine my topic from there. I figure out what I can personally add to the topic and from that general idea form the specifics of what I will write about.

Develop Your Voice

If you’re unaware of what voice refers to in terms of writing, it’s pretty simple. It’s basically the personality of your writing, which may be very different from your actual personality. For example, some people that are shy in real life drop those inhibitions once they take to the page. Developing a strong voice in your writing will help you to sell your self-brand. Although having a unique voice will be useful, don’t forget to write for your audience. There will always be a bit of a compromise in this area when you are writing guest posts. Many times the blogs you will be posting to will have a different target demographic than your own. Learning how to maintain your voice while addressing different audiences will help you to become a better writer in the long run.

View Guest Posting as a Process and Not as a Means to an End

Follow up on your article by replying to comments made about your post. If someone is being critical of your work, take it in stride. If that criticism is unwarranted just let it go, or talk to the blog owner about it. If it happens to be constructive, then use that advice to improve your writing. Don’t start any flame wars on someone else’s blog, it’s rude and will earn you a poor reputation. Try to build a professional relationship with the blogs that appreciate your writing, which will help you to establish your own blog.

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online degree programs, and what it takes to succeed as a student working towards an online bachelors degree from home. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.