This week I wanted to talk about how you can use guest blogging to find new clients.
I always encourage my clients to try guest blogging because it’s a fantastic way to get publicity for your business, and often it’s easier to get quick results than with some other types of traditional media.
Guest blogging is when you write blog posts for someone else’s blog. This could be other blogs in your niche, or major blogging platforms like Huffington Post, Forbes, Entrepreneur, etc.
I’ve done this myself and have written guest articles and blog posts for places like Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Elephant Journal, YFS, amongst others.
As a result of that I’ve:
- had increased web traffic
- signed up new people to my email list
- had new enquiries about work
- signed up new clients
- been offered other opportunities (e.g. after pitching a blog post I’ve been asked to host a guest webinar or be part of a telesummit, etc)
- raised my profile
- established myself as an expert
Done right it can really be an effective way to publicise your business. So here’s a quick rundown of how you can start guest blogging, so that you can reach more people and sign up new clients. [Pssst, I cover all of this in a LOT more detail in my online group programme, PR Power]
How To Use Guest Blogging To Find New Clients
1. Find blogs to approach
These should be blogs that your ideal clients are likely to be reading, so they may be blogs within your niche, or they may be big blogging platforms that you know your ideal clients will read
2. Decide on your topics
Work out which topics you want to blog about, and come up with a few different blog titles
3. Write your pitch
You need to put together a pitch email that you can send through to the blogs you want to approach where you essentially sell them the idea for your blog post and tell them why you should be the person to write it
4. Follow guest-blogging guidelines
Now it’s time to submit your blog post. The best way to do this is to find the ‘blogging guidelines’ or the ‘contributor guidelines’, which will tell you how to approach the blog. These are generally published on the blog website. Some may want you to get in touch with an idea for a blog post, while others will want you to submit the full post. For some of the bigger blogs, it’s often better to contact an individual editor, rather than submitting your post through the website
5. Write a rocking blog post
When you write your guest post you want to go above and beyond to make sure it’s your best work. Don’t just knock something out in a few minutes – this is your chance to get hundreds or thousands of new eyes on your work, so make it awesome
6. Promote your post
Once your post has been published, you need to promote it as much as you can – share it with your networks, send a link out to your newsletter, post it on social media, post it in relevant Facebook groups. And don’t be afraid to ask people to share it or comment on it.
Any questions or comments about guest blogging? Post them below…
