As an introvert with a flashier personality in words than in person, I found writing to be much more in line with my strength and personality than going to networking whatever 8 days a week, or “scoping” 3x a day.
Since most of us don’t have a big content marketing budget, we have to maximize our efforts and here’s why:
Most sites require original content that has not been published, which means for the time spent on creating content, we need to make sure we get the biggest bang for the buck.
We need to be strategic when selecting what sites to write for.
Here are 3 criteria to select sites to pitch to, so your guest post will help you grow your business by building audience and boosting your credibility:
1. The Right Fit
You want the site’s content to be in alignment with your value, conviction and point of view, on similar or complementary subject matter you can present in a way that highlight your expertise and boost your expert status. (What’s in it for you?)
When you make your pitch, you would want to tell the host why you are relevant to his/her audience, what synergy you can create, and what value you bring to the table. (What’s in it for them?)
2. The Right Audience
Since we are talking about using guest posting to grow your business, we need to make sure you are reaching the right audience that would turn into leads and eventually clients or customers.
You want the readers to resonate with your content, and want to find out more about you by reading and clicking through your byline.
That means you need to find websites your ideal clients visit. It does not need be an exact match, but often the more overlap, the better.
3. Engagements and Promotion
You want to select sites with an engaging audience that comments and shares. Not only does that help get more exposure for that particular post, but it’s also stats you can cite when you are pitching to bigger blogs later down the road (They like it because comments boost SEO.)
You can look at a site’s previous posts to see the number of shares and comments to determine how engaged the audience is.
After a guest post goes live, you can also check your stats to see how effective it is in terms of driving traffic and generating leads to determine if it’s a “keeper.”
Ling is an Intuitive Brainiac. Through her unique blend of Business + Marketing coaching with a Mindset + Psychic Twist, she helps the multi-talented and multi-passionate maverick solo-entrepreneurs distill ALL their big ideas into ONE cohesive Message, nail the WORDS that sell and design a Plan to cut the busywork and do what matters, through her intuitive yet rigorous iterative process born out of her Harvard Design School training and 10 years of experience in the online marketing industry.
Ling has the superpowers to help her clients optimize the space between individuality + originality vs. “tried-and-true” marketing so they can express their WHY unapologetically and profitably without reinventing the wheel.
Get her new "Concise Guide To Blogging for Business Growth" at http://business-soulwork.com/blogging-for-business/