Writing guest posts is a great way to build your own audience and followers. It can be a tricky relationship to create at first, but once you’ve hit your stride, you’ll find that putting a couple best practices to work will earn you many more opportunities than denials.
1. Draft Stand Alone Articles
Any of the best guest posting services knows that articles need to be able to stand alone. Adding hyperlinks to your articles can be useful, but your guest post needs to be all yours and should be able to hold its own weight. One of the best ways to ensure that you don’t lean too heavily on linked sources, consider writing your article as if it were for a print publication. When readers truly enjoy a written piece, they’ll rip it out of the magazine, bookmark it or share it on social media. They don’t take it and all of its cited sources all together.
2. Think Like an Editor
Many editors were once writers, but not every writer is an editor. When editors choose an article or writer to feature, they are in essence putting their own reputation on the line along with that of the writer. Your writing needs to be strong, clear and engaging. An editor wants to feature writing that is going to bring the right kind of attention to the publication and help deepen its authority in its genre. Vogue didn’t become the fashion authority it is today by taking submissions from inexperienced and unskilled hobby fashionistas.
3. Be Original
Although you want your writing to fit the tone and brand message of the publication, you still want the article you submit to be original and showcase you. Content that mimics what has already been done and fails to bring fresh perspective is almost always going to go in the rejection bin. Addressing classic topics is fine, but be sure to approach these topics in a unique way.
4. Be the Authority
Do not be afraid to take an authoritative stance in your writing. You should be matter of fact and confident in your writing. If you are already established as a resource or an expert on the topic you’re writing about, then you become indispensable. That means the editor can only get the content that you offer from you, not just any content writer. There are several ways to become a trusted source on a topic so, the more of those avenues you explore, the more sought after you may become.
5. Strong Headlines and Content
A great headline is a must. Well crafted headlines will take you far, as long as the body of your content is just as strong. Editors don’t want to have to take your article and rewrite it to fit their publication’s needs. As the content creator, that is your job. Make sure that your writing is seen as valuable.
When submitting guest posts, make sure that your content matches the publication and that it is valuable content that only you can provide in the way that you do. Don’t take a rejection as a failure. It could be that your content isn’t a good fit, or that your headline is weak. It could be that your article isn’t original enough or that they just published something similar in very recent history. Keep these tips in mind and watch your guest posting fortune begin to change.
Interesting Related Article: “How to Easily Do Your First Guest Post for Higher Author Rank?“