Top 5 Guest Blogging Best Practices for Small Businesses

What are guest blogs?

Blogs allow brands to talk directly to their customers. Guest blogging amplifies that communication by sharing your content with other audiences.

Research shows that "94% of people who share posts do so because they think it might be useful to others."

The golden rule of guest blogging is to add unmatched value to readers. You want people interested in what you have to offer.

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Here are some of the benefits of guest blogging:

Build relationships with non-competing brands;
Expanding your reach to potential customers;
Establish your brand as a thought leader in a specific niche.

“When you can establish yourself as an expert in any field, others will trust you more and be more willing to pay for the products or services you offer. If nothing else, they'll be more willing to link to other content you've created," says Adam White, founder of Guest Post Tracker.

Best practices to learn

Every small business is different. However, valuable lessons are learned no matter the industry or product.

Get your team together to discuss what works well for your business.

Here are five best practices to follow:

1. Research

One size does not fit all in guest posting. Every blog is different.

Some blogs cover specific topics. Other publishers only accept submissions from influencers. And publishers can limit word counts or post types.

When you ask to play on someone else's course, you must follow their rules. And it all starts with research.

Most blogs post their guest blogging guidelines on their websites. On the other hand, you may need to contact the content marketing manager directly.

Do your research before contacting someone. It will help you focus on delivering the most value to the right audience.

2. Launch

So, your team is ready to present to the editors. For some small business teams, this step is the most difficult.

Why? Because we forget to offer value.

Normally, we just send an email telling the editor what we want. We ramble on why they need us and act as if publishers have no other options.

Well, it's time to do things differently. Show proof of how valuable your content is.

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There are several ways to build credibility. Try the following:

Provide links to your existing content;
See how people visited your posts;
Screenshot of total social shares for an example post; or
Mention reliable publishers you have worked within the past.
The disclosure email should be short and simple. Please indicate who you are and if someone referred you.
Show how you can add immediate value. Then ask how your team can help the editor's readers.
But before you read his rules, read his blog. See what topics they discuss.
See who contributes on a regular basis. And find out what kind of readers engage with the blog.
Pro Tip: Read the comments on the blog.

Also, use Google Alerts to find blogs that match your interests. You may discover some new editors.

3. Write

Once the editor approves your topic idea, your job is to start writing. Please note the publisher's standards.

Writing is subjective when it comes to conveying particular points of view. But the objective principle is to avoid spelling and grammatical errors.

Those mistakes diminish the value of your publication. It also puts a burden on the editor to make time-consuming corrections.

Use tools like Grammarly and Papermaker to analyze word choice, detect plagiarism, and score readability. Hemingway is also a great tool for simplifying your text.

4. Review

Every blog post you create won't be perfect. And that's fine.

But the publisher will expect you to make the necessary changes to comply with their publishing rules. Don't take it personally. They want to make sure that their work is enjoyed by readers and well received.

This is not the time to debate with the editor. Remember that he is doing you a favor. You want to be published on their blog.

Instead of dreading the review process, look forward to it. Prepare your team for further modifications to the blog post.

If you have questions or would like clarification, please consult the editor. You want to know exactly how to improve the content.

When you make the editor's job easier, they'll be more inclined to work with your team in the future.

5. Promotion

Congratulations! Your post has been approved.

That's it, right? No.

Now it's time to promote the blog post. Talk to the editor to determine the publication date. Then start planning a mini promotion strategy for the content.

Your team can send emails to everyone mentioned in the post. Share the content on all your social networks. And submit the post to the online community forums.

Susan Patel, the co-founder of Web Profits, agrees:

“If your audience is more business-minded by nature, you'll want to make LinkedIn Groups a starting point for your content pieces. The network is home to thousands of different groups, so it's virtually impossible for you not to find one that suits your interests or industry."

Add value to an ongoing group conversation. Please consider answering questions on Quora with your content as a possible solution.

When it comes to posting content, make sure you stay on topic, organize your thoughts with subheadings, and add relevant images.

“Write on what you already know and if necessary, do additional research to gather more information, examples, and data to support your points, providing proper attribution by incorporating outside sources,” says Rachel Sprung, client demand manager at HubSpot.

For inspiration, read the editor's previous posts to capture the style and tone of the writing.