If you’re trying to build a business online, you’ve probably heard the expression “the money is in the list.” That means that to have a successful online business, you need to have an audience that you can reach with an email. You need an audience that trusts you, and that will buy from you, whenever you have something to sell or to promote.
One of the fastest ways to build a list like this is to guest post for a blog that already has a big mailing list. The idea is that those subscribers will like your content enough to want to jump onto your list too.
It’s a great strategy, and it’s the way some of the biggest names in online marketing originally built their own lists.
But it’s only a great strategy if you’re guest posting for the right blogs.
Here are four things to look for before you pitch a guest post:
Relevance
Of course you know that you can guest post for blogs that are relevant to your topic. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just relevant topics. You can also successfully grow your list by guest posting for blogs that are related to your topic.
For instance, let’s say your niche is helping 20-somethings save money, you could guest post on a tech-gadget focused site. You could do this by writing on a topic like 10 apps that help you save money.
Tech might not by your niche, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is finding where your audience lives online, and then finding a way to talk about your topic in a new way.
Engagement
When it comes to guest posts, size doesn’t matter as much as audience engagement. Your goal is to get subscribers, not to just to get seen. Remember, the money is in the list. Getting seen by a broad audience won’t help you if that audience won’t tell you who they are.
So, look past the size of the blog, and start looking at the size of the engaged audience. Are they commenting? Are they tweeting, sharing and liking the posts? If not, it’s unlikely they’ll be giving you their email addresses.
If a blog’s audience isn’t already engaging regularly with the blog owner, they won’t engage with you.
Attributions
How the blog structures their author’s bios is possibly the most important thing to look for when deciding whether to guest post. If the blog won’t allow you to link to your own website, or better yet, your own opt-in page there’s no reason to write a guest post.
The point of guest blogging is to get someone else’s audience interested enough in your content to give you their email address. A good guest posting opportunity is one that allows you to, at a minimum, promote your site and your opt-in bribe in your author’s bio.
Promotions
This last thing to look for falls into the “cherry on top” category. Does the blogger promote for their guest posters? This isn’t a “must have” but it’s a definite “nice to have” perk.
Most popular blogs email their audience when a new article is posted. It’s a safe assumption that a percentage of that blogger’s audience will read your post just based on the email. But what happens if that blogger also shares the link on social media?
The wider the blogger will promote your post, the better your chances will be of growing your email list. Shoot for those bloggers who readily share all of the content that is written for their blogs.
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