Generating Traffic: Write a Guest Post for a Well Known Blog

Now that you’ve narrowed down your target audience and are consistently posting on your blog (you are, aren’t you?), how do you draw people to your site?

Sure you can mention you site in prayer letters; link to other staff members sites and place you url in the signature of your emails, yet these are passive means of exposure.  Like in support raising, you must not only have the right message, you also must proactively get your message out there – reaching out to others to gain exposure.

This is your basic guide to generating traffic by guest posting on well known blogs – getting exposure and more and more readers. For example, Ramit Sethi (author) used this strategy when his book was published to help make his book a New York Times #1 Best Seller.

Where to start?

A great place to start is to think about the blogs you regularly read.  Chances are these blogs have a larger audience.  Don’t limit yourself to ministry blogs.  For example, if you are overseas, consider guest posting for a travel blog.

Next get a feel for their content and style.  Let them get to know you by leaving comments.  Put yourself in their shoes – are you going to let someone you’ve never talked to post on your blog?

Make the pitch

Send them an email introducing yourself and what you genuinely appreciate about their blog.  Send them a pitch with some general points.  Actually send them several ideas with sub points and let them choose what might be best for their audience.  It also helps to give them a feel for what you are about, so send them a few writing samples.  But don’t spend your time writing the post before you make the pitch (you might be wasting your time if they don’t accept your post).

Write the post

If they accept your pitch, take the time to write a quality post with original content.  Show rather than tell.  Your goal should be to get them to see (make an impression) rather than to impart information.  Match your post to their format and make sure it is complete (don’t make them do the work).

The results will be more readers interested in what you have to say and relationships built with bloggers.

This guest post is written by Joel Hardman. Visit him at JoelHardman.com.

Tagged as: guest posts, publicity, ramit sethi, style, traffic