Guest Blogging 101: Seven Tips to Getting Proposals Accepted

“…the SEO benefit for guest blogging is not from the obvious bio links, it is from everything else that comes from being known…” –Craig Fifield

Guest blogging is one of the many aspects of driving additional traffic to your web pages. On a whole, when it comes to search engine optimization, guest blogging is still a paramount aspect as according to Neil Patel; this is a way to increase your overall branding, referral traffic and sales.  So, it is safe to assume that as a whole, guest blogging for SEO is not entirely dead. And if online marketing agencies would do well to exploit this. However, before getting all hyped up for guest posting, we are all aware that we need to pitch guest posting proposals and have them approved in order to secure a guest post.

Some of them get rejected or ignored while a few of them may get accepted. This is a focal point when it comes to guest posting as it ensures that your post will be featured and as a result more traffic would be directed to your website. So, just how do you come up with a proposal worthy enough to get accepted? Take a look down below for a few guidelines that may just help you.

1.)    Choose sites carefully

When it comes to selecting guest blogging sites for your guest post, you must exercise deliberate care in choosing only the best ones and of course ones that are aligned with what your guest post is all about. One aspect that should be in paramount consideration is your audience—you need to make sure that you are reaching the kind of audience that will drive real ROI into your website. Additionally, choose quality sites as failing to do so will damage your reputation and may devalue your own website with any backlinks that may potentially come your way.

2.)    Send an email

When it comes to pitching a guest post, your emails should be short, concise and straightforward as possible. The reader probably has a lot of emails to read which are of the same tone, so it would be nice if you cut through the chase and pitch your proposal. Send a message to the site owners or editors by using the submission form or any email address you can find on the website.

3.)    Use a professional subject line

Your subject lines are your tickets into getting your email proposals read, considered and possibly accepted. Come up with a straightforward subject that is honest, profession and clear. Anything less than professional is substandard and it would be the quickest way to have your pitch dismissed, ignored or rejected.

4.)    Sign it professionally

Your signature or your from line is just as significant as your subject line. This would also have an impact on the reader as well as their chances of accepting your pitch. Additionally, consider having an email that sounds professional and refrain from using emails that would make you seem like a nine-year-old in his initial discovery of the Internet.

5.)    Use the recipient’s name if it is available

When it comes to addressing them,  do not be cold and impersonal by saying “To Whom It May Concern” or too formal by stating “Dear Sir or Madam”. Keep things simple and polite but courteous and friendly by opening your email with “Hi (their name)”.

6.)    Introduce yourself

Remember, even if you are pitching a proposal, you would still be sending an email to a stranger so it is only polite and courteous to identify yourself in one line. Link any social media profile you have such as your Twitter account or LinkedIn profile as this will help them confirm that you are indeed a real person.

 7.)    Tell them why you matter

Of important consideration is to have your proposal approved and in order to do that, you need to validate yourself in the consideration of the site manager. Remember, they would probably be sorting through innumerable proposals and as this is the case, there would be an imperative need to convince them to approve your proposal. You can do this by telling them of other places where your work appears and provide them with links. Additionally, tell them about your current project. Let them know what it is about and how this is related to their niche.  

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Content Marketing Goals You Should Be Practicing

No matter what business you are in, content marketing is a paramount aspect when it comes to making it relevant—a fact which most online marketing agencies are aware of. In this fast paced world wherein competition remains stiffer than ever, utilizing poor content marketing strategies would render your business ideals ineffective or even cause it to be obsolete. However, as the logistics of content marketing remain vastly complex and diverse, we would see some other companies succeed where others had failed which would make one wonder: Is there a proper formula to having a content marketing scheme that would work?

The truth is there is not. It is relatively a hit or miss thing. Digital marketers may have heard the rather hackneyed phrase, “Content is King” when it comes to fashioning contents and although there is veracity in this clichéd notion, relying on content alone can only take you so far. However, what these successful businesses do have in common is a set of goal-oriented objectives that would make their content marketing strategies tick. Because content—no matter how innovative and terrific is just content and this would not make any radical changes to your business if it is not complemented with earnest business goals such as the ones listed below.

1.)    Attract new prospects to your marketing system 

No matter how great you think your current audience is, you need to branch out and attract more audience. Your content needs to be remarkable and compelling enough that it would attract shares in social media platforms, attract links and eventually generate conversation. Your content needs to engender a certain buzz around it enough for people to talk about as this is how you attract new people to your content. This is how your content gets immortalized over time and this is how your new prospects would discover your content.

2.)    Be Credible 

Content that is not supported and backed by thoroughly researched facts would not do you well. In fact, this is how you lose your audience. Before crafting your contents, make sure you have plied it with facts that it would be teeming with evidence as this is how you establish yourself as a pundit in a particular field. Build your credibility and your audience will thank you for it. Accurate information is paramount to creating top notch contents and it will certain strengthen your relationship with your readers making them refer back to you or your brand for answers from time to time.

3.)    Build trust and rapport with your audience

This has probably been entrenched in every content marketing goals article you will find online, but that would just highlight just how vital and imperative this is to content marketing. Remember, when you are composing content you are doing it for your audience, so they would always be at the forefront of your mind. Your content should be something that addresses their common issues and queries. It should also be equally interesting and valuable enough that your audience would trust you and get a sense of your personality. Failing to build rapport with your audience kills your conversion or conversion potential—that by itself should let you know just how imperative this goal should be.

4.)    Strengthen loyalty with existing customers 

Fresh and new customers are great for your business, but having a solid audience and an existing set of customers who deeply trust you is the hallmark of a good business. Building and having a tighter relationship with your current customers doubles the growth potential of your business and this is what would get you referrals and repeat business. Give the people who have already bought from you a better and richer experience and they will gladly reward you for it.

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Five Content Marketing Myths That Need to be Debunked

“Marketing used to be telling a myth and telling it. Now it is about telling a truth and sharing it” –Marc Mathieu

Without a doubt, content marketing remains to be one of the most powerful ways in effectively thrusting your business to the public and a preferred audience. Today, more and more businesses whether big or small enlist the assistance of online marketing agencies to give their products the full brunt of a creative digital marketing campaign and it is because of this that many have joined this marketing bandwagon. And before we knew it, everyone anywhere seems to be a content marketer.

It is precisely because of this influx of content marketers that spurious notions are engendered. These notions are dangerous as they are the very reason your content’s potential is stifled which is why as early as now, these misguided notions, precepts, and myths should be debunked. After all, every smart content marketer should be wise enough to differentiate facts from fiction. So, in this article, we have listed a collection of common injudicious myths that you should be aware of. So that your content in the future would be in no way affected by it.

1.)    Boosting production should be a top priority. 

Considering how the “content is king” adage is very much ingrained in every content marketer, the convention wisdom would be to scale production as content marketing’s best approach. Google seems to reward those publishers that post content every day causing a lot of brands to yield an excess of content every single day. However, mass production of content, no matter how tempting it may sound, is hardly ideal as this is the primary cause why thin content ensues. Thing is insubstantial contents are hardly of any use to your readers which would inevitably cause your conversion rates to decline.  Focus on quality content over quantity as this will naturally lead to better rankings.

2.)    You need to have a presence on every social media platform

Considering the plethora of social media platforms online, most content marketers are under the impression that in order to have a successful campaign, they need to have a presence on each of these platforms. The reality is, it is so much better to have no social media presence than several social media accounts that have been neglected over time. Setting up a social media account for your business without committing to using it will not reflect well on your business.

Remember, every social media platform variant attracts a different kind of audience and a different kind of functionality. So, do your research and sign up on platforms most applicable to your business.

3.)    All of your content should be self-promotional.

Well, apart from being incredibly vain, you would appear to lose most, if not all of your customers. Traditional marketing would seem like it talks at people while content marketing should be aimed at talking with them. Make content geared towards engaging your customers and less content talking about your business. Content marketing should cater to your audience and what they want. They sure would not want to have in-your-face promotional content thrust on them every single day.

4.)    Content marketing is all about SEO. 

Although content marketing involves a great deal of search engine optimization, it is not entirely all about SEO only and nothing else. Content marketing is about people and how you create it for them. This should be your main focus and pepper it with the right amount of SEO and you will be good to go. After all, your content needs to be read and should you aspire for it to become viral, it needs to reach a wider scope of people.

5.)    Content Marketing Is Easy 

Every job may seem easy until you yourself get the chance to do it. The truth is, it takes a lot of work and a lot of creative genius, a bit of panache and flair in order to create compelling content marketing strategies and it would take a lot of patience to do as it can take months before you see any true results.

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