Blog Promotion

In my last post, I talked about guest posts as a powerful marketing strategy for your business blog. But if you’ve never done a guest post, you may wonder if other bloggers will actually publish your content. So today I’ll cover some fundamental tips to increase the success of your posts.

Observe the Target Blog First

Before you write a guest post, you should observe your target blog, or the blog where you want your post to be published. Read the last 10 posts of blog. There are couple of reasons to take this preliminary step.

First, you don’t want to write about a topic that’s been recently covered. There’s a good chance your post will be rejected if your cover a recent topic.

Second, you want to make sure your post will fit well with the existing content. This means your guest post needs to be related to the same industry as your target blog. Consider the tone and style of the blogger. Is he writing in a formal voice that’s suited for academic journals? Or does he write in a more informal tone? Also, keep in mind the post length. On average, how long are the blogger’s posts?

Third, you want to understand where the blog’s readers are coming from. Check out the comments and see what kind of readers the blog has.

Fourth, you can generate ideas for a useful topic. As you read the blog, you’ll see that certain topics are not covered or are not covered with a lot of depth. You can create a guest post in those topics. Also, you might come up with a topic while reading the comment section. For example, you find a question there that wasn’t answered by the blogger. You can craft your guest post to answer that question.

Some bloggers write their guest post without checking out their target blogs. Don’t be like them. The best guest bloggers always check out their target blogs first. This allows them to tailor their posts to fit well on those blogs.

Write the Post

Once you’ve checked out your target blog, you should have some ideas for a guest post topic. Go through your ideas and pick the best one based on your expertise and how well the topic fits the target blog.

Don’t forget to include your bio and link. Also, be strategic with your link. You don’t have to link to your blog home page every time. Oftentimes, it’s a good idea to link to one of your blog posts especially if that blog post would be useful to the target blog’s audience.

For example, if I was writing a guest post for a link building blog, I would link to this post, 7 Types of Posts That Attract Links, instead of the home page.

Pitch Your Post

Once you’ve finished create your post, it’s time to send it to the blogger. I use a simple email template like this one:

Hi [name],

I’m a fan of your blog. I especially found [one of their recent posts] helpful.

I wrote a guest post that I think your readers would find interesting. The post is below my signature.

I know you’re probably busy, so I don’t need a quick response. If I haven’t received a response in the next 30 days, I’ll assume it’s okay to send the post to another blogger. Thanks for your time.

Your Signature

Bloggers are busy people, so I like to give them 30 days to give me a response. If you’re targeting a very popular blogger, you might want to give them more time since they get a lot of email.

Over to You

Do you have any tips for getting your guest posts published?

Writing guest posts is a great way to promote your business blog. If you don’t know what guest posts are, it’s basically publishing content on other blogs. You write a post that fits the existing content of another blog. And in the post, you include a quick bio and link back to your own blog.

For example, I could write an article about business blogs and then ask the bloggers of this blog if they wouldn’t mind publishing it. At the end or the beginning of the post, I include this bio and link:

Dee Barizo writes about business blogging at BusinessLogs.com.

6 Reasons to Publish Guest Posts

Here are a couple reasons why guest posting is such a powerful promotion strategy.

Increase in Search Engine Traffic

If you want to get a lot of search traffic, you need to get links. Modern search engines like Google base a big chunk of their algorithms on links.

The best links to get are links in the middle of content. Content based links are much more effective than links on the sidebar or footer.

Also, it’s not enough to get links from just any site. Search engines look at the quality of the sites that link to you. With guest posting, you can target quality blogs to publish your guest posts.

High Quality Traffic

As long as you target blogs related to yours, you’ll get traffic that’s a perfect fit for your blog. Not only are the visitors from guest posts interested in your industry, they are predisposed to like you since they just read your great content.

This type of traffic is more likely to become customers than most other types of traffic.

High Success Rate

You may be wondering, does guest posting really work? Do bloggers allow other bloggers to post on their blog?

Here’s the good news. Guest posting is part of the blogging culture regardless of the niche. Most bloggers allow guest posts on their blog. As long as you create quality content, you have a great chance of success.

Bloggers want content. They understand the pressure of keeping their blog constantly updated with new posts. So, you’re helping them out by providing free quality content.

Networking

In the offline business world, networking is one of the fundamentals to success. The same is true online since the web has become just a big social network with the popularity of social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The old saying is true, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Guest posting allows you to build your network in an effective way since you’re providing value to your fellow bloggers. They will remember your helpfulness and be willing to help you in the future.

Reputation

As you guest post on quality blogs, your reputation and credibility will improve. People in your target audience will realize that you’re well connected to other bloggers. They’ll see that you’re a valuable part of the online community in your industry. They’ll respect your expertise.

Easy to Do

Guest posting is easy to do. You don’t need special marketing skills. All you need is the ability to write quality content. After you create the content, you simply contact bloggers and ask them to publish your content.

Tune In to My Next Post

In my next post, I’ll share step by step tips on how to actually get your content published on other blogs. Feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed so you don’t miss this next post.

In my experience with business blogging, certain types of posts seem to attract links more than others. If you want to get more links, it makes sense to publish these types of posts. Here are 7 of them.

1. Lists

If you look at any popular social voting site (like Digg, BallHype, Mixx, or kirtsy), there’s a good chance you’ll find one or more list posts on the front page.

We humans just seem to have an affinity for lists. Maybe it’s because we’re social creatures. Lists are a great conversation piece. We all have our opinions so it’s fun to debate the top 10 movies, albums, sports players, etc. I bet even our ancient ancestors talked about lists. Maybe the top 10 cave paintings or 12 interesting ways to start a fire.

Also, lists have the ability to attract our attention quickly. Glance at the covers of a magazine rack and you’ll see article titles like these:

• Many Happy Returns: 14 Tax Preparation Packages to Guide You Through Taxing Times (PC Magazine)
• 100 Most Beatiful People in 2008 (People)
• How to Build Big Arms in 5 Easy Moves (Men’s Fitness)
• 16 New and Sexy Hairstyles (Cosmopolitan)

2. Glossaries

A glossary is list of definitions for the jargon in your niche. Glossaries attract links because they are a necessary resource in every industry. Every industry has newcomers that want to learn more about the industry. However, these newcomers often get stuck in the learning process because they don’t understand the common terminology.

Bloggers often get asked these type of questions, “What does [industry term] mean?” If you create a glossary, they can link to you and help their readers understand the jargon.

3. Images and Videos

Posts with images and video get a lot of links because they stand out from the crowd. Most bloggers only use text. This leaves a lot of traffic on the table because most people on the internet are visually oriented. Surveys show that most people don’t like to read. Instead, they would rather watch TV or a movie.

I wrote about images and video in the following posts, so check them out for more information.

• Drastically Improve Your Blog Posts By Adding Images
• 5 Reasons to Add Video to Your Business Blog

4. Tutorials

One SEO expert stated that her favorite method for getting traffic and links was to create an in-depth tutorial and then promote it in social media.

Relevant tutorials get lots of links because many internet users are looking for content that shows them how to do a certain task. They want the content to show them step by step how to accomplish their task.

5. Metaphors

When I say “metaphor”, I’m talking about posts that connect two seemingly unrelated topics. Here are a couple examples:

• The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success
• It’s Like Finding Mr. Right: 7 Things I Learned in the Search for the Perfect Jeans
• The Ultimate “Lost” Field Guide to Writing a Better Blog

Metaphor posts are attractive because they jar our mind into making unique connections. We get curious and check out the post to find out how the blogger combined two seemingly unrelated things.

6. Humor

If you’ve got a great sense of humor, try showing it in your blog posts. Historically, humorous content has done a good job of attracting traffic and links. Glance at any social media site and you’re likely to find a lot of humorous pieces.

Also, humorous content often spreads virally because people like pass it around through IM, links, and email. For example, think about all those funny email messages that get forwarded multiple times.

7. Stories

The best-selling book Made to Stick gives six ways to communicate your ideas so that they will survive and spread. One of those ways is to use stories.

Everyone loves a good story. Since the beginning of time, we’ve told each other stories. Stories entertain, touch our emotions, help us understand and remember ideas and concepts, and connect us with each other.

Observe any group of people hanging out and you’ll find them telling stories. With the internet becoming more social, it’s a good idea to find out the compelling stories in your industry and then communicate them on your blog.

Over to You

Have you written any of these types of posts? If you have, feel free to leave a link of the post in the comment section.

In a previous post, I wrote that one of the sites in which I have some ownership, MidoriLei.com, would be getting good press coverage. I finally got notification of the article about us. We were part of a giveaway yesterday where we gave away one of our dresses.

I was definitely pleased by the result. As of right now, the giveaway post has almost 600 comments so I’m sure many people learned about our site. Yes, we did have to give away a dress valued at $200 but I think it will be worth it. Also, giving away your product to get traffic and links is usually more effective than traditional online advertising methods.

Practical Ways to Leverage Your Press Coverage

Now that we’ve been covered by a reputable high-traffic site, we can use that coverage to add perceived value to our business and attract other website owners to talk about us. Here are two practical ways to do that.

Make sure people know about your media mentions. Whenever you talk about your business to other people, don’t forget to tell them about your press coverage. This will improve the credibility of your business. Also, apply this principle when interacting with other website owners. For example, whenever you email a blogger with a link request, point them to other sites that have linked to you already.

Create a prominent section on your site about your press mentions. This could mean starting an “In the Media” page and giving it a prominent link on your home page. Or you could do what SEO Book does. On the sidebar of their home page, they have logos of the media outlets that have covered them. I wrote about our press coverage on our home page.

In my last post, I wrote about the proven marketing strategy of giving away a free ebook. One of the common debated questions between online business people is how to give away your ebook. On one camp, some people say you should never give away your ebook without asking for an email address in return. There are variations to this method. Some people ask for an RSS subscription instead of an email address. On the other hand, many internet marketers say it’s better to make your giveaway truly free and not ask for anything in return.

Ask For Email Addresses or Not?

I think the answer to this question depends on your goals and your industry audience.

If your goal is reach the most number of people, you should not ask for email addresses. Many people are reluctant to giveaway their email address because they think businesses might spam them. Also, since you’ll reach more people, this means you’ll get more links and that will lead to a better SEO ranking. For example, David Meerman Scott currently has the fifth ranking for the term viral marketing with his ebook, The New Rules of Viral Marketing. He doesn’t ask for email addresses whenever he releases his free ebooks.

However, if your goal is to gain a powerful communication channel, then building an email mailing list is the right call.

Basically, it boils down to the old “quality versus quantity” dilemma. If you don’t ask for email addresses, you’ll get a lot more leads and you’ll spread word about your business and blog farther and wider across the net. But, those leads won’t be the highest quality since you won’t have a way of keeping in touch with them. If you collect email addresses, you won’t get as much traffic or as many leads, but your leads will be higher quality since you can repeatedly contact them through their email address.

Also, consider the audience of your industry. Some audiences are more receptive to giving away their email address. Other audiences like younger ones don’t even check email on a regular basis.

If you don’t know your audience well enough, it might be worth it to just test both methods. Use one method for your first ebook. After that ebook launch, wait a couple weeks and then release your second ebook with the other method. Then, compare the data and see which method brought more sales.

Also, look around your industry. What method seems to be having more success?

Both Methods Work Well

One great thing about choosing between these two methods is both methods work well. The action of giving away a free ebook puts you way ahead of most online businesses. Your task is to figure out which method is better for your business, but don’t worry too much about making the wrong choice. As long as you have a quality, relevant ebook and work hard to promote it, you’ll get great benefits with either method.

There are successful online business people and social media experts that disagree with other about the methods. Compare David Meerman Scott and Rich Schefren. Both are successful business men. They are also considered social media experts within the internet marketing community. Yet David gives away his ebooks without asking for anything while Rich uses his free ebooks to build a list.

Feedback

Which method do you think is better for your online business?

One of the proven methods for building your brand and reputation is releasing a free ebook.

Basically, you write about a relevant topic in your industry. You don’t even have to come up with something new. Many bloggers take their best blog posts and use them as the basis of their ebook. Also, you don’t have to make your ebook long. I know of a popular ebook that was less than 20 pages. I think you should aim for at least 15 pages. If you can write more, that’s great.

The Advantages of an Ebook over a Blog Post

If you’re going to base your ebook on blog posts, what is the advantage of repackaging your content in ebook format?

First, an ebook has a higher perceived value than a blog post. This is especially true if you make your ebook look professional. You can do this by getting a nice looking ebook cover, adding images where appropriate, and using other design elements like fonts, eye catching formatting, headers, footers, and icons. If you don’t have design skills, find a professional designer. Check out ChangeThis for examples of well-designed ebooks.

Second, some people like to print out what they read. Sure, they can print out your blog posts but your ebook will be formatted much better for print.

Third, free ebooks are relatively scarce in many niches. It will be a big deal whenever you release your ebook. You can accompany your ebook launch with a press release. And if you tell other bloggers and website owners about your ebook, you’ll probably get a lot of links and traffic, since you’re provided a ton of value to your industry. Because of its uniqueness and perceived value, the potential for a free ebook to spread widely and rapidly through word of mouth is much greater than a blog post.

How to Give Away Your Free Ebook

There’s some debate over the method to give away ebooks. Some people say you should get email addresses or RSS subscriptions in exchange for the ebook while others say you should give it away with no strings attached.

In my next post, I’ll talk about the pros and cons of each method.

Over to You

Have you ever created and give away an ebook? Have you ever read a free ebook?

I recently learned about HelpAReporter.com from my sister. I co-own an online dress store with her. I don’t know anything about fashion so she creates the dresses and writes the blog while I do the promotion and marketing.

I was surprised when she told me that our dresses were going to be covered on a popular site for women. She doesn’t like to do marketing so I asked her how she got this great buzz. She told me she found the lead through HelpAReporter.com.

How Does HelpAReporter.com Work?

HelpAReporter.com works very simply. Basically, you sign up with your email address and then you’re added to a mailing list. You’ll get 1-3 emails a day with queries from reporters.

Many of these reporters are website owners looking for content. If your content fits what they are looking for, your content will be published on their site and you’ll also get a link back. Some of the website owners are even looking for products to feature.

Here are a couple queries from a recent email:

• A major news company is looking for a story about regional banks.
• A career site geared for women wants business people to share their opinion regarding women’s fashion in the corporate office world.
• A blog about moms is looking for tips and products that can help families get control of their finances in 2009.
• A mainstream health magazine is looking for anecdotes about yoga and fitness.
• A health care site wants to interview a networking expert about common networking mistakes.
• A regional publication wants your opinion on the play of a high-profile college basketball team.
• A city magazine is looking for recommendations on local art galleries.
• A foodie podcaster wants to interview professional cooks, chefs, cookbook authors or food industry insiders.

As you can tell, each email will cover many different industries. Unless you’re in a totally obscure niche, you should be able to find a query (or two) that fits your business within a week.

Who Will Benefit From HelpAReporter.com?

I think any business can benefit from HelpAReporter.com. It’s especially a great tool for business owners that don’t like to do marketing. Marketing is usually all about getting out there and promoting your site. However, HelpAReporter.com is different because the reporters are coming to you with their requests.

Relevant Details

You’ll get up to three emails a day. Each email will have around 15-30 queries. The title of the emails will start with “[shankman.com]” so you can easily tell which emails are from HelpAReporter.com.

Over to You

Have you used HelpAReporter.com before? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven’t and want another channel for promoting your site, check it out and please let me know what you think. Thanks!