Cow Pasture Chronicles : Guest Blogging

Have you considered guest blogging but don’t know where to begin? The first step is to determine what you want to accomplish.

What is your goal?

Once you know your motivations, it’s time to find the opportunities, and there are many.

Begin with a simple keyword search for “guest post” on Google, Twitter, or preferred search engine.
Utilize the connections you’ve already established – favorite blogs or other social networking sites.
Look for blogs that best match your area of interest or expertise, have engaged readers, and is active on social networks.
Check out sites like Contently, Huffington Post, or Angie’s Diary.

Familiarize yourself with the blog; it’s content and readership.
Have guest posts been featured before?
Who were the guest bloggers? Authors? Other bloggers? Freelancers? Read their bios and get to know them.
How did the guest post do? Was there a lot of reader engagement?
Become a familiar face in the blogging community.

Read the guidelines.
Introduce yourself. Craft a guest post bio and include links back to your blog or author websites that show your work.
As with any pitch, personalize your email.
Explain what you can offer in a guest post.
Provide links to your blog and other sites on which you have published.
Format your guest post the same as the site in which you are submitting.
Provide valuable and relatable information.
Do not self-promote except within the author bio.
Utilize internal links to some of the owner’s posts.
Create a call to action for comments.

Want to know more about guest blogging? Check out these resources.

Does guest blogging interest you? Have you been a featured guest blogger in the past?

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.