6 Steps to White Hat Guest Blog Posting – The Ultimate Guide
After years of white hat guest blog posting on my own and now leading a team of writers I decided to write my ultimate guideline to white hat guest blog posting.
First of all, yes guest blog posting is still a viable SEO technique…as long as you’re doing it in a White-Hat sort of way. I never use any software to send mass emails to bloggers or to “spin” existing content. I don’t use private blog networks (PBN) and I sure as heck don’t pay for guest blog posts.
How do I do it?
Before we get to my 6 steps to guest blog posting let’s look at a finished product. This is a link to a guest blog post that we wrote for a customer: http://technofaq.org/posts/2016/09/smart-car-technology-and-the-internet-of-things/.
TechnoFAQ.org’s MOZ Domain Authority is: 33
Our client’s Domain Authority: 1
Our client will benefit greatly from having their link on a website with such greater authority than theirs.
So how did we get this guest blog post? Let’s break down into the 6 steps.
Step 1 – Guest Blog Post Outreach
Our client is a used car dealership and on his website he has a good blog with some linkable assets (blog posts that give great information). I noticed that one of the blog posts that was doing pretty well with traffic was a post about the benefits of buying a used car with smart car technology, especially when it comes to insurance premiums.
Therefore, I set out to find tech blogs that have published posts by guest writers. How did I do that? Through some advanced search strings on
Google.com:
“technology” + “guest post”
“technology” + “guest blog post”
“technology” + “business blog”
technology “guest article”
technology “this is a guest post by”
technology “guest column”
technology “guest post courtesy of ”
I also searched twitter through Google like this:
inurl:twitter.com “guest blog post” + “technology”
After sifting through many sites, compiling a list and singling out the ones I wanted to send a pitch to I started sending my emails.
Sample Email:
Hello TechnoFAQ,
My name is Andrew Macia and I’m an aspiring freelance writer. I’ve been working in the IT industry for over 8 years now and have decided to pursue one of my passions, writing. I came across your blog and saw that you have a pretty good article on Smart Car Tech. I was wondering if you planned on expanding on that topic.
I ask because I am working on a piece titled: Smart Car Technology and the Internet of Things
Would it be okay to send it over to you for review?
Thank you,
Andrew Macia
(949)467-1404
After sending out MANY of these emails we started to get positive replies. One of them being from TechnoFAQ.
That’s when we had to get our writer to actually write the article.
Step 2 – Guest Blog Post Outline for a Writer
You can’t just give your writer a title and a general idea about the white hat guest blog post. You’ll need to be very specific if you want your article to be published.
I always, always create a guest blog post outline for our writers. This is what the outline for this one looks like:
TOPIC
How the internet of things (IoT) and smart car car technology are creating a safer driving experience.
FYI
We are submitting the article to TechnoFAQ. We are submitting this guest blog post as an aspiring freelance writer that has worked in IT for over 8 years and wants to expand on his online writing portfolio. Please make sure to read a few blog posts from TechnoFAQ to establish their tone and point of view.
Blog Title Suggestions
The title can come later as you write your post. Here a suggestion:
Smart Car Technology and the Internet of Things
Research
Here top ranking blog posts when searched for the keyword “smart car technology and the internet of things”:
http://tf.nist.gov/seminars/WSTS/PDFs/1-0_Cisco_FBonomi_ConnectedVehicles.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/sites/pikeresearch/2016/06/13/the-future-is-now-smart-cars/#587047bb48c9
http://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/focus/internet-of-things/iot-in-automotive-industry.html
http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/big-data/the-internet-of-things-and-connected-cars.html
Direction
You should conduct your own research. Perhaps search Reddit and Digg for smart car tech discussion as well. It’s important that when you mention a stat or a fact that you anchor the link (high authority site) to the text.
Introduction
Hook: I suggest you use a personal story, something that will grab the reader immediately. Making the reader visualize how a smart car works is possible.
Perhaps adding something in regards to pop culture, famous smart cars: KITT, the Delorean from Back to the Future, Herbie the Love Bug.
Thesis statement sample: Although we haven’t reached an era where we are able to travel through time, smart cars of today have some very special features, that not even Doc Brown could have imaged.
Body
Internet of Things
– Explain what this is and how it relates to smart car tech.
– Write about benefits.
Safety
– Stats on accidents
– Expand on smart car safety features.
Security
– Write about smart car security benefit .
In-car entertainment
– Connected smartphones, etc.
Economic advantage
– Lower Insurance premiums: this is where we will insert our client’s backlink. They have a great blog post talking about this point here: xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Conclusion
= Revert back to your intro (anecdote or pop culture reference.)
– Summarize all points
– Ask the reader a question
– Ask the reader to leave a comment.
Step 3 – Proofread!
Just like when you were in high school, you’ll want to proofread the guest blog post. I always read the article out loud. I correct for grammar, punctuation and if anything sounds forced I edit.
Step 4 – Submit the Guest Blog Post
Now that you have your great guest blog post it’s time to email it over to the admin. He/She already knows that you’re sending him a piece, therefore, you should make your email short and sweet. Letting him/her know that you spent quite some time adding supporting information and that you really hope he/she likes your guest blog post.
Towards the end of the email it’s good to mention where you got all your information. A sort of bibliography. I usually write:
FYI in case you need to cross reference, here are all my sources:
http://tf.nist.gov/seminars/WSTS/PDFs/1-0_Cisco_FBonomi_ConnectedVehicles.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/sites/pikeresearch/2016/06/13/the-future-is-now-smart-cars/#587047bb48c9
http://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/focus/internet-of-things/iot-in-automotive-industry.html
(Clients Link Here)
http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/big-data/the-internet-of-things-and-connected-cars.html
Yes I know all this emailing seems tedious, but it’s all part of white hat guest blog posting.
Step 5 – Share your Guest Blog Post on Social Media
Once we get a guest blog post published I let our client know and send them the link. I instruct them to share the link on all their social media channels. Being mentioned on someone else’s website is a great thing, not only for the
SEO implications, but because it’s good PR.
Step 6 – Keep Up Good Rapport
We have been published on TechnoFAQ three times now. The admin of the site knows that we write very well; we reply to comments made by readers and we come up with unique ideas whenever we want to write another guest blog post.
By following these 6 steps to Guest Blog Posting you are bound to get published. Of course you’ll have to tweak the steps a bit to fit your industry and personality. Regardless, these steps have worked for me so well that I’ve formed a whole team and business behind them.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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