Want to have an author platform where thousands of people visit each day?

How about becoming one of those respected Bloggers appearing on a variety of sites, get paid to do so, and come away with awards year after year?

It’s a tough thing to achieve and doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m here with a rather special guest to help us on our way. Welcome back to The Millionaire Plan: author marketing for those aspiring to become published.

Today’s topic is Guest Blogging and how appearing around the web can be massive for your author marketing. Maybe you have a desire to appear on the Huffington Post, or on Copyblogger, or maybe your favourite author’s site. All these things are possible; after all, I read Guest Bloggers every day on great sites.

But how the Devil do they achieve it?

Let me welcome Danny Iny, founder of Firepole Marketing, regular Blogger, and most importantly for this subject, a regular contributor on some huge sites. I’m lucky enough to have Danny here today offering some amazing tips.

If you have yet to read any of Danny’s posts I suggest you go and check out his site, but in the meantime let me introduce him to you all and to the questions I prepared earlier:

 

How can an aspiring author with little authority get their writing on other Blogs?

Guest Blogging is about building relationships as much as it is about driving traffic or getting your name out there. If you have a topic that you’re passionate about and well versed in, you can find an angle that will bridge the gap between your expertise and the interest of your target Blogs audience.

Choosing your topic carefully, and presenting it well to a Blog author, like we show you how to do in Write Like Freddy, puts you and that author on an even footing. You have something valuable to contribute, and they have something interesting for their readers.

 

Is Guest Blogging something an aspiring author should look to do early in their career, or should they wait until they’re more established?

There’s no perfect time to start guest Blogging – it doesn’t matter as much where you are in your career as it does that you have the time and energy to really focus on it. Following through on your commitments is one of the main keys to guest Blogging. If you have several proposals accepted at once – you’d better make sure you have the time to do a great job on all of them.

Whether or not you have the time and energy at a certain point in your career is up to you. Some Bloggers do it as a way to launch their Blogs with a bang; others use it to increase their readership once they’re already established.

 

What benefits can Guest Blogging bring to an author platform?

Tons!

·       Exposes you, your Blog, and your ideas to new readers.

·       Helps you create and develop relationships with other Bloggers.

·       Offers you a transfer of authority. (When you are a writer for a very popular, authority Blog, some of their credibility, trust and respectability gets transferred to you!).

·       Drives traffic back to your Blog.

·       Gives you the opportunity to still link to great Bloggers, introducing them to you and your writing.

·       Creates high-quality backlinks to your site.

That’s just the beginning, once you get going you’ll find more and more benefits.

 

What are the Do’s and Don’ts of Guest Blogging?

Do’s

·       Always pitch your idea first.

·       Make sure there’s a real, solid overlap between your audience and your target Blogs audience.

·       Link to resources other than your own website in the post.

 

Don’ts

·       Start your pitch off by saying: you don’t know me, but…

·       Shamelessly promote yourself.

·       Skimp on editing, proofreading and quality.

 

Can you share some experiences of Guest Blogging, and how they helped your own platform?

Guest Blogging was one of the main strategies I used to build traffic, readership, and subscribers for Firepole Marketing. At the most recent count, I’ve done 94 guest posts over the last year.

I try to do a round of guest posting when:

·       I have a new product to launch

·       I have any extra time at all

·       I have a great idea for a certain audience

Guest posting has more than doubled our readership, given me great relationships with tons of amazing Bloggers, many of whom have become good friends.

I’ve been called the Freddy Krueger of Blogging, and that title has inspired me to redouble my guest posting efforts, as well as develop the Write Like Freddy Training Program so others can benefit from it as well.

 

What are the top three tips you can offer for an aspiring author looking to Guest Blog

1.     Nail down a good, solid writing process that will save you time and energy.

2.     Make sure to have free time the day your post goes live so you can engage with their readers.

3.     Bring out your very, very best work for your guest posts – you’re being trusted with another Blogger’s most precious asset – their audience. Treat it with the utmost respect and care.

 

There you go folks, a huge thanks to Danny for some great tips on Guest Blogging. As someone who’s appeared on a few sites other to this, I can assure you of the positive impact it can have on your author platform.

My most lucrative day for this Blog was when I appeared on The Book Designer, and as well as traffic, it brought new subscribers, Twitter Followers, and regular readers.

Author marketing is a tough nut to crack, and there’s no shame in getting help to build your author platform. In the same way most authors and Bloggers won’t begrudge you for emailing them for advice, they won’t mind a query about a potential Post.

As Danny says though, be courteous and search their site first. If they reject submissions, or your content and theirs don’t align, then respect this.

I think Danny is someone we can all look at in awe because 94 Guest Posts in one year is huge. That’s nearly two Guest Posts a week, so the time he must put in is staggering.

 

Is it worth your time?

 

Some will say no, but in my opinion, if I come up with a really good idea my first thought is where I can submit it. I love this Blog, but it’s in its infancy, so if I can submit it to a Blog where it will reach 10x, 100x, 1000x as many people, then in my opinion it’s a no brainer.

Arguably the most important thing is the practice it offers. I find my attention to detail for a Guest Post elevating, because like Danny says, you’re being trusted with someone else’s most important asset. A little bit of pressure can do wonders for your skill set 🙂

 

Many thanks to Danny for his top tips, and I urge you all to check out his site. I truly believe Guest Blogging can work wonders on your author platform, so his advice is valuable.

That’s it for your daily dose of author marketing tips, but join me next time for a discussion on networking sites such as Stumbleupon, and how they can help spread your reach.

As always, I’m honoured to have you on my site, and if you want to be kept up to date then please sign up to my email list.

It’s been a pleasure

Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_milion

 

Have you used Guest Blogging to help your author platform?

What sites have you been a guest on, and how did you approach them?

Do you think it’s a worthwhile author marketing technique or a waste of time?