Preparing a Great Guest Post

The golden rule for guest blogging is straightforward—Deliver solid content on time. Beyond that, there are a few simple steps you can take to prepare a great guest post.

Step 1: Layer Your Content

• Show links to other posts and websites that provide further details on your topic. Quality outbound links raise your ranking in search engines and enhances your reader’s experience.
• Include free items your readers can download and immediately use. A free printable, checklist, or guide can be shared and may draw new readers. These can also make readers wonder, “What additional items does this blogger have on her own website?” And just like that, a reader of your guest post becomes a visitor to your website.

Step 2: Prep for Social Media

• List 1 – 3 Tweetable phrases. Not all bloggers use click-to-tweet plugins, but the ones that do will be thankful you made their jobs easier. Tip – If you’re unfamiliar with click-to-tweet plugins, you can see an example in the Sharables section at the bottom of this post.
• Add Alternative Text descriptions to pictures. Social media programs like Pinterest use the alternative text information to create initial descriptions when people save your picture. This information also improves your searchability in places like Google and Bing.

Step 3: Get Critique Group Help

If you work with a critique group, there are certain things you should add to your blog post critique list. Each time your group reviews a post, check the content for

• Tweetable phrases. What phrases stand out to you? What lines might draw a reader to this article?
• Searchable terms. What terms might a person use to find this information? Add these phrases to your keywords/tags section.
• An SEO-friendly title. Does the title grab your attention and does it contain a phrase that a potential reader would use to search for this information.
• Hashtags. Consider what would be good hashtags to use with your Tweets.

To help you remember these items, I’ve included this handy Blog Post Form. Use this Word document to prepare your guest post, and you’ll have all the elements for a stellar article.

Other Helpful Resources:

• To learn additional tips on how to be a rock star guest blogger, check out Susan Stillwell’s article 4 Simple Rules for Guest Posting.
• If SEO (Search Engine Optimization) still feels like a foreign language, Jeff Goins gives some practical tips for tackling this critical blogging skill in SEO Basics for Bloggers & Beginners.

Sharables–Because sharing is fun!