Blog Engage $500 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

There is no doubt that the key to the most successful websites on the web is how they create content. It doesn’t matter how long you have been online, you can always find newer and better ways to engage your readers, and build the trust factor with more and more people.

Get this right, and you can drive people into a frenzy. They will be shouting at the rooftops and sharing your content  everywhere they go.

Get it wrong, and your blog will suffer a slow and painful death, looking more like a ghost town than a valuable news source that people trust.

So,  I thought I would discuss 3 essential rules that I follow with my content to drive people to where I want them to go, and encourage them to take action on what I want them to do.

You have probably heard:

• Engage your readers
• Use compelling headlines
• Write in a conversational tone
• Use good grammar and spelling

And a lot of other really basic stuff.

Heck, I have written quite a few of those type of posts myself.

But, today I am going to talk about a few other techniques. These are all things you can do to create that compelling content, and usually aren’t tips you see going about the web.

In fact, some of these are the big secrets that the copywriting ebooks don’t want me to share publicly.

(Don’t run off tattling on me now…)

Use Open Loops To Build Anticipation

Way back  when I was struggling, I used to pour every bit into my articles. Along the way, I learned that people weren’t doing anything with it. They would read my blog, possibly comment, and run off to do something else.

Then, One day I was half asleep, and was feeling a bit on the lazy side.

Since I had already written a story in my free ebook, I told part of it in my post and shared a link to my ebook where people could get the rest of the story.

In just a minute, I will tell you how that turned out.

But first let me explain what this does…

This is called creating an open loop. It gets inside someone’s mind, and often it won’t leave them alone. It will play in their mind over and over again until it is resolved.

However, if you fail to use them properly, it can also cause you more harm than good.

I have seen it used in sales copy a lot. People build up the anticipation, and tell you everything you DON’T need to learn in order to follow their system. But, in order to learn what they are teaching, you have to buy the actual product.

I got caught up in that more than once, and usually regretted wasting my time. Getting those refunds was such a pain. Now, I won’t buy anything that doesn’t tell me what they are teaching up front.

Popular TV shows do it all the time. These open loops are why soap operas and drama shows like LOST, ER, HOUSE, and other popular TV shows use to build their popularity.

People LIKE the suspense.

They tune in week after week to get the rest of the story, and they go crazy if they miss a single episode. Part of that is because of the story line, which we will get to in a minute, but part of crafting that story line is inserting these open loops (they call them Mystery Boxes in script writing) into the plot to keep people coming back to get the rest of the story.

YOU want to build that kind of anticipation when you create content!

However, you must close those loops once they complete the action that you want them to take. Opening up too many loops and not ever closing the door can turn into a nightmare. You will lose the trust with people.

When done right though, you can keep them in suspense for several weeks.

I will do another post later on the downsides of doing open loops wrong. It can take a whole article to explain just that alone!

If you want to hear that side of the story, let me know in the comments!

Learn to Weave a Picture

If you really want to master the art of persuasive writing, you should learn how to create a mental picture. A really great master of this is the always popular Holly Jahangiri, who uses it mercilessly in her contest winning strategy.

One of the best ways to do that is by using similes and metaphors. For example, I bet you got a picture of a pack of wild dogs going wild over a fresh kill with my Title for this post.

Using the metaphor of a frenzy paints a mental picture for people, and is a lot more enticing than just saying “Read this article on how to write good stuff“

Similes can drive your readers wild with excitement as well. You can get them swarming like dogs on a fresh bone by sharing a visual picture. This is really helpful especially in the sales copy, and it is essential to the story line that you want to weave, which brings us into the last point.

Master the Art of Telling a Good Story

Sometimes your blog posts are really kind of bland. By telling a story, you can engage your readers more, especially with a boring topic, and it will keep people interested in what you are saying. A good story spread out among several posts is really great because it gets people coming back for more.

This is why I read awesome blogs like It’s All A Matter of Perspective!

Through her blog she tells a story. Although she often wraps up the story in a single post, she weaves a tale that keeps you reading page after page, and she doesn’t give a hoot that she is keeping you from work for hours and hours on end, scrolling through her archives.

My boss has banned me from reading her blog during working hours (and I am self-employeed…)

It isn’t just Holly either.

One of my very first projects online was a little blogger blog (back in the day before I knew about WordPress and self hosting…) called Gelly’s Paradise.

Gelly was a character I played in the video game Final Fantasy XI, and that blog was Gelly’s playhouse. He shared his adventures in the game and talked about all kinds of cool stuff that he did. He talked about his gear, the morons he ran into (he hated some of the stupid things people did…) and he even made a little money from recommending some strategy guides that he used to master different aspects of the game.

The entire blog was written in first person, and from his perspective. It was fun to write, and since I was active in the game, I had a ready audience there who shared it with other people. It grew really popular in just a few weeks.

Sadly, that blog went away, but it still holds some of my most memorable blogging experiences, and that early success helped keep me going later when things weren’t so easy going to build up on later projects.

Learning How to Create Content Doesn’t Have to Be Boring!

I hope this helps you to see that you can create content without boring people to tears. Sending your readers into a frenzy isn’t all that hard. Learn to tell a great story to keep people wanting to know more, especially on those dreary articles. Use more similes and metaphors to spice up those bland parts, and get people to wake up. Paint a picture in their mind, and you will strike them like lightning.

Learn how to use open loops in your content.

By the way, when I told that story in my blog post, I wound up getting over 100 subscribers, and the post got spread like wildfire through the social circles. I got some really engaged fans, and many of those people still read my blog regularly today.

Heck, a few might even be reading this, and wondering how I get them to open my emails. I do it all the time in my newsletters.

(see, I just closed an open loop before concluding this article...)

Goes to show that open loops can work their magic. If you kept reading this far just to find out, how far do you think your readers will go? I have had them email me 3-4 weeks after saying something in a blog post asking when I was going to get around to finishing what I started.

These are some of my top secrets to creating content with more engagement. Share yourthoughts in the comments… (or questions too….)

If you really love me, and think this was helpful, Don’t forget to vote, share and comment on the post. And come back tomorrow to do it all again!

Blog Engage $650 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

Your web venture may already have enough potential to generate a reasonable income on its own, but it doesn’t have to stop there. There are plenty of income generation schemes on the internet which you may be able to explore independently or as an add-on to your existing website. Let’s look at the varied opportunities available to make more profit online.

FINDING THE MONEY MAKERS -

As long as the internet evolves there will be someone trying to profit from it. And providing the money-making schemes are legal, authentic and aren’t in any way destructive, demeaning or at odds with the spirit of the internet’s world wide community, then making a profit online should be encouraged.

My own web development aside, I’ve been fortunate to know and work with a number of people who have and still are profiting from internet-based opportunities.  Over the years I’ve witnessed a number of potential opportunities come and go, and I have certainly tried out a few, but there are several that have evolved and offer potential for income generation.

The following suggestions have been tried with varying degrees of success by people I know and are certainly worth exploring. As always though, proceed with care. Do your own independent research on any opportunities you decide to explore. What has worked for one doesn’t automatically work for another; but, as ever, with the right approach, you could generate additional income over the short or long term.

START AN AFFILIATE   MARKETING BUSINESS -

Many people decide to start an online affiliate marketing business because it’s quick, easy and profitable. Take a look at the benefits.

• You don’t have to create a product.

• You don’t have to worry about providing customer support.

• You don’t deal with the shipping, returns or any other hassles that come with running a standard sales business.

• Affiliate programmes are usually free to join, so you don’t have any start-up costs.

• You make good profits on sales!

Sound fantastic! And it can be, with the right approach.

You can promote affiliate products using your own website or the merchant’s website. You can even use both options because both methods work; they just work differently for different people. Some affiliates find it easier to have their own website to promote from. Others feel creating a website is too much work, and they find it easier to simply advertise the affiliate products, and let the merchant’s website do the selling.

Let’s look at the options.

Promoting affiliate products without website -

This can often be the fastest way to start money with affiliate programmes, but it requires skill, persistence, patience and money. Generally, you would have to pay for advertising to promote affiliate products. You might use a pay-per-click service such as Google AdWords, and create ads which promote a specific affiliate product. You place the affiliate link with your affiliate code in the ad, and when somebody clicks the ad, the visitor is sent direct to the merchant’s website. If the visitor choose to buy the product, you will be credited with the sale and earn a commission.

Affiliate who use these direct promotional methods to earn money from affiliate products spend their time researching keywords for the most beneficial placement of their ads, and are constantly writing or refining tend to have multiple campaigns going at once. And some of those might make great money while others fail  miserably. With time, attention patience, experience and a reasonable marketing budget, this can turn out to be  a lucrative way to make money.

Promoting affiliate products with a website -

 Here are four popular ways to create affiliate websites.

1. One-page sales letter, or pre-sell. This is fairly easy to create, but it helps if you’ve actually the product you intend to promote. By creating just one single page for your website, you keep visitors focused on talking just one action: buying this product. The purpose of a one-page site is to make sure your visitor doesn’t  become distracted with other ads or content. You want them to buy what you’re promoting.

This type of site usually has a detailed product review, or a pre-sell. In general a pre-sell is much like a detailed review. It tends to be 1,000 words or longer, and it explains what you like about a given product. This kind of affiliate marketing site works very well, but it doesn’t gain much in the way of organic search engine traffic so most affiliate use pay-per-click advertising or article marketing to send traffic to it.

2. One-page multi product site. This is similar to the above, but the main difference is you’re comparing multiple products. Generally you should have three to five products on the page, though some affiliate marketers do well comparing as many as ten. It’s probably best to keep each page at just three products, so that it doesn’t overwhelm your visitors.

With this type of affiliate site  you want to create brief product reviews and recommendations. You also want to compare similar  products, so the visitors is not pulled in too many directions at once. You also don’t want them to be distracted by other elements, so you wouldn’t put article content on the site. Just place three to five products with affiliate links for each.

3. A shopping style e-commerce site. Many new affiliate don’t know you can do this, but it’s actually fairly easy to create a fully-fledged e-commerce style shopping site with affiliate products. Some sites have just ten or 20 products on them, but some have 10,000 or more. These types of sites are usually created using affiliate data-feed and specialised software.

4. An informational, publication style website. This type of site usually tends to grow quite large, and it’s filled with information. Commonly you’ll see sites built with articles on specific topics, and the whole purpose of creating these types of sites is to help bring in natural organic search engine traffic, and gain links from other websites that will send free traffic.

By drawing in targeted traffic to the articles, reports and related content, the webmaster is obtaining visitors on specific topics. They then either recommend certain online merchants and stores, or they list those merchants and stores as related links. With either format the links are of course affiliate links.

Finding good affiliate programmes -

When you decide to become an affiliate marketer, the first choice you have to make is what products you’ll promote. Hopefully you’ve already researched and found a lucrative market to target, so now you just need to choose good affiliate products, programmes, and merchants that fit into your overall niche.

It can be difficult trial and error process for a while, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are several key points to consider when looking at affiliate programmes to promote.

1. What’s the commission you’ll be paid? This tend to be the first thing new affiliates look at, because they want to know how much money they can make with each sale. And most people choose to promote products that offer very high commission rates.

2. The next important factor to consider is conversion ratio. If you send 100 targeted  visitors  to an affiliate sales page, how many of those visitors will actually pull out their credit card and buy?

In this instance, percentage count a lot. if 1% of people buy, that’s a 1% conversion ratio. That means one person out of 100 will buy on average. If however, a product has a 10% conversion ratio, then people out of 100 will buy.

If you combine conversion ratios with commission rates, you can gain further insight on which product might be the best to promote. Let’s say the 50% commission products has a 5% conversion ratio, and the 20% product has a 2% conversion ratio, which product is now the best one to promote? In this case the 50% product is best: from 100 visitors you will earn $62.50 ($12.50 x 5 sales), compared with $40 ($20 x 2 sales) for the 20% products.

No matter how much money a product can earn you, it’s worthless if people won’t buy it.

3. Look at the sales page itself. This is a step many affiliate marketers miss. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. If you were a prospective customer would you buy products or services from this merchant? Is the site easy to use? is the offer compelling? Is the site is professional? Only promote if you can answer yes to all these questions.

Also avoid any merchant who promotes Google AdSense or other affiliate links on their site. Why? because the site is unfocused and you could end up sending visitors who clicks on the AdSense ads or affiliate links to their sites and make them money while leaving you out in the cold.

Another problem can sometimes crop up with the merchants who sell physical products. It’s not uncommon to find a phone number on the sales pages. Often this is a toll free number. The merchant needs to have a contact number, but if they make the number large and prominent, chances are the potential customer you sent to the page will just pick up the phone and bypass you altogether. Some merchants handle this issue well though, and they put a referral code next to their phone number, then they ask for that code when the prospective customer call (this referral number tracks back to you so that you still earn commission from the sales).

4. What are the merchant’s terms? Some merchants put sneaky exception clauses into their terms of service, and affiliates don’t realise they won’t be paid for various types of sales. Some, for instance, might say affiliate can only earn commission on  X items, but not any any others. And sometimes they’ll even stay that affiliates can only earn commission on products under a certain value. So make sure you read the terms and conditions carefully.

5. What are the payout terms? Again, check the terms and conditions. Some merchants will only send commissions. And some will not pay you unless you first generate a certain amount of money, then wait a certain amount of time, the  request the payment.

There are many more things to pay attention to when selecting good affiliate programmes, but these are the most important. In general though, do your research. Find out exactly how the programme works and if possible, find out how other affiliates feel about it before committing too much time or money to it yourself.

Amrik’s Tips -

• Start by doing a key word search to see how popular the key terms relating to your chosen subject area in the search engines.

• If possible, draw upon existing interests or expertise. It will be easier to create a popular, informative website that people will want to visit.

• Place your ad campaign in prominent positions on each information web page. A column on either the left or right or across the top of your web page enhances visibilty.

• Choose suitable affiliates relating to your subject area and which have a reasonable commission rate.

• Use a variety of marketing tactics to drive visitors to the website.

Image Credit:
Image: nokhoog_buchachon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Got any more tips how you can make more profit online? Please share them in the comments.

Blog Engage $650 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

Are you a blogger? If so, then do you actually have what it takes to be a successful blogger? To be a blogger one must posses the ultimate necessities that I have outlined in this blog post to succeed in the blogging world. Blogging is not for everyone and the necessities that I have covered in this blog post are the things that set successful, driven and happy bloggers apart from those bloggers who typically fall flat upon their bottoms in blogging disdain. Let’s begin to explore the must-have qualities of a blogger who is looking for success (traffic, interaction, a high blogger morale, and an income from blogging) with his or her blog.

• Thick Skin – To be a blogger, you must have extremely thick skin because you are publishing your ideas to the Internet where there will definitely be millions of people who won’t like what you have to say. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. Some people will even take their dislike for your content or you even further by leaving negative and hurtful comments on all of your blog posts, videos, etc. The people who engage in persistent, negative behavior in the form of comments, emails, etc. are known as trolls. Basically, as a blogger (and especially one who’s uber-popular) you have to be apathetic about others’ distaste for your blogging and entrepreneurial efforts. As the saying goes, haters are gonna hate.

• Patience – Although blogging is an Internet thing and things on the Internet happen extremely quickly, it still takes time to grow your blog’s readership. Nothing happens fast when you are building a Web site or a blog that will be a long-term Internet endeavor for you. Patience is of the essence when building all things that are great.

• Purpose – Us bloggers have to have a purpose for writing content each day because it is really easy for us to get off track. You have to give yourself a reason for writing each day. My primary reason for publishing to my blog each day is that I just love writing in general. I’ve always liked to write, even as a young kid. The second reason I write is to give others good content to read and I’m sometimes write to entertain others. Thirdly, I blog to meet new people online and engage in conversations with them. All those things are the reasons I make it my duty to write a post every day.

• Persistence - Readers absolutely love it when they stumble upon a blogger who is persistent with how often he or she posts. No one likes to stumble upon a good blog, subscribe to that blog, then feel like the author of the blog has abandoned them because he or she hasn’t posted in ages. Persistence is an absolute commodity in the blogosphere.

• Passion – If you’re a blogger, then having a passion for your blog is a huge must-have. If there is no passion for what you do as a blogger, then you will be very vulnerable to quitting blogging altogether when things don’t go well for you in your journey as a blogger. Whether it’s not getting the traffic you desire to have, having technical difficulties, not yet being in a position to be compensated for your blogging efforts, etc. Your purpose and passion for blogging must be the two things that will help your blogging career soar, even though there may be times where you may start to feel like blogging is not worth your energy and time.

• Be Sociable – Lastly, a blogger who wants to get their content read and get people subscribing to their blog has to be social. Insular blogging will not get any blogger who wants to blog for success very far in the blogosphere. Blogging is not about publishing a lot of good content to your blog and expecting people to automatically come to your blog and subscribe to it. Sadly, I did insular blogging awhile ago and it was no fun experience at all. My path of insular blogging lead me to getting hardly any traffic and a low blog-esteem (yes, I did just create a word), so I just quit blogging because I was hardly getting any results from my blogging efforts. Later, I realized that I had to interact with other bloggers if I were ever going to get anywhere in my blogging career. I started using reddit (an amazing social bookmarking Web site) a lot to promote my posts (and that is still where most of my traffic comes from), commenting on others’ blogs, Blog Engage, Blog Interact, and Blog Catalog to be the sociable blogger that I needed to be to generate success for my blog. After getting myself out there a bit, I started getting Facebook likes, getting added to circles on Google Plus, and I started receiving blog comments. I’ll admit that I still have a very small hand of readers, but there is not a day where I do not see growth in my blog and that is huge for me.  Being sociable is a blogger’s must.

A blogger who has the six traits above will definitely succeed in their blogging career. Most important, building a successful blog with lots of feed subscriptions, Facebook likes, Google Plus followers, Twitter followers, etc. just naturally takes time for most of us, so don’t try to rush it because you will eventually get there. If you have thick skin and the actions of others don’t stress you, are patient with achieving blogging success, have a purpose to fuel your blogging, are persistent in your frequency of posting, passionate about blogging, and you’re sociable in the blogosphere, then you won’t have a difficult time getting the blog you’ve always dreamed about. Remember, time is a virtue.

Blog Engage $650 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

Building Relationships for the Long Term

Turning a one-time Subscriber to your list into a long-term client has a lot more to do with relationship building than offering good products for sale.  Building relationships for the long term will be mutually beneficial to you and your Subscribers.

“The money is in the list” is as true as the day is long.  Opt in Lists give you a group of customers who, if you do things right, will make you money. That being said, here are some ways to really shine and foster longer term relationships:

• Be yourself in either your emails or blog posts.  Let your subscribers/readers know that you’re ‘real’.  Be honest and open and provide excellent value.

Let’s face it, no matter what kind of business you’re in, building good customer relations should be one of your top priorities. All customers, whether on-line or off, like to feel that they are appreciated. It’s easy in today’s busy society for business owners to get all caught up in their everyday schedules of running their businesses and loose focus on why they have a business in the first place… The Customers!

Here’s one way to build those solid relationships:

A Newsletter

An email newsletter is similar to a regular newsletter, but it delivers information directly to your Subscriber’s e-mail address. You may have noticed that most businesses have an email sign up form on their web-site for their newsletters.

The biggest obstacle you face and have to overcome is the fact that people have gotten used to getting junk (from your competitors) disguised as helpful free or paid information.

Many writers put out low-value or sub-standard information simply because they’re writing from a mentality of “I gotta get paid” and when you do that, you completely forget about the people you’re writing to and start to concentrate on you and what you want.  KEEP YOUR FOCUS ON YOUR CLIENTS!

Whenever you write anything for your Subscribers, website visitors or customers don’t write with the sole intention of making money. That’s a surefire recipe for disaster.

Making money is nice, but keep in mind that the sustainability of your business is most often based on how many people believe you genuinely want to help them achieve their fondest hopes, dreams and goals.

Without an effort from you to show your readers that you value them enough to part with real information and that you see them as more than just a dollar sign, you’re going to be lumped in a group with all the rest of your competitors. You might as well be wearing a big sign on your forehead marked “Will Do Anything for Quick Cash”.

Responsive Subscribers come from a conscious effort to build a solid relationship with them – people connect with other people.

Now don’t get me wrong, any list owner would love for their Subscribers to buy the products they recommend, but they’re far better off in the long run if they don’t force it on their clients. When they do enough of the right things in YOUR eyes, they will have earned the right to ask you for your money in the form of product purchases, and commission checks from other product and service recommendations.

The big thing is that they have to earn that right by giving up good information that is of actual use to you. When you write anything you expect other people to read, the same thing applies to you.  If you’re going to create information full of affiliate links then you’re completely missing the point of what it takes to get people to value what you have to say.

A primary example of how not to build your list rather than Building Relationships for the Long Term can be found in one of my recent posts, entitled “How Not to Build Your List”.

When some marketers build their lists to substantial numbers, they tend to forget about their Subscribers and begin to do what I call “pimping” their list.  Once your list(s) grow, don’t fall prey to “pimping” your list.

The real truth is if you want people to eagerly anticipate your next email with every intention of quickly purchasing the products or services that you recommend, you should build trust, be yourself, be responsive and available and communicate honestly.  When done properly, building relationships for the long term makes it entirely possible to have people beating down your door to buy anything and everything you recommend.

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With all the buzz going around about the latest social network Pinterest many of us are asking the question, will Pinterest help me market my business? I don’t think Pinterest will be the right place to market for every business but will help maximize online sales for some.

Here’s my opinion in short, Pinterest is based off images and in my opinion will benefit companies they provide amazing images on all their product pages for e-commerce sites or online photography bloggers for example.

Yes, Pinterest will help drive traffic to our blogs but what if we don’t have an image, or even more important what happens when we don’t have quality images? People don’t share our content, this is a problem with Pinterest marketing in my opinion for most businesses.

Now the question still remains and it’s very clear what that questions is, if Pinterest will help market our business, what type of businesses will benefit most from using Pinterest? I’m my opinion and from what I have seen, the companies that will benefit most from Pinterest are companies that provide eye catching images on their products page. As an example I think the following types or retailers can have huge success with Pinterest marketing if done right,

Men and Woman Apparel Retail

It’s very easy to know the apparel industry for both men and woman will benefit greatly from marketing using Pinterest, large apparel companies such as American Apparel will benefit by using their sexy images to market and promote with Pinterest. Any of their product pages would look great on Pinterest and would help drive massive traffic to their sites if done right.

Electronics and Technology Retail

I think this segment of consumer retail can also benefit greatly, What’s cooler than seeing a nice set up of a multi monitor PC? We all love gadgets and electronics, sharing these product pages with killer images can potentially boost sales. Pinterest will be a great place to market Electronic and Technology Retail goods that have amazing pictures of their products.

Food industry

Hey let’s face it, when you see the A&W commercial it’s not what they say that gets your attention it’s the picture of that big fat juicy burger and fries. We love images and the food industry could take advantage of this marketing opportunity. If done right I think the food industry might have their first chance of really entering the social media realm and seeing direct benefits from doing so.

Home and Furniture

This is by far one of the largest segments of the retail market that will benefit from Pinterest. Imagine huge companies like IKEA, Pier One, Wal-Mart, The Brick and other house furnishing companies sharing some of their most amazing designs on Pinterest. This is a great way to make home owners reevaluate their current set up and perhaps make them motivated to change and buy their products.

At the end of the day you have to understand that Pinterest is visual marketing, it’s kind of ironic in fact as in the beginning this was one of the largest benefits of commercial TV advertising. Companies had the ability to share what a products looked like and it would increase sales dramatically. I believe Pinterest has a lot to offer the retail business world but one key element will be using the right images.

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Hi everyone, I’m very happy to announce we are introducing a Monday Newsletter Marketing opportunity open to all our Blog Engage members.

This is an amazing opportunity for you to drive traffic to your blog or blogging projects. If you have a blogging contest, new blog project or simply have something important to share our members The Monday Newsletter is your opportunity to be seen from our 8000 + Blog Engage members.

To purchase your spot simply visit our Marketing Services Page. Pay using PayPal and send us your information. We only allow 1 link and you have to explain yourself within 100 words. We don’t want the newsletter to be your very own blog article so use your words wisely.

Please take note we do not spam our members this must be relevant to blogging or something our blogging members can benefit from. Under no circumstances will I allow any low quality sites or links to be added this must be unique, and top quality content. The link must benefit the Blog Engage member and bring value to their day. If you’re in question make sure to Contact Us first or log into the chat to discuss it with me in more detail.

Affiliate Lights Members

We are offering 25% on all sales you bring to the Monday Newsletter Marketing. So write your blogs posts and start earning more with Blog Engage and Affiliate Lights.

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The Blog Engage $500 USD Guest Blogging Contest #1
Blog Engage $500 USD Guest Blogging Qualifying Article

Guest posting is one of my top traffic strategies for the last year and half, but it isn’t always easy to get your guest articles published.

Early on in my guest posting career, way more of my guest posts wound up in the trash rather than on the popular blogs that I thought would be the biggest benefit to my sites.

Don’t take me wrong here. Guest posting can be really easy when you do it right, but if you make some of these critical mistakes (which I will get to in just a minute..) your guest post is more likely to disappear into someone’s garbage bin than spreading across the web like wildfire.

Over the last few months, I have started accepting guest posts on my own blog. Ever since I posted my guest posting guidelines, I have been getting requests almost on a daily basis. Sadly, only a handful have actually made the cut and been published on my blog.

Doing this has helped me to open my eyes to what it takes to be a good guest poster, and many of the mistakes that people make. I find that I even made quite a few of these myself in those early days of guest posting, so don’t freak out if you are making them yourself.

So, if you are struggling to get your guest posts found, you need to approach it the right way.  Avoid these critical mistakes that send your guest posts into the trash.

Affiliate Links Are a No-No

One of the worst things that you can do is to try to use your guest posts to get an affiliate link in. When people see the links in your guest post they need to be relevant to the topic. You don’t need to be using it as an opportunity to get out another link to a product. Instead, direct people to your own site and other interesting blogs within your niche.

One of the first things I look at when reviewing a guest post is the links. If any of them are affiliate links, I won’t read any further! It immediately goes into the trash, and I don’t give it a second thought.

Spinning Trash Doesn’t Work

Article spinning is something that gets a ton of debate around the web. It has its uses, when used properly (although most people fail to do that due to laziness…), but at the same time a guest articles need to be completely unique and original.

Don’t use PLR, spun content, ghost written content or anything else. Guest articles  need to be written in YOUR voice, and you need to be able to respond to comments (we will get to that one in a minute…) which means you really need to have done your own research into the topic anyway.

For a really great article on using PLR content, I recommend you read Holly’s guest article on Drive-by Guest Bloggers.

Your Website Looks Like a Disaster Zone

When you approach someone looking for a guest post what are they going to see when they look at your site? If your website looks spammy, or is way too confusing, they will often just ignore your guest post request.

Remember, people can’t control who links to them, but they know Google can penalize them for who they link to. If they think your site looks like a garbage dump, they will trash your guest article before you even get a chance.

You Are Going To the Wrong Blogs

The other day, I got a guest post request from someone who wasn’t even related to the IM niche. They wanted to guest post on my blog, and share dating advice. On top of the fact that the article they sent me was complete BS ( I happen to have a new blog in that niche as well..) , and was obviously hastily written by someone who didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, their guest post was totally irrelevant to my niche.

Now, if it had been a good post, I would have considered using it on my new dating blog, however it wasn’t relevant to my IMRelations blog, where they submitted it, and it wasn’t at all worth the time of day to post on my other blog either.

Thinking outside the box is okay. I do it all the time myself. However, the guest post that you submit has to be relevant to the readers of that blog. Otherwise, they won’t even bother to give you the time of day.  If you want to post on a blog about dating, and share dog training tips, you’re not going to get your guest post read.

 Nobody Knows Who You Are

Going right out the biggest blogs in your niche is a surefire way to get it in the trash. If you went to Problogger or Mashable to get a guest post right off the bat, they would probably never even read your email, much less post your guest post.

Instead, you need to network with other people in your niche first, and then get into the guest posting game on their blog. Do some guest posts on smaller blogs, and start networking with the people who run the bigger blogs. Get to know them, and they will be more willing to set you up.

You Bore People to Tears

I am no master of writing. I don’t pretend to be some amazing word smith like Holly Jahangiri, (If you don’t believe she is awesome, check out her writing at the race to the Hugo that she is working on…).

However, you don’t have to be an amazing writer to create good content. Your content needs to be relevant and informative. It also helps if it is entertaining, and stirs people’s emotional buttons a bit. You need to grab peoples’ attention, and keep it through your page.

The web is chock full of boring articles full of facts and no life. Write first, and then edit your articles to spice them up a bit. Again, it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, but it does need to be worth the time for people to read.

 You Can’t Read Simple Instructions

The funny thing about blogs that allow guest posting is that almost all of them have a page for their guest posting guidelines.

As a blog owner, I am often frustrated by the number of people who DON’T READ THEM!!!

I get guest post requests just about every day, and if you can’t even bother to follow my guest posting guidelines, I am not going to bother to read your article, much less post it on my blog.

Your Blog Doesn’t Have Enough Original Content

The other day, I posted on Basic Blog Tips about when to start guest posting. Often, people with no content on their site try to get guest posts and fail. Unless you know the blog owners already, it can be difficult to get someone to let you post on their blog if your own blog is bare and lifeless.

If you really want your guest posts published, you need to have some content for their readers to read on your own blog (or website…) first. Make sure it is interesting and engaging.

Also, if your website is just like 1000 others, and is full of PLR, or non engaging content, you will struggle to get people to trust you. You really need to have something original to say to your niche.

People will assume that you will reserve your best for your own site, so if that isn’t up to par, they can’t expect your guest posts to do any better.

You Are Too Self Promotional

Some blogs will allow you to be self promotional, brag in your guest posts, and talk all about your own business. However, unless it is really relevant to the niche in question, this is often a killer for getting your guest post published.

Although you need to share your expertise, and show off why people should listen to you, if you get too self-promotional in your guest post, you won’t get the benefits that it can bring to your blog.

 You Ignore the Comments After Your Guest Articles Get Posted

Once your guest articles are posted, that isn’t the end of the game. Many blog owners will remove your links at best, or even your entire post at worst, if you don’t show up for the comments at the end. People will be asking questions, sharing their own advice, and giving out value. These people are worth your time to reply to, and most bloggers won’t let you post again if you don’t share your thoughts.

Start Publishing Awesome Guest Articles Today

Now that you know what to avoid, publishing guest articles should be a breeze. Don’t put off guest posting too long. It can be one of the best traffic sources, and ways to engage your niche that you will ever find.

Share your thoughts about guest articles, and why they get rejected in the comments below!

I’ve been marketing my blog now for 5 years and I’ve come to know some really great places to increase our blog traffic. I think it’s great to use many social communities in order to market and build our online relationships.

The main key to success with your blog is going to be traffic. You can have the best content in the world but without traffic it’s nothing. How do you increase traffic? You have to be active and build your online relationships.

The most important aspect of getting traffic is getting your articles in front of the eyes of others. We all know the tricks, cool titles, unique content and good quality content. But at the end of the day you have to get out and put your content in front of people or they won’t see it.

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