For bloggers looking to get their name out there online, the best possible move they can make early into the game is to get a guest post featured on a business blog. A recent infographic on guest blogging 101 from visual.ly featured a statistic stating that 126% more leads are generated by businesses that blog as opposed to those that do not. Additionally, within that same infographic, it was mentioned that 57% of companies that actively blog have acquired customers simply from the act of blogging alone.
With stats too big to ignore, guest writers are encouraged to read up on the business blog they'd like to become contributors with, think about what they'd like to write about and submit a few pitches in the hopes that one strikes the fancy of the blog's editor. If an idea works, great! But an editor can't just reply back to the writer with that adjective alone and let them take it from there without any further direction given.
Ultimately, guest posting is a partnership between two individuals and on the content manager end, there should be some idea of what the blog post you plan on featuring from the guest writer should look like, as well as what you can do to really highlight the writer and let them shine as a guest on your blog.
1) Reasonable Word Count
Avoid anything over 700 words and try to aim for the 400-700 word region instead. Having a word count in place is beneficial to the blogger in that it gives the writer the ability to better focus on creating a beginning, middle, and ending to the post, rather than allow for the article to start rambling and lose focus of what it's all about.
2) If You Can Link Back to Their Blog/Website
In an article entitled, "How Guest Posting Can Help Grow Your Blog" writer Jeff Goins makes a few great points in favor of why bloggers should link back to their own blogs when writing up a guest article for a blog. By including a link back to your own site or blog, you can easily increase the amount of traffic heading there as well as provide a place for people to find out more about you, your writing, and how they can get in touch for more information. As a heads up, however, let the writer decide which link back they want included and never assume that, based off of their email signature or other evidence, you can do the linking up for them to a site you may believe they are associated with. The same thing goes for tweeting out the post once it's live - be sure you know the right Twitter handle to tweet @ and that they're comfortable with having their content shared through your company channels too.
3) Recurring Blogger? Sure!
Working alongside a guest writer builds up a strong relationship together - brainstorming, editing, and promoting out the post is all a time consuming process into itself, but also one that if it works out great between both parties can result in regular contributor opportunities. Depending on the business blog at hand, a regular contributor may need to sign off on an agreement or work alongside the editor on their editorial calendar to see when they can be scheduled in regularly published posts. Be sure to work out all of these details with the guest writer if you feel like they're up for the task of regularly contributing to your blog!