Hey munchkin, are you just getting started with content marketing and blogging for your business?

As content writing is taking on a larger part of companies growth strategies these days, it’s important to understand exactly how you can get the best results, AKA how you can increase engagement to see larger growth in your company. Blog outreaching is a tactic many of the greats are using to get their content out there on the web, and engage with new prospective customers online.

Photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com / iWoman / CC BY

This guide will give you all of the necessary tips and information to teach you from scratch how to better your company’s online appearance. You’ll be attracting and engaging more active consumers in no time.

1 - Target the perfect site for your content:

It’s first important that you have a very clear understanding of your product and who your target audience is. There are tools available such as SimilarWeb and Open site explorer that can help you find out what your competitors are doing online. If you can find out what sites your competitors are linked from then you’ll know where you want to mention your product as well.

Likely, if your competitors are linked from the same site it’s a hotspot that a lot of your potential users are probably hanging out on, and it’s a good indication that the site allows guests to contribute as well. Find out how many users are surfing at a certain site. It’s more important that you have a really quality blog that’s posting your content, than a no-name blog that gets no reach.



If you’re trying to reach a smaller site it will be easier for you to get a post in, however it may not be worth your time. Likewise, if you’re trying for a bigger site it will be more of a challenge, but you’ll also see more of a payback. You can also find out how many followers the site has on social media networks etc. to see if their posts are going viral.

Google is your friend - There are different ways in which you can find the blogs you're looking for. Try to use these examples:

First you have to select possible keywords that align with the industry you’re trying to reach. If you’re trying to find marketing and sales blogs you’ll use marketing as an example for a keyword. Test out multiple things and see what gets you the best results. You know you’re doing things right if your results bring you to pages to submit your writing or the guidelines you should follow for your post. You can find samples of what exactly to search on Google here.

Make social work for you- Start with doing a simple search on Twitter or Facebook with again your keyword followed by ‘guest post’. Most big bloggers and guest posters will share their latest and greatest articles on social media. You can easily retrieve these articles through a simple search, follow the link and see if the blog it links to would be a suitable fit for your next article, and of course if they offer guest posts.

Photo credit: iW / CC BY

2 - Find out whom to outreach:

Find your ‘Mr. (or Mrs.) Right’ when it comes to outreach - In general, the best way to outreach is to find out who is the editor of the site and then send him an email, tweet him, or try to add him on LinkedIn. If you can’t find the editor’s name etc. try to find different people who work at the site and maybe they can help you.

When sending emails try to tell a story and don’t be promotional! Name-dropping works too, if you can look them up on Facebook or LinkedIn and see that you have mutual friends, mention them. Making your message more personal is key to getting your mail on the top of their to-do list. It’s an awesome tip because that person can understand that you did some research before you sent them an email.

Sometimes, even sending a tweet can help (if you have a lot of followers) but as I already wrote you have to be cool as hell to extract those guys. The best advice here is to find a funny fact etc. about the editor and then tweet it, maybe you’ll have some luck.

3 - What to write when outreaching:

There are many different samples on the internet explaining what to write when outreaching. There are different types of emails you can write and it depends on the blog, the contact name and so on. The most important thing, if you ask me, is that you’re short, succinct, and straight to the point.

Nowadays, people don’t have time to read emails with too many words. Moreover, if we’re talking about guest posting try to think how many emails big sites are getting a day. Explain in the email what you have to offer (people love to feel like they’re receiving things so act like you have a lot to give), who you are, and write down a few ideas for future posts.

4 - What to write about:

Write about things related to the site or try to bring in yet another cool angle to show your content isn’t dry and you have a creative mind. Don’t try to be promotional at all. Try to think about a topic from the mind of a viewer. If you were on the site yourself what would you want to read? This will help you to know what topics to write about that will get a lot of likes and shares, engagement, because it’s relevant and interesting to the viewers. Try to write about a topic that isn’t automatically related to your company at first glance.

Again, it’s really important to reiterate that if you’re too promotional they won’t approve your post so if you think you’ve toned it down already, tone it down even more. Moreover, it’s also important to remember not to mention your competitors by mistake. You’ll be unintentionally promoting their product and you will lose potential customers in the process.

Photo credit: Gideon Burton / IWoman / CC BY-SA

5 - How your article should look:

Add many different images, as visual content is becoming one of the most important triggers, vital for your post to go viral. Also, remember, you have to check out how other posts look on the site you are trying to write for. Besides images, you can also add different links to other articles related to the realm you’re talking about and add cool presentations that will help the reader understand the point of the article. Hint: blogs love it and are more likely to accept your post if you link to other articles written by them. Take a look at some of the similar posts they’ve written to your topic and see if you can add a few ‘intralinks’ within your content. Take a look at these examples.

6 - Extra tip:

Use contributors! Yep, you can talk with certain contributors already working with the blog in order to help with your outreaching. The largest sites have many contributors so it’s pretty easy to find them. Try to show them your writing samples and explain to them how cool and creative you are. In the end maybe they will send the editor an email telling your story and they’ll help you get where you want to be in the end.

Cover Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk / iW / CC BY-NC[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]