I’m an internet marketer and I’m in sales. Those two things used to be different hats that I wear. Not anymore!
Ever since Google’s Penguin updates, those two things have merged into one. Let me explain.
Old School Link Building
It used to be fairly easy to build links back to your website. In fact, it still is.
All you have to do is go to the various article directories and link farms out there. There are even private networks where you can post links.
But post-Penguin, it’s really hard to get links that will pass pagerank to your website and won’t get your penalized by Google. That means you have to do legit marketing to get organic links.
Guest Posting
One way to manually get links that Google is okay with is by guest posting on authority websites. That can be difficult for many people because it requires persuading an actual human being.
It’s no longer just registering for a directory and immediately being able to post articles with links back to your website. It now requires a lot of human interaction.
Guest Posting as a Sales Job
That’s why it’s helpful to think of guest posting as a sales job. You’re selling your content and your “sale” is them posting it to their blog.
That was good for me because I’m in sales as a profession. I’ve worked with several startups and I know how to sell for businesses that are unknown and have no marketing budget.
My latest project is doing internet marketing for a restaurant scheduling softwarecompany. They have no budget for doing things like Adwords. They are also heavily dependent on search engine rankings for their business because of the high cost and low revenue per sale.
Process for Selling Guest Posts
The first step to selling guest posts is to find blogs and websites that are in your niche. In my case, I simply google for food and restaurant blogs. I then start contacting them, asking if they’re open to receiving guest posts.
Some will be and others won’t be. But once you get someone on the hook, then ask what kind of articles they want.
If they don’t care or know, just read the other posts on their website and see what kinds of stuff they like.
In my case, I will guest post for local restaurant blogs and write reviews for them. It’s simple. I eat out sometimes. Whenever I go to an interesting website, I can write a review and send it to the restaurant blog.
The types of articles you write will depend on your niche and what types of websites you are targeting. You’ll have to use a bit of creativity.
Going Outside of Your Niche
You may have to go outside of your niche in order to get guest posts. For me, I’m also going to various business and start-up websites as well.
The type of articles I will write for them is different than the restaurant reviews I’d do for the food blogs.
For these websites, I’ll simply tell the story of Kalloop, which is the restaurant scheduling software company that I’m working for.
Startups are a great story. Most have interesting beginnings and we’re no different.
I met the founder of Kalloop from my last software sales job. He was actually my boss. He launched this company recently and asked me to help him as a partner. He knew I did some internet marketing on the side and knew I was an honest guy.
There are also other angles I can go with my guest posting strategy.
I can also talk about the typical issues that startups have. Things like raising capital, dealing with investors, how to get angel funding and dealing with venture capital firms.
I can also talk about how to assemble to right management team. In our case, we don’t have any funding at all. It’s all on a shoestring budget.
The way we’ve been able to get the skills that we need, like software engineers and marketing and sales professionals, we’ve dished out equity. I can write about the process of doing that.
Those are some ideas to get you going on trying to get guest posts. Do a search find the appropriate websites. Then contact the webmaster. Then write high quality, creative content in whatever niche you’re in.