Some Dos and Don’ts of Guest Posting by Anastasia Procner Sep 10, 2014

Content Marketing is a form of advertising that is, in my opinion, much more sophisticated

than most. Unlike most ads or commercials, Content Marketing is not about explicitly

showing people that their lives will be oh-so-much better if they avail themselves of your

product or services . I myself am personally a person who intensely dislikes most forms of

advertising, because it doesn’t really matter where you are or what you’re doing, commercials

are usually a nuisance that you would get rid of if you could—colorful, flashy and always way too

loud, they’re singlehandedly responsible for AdBlock becoming the most popular Google

Chrome extension. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the governm ent went as far as banning billboards

and all other forms of outdoor advertising entirely , as they felt that the landscape was

almost too cluttered for the actual city to be visible. And 8 years later, a vast majority of Sao

Paulo’s residents are still satisfied with the decision, going as far as to claim that the city has

regained a large part of its atmosphere and identity thanks to it.

So without further ado, I’d like to present to you some of the most important dos and don’ts

of Content Marketing via Guest Blogging I’ve learned—some of them the hard way.

DON’T: Don’t waste people’s time. This includes yours. You might think you’re saving time by sending 600 i dentical and entirely unsolicited

outreach emails to random people who more or less fit the category you’re looking to, say,

guest blog for, but you really aren’t. Think of the way you feel when you open your mailbox just

to find it full of junk mail trying to sell you stuff you neither want nor need. What do you do with

said mail? Oh right, you chuck it right into the garbage bin where it belongs, which is pretty much

exactly what will happen to your emails. Those poor, poor trees, they all died for naught. And

you really can’t blame anyone for reacting that way. At least not without coming off as a total

hypocrite.

DO: Research on the site you’ll be pitching to. In Content Marketing, less is more, so if you send 10 emails instead of 600, you shouldn’ t

see that as a bad thing. But make those 10 count. Look through the site thoroughly. What is it

really about? Who exactly does it have for an audience? Will a link from there benefit someone

other than yourself? Make the pitch personal, let the person know you’re actually genuinely

interested in them, not only getting a link. I mean, let’s be honest: everyone knows there really

is no such thing as a free lunch. But let’s at least attempt to be subtle about this, shall we?

DON’T: Don’t ignore the people commenting on your blog posts. User activity on your posts, especially during the early stages of its your activity, is something to

be celebrated and encouraged—people were interested enough to take the time to say

something, hurray! If you don’t have enough staff to be able to stay o n top of what’s going

on under your posts, it might be better to just hav e less than just tick people off when they

ask questions and get no answers at all.

DO: Value input. You will definitely be criticized every now and then, but nobody likes a sore loser . The criticism

you get might just help you see problems or complications you weren’t aware of before, or make

you more sensitive to the issues of others. Of course, once in a blue, blue moon, you might also

get attacked by one of those eternally unsatisfied people whose mission in life it is to make other

people’s lives miserable by writing the most absurdly negative things possible about you, many

of which are (hopefully) not true. But even when you’re at your wits’ end and just feel the urge to

let loose and give this vile so-and-so a piece of your mind, don’t. Stay classy. Listen, apologize,

offer to make amends. Chances are they’ll run out of steam a few comments in, and you’ll have

really impressed some other commentors with your cl ass and calm , to boot. If you have

any doubts about this, or think this point is a no-brainer, check out what happened to these two

companies, a clothing store and a hotel, when they decided to engage in embarrassing spats

with some less-than-satisfied customers. Hint: it did not work out well.

DON’T: Don’t expect immediate results. Content Marketing is a s much about the relationships formed during the distribution of the

content as it is about the content itself. If you are lucky enough to find bloggers who are willing to

publish your content with links to wherever you want them free of charge, then don’t ever risk

those relationships by taking them for granted, and contacting them only when you need

something. You’ll probably have to write some extra emails an d go that extra mile to make

sure they stay happy and don’t feel used. Get over it.

DO: Build and nurture relationships. This may well be the most time-consuming aspect of Content Marketing, but it is also key. If you

have a certain amount of bloggers that know you, enjoy your work, and trust you to deliver every

time you cooperate, that is worth ever so much more than the thousands of mismatched

spammy emails you could send to people who just don’t want anything to do with you or your

cause.

DON’T: Don’t expect huge, renowned sites to be automatically thrilled by your proposal. That is not to say that you don’t have anything to offer that might be of interest to Forbes or

Vanity Fair—who knows, maybe your piece will be accepted and then proceed to “go viral” and

become the next Internet sensation like that adorable little spider doggie. Still, though: don’t be

surprised if it doesn’t, and don’t limit your outreach to giant, world-famous si tes that don’t

know you exist. Don’t worry—if you play your cards right, there might well be a time when

those sites link to your content because they want to, not because you groveled.

DO: Contact sites/blogs that are more or less on your own level. Everyone has to start somewhere. Plus, the owners of these kinds of sites are much more likely

to a) feel flattered that you do like their site and would like to contribute to it; and b) be happy

to take advantage of the opportunity to get free pu blicity. Notice that these are not things

that would matter or work particularly in your favor if and when you decide to pitch to Vanity Fair.

Of course you want to want to write for them, they’re Vanity Fair goddammit.

At the end of the day, and at the risk of sounding like every other marketer since the

beginning of time, I’m going to go ahead and say: my method of choice is different. No, but

really: Content Marketing via guest posting is different. When done properly, and I cannot

emphasize the word properly enough, Content Marketing via guest posting can be an incredibly

valuable part of user experience on a given page. Well-located links do not force anything

unwelcome or unnecessary on the reader, but offer instead the very information he or she is

likely looking for or would find interesting as an extension of the article they are already reading.

And taking the time to interact with your readers/commenters shows that the you takes genuine

interest in the opinions and concerns of others. And I think we can all agree that there’s nothing

wrong with that