Guest Blogging: My Favorite Way To Grow Blog Readership

I’ve been writing about the ultra-competitive Los Angeles private elementary school admissions process on my blog, Beyond The Brochure, since September 2009, the same month my book with the same title was published.

In January, it was time to find a way to broaden my blog readership and increase book sales. As a niche blog, we weren’t doing too badly. We’ve had close to 79,000 page views, but I sensed there might be more readers out there who would find the blog helpful. Guest blogging is one successful strategy I’m using to broaden my blog readership.

Here are my tips for getting your guest blog pieces published:

1. Do Research By Reading Other Blogs: Look for blogs that accept guest submissions. Some blogs have a “submission” section. Other blogs publish guest posts frequently. That’s a sign they may be interested in new guest post submissions.

2. Post Your Writing On Sites With Reader-Generated Content: Divine Caroline, BlogHer, Mom Blog Network and Technorati are some of the biggest sites that feature blog posts written by their readers. This is a great place to start. Hybrid Mom also has a “submit yours” section.

3. Find A Stylistic Match: Read blogs carefully before you send them your guest blog idea or submission. If a site runs light, mommy humor stuff, don’t send them a dark piece about a bad car accident.

4. Invite A Guest Blogger To Your Blog: As one of my first steps to begin guest blogging, I invited a mom blogger who’s a friend (we met through our blogs and then had lunch) to guest blog for me. She wrote a wonderful piece and asked me to guest blog on her site. I did. We were each other’s Blogging Friend Features (BFF).

5. Hit Send: I took a deep breath and submitted my first guest blog piece to a wonderful site called The Well Mom. The piece had nothing to do with private elementary school admissions. Instead, I chose to write a motivational piece about taking up tennis at age 43.  I emailed The Well Mom and included the ENTIRE GUEST BLOG PIECE in the body of the email. Heather Cabot, who founded The Well Mom, emailed me back, saying she wanted to publish the piece! I was thrilled.

6. Success: Over the past few months, my guest blogging efforts have paid off. I’ve had pieces published on Mamapedia, BlogHer Syndication, Eco Mom, The Culture Mom, Power of Moms, A Child Grows In Brooklyn, Sane Moms, Aristotle Circle, The Front Page of Divine Caroline, The Twin Coach, Diary Of A Mixed (Up) Kid, The Mother Company and Macaroni Kids.

7. Get Ready For Rejection: Luckily, I haven’t experienced a lot of rejection (fingers crossed this trend continues).  However, I have submitted a few pieces and not received a response (rejection). Just keep moving!

The Bottom Line:

• Guest blogging can give your blog added visibility, new readers, subscribers and/or followers and third party credibility.
• If a blogger is nice enough to post your guest piece, help her promote the piece. Follow her site, leave comments, link to her blog. Maybe she’ll invite you back!
• One of the leading blogging sites, Copyblogger, lists guest blogging as a strategy to grow your blog. Gigi Ross a tech-expert who writes the fabulous blog Kludgy Mom, says “thou shalt not be afraid to ask…ask to guest post.” I agree!

Christina Simon is the co-author of “Beyond The Brochure: An Insider’s Guide To Private Elementary Schools In Los Angeles.” She also writes the blog, www.beyondthebrochure.blogspot.com about applying to private elementary schools in Los Angeles and the ups and downs as life as a private school mom.  Christina’s blog was just voted “Top 25 Parent Resources” by Circle Of Moms. Christina is a former vice president at Fleishman-Hillard, a global public relations firm. She has a 7-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. Christina lives in Los Angeles with her husband and kids. She has a B.A. from UC Berkeley and an M.A. from UCLA.

Girlslunchout

Girls’ Lunch Out is a networking organization that hosts networking lunches for influential women in social media to connect, share ideas and collaborate. GLO connects brands with bloggers, brands in social media and businesses over lunch, Twitter parties and blogger outreach campaigns.

More Posts - Website - Twitter - Facebook