Day 27: Get More Exposure on Other People’s Blogs

This is Day 27 of 31 Days to Start a Freelancing Business (or Make Yours a Better One). If you want to catch up, click here to read Day 1.

These past few days, you’ve been increasing your exposure online. I’ve been advising you to do this for a couple of reasons: first, so you’ll have a body of work that’s been “published.” And, secondly, to give your target clients a higher chance of finding you online.

Today, you’re going to harness other people’s blogs to achieve these objectives. You’re going to find opportunities for guest posting.

First Things First: Where to Guest Post

The first question, of course, is: where will you guest post? If you’re a fledgling freelancer with a brand-new blog, and especially if you’re not a writer, it’s easy to talk yourself out of guest posting. You think, “Who in their right mind would let me write a post for their blog?”

So let’s start with the easiest guest blogging opportunities: your friends and family members. Come on, you must know at least 3 people who’ve been blogging longer than you have. Or even if they’re brand-new bloggers, you should still approach them.

In these early days, you’re after:

practice
backlinks to your blog or professional website
additional exposure, even if it’s just a little extra bit

If you’re feeling more confident, you can go ahead and approach other blog owners to offer a guest post – or several. Look for blogs which are a bit related to your field or industry, but not identical to it. Also keep in mind blogs written for your target clients. You can use Google’s blog search feature to find blogs by keyword.

Next Thing: What to Guest Post About

If you’re a freelance writer, you can pretty much write guest posts about anything. You’re showcasing your writing skills, after all, so getting pieces published, no matter what the subject, will help you do this. However, if you want to specialize in certain topics, then try to find blogs related to those.

What if you’re not a freelance writer? You can still write guest posts about topics related to your services.

For example:

If you’re a web designer, you can approach a blog about affiliate marketing and offer to write a guest post about design elements that can help make affiliate promotions more effective.
If you’re a virtual assistant, you can offer to guest post about home office productivity tips in a multi-level marketing blog.
If you’re a freelance photographer, you can guest post in a Mommy blog about the top tips to get amazing photos of your children.

A Very Important Note About Guest Blogging

Make sure the blog owner will allow you to write a short author’s bio, with a hyperlink to your professional website or blank. Some blog owners will even let you link within the body of the blog post itself – to a page on your blog that’s highly relevant. Double-check these things before you submit your guest post.

Another Case for Blogging

Blog owners are more likely to accept your guest posting offer if you have an active blog yourself. This allows them to look at the quality of your blog posts, and to see if your topics are what their readers want.

If you get the occasional rejection, don’t sweat it. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just move on to the next blog. And make sure your guest blog posts are much, much better than the posts you publish in your own blog.

To summarize, here are your tasks for today: