Writing content, taking photos and recording videos that are interesting to your ideal customers is a huge part of attracting the right people to your blog or YouTube channel.
Today, we are going to be going over advanced marketing techniques to reach your ideal customer.
What is Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging is writing unique content for other people's blogs with links back to your own. The benefits for you? You get to tap into an existing audience. The benefits for them? They get new and interesting content for their audience that they don't even have to write.
With a guest blog, you are either asking the person for content to post on your blog or asking to post a blog post on their blog. With a guest blog swap, you are offering to post a guest blog on your blog in return for them posting a guest blog on theirs. This is a lot easier for people to agree to because they get an immediate benefit.
So how do you go about finding blogs to write content for?
The first step is to join social media groups in and around your industry topics. If you teach phonics to young kids, finding general homeschool groups, Pre-k homeschool groups, and homeschool groups in your local area is a good place to start.
Next, it's time to do a little reconnaissance. You want to look at the different members of the group to find ones that have blogs. Lots of these groups will have promotion days when people are allowed to share their blog posts and YouTube videos.
Once you found several of these blogs, it's time to start making connections. Subscribe to their newsletter, follow them on social media, and comment on blog posts that you find interesting over the next few weeks. Your goal is to not only build a connection with this blogger, but also to get an idea of what kind of content that they like to post on their blog.
You'll want to start with bloggers that already do guest posts and interviews with other homeschool businesses. They are more likely to agree to do a guest blog promotion with you. If you find a blog that really resonates with you but doesn't do guest posting, feel free to contact them. You'd be surprised how many bloggers are interested in doing guest blogs, but just haven't had anyone ask them yet.
How do you know if a blog is going to benefit you and build your following?
You want to look at their audience and their topics. If you provide pre-k homeschool resources for learning phonics, you're going to want to look for blogs with mom's with young kids, a homeschool business that focuses on teaching pre-k math, and other homeschool businesses that are creating products that can be used alongside your phonic resources.
A math teacher focusing on middle school students or someone who teaches 5th grade history classes might not have an audience that is going to be super interested in your pre-k phonics resources.
Someone who sells math resources or classes shouldn't do a blog post for a homeschool business that also sells math resources. They're a lot less likely to agree to do a guest blog if you are competitors. But if you sell 5th grade math classes, and they only sell high school math classes, this could be a complimentary opportunity.
Here are a few guest blog opportunities to get you started:
- I started a thread in the Homeschool Business Builder group where bloggers can drop a link to their website if they are interested in people submitting guest blog ideas to them. (Be sure to join the group to see this thread.)
- The Homeschool Quest is looking for articles for the next issue of our ezine.
- Story Quest Academy is looking for blog posts about book recommendations for ages 8-12 and 13-16.
Set up the guest blog
So, you're ready to contact the blogger to set up a guest blog or guest blog swap. How do you approach the blogger? Don't worry, it's not scary. A lot of people want to hear that their blog is so good and so amazing that you just want to be featured on it because you think it's so high quality. It's a massive compliment to be approached by someone and to be asked to be featured on their blog. Even if they say no, they're likely going to feel like you think their blog is high quality and worthwhile.
So you start off with an introduction of who you are and a genuine compliment you like about them.
Here is an example:
Hi, I'm Amelia DeField, with The Homeschool Quest, a homeschool community focused on sharing free and affordable resources. I love your blog series on different homeschool routines and would love to share some of your information and knowledge on our blog. Would you be interested in doing a guest blog swap?
Once the blogger responds, they usually say yes and ask you what kind of topics you had in mind for your guest blog. So that brings us to our next step.
What do you write about?
It's important not to write a sales article unless specifically asked to do so. So you will want to write something that you're knowledgeable about and that goes along with your product without specifically selling it.
For example, if you are a phonics teacher, a craft, or activity that incorporates phonic learning is a good way of promoting your expertise. Other good blog post topics include how to pick the best phonics curriculum, what questions to ask phonics teachers about their classes, or the benefits of your particular method.
Scheduling
Once you both have decided on what topics that you are going to post about, the next step is deciding on a schedule depending on how busy you are. I would give yourself at least two to three weeks before your deadline to send each other the blog post, then give each other another week to actually get them up on your blog.
Be sure to include at least three to four pictures to be used in the blog post.
Finally, send them a small bio about yourself and links back to your website.
So to sum up:
- join a bunch of homeschool groups
- find some bloggers in complementary industries
- build a connection with them through interacting with their blog
- then reach out to them and ask if they'd be interested in doing a guest blog swap or guest blog.
Guest blogging is an effective and cost-efficient way to attract more customers to your business. It allows you to showcase your expertise, build relationships with industry influencers, and reach a wider audience. Start tapping into the power of guest blogging now, and experience the rewards tomorrow!
