Are you considering using guest posting as a method to help you grow your blog? If so, I am going to share a site that has over 3,000 blogs that accept guest blogging to help you get your name out there.
Before I share the 3,000 sites that accept guest posts and share how to get started. Let me quickly share how my first guest posting experience went.
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I still remember when I started guest posting, it actually wasn’t that long ago. I contemplated over the fact if I was actually ready to start.
It took me forever to finally get the courage to reach out and give away my first guest post.
If I remember correctly, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. I didn’t want to give my content away. See, I don’t get to work on this blog full-time, I am still working as a WordPress freelancer.
So I didn’t want to create content for my blog and someone else’s as well.
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If you are trying to build a profitable blog. This means that you need to create a lot of content for your blog. The last thing you want to do is give away your content to someone else.
Why Do It?
I know how you feel because I used to feel like that when I got started. Especially, when I gave away my content and I didn’t see any return.
Why should you create epic content and give it away to other people?
Well, let me tell you why I did it. After all, I can only speak for myself and share my own experiences.
My First Guest Posting Experience
Again, I am not a guest posting expert. I am always just willing to put myself out there and test things out.
Then I come back and share my personal experiences with you. This doesn’t mean that you’ll get the same results I got. Heck, you may do a lot better than I do, I truly hope you do.
First Guest Post Flop
I reached out to someone in a Facebook Group that I belong to. If I remember right, it was the Boost Your Blog Facebook group.
The group had a collaboration day and I reached out to someone in the group. I already had a blog post written and ready to go live on my blog. But since I had been reading so much about guest posting, I thought I’d give my article away and get started with guest posting.
As you know, my content editorial calendar is always written at least 2-3 months in advance. So I figured why not give away one of the posts to someone else to start my guest posting journey.
So I Reached Out
The post was how to make your WordPress blog Pinterest friendly. It was over 3,000 words long and was a step-by-step tutorial.
You know how I create all my WordPress tutorials. I make them as user friendly as possible with lots of screenshots to help you get a better visual of the steps.
I love creating them like that and I know that it helps my visual learners.
Well, the guest post went live. It was well received because both the blog owner and I both promoted the blog post.
I took the time to answer the readers’ questions for a couple days then I left it alone and found my next guest posting opportunity.
The Guest Post Disappeared
One day a few weeks after writing my first guest post, I was writing another guest post for another blogger. I had heard that it was good etiquette to link to some of your previous guest posts.
So I started to link to that guest post.
Guess What?
The guest post that I wrote led to a resource library optin box. I couldn’t actually read the article unless I opted in with my email. This means that no one could read my post unless they subscribed to the email list.
I reached out to the blog owner and asked her why she did that with my guest post?
After all, I wrote that guest post to help me build my brand and expertise. Plus I would love for people to get the information for free in hopes of stopping by my blog to find out more about me.
Well, today that guest post still lives behind locked doors. There’s nothing that I can do about it. I am not even trying to do anything about it. I’ve decided to just move on and realized that it’s just a part of my guest posting experience.
My First Experience
Was terrible and it could’ve stopped me from guest posting. After all, we don’t want to spend time writing epic content for other people only to realize that the blogger locks it up in some resource library.
That defeats the purpose of building our brand and our blog.
However, I didn’t let that stop me and at the time of this writing, I’ve written well over 25 guest posts.
I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is for me. Especially, since I don’t get to spend too much time on building my blog business.
Why Do I Tell You This
Because unfortunately, you’re going run into those blog owners who do these types of things. I am happy to say that no one else I’ve guest posted for has ever done this to me.
Unfortunately, we can’t control what happens to our content once we give it away. We hope that the blog owner does the right thing and puts it on their blog so it remains accessible in their blog archive.
When you give away your best content, you’re doing it based on the trust or honor system.
The great thing is that I ended up writing another article based on the same topic. It was well over 3,000 words and even passed Copyscape. Yes, I run all my guest posts and my posts through Copyscape and gave it away to my friend Tiffany Griffin.
When that blog post went live on her I got a lot of traffic. A lot more traffic than I received from the other blogger. Plus that traffic will keep coming because that post is going to hang out on the Internet.
When I last looked at that keyword, Tiffany’s post is ranking on the fourth spot on Google. This means that whenever someone clicks through, they may end up clicking through to my blog.
So yeah, I’m happy with that. If I would’ve posted that article on my blog, it wouldn’t have ranked as quickly as Tiffany’s blog. Because my blog is still untrustworthy in Google’s eyes.
So long story short, I am a fan of guest posting and I don’t use it for link building purposes. I use to help me get in front of other blogger’s audiences and get myself known.
It’s just an added bonus if the guest post ranks well in Google ๐
Hopefully, this helps you realize that guest posting can be beneficial for growing your blog.
If you ever experience something like I did, don’t let that stop you from guest posting. Trust me, you’ll guest post for more honest people who won’t steal your content.
Hopefully, you never have to deal with something like I had to deal with.
How to Get Started With Guest Posting
Hopefully, my first experience guest posting experience didn’t scare you. It wasn’t meant to.
I just wanted to share it with you because I wanted you to know things won’t always work out the way we want.
This doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It just means that we need to find another blogger who accepts guest posts.
So how I do find these blogs?
3000 Sites That Accept Guest Blogging
If you’re brand new and are just looking to get started with guest posting. This blog contains over 3,000 blogs that accept guest posts.
You’ll find blogs that accept guest posts in all types of niches and that I would consider quality blogs to put your effort into. Chances are you’ll find a blog in your niche that will accept your guest post.
Whether you’re looking for fashion blogs that accept guest posts or a free guest post list, it won’t be hard to find. There are several blogs that will allow you to write content for their blogs.
Best Way to Start
I’d love to tell you that all you have to do is send an email asking if you can guest post on someone’s blog. The truth is that is a lie.
Sure you might get lucky and land your first guest post. However, chances are that person is just desperate for content and it may not be the right blog to guest post on.
You may even end up experiencing something like I did when I sent my first guest post.
As I mentioned I am not a guest posting expert. If you want to learn from someone who has guest posted on over 100 blogs and continues submitting 4+ guest posts per day, I recommend learning from Ryan Biddulph.
He’s known as the guest posting king and has used it as a way to build up his blogging empire. If he can make a name for himself as a guest blogger, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t do it as well.
I can only share what I’ve used to help me write over 25 guest posts on different blogs.
What’s Worked For Me
The following has worked for me, I can’t guarantee that it will help you get approved for your first guest post opportunity. You’ll have to test out this method and other methods as well.
Make A List of Blogs In Your Niche
One of the first things that I did was create a list of blogs that you might want to guest post in the near future. I know that you want to guest post on top blogs in your niche.
The truth is that most of these bloggers aren’t going to allow you to guest post on their blog until you’ve been around for a while. They want to make sure that you’re the type of blogger who writes high quality content before they allow you into their home.
I’m not saying that it’s not possible to guest post on top blogs. I’m just saying make sure that you set your expectations realistically. You shouldn’t expect to guest blog high quality blogs that have been online for several years, it’s just NOT going to happen.
It’s going to be much easier to guest post smaller blogs. I use Feedly to start building relationships with blogs that I want to comment on.
What to Look For In Guest Posting Blogs
When I first started guest posting, I paid no attention to the blog that I sent my guest post to. I thought that as long as I was taking the time to guest post that was cool.
However, if you want to see the ROI from your guest post, you need to take the time to make sure that:
- The blogger is bigger than you
- Has a responsive audience
- Gets shares and comments on their blog
- Will take the time to promote it
- They have a domain authority of at least 30
- The blog is getting some search engine traffic
You’ll start learning which blogs give you the best bang for your buck as you continue guest posting. I still guest post on blogs that don’t give me a huge ROI.
However, I just look at it as at least I am getting my name out there and it’s helping me improve my search engine rankings.
Start Building the Relationship
Once you have the blogs that you want to guest post on, start taking the time to comment on them on a weekly or daily basis. I make it a point to create a big list of blogs that accept guest posts that way I know that eventually, I can reach out to them.
Don’t just leave a comment that says “great post” or “loved your article, you shared a bunch of great tips.”
I don’t know about you, but I always delete those types of comments.
Instead, you want to take the time to leave valuable comments. Take a look at this comment that I left on Jane’s Savvy Blogging Tips blog.
You can see that it’s not a one-line comment. It was a long comment that adds value to the site.
When you do this, you increase the chances of your blog comment getting approved.
Share the Blog Post
Bloggers who provide value on their blogs love it when people take the time to not just comment but share the content.
I share people’s content 98% of the time if I’m taking the time to comment. This shows the blogger that I actually like the content.
If you know that your followers will get value out of the blog post, take the time to share.
Repeat
Don’t just do this once. I do it for several weeks before I reach out to guest post. Once I’ve been sharing and commenting for a while, I’m ready to reach out to the blog owner to see if I can guest post.
When I reached out to Jane, she offered to let me guest post on her blog. You can read the guest post here where I submitted a post about finding the perfect blogging niche.
Read their Guest Posting Guidelines
Most bloggers who accept guest posts will have some a page that outlines their guest posting guidelines.
Make sure that you read them, so you understand what they expect when you submit a guest post.
I made the mistake of not reading the guest posting guidelines on Shout Me Loud. I knew that I wanted to guest post on his blog.
Before reaching out to them on Twitter, I had sent 3 emails. I never got any type of response via email. So one day, I decided to ask him via Twitter.
I figured since he had been thanking me for tweeting his stuff, I would just quickly ask him. Well here is his response.
They didn’t have that written on their guest posting guidelines when I first started reaching out via emails. However, I hadn’t read their guest posting guidelines in a while.
Apparently things had changed since I sent out my last email. That was my fault, I should’ve read their guidelines before reaching out via Twitter.
It’s okay though, no harm no foul.
You can’t let rejection stop you from pursuing more guest posting opportunities. Eventually, someone is going to say yes.
Final Take Away
Just like anything else, it takes time to build up a guest posting strategy. I’m no guest posting expert, but this is one of the methods that I use to drive traffic to my blog.
I don’t want to come too reliant on using just one traffic method. If you know anything about my past, I’ve been burnt by Google and I don’t want my traffic coming from just one source.
If you do decide to use Guest posting as a method to help you grow your blog, here’s the list to the 3,000 blogs you can reach out to.
The most important thing to remember is to guest post on sites that have the same audience as you do. This means if you’re in the fitness niche, you’ll want to look for fitness blogs that accept guest posts.
It may take time to find the right blogs that fit your niche, but you’ll get a much better ROI on your content marketing efforts.
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Have a question or comment? Want to share your own guest blogging strategy? Please leave it in the comment below! You can also email me at susan(at)susanvelez(dot)com and I’ll do my best to help.
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How Guest Posting Can Help You Get What You Need to Grow Your Blog
Hello Susan,
First of all I would like to thank for creating these huge list of guest blogging sites. I really appreciate it. Guest posting is really a great way to connect with fellow bloggers in your niche and build your authority online. I have seen that you are quite active guest posting on different blogs including mine also. Your posts are very well crafted and fill up with lots of information. Thanks again for sharing the list.
Have a great Weekend. ๐
Vishwajeet
Hi Vishwajeet,
Yeah, I love guest posting and try to do 2-3 per month. Thanks for allowing me to guest post on your blog.
Glad that you enjoy this post as well as the ones that I’ve written for your blog.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day ๐
Susan
Hey Susan!
I’m getting ready to do a lot more guest blogging on 2018 and your post here is super helpful to me!
This is the first time I’m learning about the site you are mentioning here, listiller.com. The guest blogging sites list is helpful and a must-bookmark for future references.
I do the same thing you are doing, I use the Feedly tool to help me with my blog commenting and that way I can keep up with every blogger I follow. This allows me to build a relationship with the blog owner, as time goes by and many comments are engaged. I would highly recommend a new blogger to do the same prior to reaching for guest posting.
Guest blogging works well, but only if you work it well and with consistency.
What I’m doing now is bulking my articles, and putting a guest posting schedule I can follow – so I can crank out valuable pieces of content consistently.
Thank you for sharing this resource!
Cheers! ๐
P. s. Loving your blog so far by the way! ๐
Hi Freddy,
Glad you found the Listiller.com site helpful. I have used it to help me find sites that I can guest post on.
Yup, Feedly is awesome and I couldn’t imagine staying organized without the help of it.
I agree, guest posting works. I try to do 2-3 guest posts per month. Right now, that’s all I really have time for with my freelancing schedule.
Glad to hear that you’re going to up your guest posting strategy.
Let me know how it goes.
Have a great day ๐
Susan
Ah, Susan….you’re an angel, and im developing such a platonic crush lol (does that even make sense?)
No but seriously, thank you for the wonderful mention. That list is constantly being worked on, and eventually it’ll turn into 4k blogs, followed by 5k (I hope).
Ironically, though, i have rarely ever written any guest posts since the site keeps me busy (among other projects). So, hopefully i’ll have the pleasure of contributing something here one day?
Happy holidays! ๐
Elvis
Hi Elvis,
Your welcome for sharing the resource, I’ve actually used it to find a couple places to guest post.
Thanks for making it available to us for free. I can only imagine how much work goes into maintaining it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day and Happy Holidays to you as well ๐
Susan
Thank you for such an informative post. I have already done few of the steps but still I got lot of new pointers which I am going to try and hopefully I will be more successful in guest posting.
Thanks again Susan
Hey Ingrid,
Glad you enjoyed the post.
Let me know how it goes with your guest posting strategy.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Have a great day ๐
Susan
Hi Susan,
I’m so sorry you had such a bad first experience with guestposting. There sure are a lot of bad eggs in the blogging industry (as in any industry right?). Anyway, I’m glad you came out of it even better. So inspiring to hear your story.
About guestposting. I too used to feel very upset about having to give away free content, I think it’s only natural to feel that way if you write high quality content. But when you actually begin to look at it from another perspective, it’s a big win for you. Exposure for you both to potential visitors and to influencers. Plus the visitors who eventually come to your site are very targeted as they have already engaged with your content. And my absolute favorite thing, relationship building like you said.
A lot of people don’t know it but the community is the fastest way to grow blogging. I recently wrote a post that shared 9 other bloggers’ secret to getting traffic and guess what, because these bloggers benefit from that post, they share it with their networks and if they didn’t know who I was before, now they do. Even when you don’t know how to write, associating with successful bloggers teaches you pretty quickly. Plus it’s the fun part right? And this is coming from another introvert blogger.
Anyway, before this becomes a blog post I just wanted to say that you inspire me Susan and I love your heart (I can tell).
Lily
Hi Lily,
I know what you mean about giving away great content, I mean we have to build our blogs too. But you’re right, it pays off in the long run. I still don’t enjoy giving away my content, but it’s really one the best ways to keep getting your name out there and see your blog increase in rankings.
Glad to hear that you’re using guest blogging to help you grow your blog. Just make sure that you are guest blogging on the blogs that will actually help you grow.
I’ve given away my content to a few blogs that did not benefit me at all. Now I always make sure that the blog has a DA score is higher than mine or at least a DA of 30.
Thanks for your kind words Lily and I hope you have a wonderful weekend ๐
Susan
Many thanks for your sharing list of blog accept guest post. Recently I used one package service of guest post on huffingtonpost with 250$ and it bring a lot of traffic to my site. I think guest post is now super link for strength
Hi Royston,
Wow $250 for a link on Huffington Post, that’s a lot. I’ve never paid for any links on my blog.
Glad to hear that it worked out for you and you benefitted from it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share your experience.
Have a great day ๐
Susan