Many B2B blogs look sad.
These niche blogs may not get a lot of traffic, comments or shares – even if they contain excellent content. If you oversee a B2B blog, it may sometimes seem like you’re publishing in a ghost town.
There are plenty of steps you can take to increase your blog’s traffic, comments and social shares. However, if you want to get your name in front of a larger audience, you should also consider guest posting for leading blogs in your industry.
Guest posting is an excellent way to display your expertise, get people talking about your content and bring leads to your website (from links in the guest posts or your social profiles). To help you expand your reach, I’ve put together the following dos and don’ts of pitching popular blogs:
Do your research.
Most popular blogs publish guest contributor guidelines. Read these before you pitch anything. They’ll give you suggestions for topics and style, as well as the name of the person to contact about your submission. Also make yourself familiar with the blog’s target audience before you pitch an article. If your pitch isn’t relevant, they won’t publish it.
Don’t make it all about you.
I recently received an email from someone who wanted to publish articles on my blog. She said that being published on my blog “would do wonders for my portfolio and give me an ideal platform to share my ideas with a large number of readers.” While that’s good for her, she didn’t say what my subscribers would gain from reading her articles. When you pitch a blog post, think about how it will benefit the blog’s readers. Does it relate to something timely that’s happening in their industry? Does it address a key business or technology problem that they are having? Let the editor know why you think the topic is important.
Do make sure it’s a fit.
At the same time, be sure to pitch blogs that your target audience reads. As your presence grows in the blogosphere, editors may reach out to you to contribute to their blogs. I was recently invited to pitch an extremely popular blog. While I thought it would be awesome to have my name on that blog, I decided not to go forward with the pitch, as our target audiences are different. I would rather write for blogs that focus on my target audience.
Don’t make it a sales pitch.
Many technology marketers reach out to bloggers when they’re promoting a new product. Some bloggers review the latest technologies and would welcome information about a new product. However, most blog editors don’t want a press release about your latest product. If you want to get published on these blogs, pitch topics that are educational and will help the blog’s subscribers gain insights into their biggest challenges.
Do reach out to your partners.
One way to get your content in front of your target audience is to do a blogging exchange with one of your technology partners. If you have a large enough readership, you can invite them to write for your blog, and you can write for theirs in return. If you have the same audience, it’s a win-win.
Don’t load your pitch with buzzwords.
Most technology marketers overuse words such as “innovative”, “robust” and “disruptive”. These words have been used so much that they no longer mean anything. Avoid them when pitching topics to technology blog editors.
And finally … just do it! What are you waiting for? Make a list of five blogs that you would like to pitch. Find out who the editors are, if they accept guest submissions and what topics they cover. Happy pitching!