The problem is, trying to write content that would satisfy all these groups would only result in half hearted content created for the mass market.

To have premium content, it must be created with a specific audience in mind.

Why Narrower is Better

The way to grow is by looking inwards into your audience and growing deeper.

The narrower your focus, the more specific your topic is to someone. If your content marketing is a response to specific problems faced by people in your industry, then you will have a hard time writing to satisfy every segment.

Pick an angle you want to take your topic from and stick to it. That way, it becomes easier to define a segment and completely cover their interests, needs, and problems.

So by narrowing your focus on one specific segment of your audience, you create and design everything with them in mind.

Let us take the unique example of American Express who created the Open Forum to cater to small businesses.

Instead of going after all of their customer type, the opted for a specific subset and have created an integrated content-rich web resource that adequately caters for that segment’s unique needs.

In 2010, Open Forum had over 10 million page views. If they had to get that level of targeted readership from traditional advertising, how much do you suppose that would have cost them?

By leveraging audience specificity and attention to detail, Open Forum has attracted one of the largest following for a small business website.

Something else should strike your interest about them.

Most of their content is tailored on the challenges of running a small business, not in leveraging direct sales of their core products.

Why is that so?

Think Solutions, Not Products

When you are building a blog for your company and your industry is not so exciting, you will bore people by trying to focus on your company and or your products.

A better way would be creating a content rich site that fills a gaping need, which, in the case of American Express, was on the topic of small businesses.

So a lighting company may create a blog focused on decorative lighting and show their audience how to create.

By imposing yourself on the internet as the ‘go-to’ authority on decorative lighting – a segment of your market – you will find that your blog would grow much faster, and the referral business you will get from your blog would extend to all other product ranges you offer.

That makes sense, because the person interested in decorative lighting will most likely be interested in other lightening products.

Conclusion

Identifying a subset of your audience and focusing on providing valuable content tailored to their needs is the fastest way to get results from content marketing.

Do not waste time writing feature-rich content around your products.

Create content that provides solutions to the problems of your audience.

Surely, it makes sense that in helping them solve their problems, they would help you solve yours.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Surely, that’s not news anymore, is it?

If for any reason you think guest posts are not your thing, then you need help as blogger.

Now we have disbelief out of the way, it is appropriate to ask: Have you written your first guest post?

In writing this post I had two kinds of bloggers in mind. The first, those bloggers who know guest posts are an important but never got around to doing it.  Second, those die hard conservative bloggers who believe their best posts are best served to their local audience.

I know part of what is keeping you away from that first guest post may be mental laziness or just plain selfishness.

You may be surprised at how many bloggers linger over the send button after writing a great guest post.

It should have been published on their site, they ponder.

Well, I have come today to burst your bubble.

And just in case you are still in need of excuses, I have more bad news: I will show you how to come up with a guest post strategy, locate top blogs, pitch your guest post ideas and finally, how to write the greatest guest posts you can dream of!

What are we waiting for?

Developing a Guest Blogging Strategy That Works

It all begins with quality content. The thing is, quality content does not just happen. That is why you need a strategy that works. Posting one or two posts per month may not be sufficient to give you the kind of results you desire.

Put differently, guest posting involves hard work.

1. Drip-Fed Guest Posting: In this approach you target a couple of blogs and slowly build reputation in those communities by and cut your teeth in the field. While most bloggers can survive with this method, the results may take a longer time period to be evident.
2. Rapid Guest Posting: This is the short-gun approach to guest posting writing. Here you write as many guest posts as you can as fast as you can. Wondering about where you will get to publish them? That should not be a problem. Just announce to your audience that you are on a guest posting marathon. You will be surprised how many persons will accept content from you! Bloggers need content and as far as you’re your blog is rich, they will be glad in hosting you for some days.

Of course, the approach you choose would depend on whether you price quantity over quality.

Being socially active won’t hurt you

Bloggers love it when guest post offers don’t come from the blues.

Building a relationship with bloggers you want to pitch first before asking to guest post will significantly reduce the number of rejections you receive. So, it is smart to create an excel document with at least five fields: Blog URL, Blogger Name, Email, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus profiles. Start following them on social media.

It is critical that you actually interact with them.

Do not make the mistake of adding them and leaving the rest to chance. The best way to do this is to start following him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ and interact with him. Here are some other things you must do:

Here are some other tasks you can perform to leverage your social gusto:

• Comments: Now you have a shortlist of bloggers you hope to write for, start leaving thoughtful comments on their blogs. By thoughtful comments I mean you should engage with the author by asking questions are bringing perspectives that move the conversation forward. Of course, if you have the opportunity, answer questions left by other readers. That is a good way to demonstrate your expertise before the blogger and inject yourself as a member of the community. The benefit of doing this will come in two ways:

1. The blogger will be very pleased that you are taking some burden off his shoulders.
2. When your guest post goes live, the community will already know who you are and would be comfortable commenting and sharing your post.

• Join his newsletter: If the blogger has a newsletter, join in. After a couple of emails, it is smart to let the blogger know you are on his list by responding to one of his mails, preferably one that publishes a smart tip. Make sure your email contains your signature, which by the way should include your blog address. Most bloggers would click on that link and give you a look over, further breaking the ice for you.
• Email: At this time sending a direct email to the blogger is a good idea. Note that it does not have to be about a guest post. Remember, you want to build that relationship. Compliment their writing, make an enquiry or ask for advice. I have had bloggers who asked me to send in a guest post after exchanging a couple of emails.

Note that some of the top bloggers have guest post guidelines. If you find one on a blog then you may focus on the guidelines given instead of these tips.

Do you think going through all of this is just too much for just a guest post opportunity? It depends on how far into the future you are looking. Relationships you establish with bloggers for the purpose of guest posting will have value that goes beyond that guest post.

It helps to keep things in perspective by thinking long-term.

Wrapping it Up

So now you have it. You can be sure that if you follow these steps, you will have more guest post opportunities in a month than you would care to handle. Now all that is left is for you to start the actual pitching.

It is important for you to realize that guest post pitching is a numbers game. If you can write twenty guest posts, pitch 40 bloggers, remembering that not all bloggers will say yes.

You may notice that I have not gone much into the actual writing of the perfect guest post in this post. That is because that subject is a full-length topic of its own and I will be doing a post dedicated to that alone in the weeks to come.

Have I left out a magic tip that works wonders for you?

You are welcome to share in the comments!

Image courtesy of Graeme Weatherston at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you do, then you must have noticed how difficult it can get finding a suitable blog for your guest post.

Not just any blog, but the perfect fit for your post.

Of course, if your post is trashy, it would be needless to waste time trying to get a perfect place to publish it.

But when you have taken time to write something awesome, it is important that you do not just throw it away in an obscure blog.

What are important metrics to consider in choosing a home for your guest post?

What factors should you weigh in preferring one blog over another when it comes to publishing your guest post ?

Guest Blogging – You Need Goals

When we set out to guest blog, we should ideally have goals.

Those goals play a huge part in our decision on where to publish our guest post.

What is it you want to achieve?

Take some time out and draft some of the goals you are targeting, and then locate sites that are aligned with your stated goals.

A lot of bloggers hear about guest blogging and just jump in blindly without a well defined strategy in place.

Before starting your guest blogging campaign, it is important that you sit back and decide what exactly it is you want to achieve.

Some goals you should have in mind would include:

1. Build relationships with A-list bloggers in your niche.

2. Build relationships with growing bloggers and grow with them.

3. Get keyword rich backlinks from authority blogs.

4. Leave an impression that is good enough to drive traffic back to your site.

5. Become an authority in your own right.

How do you find blogs that can help you achieve those goals?

Find Guest Blogging Opportunities in Comments

I have sought and found almost all my guest blogging opportunities in the comments section of my favorite blogs.

How can you make the comments section of other blogs a hunting ground for a home for your guest posts?

Step 1: Seek out quality comments that resonate with you. This must be comments that add to the discussion, not just “me too” kind of comments that are made to register presence in the comment thread.

Bloggers who take the time to leave meaningful comments on other blogs are bloggers who take their blogging seriously.

Step 2: Visit the websites of the commenters. If their sites are as compelling as their comments, and they are in a relevant niche, add them to your guest post prospect list. This list should ideally be an excel document that has a field for contact name, email and website address.

Step 3: Leave a comment or two on every site that makes it into your list. It is also advisable to subscribe to their RSS of your target sites as this will update you on future posts they publish, so you can leave a comment and make the blog owner as familiar with your name as possible.

Step 4: After some days (and some comments), send an email with a guest post pitch to the blog owner. There is most likely an email address on the about or contact page.

I have had almost 100% guest post acceptance following this sequence.

In deciding which sites on your list to give priority to, it is important to answer the question:

How Did Past Guest Posts Perform?

Even after making a shortlist, it may be necessary to still scrutinize the sites further to determine which prospect should be given priority.

Keep your eyes open to tell-tale indicators on the site.

How did past guest post published on the blog perform?

Is there any evidence that the community rejects quality posts from new entrants? You can tell that is the case when quality guest posts have few comments and shares as opposed to the higher comment count all posts by the blog owner attracts.

If a high number of quality guest posts have low traction, that may indicate a trend and you would be wise to be careful about sending your guest post to that site.

It takes time to write a quality guest post, so choosing a home for your guest post should take as much deliberation.

Trash Goes in the Trash-Can

When your guest post pitch is accepted, what is next?

Some persons have the idea that guest posts should be churned out as fast as possible and that it is okay to send trashy posts as long as they get published.

That is one of the biggest mistake you could ever make as a guest blogger.

On the contrary, guest posts should be shining beacons of excellence; a promise of all that you are worth!

So take your time to write the very best possible, keeping in mind that each guest post you send out is like a letter of recommendation – recommending you to your prospective audience.

If you send out trashy guest posts, remember that trash goes in the trash-can.

Even if your trashy guest post gets published by one unfortunate blogger, its presence out there with your by-line does you and your brand more harm than good.

Before sending a guest post out, remember that it takes a perfect guest post to get on a perfect blog.

Take your time to write a guest post you will always be proud of.