Assignment 7, Bootcamp #5 - Guest Blogging

[iCraft Admin]

Guest blogging is another safe and effective way of building backlinks. Guest blogging means that you contribute content to other blogs, in exchange for a backlink to your site.

Usually, when you are guest blogging, you are allowed to place a link or two pointing back to your store and/or to your blog with appropriate keywords, as anchor text, in your author bio that appears above or beneath your article. Sometimes you can even weave in your store or product URLs right into the article body. (If you are creative enough!)  

Those references have to make sense and fit nicely into the story you are telling.
For example, if you are sharing a tutorial on how to make a Beaded Bracelet, you can show images of your own bracelet being made, and then link the image of the finished product to your product page... or you can link to your store page filtered by Beaded Bracelets, like this one https://icraftgifts.com/jewelry-by-kat/by-category-52/#products, where people can see more examples of Beaded Bracelets.
This would not look spammy, but useful to blog readers. So blog owners would most likely allow you to keep those links in your post.

Things to keep in mind when Guest Blogging:

• You want to contribute to relevant and active blogs. Pick them carefully!
• You don't need to contribute more than 1 article per blog, as you want them to be from different domains.
• As with all blog owners, they care about the quality of the posts, so don't send them very short posts full of self-promotion or posts that have been published somewhere else. Those posts will definitely get rejected.
  Read our Blogging Guidelines. They pretty much apply to any blog out there.
• Don't forget to include a link to your store in your post or in your bio section. After all, that's why you are guest blogging in the first place.
• If you can add more than 1 link, mention your blog and your social media accounts. if you are allowed to mention only 1 link, choose your store URL, as this is that's the page that we are trying to promote with backlinks.

Please tell me by Sunday afternoon if you were able to land any guest blogging gigs and how your experience was so far. What questions were you asked etc. Good luck everyone!

[Jewelry by Kat]

Been sending emails with guest blogging requests but no one is getting back to me.

[JaJeJems]

What is the best process, ask people if you can do a blog on their website or submit a blog when you ask?

[iCraft Admin]

The best way is to look for blogs that mention guest blogging on their site.
When approaching bloggers, tell them a bit about yourself and what you can contribute to their blog. Also, list a few samples of your writing - links to some of your best articles. That should be enough to get their interest.

[Jewelry by Kat]

I am not having fun.  I can finally submit my blog thru email and my email isn't working right.  It lost it twice! ugh!

[Jewelry by Kat]

After losing my blog 2 more times it finally gets there and she refused because it is too basic......what a day I'm going to bed

[JaJeJems]

http://www.brickmarketing.com/blog/anchor-text-linking.htm. I liked this article because it gave examples!  I am having a slow week as we are selling a house and packing! However I have a couple of leads! So hopefully I will have something to report tomorrow!

[iCraft Admin]

Yes, JaJeJems, some good examples in the article on how to diversify anchor text. Thanks for sharing!

So how did everyone do this week? Any luck with guest blogging?

[Jewelry by Kat]

I did not have any luck.  Out of three I got none.   One refused because my article was too basic.  The second one was not interested and the third one now charges $ 100.00.  I am going to keep looking.

[JaJeJems]

Well I thought that this one would be easy but I have also not had much luck.  I have a few requests out but have not had responses yet.  My challenge  this week has been time and coming up with blog ideas that would fit the sites that I think would be willing to accept me.  I think that I need to do more work on relationship building so I will feel more comfortable approaching people.  A lot of the people that I am in contact with are starting out like I am and don't really have much of a following e.g. No comments on blogs. I will keep trying though!

[iCraft Admin]

Yes, it's not very easy and you need to be a pretty good writer too. Well, if you are spending too much time trying to land guest blogging gigs with no results, you might want to skip it and focus on other types of link building that provide you quicker results.

[Red Rock Designs]

Hi, I'm having the opposite issue than JaJeJems...the chainmaille blogs I've found are by artists who've been doing it a long time and are pretty advanced in their creations and I'm starting to think they have a team of people behind their products and blogging...so no responses...and I'm a little intimidated to approach them.    Plus I find it hard to come up with my own blog ideas, much less try to write for someone else's blog.  So I think I'm safe to say that this week was a bust for me.

Still working on the link building though.

[JaJeJems]

Yes I am still working on directories and link building too.  Maybe the guest blogs will come a little more naturally later.  Glad to,hear I am not alone and thanks for the  encouragement admin!

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,

You shouldn't feel intimidated by other bloggers. You have nothing to lose by engaging in a conversation and offering your skills. Also, it's ok if you don't have blog ideas ready. You can simply ask site owners for preferred topics.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,
Just wondering - how did you do with this week's assignment? Any progress?