How To Get Featured On A Blog [A Quick Step-By-Step Guide]

Step 1: Fix Your Mindset & Your Brand

The first step is to understand that you’re reaching out to bloggers, not journalists. 

And bloggers don’t want to publish press releases. So, you shouldn’t be pitching articles that revolve around your own business. 

Instead, you should pitch blog posts that will help or entertain another blogger’s audience.

Secondly, you should establish your own and your brand’s expertise in your niche before you even start pitching:

• Strengthen your brand presence on social media. Bloggers prefer to feature companies and creators with a large social media following. 
• Write a short bio that demonstrates your authority. Mention your previous experience, results, and awards. 

• Prepare professional photos of yourself, so you can submit them together with your bio.

Step 2: Find Relevant Blogs

The next step is to find a few relevant blogs you could write for. You want to identify blogs that: 

• Have the same target audience as you
• Publish content that’s relevant to your niche
• Allow guest blogging

So, how do you find blogs that fit all three criteria?

Try googling the following query strings: 

• “write for us” + “[niche-related keyword]”
• “guest post” + “[niche-related keyword]” 
• “submissions” + “[niche-related keyword]” 

Replace the dummy text with your actual niche-related keyword, and you should find many blogs connected to your niche:

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You can also use blogger outreach tools to find even more relevant sites. 

We like using BuzzStream. Here are some of the results we got with it by searching for “link building” and “content marketing”:

So, let’s say you’ve found a few websites that seem like the right fit.

Now, you need to establish whether they get enough traffic to help you accomplish your goals. If not, you should probably cross them off your list.

You can use a tool like Semrush to check any site's traffic stats. Just enter your prospect site’s URL, and wait for your results:

A good rule of thumb is to write for sites that get more traffic than your own website. 

Still, you sometimes want to consider other metrics, too, like sites’ domain authority (DA) and domain rating (DR) scores: 

Getting published on sites with high DA and DR scores will always benefit your SEO, so you may want to consider them even if they're not getting a ton of monthly traffic.

Still, sites with high DA and DR scores usually get a lot of traffic, too, so you’ll probably be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Step 3: Come Up With A Winning Story Idea

Your story idea should be relevant to both your own business and the blog you’re writing for. Here’s how to find that sweet spot:

1. Browse through a few posts that have already been published on your prospect site. 
2. Brainstorm similar topics you could cover in your own post. 
3. Check if enough people are interested in your topics by doing keyword research.

To conduct keyword research, you’ll need a tool like Ahrefs’ Keyword Generator. 

This and similar tools will show you how many searches your target keywords get every month:

If people aren’t looking up your keyword, it doesn’t make sense to write about it. 

But if they are, you’ll know that you have a winning idea. 

Step 4: Pitch Your Guest Post

Once you’ve found a good idea for your blog post, it’s time to pitch it.

Here are a few tips that will help you create a successful pitch:

• Start by giving praise: Communicate to every blogger that you know what their blog and business are about and why you value their content. The best way to go about this is to reference one of their existing posts in your pitch. (Ex: “I’ve just read your article on [X], and I have to say it’s one of the best resources I could find on this topic.”)
• Communicate how you could add value: Explain the benefits for the blogger and their site. (Ex: “I think my blog post on [X] would be a great addition to your existing article because of [Y].”) 
• End with a CTA: Let the blogger know the next step to take if he wants to work with you. (Ex: “If you’re interested, simply reply to this message, and let’s take it from there.”)

If you need help creating your pitch, feel free to use our blogger outreach template.

Step 5: Reach Out

We suggest you pitch one idea to one blogger at a time. That way, you'll avoid the scenario where several bloggers accept the same idea — and you won't have to reject anyone.

With that said, let’s talk about how you can send your pitch to the right people. 

Sometimes, you’ll find relevant contact info right on your prospect website. 

You may find an email address dedicated to guest post submissions. Or you may find links to a blogger's social accounts.

Other times, you won’t find any contact info you could use. 

In that case, you can use an email scraping tool like Hunter.io to find email addresses connected with a URL you enter:
 

All that’s left to do from there is copy and paste the pitch you’ve already created and send it to the person in charge.

Step 6: Follow Up

If you don’t get a reply to your initial email within a few weeks, try sending a follow-up email. Say something along the lines: 

Hey, I just wanted to make sure my last email didn’t slip through the cracks. I’d still love to write this article for you if you’re interested. If not, feel free to ignore my message.

In most cases, you’ll find that bloggers simply overlooked your email or forgot to reply. Most of them will probably get back to you, even if they reject your pitch. 

Step 7: Write Your Blog Post

The last step is to actually create the blog post you’ve pitched. Even if a blogger initially accepted your pitch, they may still reject your post if it’s not up to par. So, try to make it as good as possible. 

Here are a few general guidelines that could help: 

• Give actionable advice — Offer your readers examples, step-by-step instructions, and templates.
• Stay on topic — Define the main idea you want to communicate in your article, and delete everything that doesn’t align with it during editing. 
• Stay on brand — Write in a way that reflects both your style and the style of the blog you’re writing for. 
• Be clear — Write easy-to-read sentences that communicate ideas in the most straightforward way possible. 
• Proofread — Edit for grammar errors. 

What If You Don’t Get Featured Right Away?

If you don’t get featured on your chosen blogs from the get-go, don’t despair. There’s a lot you can do in the meantime to up your chances of getting featured in the future.

Here are a few ideas on what you can do:

• Start networking to build connections — Building meaningful connections with other bloggers almost guarantees they’ll want to feature you in their blogs. So, try attending live events or engaging with bloggers on social media. Leave valuable comments on their posts, start conversations in the DMs, and ask for a feature when you feel like the time is right. 
• Improve your writing skills — Unless you’re a professional writer, the chances are your writing skills could use some improvement. Try getting advice from pro content creators or editors, attending writing workshops, and reading successful blogs so you can steal some of their secrets.
• Send your pitch to lower-profile blogs — If you’ve had no luck getting featured on high-authority blogs, try to get published on lesser-known blogs first. That way, you’ll build your authority and increase your chances of getting published in the future.
• Hire intermediates — Public relations or link building agencies can help get you published on popular blogs with zero effort on your part. Some agencies, like ours, will also write high-quality content for you.  

FAQs

How do bloggers get featured in magazines?

Usually, bloggers get featured in magazines because they have good connections with editors or other authors. For more information, read our blog on getting featured in Forbes. 

Is blogging still profitable in 2022?

Yes, blogging is still profitable in 2022.

Getting Featured On High-Authority Blogs Is Difficult. We Make It Easy.

With over 8 years in the link building industry, we have the connections you need to get published on virtually any blog. Plus, you don’t pay us until we get you the placement you want. 

Sounds good? Schedule your free consultation today, and let’s get you featured asap. 

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