How to Grow your Audience by Writing Guest Posts

Unless you have money to spend on advertising, you must write guest posts to grow your audience quickly. This task is one that many writers avoid because it can be time-consuming. You only need to designate this task for two to three hours weekly.

Writing guest posts on websites and publications where your target audience is active is a great strategy. What we are going to do is take you through the steps needed to complete this task successfully.

How to grow your audience by writing guest posts

You are writing a guest post to market yourself as an authority in your niche. We would not recommend this as a strategy for link building.

Most publications will allow you to link to your website, but they will often include a no-follow tag to adhere to search engine practices, meaning the link will not improve your search engine positions.

The goal is to have a reader visit your website and sign up for your email list to consume more content. Therefore, you must have a solid call to action when writing your bio at the article’s footer.

Step 1 – Identify the perfect websites and publications

Firstly, identify websites, magazines, and publications within your niche or industry that share your audience. You will want to get into a routine of creating a guest post to have published each week.

Think about where your target audience is active online.

• Where would you like to see your writing appear online?
• What are the high-profile and niche websites that you read a lot?

A guest post does not have to be online, but the benefit is that they can click a link rather than type in the URL to find your website.

Does the website focus on Generation Z or females? Spend time learning about their audience by looking at who engages with their content on social media; this will help you decide if they are a good fit.

We use Notion to create a table with the publication name, niche, URL, point of contact, email address, and details on their target audience. You could use a spreadsheet or document or whatever works best for you.

Step 2 – How to find the right point of contact

The best place to start is the About Us page on the website or publication. Find out who the editor or founder is and note their name.

If an email address does not appear on the website’s front end, there are a few solutions you could use to reach the right person.

You can try using the email format that many businesses use: firstname.surname@websitenamehere.com. Or, you can use a Chrome extension like hunter.io, which is free for up to 25 monthly searches, which will be enough for most content creators. Another option is to find the founder or editor on social media like X or LinkedIn and contact them.

Use the contact form; the website will forward your message to a specific team or person. Note the email address or contact information on the list we mentioned in Step 1.

Step 3 – Get creative with attractive topic ideas

Hold off from sending any emails yet. Instead, it’s time to get creative and develop topic ideas that will attract the website or publisher. Look at the recently published content and think of any linked topics.

Knowing your target audience and what topics are currently trending or are upcoming, think of issues on which you could write content.

The goal is to write a guest post that will attract their target audience, which you share, and also topics their current readership is interested in.

Think of evergreen, more extended-form content topics, and even create posts that would get you more exposure over time. Another idea is to look at topics within their niche that they have not covered.

From a writer’s perspective, you want to come up with topics that will be easy for you to write about. You need to be able to write quality content but not on issues you will need to research and take a while to write.

Create 1-3 ideas to pitch to the editor or founder.

Step 4 – Reach out to the website or publication

The final task is the most important to get right. Please do not use an outreach template you found online. While it will save you time, templates do not work. It would be best if you made it personal.

Take time to learn about the website and publication. Understand the audience and also find out about the editor or founder.

You can read their social media content to find a few exciting pieces of information showing that you have spent time researching.

Write each email in an informal tone, but be professional.

From experience receiving outreach emails, you can see templates. The emailer will tell you that they love your content, but it’s obvious they have done zero research because the topic does not match your niche.

If you share a common interest, mention it. Find out the editor or founder’s story and share your thoughts and experiences, but keep it brief. Remember that people do not have time to read emails longer than 30 seconds.

Best practices for outreach emails

The subject is vital because this will stand out in their inbox.

Please keep it to a few words, but it has to be eye-catching. Use an emoji, use their name, and make it stand out to increase the open rate.

Keep it to under 100 words, and include a link so they can quickly browse other guest posts you have written. Create a page on your website with links to articles.

Keep a note of the date you sent out the email so that you do not contact the same person twice at the same time. Add another column in your list with a date two weeks from the date you sent the email.

Do not send spam

Reach out to the editor or founder again by forwarding your initial email. Do not, I repeat, do not continuously bombard them with emails. If they do not receive after the second email, do not send them another.

For the people who do not respond, follow them on social media, start to engage with their content, and build a relationship with them.

When you contact them again, they are more likely to respond because they know your name. Keep them on your list and network.

Over time, this process will become more accessible, especially as you grow your network and build relationships with more people within your niche and industry. Hopefully, this guide will help you understand how to grow your audience by writing guest posts.