Be My Guest: How to Build Your Blog Audience by Writing Guest Posts

Blogging is one of the best free promotional resources that anyone in business can use today, even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘blogger’. But so often bloggers get discouraged when they post something online and can’t see anyone reading and then taking action.

I’ll tell you a little blogging secret that all the top bloggers know: the best results are 180 degrees from what it seems, meaning you are more attractive when you are not trying to attract attention! Let me explain…

Millions of people are writing, sharing and posting on the Internet today. Just like you, they want to make a connection and get recognition for their work. And YOU have the power to give it to them. This is where the relationship builder with other bloggers starts.

I like to imagine that every other content creator is like me. From my experience, even the top bloggers are delighted to see interaction on their blog. I’ve never met one that doesn’t want more readers and the smart ones all know this secret: in order to build your blog audience, you need to build your blogger network.

Any connection with another blogger starts with getting noticed. Start with blogs the same size as yours and then move up to larger and larger audiences as your network grows. The easiest place to start is by interacting via social media and on the blogger’s blog by leaving comments on their work.

Accelerating the Relationship Beyond Comment Exchanges

The quickest way to get to larger audiences is to post where they are already reading. No matter how big your blog gets, most of the potential readers are not reading. So any guest post on another blog is likely to reach mostly people you are currently missing with your blog.

Again, this is where being needy isn’t the best strategy. Instead of asking “Can I post on your blog?”, use the opposite approach and say “Would you like to post on my blog?” You won’t always get reciprocity, but you will get a lot of offers to write guest post.

As a guest blogger, you get access to THEIR audience where you can build new relationships by sharing the same type of content that you used to attract your audience in the first place. (If you are reading this post, it’s proof that content sharing works).

Speed It Up Even More the with VIV Blogger Network

I’m working with a magazine publisher who reaches hundreds of thousands of readers. We’ve set up a blogger network and request bloggers to share. We made it super easy for any blogger to initiate a conversation with the VIV network.

VIV is now running a contest designed for bloggers. All you do to participate is just cut and past one line into a blog post and your users see the following widget: (Try it, you may win an iPad!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interested in joining the VIV network? Just go to my own blog post: How One Click Could Triple Your Blog Readership