It’s tough getting the word out about your new business when you have a small advertising budget. However, this technique can get you featured in top online magazines, absolutely free.
Getting the word out about your new business can be a real challenge. Sure, you could throw up a few advertisements and call it a day. But if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you don’t have a huge budget in the beginning, and the cost of paid ads can quickly add up.
If you’ve already exhausted your ad budget, you may be wondering, “How on earth will I ever get this thing off the ground?”
Fortunately, you have leverage. You have something of great importance to top online magazines, who will willingly feature your business, without charging you a single dime.
Your leverage is your expertise.
You may not think of yourself as an “expert” per se, but you know your business better than anyone else. For example, someone who sells post-workout shakes knows what nutrients are best for rebuilding muscle. The owner of a web design agency understands best practices for developing mobile responsive websites. A restaurateur knows how to pair foods and drinks to create flavorful meals.
That knowledge is useful to major publications because they need content. Create your content calendar around what you know, pitch that content as a guest article, and you could have your business featured on their website.
Bryan Harris, founder of Videofruit, increased his website traffic by a whopping 523 percent when he wrote his very first guest post.
Daniel DiPiazza, founder of Rich20Something, stated in his email newsletter that he got nearly 10,000 new leads in just 3 days after publishing a guest post. Those same leads resulted in $10,360 of revenue within 30 days of the publish date!
But you want to know the best part? Using this strategy, you can build links, boost your traffic and increase your revenue for free, any time you want. All you need to do is write a new guest post.
3 steps to get published in top online magazines.
Are you ready to get some free publicity? Here are 3 steps to help you land your first guest post.
1. Hone in on your ideal target.
Not every magazine is going to be the right fit for your business. You’ll need to determine which targets are going to get you the best results.
To save you some research time, I’ve compiled a list of the best guest blogging opportunities in every major niche. But if you want to look on your own, ask yourself the following questions about the target publication:
- Do they serve my target market?
- Do they have an engaged readership (lots of comments and shares)?
- Does the byline include a link back to the guest author’s website?
- Is the byline on the same page as the article itself (so readers don’t have to click to see it)?
2. Pitch your guest post.
Before you send your pitch, first make sure you’ve carefully read through your target’s guest posting guidelines.
Second, read through their 10 most popular articles. You can use a tool like Buzzsumo to find which posts were the most popular. Take note of the format, style, length, topics, and any other nuances.
Third, come up with a few enticing headline ideas for your post. Make sure they will fit in seamlessly with the other headlines on the site.
Finally, pitch your headline ideas to the appropriate section editor. Keep your pitch brief and to-the-point. Link to a few examples of your work so they can see your track record. Always keep the individual recipient in mind: never send a generic pitch.
(Note: some publications require a full draft up front, but most will allow you to pitch a few topic ideas first.)
3. Generate leads.
Once you’ve been given the go-ahead by the editor, the next step is to write your blog post and set it up for success.
In your byline, include a compelling call to action with a link to your website. For example: “Click here to download the free checklist for this post.”
That link should go to a landing page where you will collect email addresses. This is a page with no navigation or other links, so the only option is to sign up. This is the most effective way to generate valuable email leads from your guest post.
Guest blogging is an effective way to get the word out about your new business, and it doesn’t cost you a thing. Just follow the steps above to get publicity, grow your leads and boost your revenue.