Ultimate Guest Posting Guide Pt II: 7 Ways To Find Guest Post Opportunities

This is Part II of a series. Read the other articles: Part I | Part II | Part III

If you read the first article in this series, you are hopefully sold on the concept of guest posting for your blog. The next logical step is figuring out how to find guest post opportunities. So let’s get straight on with it!

1. Google Is Your Friend

The first place to hit up is trusty old Google. With some clever search-parameter wizardry, you’ll be unearthing golden guest post opportunities in no time.

Here are a few search terms to get you up and running:

• “your niche” + inurl:guest-post
• “your niche” + intitle:”write for us”
• “your niche” + intitle:”contribute”

You can probably guess how these are working. Let’s say you have a blog about vintage teacups (you weirdo). In order to find guest posting opportunities, you might type “vintage teacups + inurl:guest-post”. That would return any page relevant to vintage teacups that also has “guest-post” somewhere in the page’s URL. Alternatively, you might type “vintage teacups + intitle:”write for us”. This would return any page relevant to vintage teacups that also has “write for us” somewhere in the page title.

You can simplify your search if you would like. For instance, you might just type “vintage teacups + “guest post””. That would return any page that mentions vintage teacups and the phrase “guest post” somewhere in the content. However, results returned by such searches can be a little hit and miss.

2. Your Network

Here’s a novel thought. If you have a fairly well-established blog and know a few people in your niche, asking them if you could guest post on their blog (or if they know of any guest posting opportunities) should be one of your very first steps.

Your network can be a powerful ally when it comes to finding guest post opportunities. Don’t be afraid to let people know that you are looking for exposure. Doing so can lead to benefits beyond that of just guest posting. This may be going off on a tangent somewhat, but building and nurturing a large network should be on of your primary goals as a blogger.

3. Twitter/Facebook

Twitter’s search engine can be used much in the same way as Google’s to see if anyone is actively asking for guest posts. Facebook can be a great (and informal) way of getting in touch with bloggers you are not familiar with to ask if they would consider a guest post application.

4. Tell People!

This is one that I rarely see in use. If you want to guest post on other blogs, tell your readers!

Consider this – many of your readers might be blog owners themselves. If they are a fan of your blog (and as readers, they certainly should be!), they would probably be delighted for you to write a post.

People are always looking for quality content to add to their blog. It is a picky blogger that would turn down a quality guest post application. And if the application comes from someone they know and respect, how likely are they to turn the offer down?

Not only that, if you are actively advertising your desire to guest post, word can get around outside of your immediate readership network. Ten minutes work on such a page may pay off handsomely.

5. Befriend Serial Guest Posters

If you are active in your blogging community, you will no doubt come across guest posters who seem to be everywhere. You should get to know these people – perhaps they would be happy to share the list of sites that they have guest posted on.

6. Craigslist/Job Boards

Sites such as Craigslist and the Pro Blogger Job Board can be a great source of guest posting opportunities. Typically, advertisers on these sites are offering paid writing positions. You might take the initiative and contact such people. Whilst you would not necessarily be proposing a long term arrangement (which is probably what they are looking for), you are offering them a “free” article in return for just a link.

7. Blog Directories

As we all know, blogging is all the rage these days. A lot of blogs offer guest posting opportunities, even if they don’t advertise it. For instance, I do not currently advertise that I consider guest posting opportunities on my blog, but I do. I’ve just been too lazy to get around to creating a “guest post” page!

So if you can tap into blog directories, it doesn’t have to take too long to make preliminary inquiries with a number of blogs, regardless of whether or not they advertise.

I’m not going to list any directories here, because there are an enormous number. You may also wish to concentrate solely on your niche, for which there may well be a specific directory. Just hop onto Google, type in “blog directories”, and get going.

Think Outside Of The Box

As you can see from above, there are many different ways in which you can find guest posting opportunities. Give the above tips a go, and see how you get on. Although you may feel like you have exhausted all possible opportunities, the chances are, you haven’t. The internet is after all an enormous resource. So don’t be afraid to think outside the box. For instance, perhaps you can guest post on blogs that focus on complementary niches?

What ideas do you have for finding guest post opportunities that I have not mentioned above?

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