Guest blogging is one of the most powerful ways to show your skills to new people and promote your own blog by writing on someone else’s website.
Since 3 years, I have hosted lots of different guest bloggers on my blogs, and I am also a guest author on some popular sites as such as Smashing Magazine, ProBlogDesign or WpHacks.

Being a guest blogger is definitely something that helped me to build a strong readership on my blogs as well as to gain an online reputation. Let’s see how, in 10 easy points, you can be a great guest blogger.

1. Start on small blogs

[tweet]A big mistake made by blogging begginers is to try to submit posts to a very well-known blog. For exemple, I have received some guest articles on my blogs Cats Who Code and PsdVibe which aren’t bad, but in my opinion not good enought for theses blogs right now. Though, theses articles should fit perfectly on smaller blogs.

2. Don’t focus on money (at least when you start)

Guest blogging is a great way to earn some money, and many blogs actually pays their guest bloggers. Considering that, it can be tempting to ask for money in exchange of a guest post. The problem is just that if you’re a beginner, you have to show what you can do before you can blog for money.
Today, I’ll not (excepted some reasons) blog for free. But in the past, I have worked hard for 0 dollars, but to show what I can do and why my writing deserved to be paid. And it worked.

3. Don’t fear being rejected

Although I recommend to start on small blogs, if you really feel that you got the skills to write on a popular blog, don’t say “I don’t think they’ll like my writings.”. Ask them: “Hey, can I write a guest post for you?” : If you got a negative answer, so what? There are millions blog on the internet.
Though, you can be confident: you’ll be surprised by how much positive answers you can receive.

4. Focus on your skills

Another big mistake: Sending an email which looks like “Hey bro, can I be an author on your blog?”. Honestly, will you say that at a job interview? You have to convince the blogger that you can bring something good to his blog, so always provide links to your best articles, or to guest posts you already wrote.

5. Always provide high-quality articles

Sometimes, I have the impression that some people submit guest articles when they think that theses posts aren’t good enought for their own blogs. Most bloggers will not publish it on their blogs, but if some does, it will rather decrease your credibility instead of increasing it.
Remember that your regular readers are already conviced by your writings. When blogging on another blog, you have to do your best to convince new people.

6. Listen to the blog owner and learn from him

Some guest-bloggers feel a bit upset if the blog owner you’re writing for wants to edit your posts, or ask you to replace some parts. I understand that sometimes it can be frustrating, but always keep in mind that the blog owner have more experience than you. If he asked a modification in your work, it isn’t because he thought you did a bad job, but because he thinks that his audience will prefer it that way.
Don’t get frustrated and take this as an advice given by someone more experienced than you. In other words, learn from it.

7. Answer comments, provide support

At the time when I was a regular guest author on WpHacks, I managed to become “popular” among other guest bloggers there because I always took the time to answer WpHacks readers, and provide theme support when they needed it. Basically, I provided the same support quality for WpHacks readers than I did to my own readers. That way, I quickly gained respect from the readers.

8. This is your post: Promote it!

Writing a great post is very good, but it is even better if people can be aware about it. This is the reason why you should always promote your guest posts just like you promote your own blog posts: Use Twitter, submit the post on Digg, Delicious and other social media sites, and write a short post on your blog to let your readers know about your external contribution.

9. Be permanent

As a reader, when you enjoy reading posts from a specific author and this author suddenly disappear, it is a bit disapointing. Writing a good guest post will probably get you hundreds – or thousands – of readers, but writing guest articles on a regular basis will get you real fans that will follow you and your future projects.

10. Your own personal tip

Let’s discuss it: What tip would you like to add to this list? Let me know in the comments!