Shelton Interactive

How to Guest Blog Successfully: An Interview with Sara Pence

September 8, 2016 by Lisa Tener

In our third lesson of Social Media for Authors Week you’ll learn how to guest blog (pitching and writing one!)–and why guest blogging is such a valuable skill/strategy for an author.

Sara Pence, social media and guest blog strategist — Sara Pence

I first met Sara Pence when working with Shelton Interactive, now Advantage Media, on a campaign for platform building. I wanted to raise my visibility in the field and my media page looked outdated. It was time for some outreach. Sara helped me come up with terrific strategies and ideas for guest blog posts, which she successfully pitched. I even landed my dream post—with Writers Digest—12 Workplace Skills to Apply to Your Writing Career.

Guest blogging is such a terrific strategy for connecting specifically with your target audience and expanding your reach. I felt it deserved a place in our Social Media for Authors Week. And who better to discuss how to guest blog successfully than Sara Pence.

Why Guest Blog?

Lisa: What are some of the benefits of guest posting? Why would an author want to guest blog?

Sara: There are several benefits that come with writing guest posts for other bloggers and influencers. Here are a couple:

Guest blogging will help you tap into an audience other than your own, and draw other people to your own platform.
You’ll grow your online presence by having a link to your own website in your byline. This will help SEO (search engine optimization) for you AND the blogger who is hosting you.

Lisa: For what percentage of your authors do you suggest a guest blogging strategy? What are your criteria?

Sara: We work this strategy into every publicity campaign we work on. It’s important to remember that all media outlets are constantly searching for fresh content. Our job is to work with our Members to come up with the right angle for the outlet we want to pitch.

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Lisa: How do you identify blogs that are a good fit?

Sara: Each project we work on is different, which requires us to constantly be on the lookout for new outlets that cover a wide variety of topics.

We do a lot of organic research through Google, in addition to looking for new outlets listed in Cision – a media relations database. With this resource we are able to find influencers, build media lists and track necessary analytics from a publicity standpoint.

We also keep track of our Member’s social media interactions and reach out to writers, bloggers and journalists who are already engaging with them online.

Lisa: Can you give an example of a recent pitch you made and the result?

Sara: We recently started working with first-time author Jane Wyker and her book, Soul Selfish. While monitoring her Twitter interactions we were able to identify a news outlet that engaged with her on a regular basis, and I reached out to the site’s editor with a few guest blog post ideas. Referencing Jane and their Twitter interaction(s) in the beginning of my pitch was key. The editor requested a guest blog post from Jane, and you can read the final product here.

This is an example that illustrates how social media management and active publicity outreach can complement each other well.

Lisa: Let’s talk for a minute about original content vs. duplicate content. When we worked together on a guest blogging strategy, you helped me brainstorm overall ideas. Then we focused on a specific pitch for each blogger or website. I imagine pitching guest blog posts is more involved since you can’t pitch the same article for every blog. Each blogger wants original content. Is that right?

Sara: Correct. We generally pitch guest blog posts that are made up of original content, because that’s what the majority of news outlets and blogs require.

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Lisa: How do you approach your pitches to bloggers? Do you tend to pitch a variety of topics for one author, or variations on a theme?

Sara: Each pitch we send is different and tailored to who we’re reaching out to – which is why research is such a huge part of this process. We’ll sometimes offer a variety of topics, or if we feel very confident that one specific story idea will be a hit, we’ll offer just one.

Lisa: What are some tips to keep in mind when approaching a blogger about a guest blog post?

Sara: Be personal. Make sure what you’re offering is truly a fit for the blogger, and tell them early on in your pitch why.

Lisa: I noticed some statistics on the blogs you approached for me. What are those numbers and what do they mean?

Sara: One number we keep an eye on while pitching bloggers is unique monthly visitors (UMVs). This is the number of unique visitors a website has each month. For example, I’ve visited Writer’s Digest online before, so that site won’t register me as a new visitor in the future. The bigger the UMV, the better.

Lisa: What suggestions do you have for writing a great guest blog post?

Sara: One word: Lists.

Think about how many times you see articles that start with, “Five ways to…,” “10 reasons why…,” “Three common ways…,” etc., every day. This is because people (and the media) love lists.

As explained in this Fast Company article, we gravitate towards easily-digestible information. For this reason, we always suggest writing guest posts with valuable takeaways in a list format.

Lisa: Good point, we brainstormed quite a few list-based guest blog posts together. The guest blog post on Live, Write, Thrive that provides tips to land that 5- or 6- figure book deal comes to mind. We actually came up with several lists: writing advice, the tried and true tips (what hasn’t changed in publishing), the list of what’s changed in publishing and three rules to go by. So, if you offer lots of tips or items in a list, sometimes it’s a good idea to break them up into categories, each with its own headline.

Guest Blog Success Stories

Lisa: Can you share some examples of clients of yours and the experiences they’ve had with guest posting? Any exciting opportunities that have come out of the experience?

Sara: We have had several Members write guest blog posts for top news sites, like Entrepreneur.com or Huffington Post, and be offered the opportunity to become a regular contributor. You can look at Denise Nagel’s HuffPost column or Michelle Reina’s Entrepreneur.com posts as a couple of examples of how this turns out. There isn’t really a set-in-stone process to make this happen, so it’s really exciting when those invitations come through!

Lisa: What are some things that would cause a blogger or website to have you back as a guest blogger?

Sara: Providing a blogger with really solid and valuable content that proved to resonate really well with his or her audience is key. For example, offer a completely different opinion on a popular news story, list tips that only you as the expert in your field can explain, or regularly check in on your guest post and engage with those who comment on it.

Lisa: Any parting advice for our readers?

Sara: When writing for someone else’s blog or platform, always keep the term, “news you can use” in mind. At the end of the day, it can’t be all about promoting your brand. You have to provide valuable tips, advice and a call to action for THEIR audience in order to grow yours.Be patient because this strategy takes a lot of time, but you’ll find it worthwhile in the long-run.

Lisa: How can people get in touch with you?

Sara: You can learn more and contact me here.

Sara Pence is a senior publicist at Advantage Media Group. She has successfully developed and implemented publicity strategies by securing hundreds of media hits for bestselling authors, health professionals, nonprofit organizations and much more. For more information, please visit www.advantagefamily.com.

Ask your questions about guest blogging below–or share your experiences and tips for pitching a guest blog–or writing one!

And here are the other two blog posts in the Social Media for Authors series:

Frances’ Caballo shares why Goodreads is so important for authors, along with tips and success stories on Goodreads for Authors.
Rusty Shelton shares his favorite strategies on Twitter for Authors, along with several inspiring examples.

Twitter for Authors: An Interview with Rusty Shelton

September 6, 2016 by Lisa Tener

Twitter for Authors? Here’s Your Go-to Expert.

I first met Rusty Shelton before Twitter existed – for authors or anyone. We met when my book, The Ultimate Guide to Transforming Anger came out over a decade ago. Rusty’s approach to book publicity was so far beyond anything else out there. And the personal attention he and his colleagues gave our book was far superior to the boilerplate template we received from other book publicists as we looked for someone we could trust with “our baby.”

Throughout my career, Rusty and his companies, Shelton Interactive, Advantage Marketing, and now Zilker Media, have guided me and supported my career in innumerable ways: from recommending me as a faculty member for Harvard Medical School’s publishing course to garnering an invitation to guest post for Writer’s Digest to advising me all along the way.

His book, co-authored with Barbara Cave Henricks, Mastering the New Media Landscape is a must-read for authors and entrepreneurs. You’ll find Rusty’s strategic perspective in every chapter. He has helped more books get on the New York Times Bestseller List than any publicist or digital media strategist I know.

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Lisa: Why is Twitter such an important “space” for authors to be?

Rusty: There is no better social platform to build intentional, outbound relationships with journalists, groups, conferences and other influencers. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, Twitter allows an author (when they approach it the right way) to get above the noise found in the media’s inbox and connect on a peer to peer level.

Lisa: What kinds of big picture goals should authors have for Twitter? What can it do for them?

Rusty: The primary goal of Twitter is to use it to build relationships with the following groups:

the top 50 journalists/bloggers/media members in your topic area (make a list and tweet to someone on this list at least 1x a day)
the top 50 influencers/authors/experts/authorities in your topic area (make a list and tweet to someone on this list at least 1x a day)
the top 50 groups/organizations/conferences/associations/businesses you want to build relationships with (make a list and tweet to someone on this list at least 1x a day)

Additionally, Twitter gives you a great platform to thank people who help you with your book launch and to connect with readers who talk about your book. A public shout-out on Twitter is much more powerful than a private email.

Twitter Authors’ Success Stories

Lisa: The instructions remind me of the story of the success of the original Chicken Soup for the Soul. As I heard it, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson did one thing for their book every day. This sounds like the modern version of that and something that can elevate the success of an author in an organic and authentic way. Do you have some examples of goals your clients had and met on Twitter?

Rusty: One of my favorite stories is that of Carol Sanford. A successful speaker and consultant to international corporations like Colgate, Seventh Generation, and DuPont, Carol came to me skeptical about how Twitter could improve her platform. She hired us to help launch her first book, The Responsible Business. After putting four years of her life into writing that book, she wanted to make sure she left no stone unturned when it came to marketing. She knew the importance of coverage from traditional outlets like Bloomberg Businessweek, CNBC-TV, and other major players. Yet, as someone who came of age before the massive changes and disruption in the media, Twitter was not on her radar.

Despite her skepticism, we were able to convince her to give Twitter a try. Within a few weeks, Carol had mastered the basics of Twitter, and we had developed a strategy to build relationships with journalists and key influencers in her topic area using her new Twitter skills. As a new—and relatively unknown—author, Carol needed to mine every opportunity to connect with influential people, and Twitter offered her that chance.
Almost immediately, Carol connected with Sam Ford, a popular blogger at Fast Company. Sam had written a post that Carol loved, and she retweeted his tweet about the post, adding a personalized comment.

Carol was drawn to Sam’s unique approach to blogging, by the way, as he used soap operas to illustrate various business situations. This caught Carol’s eye and prompted her to praise his originality. Sam, like many journalists, kept a close eye on his Twitter account and thanked Carol for her comment. From there, the two started a conversation on Twitter about what it truly means to be a responsible business. The connection was made, and when Carol’s book released six months later, the cover featured Sam’s endorsement. He even invited her to speak at a few business events, and forged a personal friendship as well.

Were it not for Twitter, Carol and Sam were unlikely to have ever connected. But Carol’s story didn’t end there. Based on a continued focus on using rented media (in her case, Twitter) to build relationships with key targets, Carol self-generated coverage in Inc. magazine; appeared at a Fast Company conference; hosted a conference at Vault, an event space showcasing cutting-edge ideas; and was invited to do some consulting work with Google where we had nailed down a book talk for her.

She recalls her comment when we first brought up the importance of rented media, “I thought Twitter was just shallow. Not substantive, at best, and at worst, a place to celebrity watch. What I found was some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. And, being an introvert, I am not at all sure I could have connected with them any other way.”

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Lisa: Wow, what a testament to what’s possible when you take Twitter seriously, spend time on Twitter and authentically respond to what you see there, particularly when you find a fresh voice that resonates for you. What are some of the things you advise your clients to do when they first get on Twitter?

Rusty: The first thing to do is build your a quality profile. I can’t tell you how many people I see sign up for Twitter and not post a quality bio, well-designed header image or even an avatar picture. This Twitter account is going to be become a key first impression for many people – make sure it’s a good one.

Secondly, Twitter is all about focus. Many people call it the world’s biggest cocktail party, which I think is the perfect analogy. Just like cocktail parties, people circle up in small groups on Twitter talking about an infinite amount of topics. Some talk about House of Cards, others the election and so on. You don’t want to just wander around this cocktail party or you’ll never get anywhere. The crucial step here: build the three lists I described above and focus at least 75% of your content on those lists.

Third, use the same etiquette you would at a cocktail party. Think about it – would you really lead into a conversation with “Hey – guess what? My new book’s you! You can buy it here!” Absolutely not and you shouldn’t do that on Twitter either. Take a conversational approach and create a voice on Twitter that positions you to talk peer to peer with the lists I mentioned above.

Lisa: One of the first steps I recommend to authors is buying a copy of Mastering the New Media Landscape: Embrace the Micromedia Mindset. What advanced strategies you suggest, once an author gets familiar with Twitter?

Rusty: Take advantage of the data Twitter gives you access to. The search field on Twitter is one of the most under-utilized tools on the platform. If you are an author, search for the 10 most popular books in your category and see what people are saying about them. Are there bloggers you can follow? Maybe conferences you should pay attention to? Likewise, track everyone who is talking about your content on Twitter. Most who share your blog posts, articles and even talk about your book won’t take the time to find your Twitter handle and tag you, so you must proactively track that content using the search field.

Lisa: Wow, that is superb advice. What are some of the benefits to authors outside of book sales?

Rusty: The biggest benefit of Twitter isn’t necessarily direct book sales, it’s relationship-building with journalists, influencers and others who can then turn around and invite an author to do an interview, write a guest post, give a keynote or even come in and do a workshop. The results of Twitter more often than not are found off of Twitter in the form of PR, business development and, most importantly, new relationships.

Authors: Avoid These Twitter Trip-Ups

Lisa: That’s a great point and I see it in my clients’ social networking. These social networks and blogs can lead to some of the biggest opportunities in an author’s career–and forge powerful friendships as well. Can you share some of the biggest mistakes authors make on twitter?

Rusty: Me-first content is by far the biggest and most common mistake I see on Twitter. If more than 10% of your content benefits you (links to your book, promotional content, etc.) you’re the person no one wants to talk to at the cocktail party.

The other mistake I see is when authors proactively pitch themselves to journalists on Twitter. Your goal in relationship-building on the platform isn’t a direct pitch to them – it’s pulling them to you by talking to them like a peer. In other words, instead of saying “Hi @DavidSmith – loved your column in the @WSJ today. I’d like to interview with you on that topic next time” say something along the lines of “Really interesting piece from @DavidSmith in the @WSJ today. Love his unique angle on neuroplasticity – don’t see that much.”

You want the journalist to find your tweet interesting and on-topic enough to click through and look at your bio and (hopefully) then click through to your website.

Authors: Track Your Twitter

Lisa: What are some benchmarks authors might use to evaluate how they are doing with Twitter?

Rusty: These are the benchmarks that we track for our Members/Clients on Twitter:

Engagement (how many people engage with your content? This could include likes, responses and retweets)
Reach (how many impressions are you getting on Twitter?)
Results (how many media hits, speaking invites and other ‘offline’ results have been generated?)
Followers (this is what everyone focuses on but it’s much less important than impact)

Updated bio (2022): Rusty Shelton is Founder and President of Zilker Media. He is co-author of Mastering the New Media Landscape: Embrace the Micromedia Mindset. Visit Rusty’s website for a free copy of The Twitter Playbook.

Have a question about Twitter for authors? Ask as a comment below. Or share your insights about the benefits of Twitter for authors. Share your tips, too.

And here are the next two posts in the Social Media for Authors series:

Frances’ Caballo shares her tips on Goodreads for Authors.
Sara Pence shares why Guest Blogging is such an excellent strategy for authors–and how to guest blog successfully.

How I Ended Up Guest Posting on a High Profile Blog for SEO Gurus

June 1, 2016 by Lisa Tener

On Tuesday, my guest post on Grammar Mistakes, Fixes, and Writing Tips for the Excellence-Minded Blogger went live on AHREFS blog.

It was exciting because, for me, this post was a stretch beyond my comfort zone.

Why did this particular blog intimidate me? For one thing, the length and depth of the posts on AHREFS were more than I am used to. In addition, they do in-depth research on keywords before posting. Plus, they use lots of internal and external links (links to other posts on their blog and to data and research that supports the strategies they offer).

And, of course, the writing is always high quality. These guys take their blogging very seriously.

So, I wondered, could I do all that? I’m not a research wiz and I don’t know as much about keywords as I’d like. And could I come up with all those examples by end of month?

How I Came to Guest Posting

Guest posting is a great strategy for reaching new people with your message and also can benefit your search engine rankings.

Guest blogging also invites you to stretch your metaphoric muscles. It can stretch you as a writer—as it did me—to write to a specific audience and write to the style and guidelines of the blog where you are posting.

However, I wasn’t trying to be strategic (and land a guest post) at the time.

Instead, I was wandering the Twitterverse looking at interesting content to share and found a blog post on The 2 Best Online Marketing Strategies for Businesses on a Tight Budget by Jacob McMillen. It was an impressive post—as are all the posts on AHREFS. [2022 note: I’ve taken out the article links as the blog is updated and these links no longer work]

I happened to notice a typo and I know I like to hear from my readers so I can correct any typos on my blog. I figured they might be of like mind.

So I wrote them.

And they wrote me back. Next thing, their blog editor, David McSweeney, invited me to write a guest post on grammar and writing tips for bloggers.

I felt so excited to be invited, because AHREFS has high standards. Their posts are full of excellent content—fresh ideas and strategies that are tested and work, excellent examples, quality links, research…

I took up David’s invitation.

Writing My Guest Post—Step by Step

I looked up their guest blogging guidelines. Uh oh. They didn’t seem to have any.

I emailed David who responded with, “We actually took them down as we are being very selective about guest posts at the moment. We’re more inviting people than looking for unsolicited pitches. The main guideline is that posts should be detailed and actionable.”

Now, the pressure was on.

As I browsed the site, the pressure mounted—each post seemed more well-researched and meaty than the last. And many posts had all these fancy screen captures to take readers step-by-step through their strategies. I had no clue how to do those screen capture thingies.

Plus examples for every strategy suggested.

How was I going to pull this off?

I have to admit. I spent more time writing the AHREFS post than I spend on most of my own posts, which tend to be much shorter and don’t have much research associated with the majority of them. Don’t get me wrong—I’m proud of my blog posts. They’re just a different style from AHREFS and a lot more informal.

Of course, about half of that extensive time I took to write my guest post was in researching their posts and then worrying about whether I possessed the chops.

I incorporated many of the strategies they suggested and modelled: headlines to break up text, lots of white space, internal and external links, including colleagues in the post.

I did not incorporate everything. I didn’t link to lots of research–but I did ask the folks at Grammarly for expert input (a quote) and any research they had on grammar and reader perceptions.

I didn’t do extensive keyword research—it’s not my expertise. I realize that’s a bit ironic since AHREFS offers tools for keyword research and search engine optimization! However, I did include my keywords in my title and throughout the post, in a non-spammy way.

I quickly realized that if I wanted examples, the best way to do it would be to include advice from my colleagues—writers, bloggers and, specifically, grammar bloggers.

identfiying bloggers — Frances Caballo helped me identify grammar and writing bloggers to approach.

I identified colleagues I’ve known for years—Frances Caballo, Stuart Horwitz, Ginger Moran, Michael Larsen, Samantha Bennett—and, with some help from Frances Caballo, I identified colleagues I’ve recently gotten to know a bit through Twitter—Jane Friedman, Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl), Susanne Lakin (whom I’d guest blogged for earlier, thanks to my friends at Shelton Interactive) and the folks at Grammarly. I even heard a great tip on a teleseminar on SEO tips with Neil Patel and asked him if I could quote him (Answer? “Yes.”).

Confession: At least two weeks passed between the time I identified colleagues and the time I actually got around to asking most of them. I think I delayed because of my overall fear of writing the post. In retrospect, it would have been less stressful—and more considerate—to email colleagues as soon as I placed them on my list.

I handed in my post with more than a little trepidation.

When David responded favorably (“Wow, what a great post.”) I could finally relax.

Then he wrote back asking if I was open to a new title. Of course.

While, at times, I have a knack for book titles (The Creativity Cure comes to mind), I often struggle with titles for blog posts (and email subject lines, BTW). So, it wasn’t a total surprise when David asked about changing the title (the original white bread version being, “Grammar and Writing Tips for Bloggers”).

We brainstormed by email and David suggested modifying one of my subheads and using that as a more compelling blog title. Done.

11 Lessons I Learned Guest Blogging for AHREFS

So, here are my takeaways from the experience, as well as earlier experiences writing guest posts for Writers Digest, Live Write Thrive, Positive Writer and Inspired Living Publishing:

Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you don’t know. You never know what will come of it.
Be willing to write outside your comfort zone.
Read the submissions/style guidelines. If they are not posted, ask for any guidelines they want to share.
Be sure to look at several of the blog’s most current posts and match those posts on length, style, content and, to some extent, tone.
Link to other posts on that blog/website.
Consider including and quoting other experts as a way to spread the love, reach more people and add texture and depth to your post.
Know your weaknesses. Decide whether you need help on particular aspects that are not your forte.
Spend time on penning a compelling title. If that’s not your strong point, see tip #7.
Start as soon as possible. I should have emailed colleagues sooner for their tips and strategies.
Make it actionable. This is something they stress on the AHREFS blog.
Take a deep breath and enjoy the process. Worrying about whether you’ll do a good job just wastes time and energy.

Have you ever guest posted on a blog? What was your experience? Feel free to share any takeaways and a link to your post. And if you invite guest bloggers, please share any additional tips or takeaways to share with our community?

How I Ended Up Guest Posting on a High Profile Blog for SEO Gurus

How I Came to Guest Posting

Writing My Guest Post—Step by Step

11 Lessons I Learned Guest Blogging for AHREFS

Top Book Writing and Publishing Posts of 2014

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