8 Ways to Prepare Before Writing a Guest Post

So how do you prepare to write a guest post? Try a few of these steps and see what feels right for you:

1. Think about your areas of expertise. Guest posts should contain valuable and informative content – if you aren’t teaching something new or sharing something interesting, it isn’t worth it to you or your publisher. Before you settle on a topic, make sure it’s a field that you are totally confident writing about. Besides, you’ll enjoy writing about something you’re familiar with.
2. Don’t worry about keywords when you are deciding your topic. Trying to rank for keywords on an individual blog post is not worth as much to your SEO as branding. Use guest posts to display your own talent, rather than trying to work the system of SEO.
3. Once you’ve settled on your topic, then you can start thinking about your angle. Are you writing this from a specific perspective? An example of this would be “time management for parents” rather than just “time management.” Or maybe you’re writing your post for a specific audience, such as people who have some experience but aren’t yet experts. Writing your blog post from a predetermined angle will help you organize your thoughts, as well as make your post fresh and interesting.
4. Think long and hard about the format of your blog post. In fact, you may even want to try it a couple different ways to see what works best.
5. Your guest post should be at least 300 words long, but ideally more than 500. Make sure you have a lot to say about your chosen topic.
6. Grab a friend or other trusted individual to proofread your post. You may even want to read your post out loud to see how it sounds. You and your proofreader should check thoroughly for clarity and readability, not just grammar and spelling mistakes.
7. Create or find some interesting rich media (pictures, infographics, graphs, videos, etc.) to add to your blog post.
8. The title of this post is especially important because you are trying to put your best foot forward. To ensure that you are creating a perfect and catchy title, write out 10 title options and pick your favorite one.

Now you’re ready to submit your article to a publisher! Your post will contain valuable content at the same time as remaining SEO-friendly.

What steps do you take before writing and submitting a guest post? Let us know in the comments!