You know what it is like to say something really profound and then angrily notice that nobody paid attention?
If you thought it was bad before 1984, it be bad now. This crazy Internet thing has turned you into a miniature Walter Cronkite. You snap a crooked photo of yesterday’s breakfast and post it on Instagram, expecting Robert Scoble to tweet it. And then you write a twenty-minute blog post explaining how to change the US economy. Something to do with that fact that Obama is really Osama in cognito.
I know how you think.
You have the notion that since you do not have a sore throat, you can become the next Britney Spears. You think that since you have been reading Problogger for the past 67 days, you know how to get traffic to your blog.
Here is my second question: You know what it is like to say something that everyone agrees to, but nobody acts on?
Picture yourself. You discover silver is increasing in value faster than gold, and you reallocate your assets. You show your friends the S.H. Silver CO charts and prove to them that the real gravy lies in silver, not gold. They loudly agree that you are correct, but then do nothing about it.
What’s my point?
You have ignored my secret to success
Do the words guest posting mean anything to you?
I use them. They mean traffic and subscribers. They mean cash in your Paypal and Amazon accounts. They mean checks in the mail. I am looking fondly at one right now.
Do you realize that this thing, this blog, is less than four months old and is making money? Does that sound like something you would enjoy?
A month ago I said something profound and you did not pay attention. A while later I said something again and you agreed, but did not act on it.
You are acting like you have never heard of guest posting in your life.
Few – I do mean few – writers have discovered guest posting. Those who do wind up with a few hundred thousand subscribers. But few writers pursue it. Why?
Because they are proud and lazy.
Writing great content is hard work. Most writers are exhausted by the end of the ordeal, and they are eager to publish to their own blog. To them, sending it to another blog as a guest post is absurd. It is the equivalent of giving a gift to a stranger. It does not make sense.
But the reality is that your article will get better results if you submit it as a guest post. How many subscribers will you get if you just publish to your own blog? A couple perhaps. How many will you get if you use it as a guest post? Dozens, at least. I have landed no fewer than a hundred subscribers on more than one occasion.
Guest posting is a surefire way to quickly build your list
Each time you write a new guest post, you land new subscribers. Even if you just write one solid guest post per month, you build your list on a constant basis.
Let me give you some hard data to back this up.
Since starting this blog in late January, I have written one guest post per month. Meanwhile, I have averaged more than one hundred new subscribers per month. See the payoff? Guest posting works.
Now, you could grow much more quickly than I am if you spent more time at it. I only have a few precious hours per week to spend writing. But if you have ten or twenty hours dedicated to writing…you could easily bust a thousand subscribers in your blog’s first month.
Once you build your list, the traffic will stay forever
If you capture a person’s email address, he will visit your blog each time you update it.
Again, let me prove this. The day I published this post, Two Hour Blogger received 190 unique visitors. To put this to scale, that is more than you receive from many guest posts, even on big blogs like Copyblogger.
See, guest posting is not about creating a quick buzz and disappearing off the radar. It is about building a list that will give you consistent, highly-targeted traffic that will last the life of your blog.
This works
This is not theoretical pie-in-the-sky. This is how to get meaty traffic to your blog – traffic that will come every time you hit Publish.
P.S. Special thanks to The Traffic Blogger for making traffic-generating strategies this month’s carnival topic. Guest posting is such an important subject that The Traffic Blogger and I are going to do a webinar on the subject. Details are forthcoming, but it is going to be totally free and you are going to love it. Stay tuned.
Thank God that I came across your guys’ (Yours and Traffic Blogger’s) blogs right while launching my own. I have been doing tons of “research” on SEO and all the latest fads for generating traffic and such for the past YEAR.
After finally selecting my blog niche and getting the blog going, I’m looking to do my first guest post this week!
Nice! Your first guest post – that’s awesome. What blog is it going on?
nice blog ,I was first attractived by the picture!
I couldn’t agree more, Martyn.
It is essential that you give away some of your best work as guest posts. A) No one is going to click through to your site if your guest post has crappy content B) There is delightfully sticky traffic to be found from guest posting.
This was one of the few blogging essentials that I figured out early. However my problem was that once I had those readers on my site, I didn’t know how to keep them there.
I know better now and the results have been huge.
-Lauren
So I’m curious…what did you change to start keeping that traffic?
I put out a ridiculous amount of excellent content. I work hard to post 3+ high-quality posts most every week. I have a good amount of posts now (300+) and I can link liberally between them which keeps readers…well, reading.
Also, I am active in my comment section on my blog and on Facebook. I appreciate that readers have taken the time to read and then comment and I tell them so.
I can’t wait to see what will happen when I improve my site navigation and actually get my email subscription box looking fab.
@Chris – Thanks so much for your suggestion. I’ve got some auto-responders in the works, but it’s a matter of finding more hours in my day to finalize them.
@Dave Higs – Excellent concept for your new site you’ve got there. If you play it right, it will explode.
-Lauren
@MamaLaundry I would highly suggest getting some sort of subscription enticing deal, such as a free ebook or series of autoresponder emails in order to retain readership.
@Travis Sup
Feel free to ask questions any time!
@Martyn Great post, we both have seen tremendous success from guest posting and I was impressed that you even had one published on copy blogger! Good job
You have exactly one more subscriber than I do, Chris. Argh!
Essential information!
As you have mentioned that in your traffic ebook, thanks for letting me the “formula”, traffic is really about writing posts, but with 2 options, one is to publish them on your own blog and the second is to publish them as a guest post.
Simple and straight to the fact.
Cheers,
Harrison
Let’s see…you’re about a year younger than me, right?
Age doesn’t matter right?
In terms of experience, it does matter. The best teachers are often those best seasoned.
At the same time, the younger generation has an advantage in technological understanding. So hopefully that levels the playing field.
Hi Martyn,
Lovin’ the cat stealing the cookie.
Thanks for the kick in the a**. Now is the time. I know how to do it. I have no excuses. GUEST BLOGGING NOW!
Congratulations on your successes. I look forward to watching you continue to rise to the top.
Beautiful comment form, BTW
Jack
Thanks Mr. Price. I appreciate you swinging by.
Yep, I spent serious time getting this comment form to look pretty so folks would enjoy using it a lot.
You inspired me to do the same. I’m working on my opt-in form right now. Thanks for your help.
And what’s with the Mr.? Today just happens to be my birthday. It’s a high number, but still just 2 digits. Save the Mr. for when I turn 100
Jack
Haha okay. You’ll just be Jack.
Good luck with the opt-in form. If you get stuck somewhere, feel free to drop me a line.
Nice post, Martyn. I love your voice and the way you set yourself from one line to the next. Now if I can just get out of my own way and do what you’re recommending, I’ll be able to pull in some traffic!
Traffic never happens by accident. It’s time you started guest posting, Ryan!
I’m chomping at the bit; I’ve got the draft pitches to the sites I’d like to guest post on written up, and some great outlines for posts. But, the way I see it, I’ve got some house cleaning to do before I’m really ready to capture some subscribers.
- I’m in the process of getting a logo designed; I’d like to have it live before driving guest post traffic my way.
- I need to do some work on my Subscribe widget. It’s terrible.
- Most importantly (I think), I MUST get a front page worth of stellar content up before I land a guest post. If my own mother landed on what I have posted right now, she wouldn’t even stick around. I only found Two Hour Blogger fairly recently; my quality up until now has been lacking. Following your rules is leading to posts that are more interesting to write and will be more interesting to read. I just haven’t finished them yet.
Maybe this is just procrastination that I’ve tried to rationalize, but I think it sounds like a good strategy.
I like your blog. “Proudly going nowhere since 2008″ – now that certainly flys in the face of a lot of blogs out there today. This is going to be interesting.
It’s not procrastination. You don’t want to rush anything in blogging. Better to act slowly and do it right.
My biggest piece of advice for you is to switch from Blogger to WordPress. It’s much easier to design and be in control of.
Thanks for stopping by! Don’t get too attached to that tagline though. Most people take it at face value instead of the getting the intended message, and ‘this blog is going nowhere” is not the sentiment I’m shooting for.
I’ve been considering the switch for a while now. I haven’t made the jump mainly due to inertia and not wanting to shell out for the custom domain on WordPress. But, I suppose you’ve got to spend it to make it.
On a side note, I love commenting here. The form is easy and nicely designed, and you engage with your readers. It’s refreshing on both fronts.
Custom domain name only costs $9.99 per year. Hosting is a bit more expensive, but you can get it as little as $60 per year. That isn’t too bad by most standards. I’d go for it.
Glad you enjoy commenting here Ryan. It makes my day hearing that!
Hey Martyn, you’ve hit the nail on the head here – exactly right. Let’s not pretend it isn’t a lot of work, though!
Oh yes indeed – very hard work! Writing can be a real struggle. Dudes are generally lazy, and that’s why they don’t bother. Heh, that means more gravy for the rest of us.
Well, I downloaded your e-book, and I loved it!
I’m waiting to get the kinks worked out of my blog, but I’ve got about 20 posts piled up and waiting to go. The best four or five will be guest posts.
My problem is that I’m having trouble finding blogs in my niche worth guest-posting on. There are gajillions of parenting blogs out there, but they’re all about “Hey, look how awesome my kid is!”, not “Hey, here’s how you too can have an awesome kid.”
What do you think of Dad-O-Matic? It was founded by Chris Brogan and it seems to be a pretty cool site with a thriving community. In fact, a recent article on there was called How to Make Sure Your Kid Grows Up to Be Awesome. Looks like that’s exactly what you’re going for…
That looks like a great bet for a guest post! Thanks!
And upon closer inspection, it seems like it doesn’t get much traffic: there are very few comments. Thanks anyway!
Do you think that you could write a post about how to choose blogs for guest posting?
You know, it could be that there simply isn’t a huge blog just for parents. Maybe I’m wrong, but if Dad-O-Matic is the biggest in the niche, you’re best off going for it.
Here’s my suggestion. Find some of the blogs on the topic and start engaging in comments. Send emails. Ask questions. Find out where the eyeballs are – the influential parenting blogs. Study them. Write guests posts for them.
That’s how I’ve done it, anyways.
Martyn speaks the truth. Another tremendous benefit of guest posting is getting a quality incoming link to your blog to make you look special in Google’s ever-watching eyes. Guest posting is the only traffic strategy that actually works in my experience.
Good point Stephen. I forgot the fact that if you google “guest post mistake” I’m in the first or second result because I linked to that particular URL in a guest post. The SEO from guest posting is awesome.
Martyn,
Great to finally meet in person today! As we were talking, I should have been the one asking questions about online marketing instead giving my thoughts on it. You know your stuff!
Naw, you’re a lot smarter than I am, dude.
Looking forward to the next few days!
Guest posting is undoubtedly effective and bring favorable result. Such a young mind and yet full of meaningful and important ideas. I wonder where you get all those thoughts and come up with a very excellent work.
I completely agree. Aggressive guest-posting is the best blog marketing strategy there is.
i love the way you write. I can feel every word you say. You actually make my internal energy stop and pay attention to you. One guest post per month and you did what! I just finish writing my very first one and I can wait to see the results. Mmuah, you deserve a kiss.
I’ll take it.
Hi Martyn,
I had just been discussimg this the other day – guest blogging is very important and just as crucial at times in comparison to blogging on ones own website! You cannot just expect to have traffic flowing to your website and have the world magically be known to your online presence!
This is key to marketing one’s self online! This was a great read and straight to the point.
Enjoyed it.
Gabriella
You know what I think the real secret to serious traffic is? Stop ‘em dead headlines. You’re a pro at writing them. Pair them with the guests posts and you’ve got a recipe for success. Thanks for the great read.
Hmmmm…
“Why guest posting is possibly an extremely bad idea.”- This is what you say on your traffic page. And now you say otherwise in this page. What’s the idea here?
I agree guest posting is huge. The fact is that guest posting is not simply enough. The post work and pre work for a guest post is also important.
We need to write articles geared towards the intended audience. Write articles the new readers of other blogs will like and subscribe.
You’re right, I previously said that guest posting was an extremely bad idea. I’ve contradicted myself a bit, I’m sorry.
Guest posting is awesome if it’s the best way you can get traffic and subscribers to your blog. But if you can find better ways, guest posting stinks.
Hello Martyn, I just found your website today, and you have really challenged me. I’m new to the blogging/computer tech world, and as a home-educating mom of 6 I find myself in kindergarten about all this stuff. We recently started Live Ready Now! which is dedicated to encouraging and helping families in disaster preparedness, homesteading and wilderness survival. I am intrigued about the Guest Posting idea, but as I said, I’m still in kindergarten and don’t even know how to do it. I write a good post (taking at least two hrs
), and then what? How do I find someone else to post it?
Thanks so much!
The best way is to find blogs in your niche; that way you can tap into like-minded audiences that will be interested in your topic.
Really, if you’re new to this you’ll want to spend some time networking. Keep blogging and find new people on Facebook or Twitter. Eventually, you’ll discover which bloggers are influential in your topic. Study their style of writing and what their audience wants to hear. Then pitch the owner with a guest post.
It sounds pretty simple, but it does take time to network and find out where the big blogs are.
Hi Martyn, I appreciate the advice you’ve given. I love to write but it’s definitely the “getting people to read it” part that’s frustrating. I have successfully gotten my blog to show up on Google within a very short time of bothering with it. By that I mean, I wrote on it for quite some time but didn’t bother to advertise it (in fact I did all but make it private in trying to hide it) until some months ago. I’m proud of accomplishing the couple hundred views (not visits, no subscribers, but just views) that I have, but it is like you say – some blogs are astronomically popular and even receive mentions in news. Mine… not so much. Although the Casey Anthony trial gave me some recent fodder, one problem I have is that I do not have a blog theme. It’s totally not my style. Do you think that will wind up being too much of a hindrance in the end? The name is the theme but unfortunately it falls under no defined topic. Gotta suck up my pride a bit and post more helpful info and less thoughts, which is a bit outside the comfort zone but it seems to be the best way to garner readership.
That’s an interesting question Heather. If you’re enjoying talking about various topics for the sake of writing and organizing your thoughts in one place, what you’re doing is fine.
But if you’re wanting to build readership, I think you will need to fine-tune your target market.
It’s true that there are bloggers out there who attract massive audiences by eclectic, diverse blogging. But usually that’s because they’ve already garnered attention by creating a product that people want. (Let’s face it – if Steve Jobs blogged about where he ate last night, I’d be interested!)
Awesome post about guest blogging. I’ve slowly started to realize it after I did my first two guest posts. Immediately my daily traffic doubled, but it’s nowhere near a thousand… yet.
Keep the great posts coming Martyn, and keep inspiring us new bloggers on something great.
Cheers