Getting your post onto an A-List blog is one of the best ways to boost your traffic and increase your credibility. It’s also one of the best, if not the best, no cost promotion idea. Here’s a few tips to improve your chances of having a big name blog accept your guest post.
Send The Post With The First Email
Many smaller blogs will email the big blog asking if they would like to receive a guest post before actually sending it. While this may seem like proper protocol, your chances of getting your post published is much higher if you just send the post with the first email. A-List bloggers are very busy people and really don’t have time to play email tag. You can send the post in the email itself or attach it as a text or Words file. The easier you make it for the A-List to publish the post, the better.
Send Your Best Work
When submitting a guest post, always send your best work. I remember a while back when CashQuests made the claim that guest bloggers will never send their best work because they’ll save those for their blogs. It sounds logically but it’s simply not true. Sending a sub-par post won’t do you any good because it won’t get published. If you have an opportunity to guest blog for an A-List, then you better put your best foot forward because it’s your moment to shine. Your post will be read by a ton of people and they will judge you based on it. If they like what they read, chances are good that they will click though and read other posts on your blog.
Tailor The Post To The A-List Blog
You’ll stand a much better chance on having your post published by tailoring it to the blog you’re after. This shows you actually read and understand the A-List blogger’s target readership. You can also try and spin the post to appeal to the blog owner himself. Brennan Heyde’s post on What Wannabe Dot Com Moguls Can Learn From Gordon Ramsay is a perfect example of this.
Don’t Shop The Post
I have received guest posts where the blogger asked me to reply within x number of hours if I want to use it. Otherwise they will shop it to another blog. In every case, I let them shop it. This type of attitude shows a lack of respect. It also shows the above rule on tailoring the blog post wasn’t followed because if it was, the post wouldn’t be shop-able.
It’s OK to set a time limit on acceptance but don’t tell the blog you’re trying to get published on that if he doesn’t accept, you’re going to give it to someone else. Nearly 100% of the time, he’ll tell you to give it to someone else. I have received guest posts stating that if I don’t want it, let them know so they can publish it on their own blog. That is fine.
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Short, to the point, and excellent guidelines for guest posters.
i bet you will be receiving a bunch of guest posts now, more then what you already get.
:: is already thinking what posts he can write ::
Muhahahaha!
I second that. Very simple, important, straight forward direct to the point. Very useful for young blogger like me and the rest
respect!
I am sure the A-list bloggers will definitely want quality content and that is what the guest post writers should aim at.
Your tips as always are valuable .
I wouldnt say always valuable, it more depends on the knowledge the person reading what he writes has.
Isn’t that the way the world works? He gets the day off but his blog keeps going and his guest bloggers are happy with the exposure.
It’s great when you have clout.
After all, the guest blogger is a guest because he wants exposure, and what would be better than writing a quality article as guest on a blog which has the reader base. Many tend to keep their best posts on their own blog, even tho thats good who is going to read it if you don’t have the reader base?
I have couple questions where is the blogs e-mail address located and is it a better quality link inside the post than to have it as a comment.
http://livelymoney.blogspot.com/
Most of the times, it’ll be located in the About or Contact page.
what a noob!
what a noob
You don’t have to be rude just because he’s a “noob.”
It’s easy to be rude. For example, I could visit your site and make a comment about how the header image takes up 40% of the screen, doesn’t give the visitor ANY idea what the site is about, and has a comma where there shouldn’t be a comma.
Instead of making fun of Allen, why don’t you answer his questions?
You act like a pro blogger. Everybody starts their blogging career there…I’m sure you learned everything on the first week, and now you make thousands daily just from blogging
, but you have to understand that some of the other bloggers don’t know everything like you and that’s why they ask pros like John.
Good post and sure to help people get some more exposure.
Ha ha. Shopping the post. Boy that takes some sand. I can imagine it now:
Dear John Chow,
Here’s my guest post for you. But you must act NOW before midnight tonight or this offer will be gone to you FOREVER and given to your competition! 100% satisfaction guaranteed! So why wait? Claim your free guest post NOW!
Great way to say after what John show us.
That’s a great idea and it also seems that you take good posts from almost anyone. I might actually give this a try
-Mike
Thanks for telling us how to get listed on others blog. If you want to get listed on someones blog, first you will need to be polite and respect the owner decision. And one more thing you have to be patient to give some time to them to read about your post and decide.
Really good article John.
However, something that I really wonder about is, in your perspective, if someone sent you a guest blog post, would his/her blog status affect the way you think about that blog post? I mean, If the blog is not another JohnChow.com, would you bother considering to publish the post?
And furthermore, would it matter to you if a blogger posts the same article in his/her own blog after the heat cools off in your blog. That is kind of unlikely, I know. But would it matter?
I also agree about the whole ‘paying due respect’ issue. It’s stupid to ask an A-List blogger to respond in a ‘X’ number of hours. If you want to get the honey, don’t kick the beehive.
The blog’s status has no bearing on whether I accept an article or not. I based it solely on the quality of the article. I would not allow a submitted post that has been published to be reposted on the author’s blog.
Of course!
The idea is to provide unique content in exchange for additional exposure and traffic.
Not have you spanked by Google for having duplicate content.
Of course it only makes to give your best work. I can’t imagine people would submit work that is sub-par. If the A-list blogger refuses to post a crap post of yours they are probably doing you a favor. Nothing like looking like an ass in front of a billion eyes.
If they reject the post then you might just need to improve your posting.
What percentage of guest posts do you actually accept? I’d imagine you get some that aren’t relevant or very well written.
John,
You recommend that we say, “If you are not interested in this post, please let me know because I will post it on my own blog?” I just wanted to make sure I read that correctly.
Ya, I doubt anyone will have a problem with that. I would assume that if I don’t accept a guest post, that the blogger would put it on their blog.
i guess that is what normally those who does blog guest post do. if it’s not posted, they will have it on their blog.
A-list bloggers are an asset; but they are not at all easy to please, if I may say so. But as you suggested, sending the best work might do the trick. That was a good piece of advice. I think I will
To get the attention of the owner you do need to send the best work. Well that is a good advice from John.
Sending just the best work is not enough. You need some kind of a bond with the blogger. That’s just my opinion.
All I can say is that you have given me a strategy to try. Thanks
Really nice guidelines about the guest blogging and it was really helpful. However once tailored the post to the blog you are intending to guest blog it`s not always possible to post in your blog, and second thought if it`s not accepted as a guest post it might not be so good so not publishing that post at all would be a great ideea.
This is a great post.
It’s all about perspective. I get people asking me to mentor them and help them all the time but they fail to think about the benefits to me.
Make sure to think of the benefits in terms of the A list blogger instead of yourself when contacting them.
You can also add to this article that timing plays a role. The article has a better chance of being published if it ties in with other current events on the A-list blog. Great article John.
Don’t forget that just having your guest post published isn’t the only “honey” you get from the experience, you get to summarize the post and link to the blog that published you. example “I covered this topic on the article I wrote for John Chows blog” etc.
Now if you’re really evil and you think you have an A-list blog, do something like this… “John, who is on the make money online A-list anyway?” in a comment below this one and he might officialy tell the world you made the A-list!
Thanks for the tips.I will definitely send you a guest post in the near future.
Thx
Also you should post why you rejected some guest post.I;m talking about the actual posts and their quality.I’m sure that some of us will learn not only to write better guest post but to write better in general.
I really appreciate the tips John.
Hi John - great tips. The only one I couldn’t be bothered to do personally is write the piece and email it. If the A lister didn’t want it, because they’d already written a similar piece, you’d be wasting your time writing - and time is precious as we all know.
I’d be inclined to write a brief outline to several bloggers and write the full post for the one who was interested tailoring it to their blog.
I asked John but got the bat…kinda because he didn’t reply
I have now asked the Cow; let’s hope he’s not too busy!
Great tips.
The fourth point is strange and important! So, people are trying to shop for their articles also! I will simply decline it if someone tries to give a deadline to publish their post! 
Good post with good tips.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with shopping around but you don’t have to tell the blogger about it. You simply ask that the blogger let you know within a reasonable period of time if he is not interested in publishing it. Just because one blogger isn’t interested in publishing your post doesn’t necessarily mean it’s sub-par.
By sending the potential guest post with email also shows that the potential guest blogger is confident about the quality of his/her work.
Also, in most cases if you just ask if the ‘A-list bloger’ will publish your post without even sending it? The answer would be big no unless you have personal relations with the bloger.
I think after this post, a lot more bloggers will work hard to create a good post and send them to you. I’m thinking of a suitable title as well.
However, I wonder, how many guess post do you allow, say per month? Bloggers might be interested to know their chances on appearing on your blog as a guess blogger.
Here come a flood of guest post requests John, including mine. Thanks for the tips.
Repeated post!!! How can this post published on 28 Dec 2007 when I already read it somewhere else, either on JohnChow.com or on some other A-list blogs?
Nice post John
Good info John. Its encouraging to know that if you can produce good content, it is possible to be able to guest post with a “big time” blogger such as John Chow. I will try for a John Chow guest post in 2008.
I’m already thinking of a guest post somewhere.
However, that doesn’t mean one should submit it directly through the contact form. Instead use your