We are getting ready for this years Challenge which begins on the 1st September and over the next couple of days things may break, stop working, or generally explode while you are using this site so please bear with us whilst we iron things out, stamp out the bugs, and generally give the site a bit of a makeover.
Dan
It’s Challenge Time.
This year’s Challenge will kick off on September 1, 2011 1
The Challenge for the past six years has started more people on the path to starting an online buisness than any other program. It’s complete free and has been said many times 2 people have paid thousands of dollars for training they recieved for nothing in The Challenge
Every year has been different, this year is no exception.
The Challenge started with 927 brave souls in 2005, in 2011 we expect to break 100,000 participants for the first time!
So what’s changing this year?
In August we will be opening up the new ‘entrance’ to The Challenge. We will let you know all the details closer to the date
and remember in 2011..
There Is STILL no charge for awesomeness
Ed
I did suggest to people on twitter and the forums we would start August 1st. Google, bless their little socks, decided to make the most dramatic change to getting your stuff found since they started and it’s crucial we get this into the challenge. ↩
Check out the challenge forums and hall of fame to see what others have to say about The Challenge ↩
This is a guest post by Rob Cornish from Gain Higher Ground.
In this post I’d like to share with you a strategy that has been the single biggest driver of traffic to my blog this year: Guest Posting.
As a very keen Challenge participant in 2010 I think Guest Posting is something that complements the main traffic strategies taught and if done correctly it can certainly drive an awful lot of traffic!
In fact, one of my most successful guest posts was also one of my first. During the 5 day period after it was published it drove over 698 visitors to my site:
What Is Guest Posting?
Ok, first things first!
In a nutshell, guest posting is where you write an article and get it published on someone else’s blog or website.
Guest posting is certainly not a new idea, but it was only until I started doing it myself that I realised there are some subtle tactics which can make all the difference in how much traffic you can generate from it.
However, before I elaborate on that let’s first ask…
What Can Guest Posting Do For Me?
Good question, here are some advantages:
Links From Relevant, High Authority Sites
Imagine you have just written an article on a topic relevant to your niche. Now ask yourself this question:
“In an ideal World, where would I like my article published in order to drive the most amount of traffic back to my site?”
Perhaps your answers would include super high-authority sites such as cnn.com, nytimes.com or bbc.co.uk.
Now of course, we don’t live in an ideal World so where would the next best place be?
Pretty high up the list are high authority blogs and websites in your niche. This is what guest posting is all about: Getting published on niche relevant, high authority sites which are able to drive direct traffic and SEO link juice back to you.
In many cases, your article will also appear on the homepage of the site when it is published, providing even more visibility for your article!
It’s Quick
Guest posting really takes no longer than writing an article plus a little extra time in order to get it published (which we’ll talk about below).
Market Leadership
Guest posting is a great way to practice Market Leadership by becoming known to the readers of other influential websites in your niche.
In most cases you’ll also be offered a more extensive author biography than you would normally expect from, say, an article directory. This can dramatically increase the number of clicks through to your site, especially if you are able to include a photo.
For example, here is an author bio from one of my own guest posts:
How To Find Guest Post Opportunities
If you’ve never had a guest post published before then this probably seems like the biggest challenge in getting started.
However, after successfully doing 15 guest posts for my own blog, I’ve realised that it really isn’t as difficult as you might initially think!
Here are 3 main ways to find websites in your niche that you can guest post for:
1. Google
This is by far the easiest way to get started and if you are wishing to write under a penname or pseudonym then this is definitely a great option.
Go to Google and search for:
<Your Niche > “write for us”
So if your niche is fly fishing you’d do:
This will return a list of sites which are possible candidates for your guest post.
A couple of very effective variations on this search which you might like to try are:
<Your Niche > “guest post by”
<Your Niche > “submit a guest post”
In some cases, you’ll find that the owners of the sites ask you to contact them via email if you wish to contribute content but a lot of times you’ll be able to make a submission simply by registering as a contributor on their WordPress blog and post just like you would publish on your own blog!
2. Approaching Bloggers/Site Owners Directly
The trick here is to do a little ground work before you make your approach to another site owner and ask for a guest post opportunity.
Firstly, if you’ve never seen their site before then it’s important to familiarise yourself a little. So spend some time looking around and making notes of topics which you already know a little about or are at least interested in.
An absolutely killer tactic occurs when you can find a topic that they have already posted on which you have personal experience of. For example, in the learning guitar niche perhaps they’ve recommended a certain warm-up practice technique which you have found to be useful. This means that you can write a guest post which confirms their point a view, embellishes their story and provides some powerful social-proof.
I’ve used this recently myself to great effect and although it is not possible to do every time, when you can do it, you’ll find that your post will become irresistible and almost guaranteed to be accepted and published!
Secondly, blog commenting is a fantastic way to get on another site owner’s radar before you make a guest posting approach.
In any niche even the most successful “gurus” often read through the comments on their own blogs despite the fact they might even have a “gatekeeper” (such as a virtual assistant) in place who filters their emails for them.
When you are ready to make your approach, write an email which is short, concise and to the point. If there is a specific aspect of their site or content that you like then be sure to tell them – a genuine compliment will go a long way!
3. Guest Posting “Communities”
There are some services online (such as My Blog Guest) which can secure you guest posting opportunities.
I haven’t used these sites myself so I can’t directly recommend them to you. However, I have heard from others that they can provide fruitful opportunities, so if this appeals to you then why not sign up and make a submission?
Remember Your Goal
Keep in mind that whichever method you use to secure guest posting opportunities that your ultimate goal is to get published on sites that are relevant to your niche and which have the highest possible authority.
With this in mind, here are some questions to ask yourself before you approach a specific site owner:
How Much Social Interaction Does The Site Have?
For me, this is without doubt the most important factor – after all you are looking for interactive communities in order to get clicks through to your own site.
By social interaction I specifically mean blog comments, Tweets and Likes. Clearly, the more the better but when starting out with guest posting I suggest that you look for least 5-10 comments, Tweets and Likes, on average across the posts on the site.
What Is The Alexa Rank?
As a general indication of traffic Alexa Rank is certainly not perfect and it can be skewed. However, it is still a useful indicator to consider and I would generally recommend looking for Alexa ranks of 150,000 or less when starting out.
What Is The Page Rank (PR) Of The Homepage?
True, PR has declined in importance in recent years but again, it is still a measure of authority well worth paying attention to when looking for guest posting opportunities. Aim for PR2 or higher.
You can quickly check the Alexa Rank and PR of any site that you visit by installing a browser plugin such as SEO Quake.
Writing Your Guest Post
Quality is really important to the success of your guest posting strategy as not only will it influence how many site owners accept your work but it will also determine how many people actually read it and click through to your own site.
I recommend that you write your guest post before you approach the other blogger. This makes it harder to them refuse (especially if you’ve targeted it well for their site) and increases the chance of success.
If you don’t get accepted then your effort is not wasted as you’ll be able to use your article elsewhere, either for another guest post, your own site or even for publication to an article directory or a Web 2.0 property.
Developing The Strategy
For me, a lot of good things have come from my guest posts aside from the immediate benefits of direct traffic and quality SEO backlinks.
After a successful guest post, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:
1. How Can I Further Leverage My Success From This Guest Post?
If you have a guest post that generates lots of comments, Tweets and Likes then make sure you leverage this success by talking about it to other site owners that you approach. It is important evidence to show that you are able and keen to deliver value.
2. How Can I Offer More Content To This Site Owner?
Sure, you could offer more guest posts here but what about other ideas? Perhaps they have a product which you could contribute some content for. Maybe they run a membership site, in which case they are probably always on the hunt for new content!
In my case I have recently started guest posting on a regular basis for a subscription newsletter in return for a link back to my site in each issue. Initial guest posts that lead to these kinds of opportunities can be very powerful and even result in full blown JV relationships where the site owner will, for example, agree to promote that EBook you’ve been thinking about writing, in return for a commission.
Conclusion
As with most traffic strategies, it is easy to waste a lot of time and effort by not paying attention to the finer detail (I’m afraid that I learnt this the hard way several times myself!). However, the strategy that I have outlined in this post has worked very well for me and there is no reason it can’t work for you too, whatever niche you’re in.
I wish you the best of luck with this awesome traffic strategy. If you have any feedback or questions, please post them in the comments section below…
On Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter.
Ed Dale's Blog
GuruBob's (Robert Somerville) Blog
