Step 4, Lesson 7The List Builders Lab

Guest Blogging & Podcast InterviewsTo Grow Your List

Hey there, welcome back. My audio might sound a little bit different than my other videos. I had to move rooms where I was recording. At my house my husband has built a man cave. He is a huge Pittsburg Steeler fan and today there is a big game on. He has invited a bunch of people over and it’s right under the room where I typically record. They are so loud right now that I had to come into a different room. But the acoustics are different here in case you noticed it, I don’t even know if you would, but in case you did just know it’s only because I’ve got some rowdy boys directly below me and I wanted to keep recording.

In this lesson, now that you’ve learned how to do social media traffic strategies to drive traffic to your lead magnet I wanted to add two more opportunities to the mix. Specifically, I want to talk to you about Guest Blogging and Podcast Interviews to Grow Your List.

Here’s What You’ll Learn

! Three Ways Guest Posting Can Enhance Your List-Building Strategy. ! Common Pitfalls (and How to Sidestep Them If you are thinking about

guest posting).! My Favorite “In The Trenches” Guest Posting Insights.! Tips and Tricks to Land Podcast Interviews.

After we talk about guest blogging I am going to give you some tips about podcast interviews. I have a pretty prominent podcast; I get a lot of requests from people wanting me to interview them on my show. I say, “No” to a lot of them and I’ll tell you why. I say, “Yes” to a few of them and I am going to give you a real-life example of one I recently said, “yes” to so that you might want to copy the model they used to get me to say, “Yes.”

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Why Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging is all about you creating really valuable, irresistible content that you write for somebody else’s blog. In an ideal situation that blog that you are writing for will already have built-in traffic (they already have traffic going to their blog). You will get some really great exposure and hopefully drive some new traffic to your own website.

! Builds expert credibility for you (by borrowing it!) from the blog where you are posting. That’s why you want to be really smart with where you decide to guest blog.

! You have the opportunity to drive QUALITY traffic to your site. I’m going to show you some strategies to do that.

! It’s a solid, FREE list-building strategy (when done right!). There’s a wrong way and a right way to go about this and that’s what this lesson is all about.

Common Pitfalls

Let’s explore some of the common pitfalls that you might face when you decide to guest blog.

! Targeting the wrong blogs if you don’t do your research.! Wasting precious time creating content that your target market doesn’t

want.! Turning host bloggers off with a bad pitch.! Not preparing your post AND your site to convert your new traffic into

leads.

I am literally going to address all of these pitfalls so that you don’t even have to worry about them at the end of this lesson.

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Searching For The Best Blogs

At the beginning of List Builder’s Lab, in Step #1 I taught you about knowing your audience and I gave you a bunch of questions that I wanted you to investigate so you could learn more about your audience. One of those questions related to which blogs they follow, which experts they follow, who they really value in terms of opinion, insights, tips, and tricks. When you know that, you will know which blog post you want to go after for guest blogging.

! When you know your audience, you know where they are spending time. This intel is the most powerful.

! Google (search as if you were your target market). As it relates to your niche and the topics you want to talk about you want to use Google. If I were doing this, especially for this type of program, if I wanted to write some blog posts around list building I might write something like “How To Grow an Email List Using Social Media.” Some of the blogs that are talking about this topic are going to pop up. I might read some of the comments. Or, a really cool one that I didn’t list but that I just thought about, when you want to learn about what people are saying around a certain topic that you may want to write about, go on Amazon, find some books that might talk about this topic and read some of the reviews. Some of the reviews will give you ideas as to what people really liked about that topic as it was written in the book. You may find some of the issues or complaints or struggles they are having as well. Amazon is a really cool place to get some insight around topics. Also, when you go to certain blogs after you Google whatever it is you searched for, go to the blogs, read the comments and see what people are saying. You will find a wealth of information if you start trolling (a weird word to use for this) around those blogs where you might want to guest blog post to learn about what people want, what they like, what they don’t like, what’s hot, what’s not hot. You can learn a lot

! Alexa. ! AllTop. These two websites will give you research capabilities learning about

trends related to your niche and what people are writing about and what’s really popular.

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There are three options, Google, Alexa, and AllTop. Alexa will show you the websites that might be a really good choice for you after you do some research. AllTop will help you with some of the topics and the websites. I really think the most valuable thing you can do is talk to your audience and find out where they are spending time. To me that’s going to be your first, safest bet in finding blogs that are perfect for your content.

Landing The Perfect Topic

One of my favorite resources is an article from LKRsocialmedia, Laura Roeder’s website. I just want to read you what she says about the topics,

“Defining what to write about is often the biggest roadblock for small business bloggers. So how do you decide? Check out what’s working and what isn’t for other blogs. You can get a fairly accurate view of the “health” of a blog post by looking at Facebook shares and retweets on Twitter. Look at some competing blogs and do some analysis of their healthiest (and least healthy) blog post topics.”

This advice could work for your own blog if you are struggling to find topics. But it could also work for guest blogging. If you are struggling to find out what you should write about you have to look at competing blogs and really pay attention to the blogs that are getting the really good feedback and those that might just not be getting a lot of comments and shares on Facebook, and not a lot of retweets. You can investigate this further.

I’m going to guess you already have some kind of idea what you might want to talk about. So if you do have an idea, kind of play with that idea and see how it is aligned with some of these blogs that you are thinking might be a good choice for guest blogging.

What Would Be Crazy Interesting And Valuable to Their Readers?

Once you find a blog that you want to guest post on you have to start thinking about what would be crazy interesting. I like to think in terms of epic blog posts. If I am writing a guest post for somebody else’s site I spend a lot of time on that guest post

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and I make it really juicy. I use a lot of images and examples and I link to things that might be valuable. I’m not linking to just only my stuff on the web but other examples that might enhance the blog post.

I don’t do guest posting a lot. I actually did it a lot more when I was just starting out and that’s why I wanted to include this in this training. If you are just starting out with list building I think guest blog posting is a great idea. But it does take a lot of your time when you do it right. Just know this is an investment in time and effort. But, when you choose the right blog to do it with it can make a huge difference.

Just so you know, one of the blogs I used to guest post on a lot was Social Media Examiner. It was the perfect audience for me and still is. One thing I love about Social Media Examiner is that they do a good job of getting the word out every time they have a new blog post. They use social media extensively. They talk about it in their email marketing and they really make an effort to get the word out that they have a new blog post up.

That is so attractive to me because I know that if I put the effort in and do the work for a really great valuable blog post it is going to get the exposure it deserves. When you are looking for other blogs, make sure they have the traffic and Alexa will help you do that (the one resource I gave you). Also make sure that you feel confident that they are going to actually promote you in terms of social media (at least). A big perk is if they email out to their list about the post as well.

Make sure they are going to promote that content that you are creating. I like to go for blogs that actually have guidelines around guest blogging. I like to post on blogs that actually are looking for guest bloggers and they take it really serious. They have really good guidelines, they want to make sure you do a great job, and they don’t just accept everybody and anyone.

Another great opportunity is when I have a good friend that might not accept guest blogging a lot but they will make an exception for me because I have a really good topic for them. I have done that on my own blog sometimes. I don’t accept guest bloggers but once in a while if someone has a really good idea and I like it and they have pitched me I will let them post on my blog.

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You never know, there is a lot of opportunity out there.

Sample Pitch

Let me help you with a pitch. Specifically, let me have Laura Roeder help you with a pitch because in that article that I’m linking to (on slide screen), Laura actually shows a really great pitch for a guest blog. Let’s read it:

“Hi Marko, I’d love to write a guest post on your blog! The topic would be 10 Ways to End Your Website Shame, spinning off the recent (extremely popular) webinar I did on the same subject. I would be addressing both mindset barriers that keep people from having great sites as well as quick-fix type things that they can do to improve their website today. Thanks and let me know what you think! – Laura”

She then links to her website and she links to her Twitter account, two very active sites. A few things I want you to think about here: She’s telling him the topic. She’s hinting that it’s a really popular topic because she has already tested it out. She’s pointing to some of the main things she is going to address (mindset barriers as well as quick-fix type things) and she’s linking to her site because he can see an example of her writing there and she is linking to Twitter because she has some great exposure on Twitter. She has a lot of followers, it’s great social proof. This was very purposely put together and I think it’s a great model to follow.

Now is a good time for me to talk to you about whether I recommend you writing the post first and then shopping it around or shopping the idea around and then writing the post. If it was me, I would want to just write the post and then I would shop it around. Here is the deal you have to be careful of, don’t try to get your one blog post on multiple sites. You will make a lot of people mad and Google does not like repeat data anyway.

If you have written a blog post you just want to go one site at a time until you get a “yes”. I like the idea of writing the blog post because then you can actually say, “Hey, I wrote this post and I think it would be great for your site. Take a look and let me know

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what you think.” Every time you pitch a new website just make sure the style of the blog will work for them. You have to make sure the content works for them. Format it correctly based on their guidelines. Again, this is a lot of work. But, if you choose smart blogs to do it with it will pay off big time.

The other thing you can do is what Laura has done here. She is pitching an idea. She likely hasn’t written the post yet but she knows exactly what she wants to write about and thinks it would be a good fit for Marko. You could do it either way. The way I look at it, if you write it in advance and do all the work up front you will likely get a quicker “yes,” especially if you don’t have a name behind you yet and are new at this. Your writing will speak for itself.

Let’s just say you can’t find anyone to post your guest blog, post it on your own blog. Send some ads to it. Drive some traffic and put some content upgrades in it and make it your own. It is never going to be a whole loss if you do write it and can’t find anybody to post it, post it yourself.

The Best “In The Trenches” Guest Blogging Advice I’ve Ever Received(By Donna Moritz)

This part is really fun for me because I’ve mentioned Donna Mortiz a few times throughout this training. She is one of my former students. She owns SociallySorted.com and does a lot of guest blogging. It has really enhanced her email list, grown her email list, and made her list quality as well.

When I created this training for you, this specific lesson, I had all of these stiff tips and tricks. They weren’t really personal and they were just the standard tips you are going to get from any website when you learn about guest blogging. I reached out to Donna and asked her, since she guest blogs a lot, if she could give me some of her best insights as to what has worked for her.

She came back, in true Donna style, with a whole bunch of bullet points based on the experience she has had with guest blogging and what has worked. I thought I had to use them. I got her permission to use them in these slides and I think it makes it way

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more personal because this is someone that is doing guest blogging now and getting great results.

Let me share with you what she shared with me.

Give Your Best Work

No exception. You are not saving the best content for your own site. Go all in for the site you are posting on, regardless of whether it is a massive blog or another similar blog in your niche. Over-deliver and use these early posts as examples for future guest blogging (where you will also over-deliver).

If you are just starting out and you give your best stuff away for free and you don’t hold back you have some great examples to show other blogs where you want to guest post down the road. Don’t hold back.

Stick to Editorial Guidelines

When you are pitching a site that regularly accepts guest posts, they will likely have guidelines, specifics ranging from how to do headings to images to links. Always stick to the guidelines. If you do, the editors will love you and ask you back.

This is totally true for Social Media Examiner. If you follow their rules, and they have a lot of rules, they really appreciate it and if you write a great blog post they will invite you back and that’s the goal, to get invited back.

Followup Like It’s Your Own Blog Post

Once the post goes live, always respond to comments (every one of them – at least until the initial traffic wears off). You should also tweet the article and share it on other social platforms. A guest blogger who shares their articles gets noticed.

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I totally agree with her. Once that post goes live, again, treat it like it’s your own. You will email about it. You can share it on social media, you are going to talk about it to other people. It is really important that you get traffic to it just as much as it’s important that whoever owns the blog helps you get traffic to it as well. Treat it as though it were your own.

Make It Interesting

Add screenshots and images that explain your content. The more you can provide, the better chance you have of getting published.

This (on the slide screen) is a great example if you were going to write the blog in advance and then shop it around. She includes images and videos and a lot of examples. She makes it really engaging. I will link to this post in a moment so you can check it out. But, your chances of getting published increase when you put this extra work in.

Engage and Share

Engage and share posts by other guest bloggers on the same platform. You can build solid blogger relationships with other contributors when you pay it forward.

What Donna was saying about this one is that on Social Media Examiner she makes sure she shares a lot of the blogs that are guest posts. She has built relationships with other bloggers. Together they have all helped each other and she has seen so many of them grow their blog audience. Some of them have even won awards, including Donna, for their blog content. That is really cool.

You can create a community if you start to share other guest bloggers on the sites where you want to be posting.

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Look Sideways

Don’t start out expecting to waltz straight into the Huffington Post or Entrepreneur. The best sites to start guest blogging on are the ones that are growing right along side of you. This is where you can prove yourself. There will always be another blog in your industry or niche that is slightly better than yours – start there. Give your best work. After that it’s easier to move on to the bigger blogs.

She couldn’t have said it more perfectly. This is exactly the mindset you want to have. I have guest blog posted for Entrepreneur multiple times. I don’t think I would have ever gotten that gig if I hadn’t started out with some of the smaller blogs. So, just remember, you are going to build up to the big ones.

The First One is Always The Toughest

One of the tips that Donna ended with when she sent me the email with all of her good nuggets about insights and tips and tricks for guest blogging is that she ended it by saying, “The first one is always the toughest.”

She is so right. Believe me, it is going to take you a long time. But it does get easier. If you continue to do guest blogging or if you just always make a point to write epic blog posts when you are going to blog then you will become a pro at this. I promise you that, it does get easier.

I promised you I would link to one of Donna’s really well-done guest blogs on Social Media Examiner so, if you Google “6 Ways To Use Short Video for Social Marketing,” by Donna Moritz, you will find it. Or, if you just want to go right to it with this link you can get there and you can see exactly what she did and how much effort she put into it (www.socialmediaexaminer.com/use-short-video-for-social-marketing/). But again, remember, when you choose the right blogs to guest blog post on, you are going to get some massive traffic.

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More Guest Blogging Tips

! Stay within your wheelhouse. Don’t try to write an article on something you don’t feel comfortable talking about. It is just not worth the struggle.

! Add something to the blog’s existing post; don’t just rehash them. I want you to add something above and beyond, something they really don’t have there yet that they would find really valuable.

! Make your content unique but your style consistent with theirs. Your way of writing is your way of writing. But there are different pieces that you can tweak or you can style a bit so that it actually blends in with the content on that blog. You don’t want yours to stand out so much that it screams, “Hey, I’m way different than all of these different blog posts.” The blogger is not going to want to have you there. You do want to look at the style of that blog and see if you can maybe tweak your own blog post so that it matches the style a bit more. It will still have your unique voice.

! Write the post as if it will be published “as is.” When you actually do present a blog post or, if you’re going to take my advice and actually write it first and then shop it around, write the post without typos, no grammatical errors, and format it to look really good. You don’t want them to have to fix anything for you. You get invited back if they don’t have to do a lot of work to make it go live.

Customize Your Bio

This is the big one and where the list-building comes into play. I don’t suggest that you load up your blog content with a bunch of links to your lead magnet or even a bunch of links back to your own website. Likely, the person that owns the blog is not going to love that. If you were guest blogging on my own blog I would not want you to link to your other articles or your website.

However, I feel that any guest blogger has earned the right to add a link in their bio. Not everyone is going to agree with me so you need to follow the guidelines of the blog you find where you want to guest post.

Social Media Examiner has been really good with me in terms of adding a link and some of the others, like Entrepreneur, has as well. But here’s the ticket, you have to ask. I

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always ask if I can add a link in my bio. I ask that right away before I even write the blog post. To me that is really important.

Pay close attention to how you craft your bio.

! Briefly tell the readers who you are while aligning it with your lead magnet opportunity.

! Link to your opt-in page.

Let me give you an example: This (on the slide screen) is my bio at Social Media Examiner. I don’t guest post anymore but when I did this was my bio: “Amy is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and a social media trainer and speaker.” Right away, I tell people what I’m all about. The fact that I’m an author gives me some clout so I included that.

Here’s the most important part, “Check out her latest webinar, 7 Simple Strategies to Profit From Facebook.” That goes directly to an opt-in page. In this case it is a webinar that I did. But it could go to a cheat sheet or a checklist or a guide. I didn’t send them directly to my website, I sent them to something specific that was aligned with my bio and that was aligned with the content that I wrote about on that blog post.

Not everyone is going to allow you to do this, but when you find someone who will allow you to link back to an opt in, that is golden. That’s what I want you to look for.

One more thing, when you guest blog I also want you to optimize your own website. It’s one thing to write a stellar blog piece. But just know that the goal is for people to find you on that blog, like what you have written and have them want to learn more from you. They check you out on your website.

Optimize Your Website

! Put your signature freebie front and center with a feature box. If you can’t do a feature box just make sure it is really clear how people can opt in when they get to your website.

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! Add a pop up to your site. When people get to your site and are searching through some of your other blog posts you can encourage them to sign up for your lead magnet.

! Feature solid content aligned with your guest post. On days when I know a really good guest blog is going to go live that I’ve written I would always make sure that I have a really good article on my blog that was somehow aligned with that guest post. Again, this is a lot of work. But it really paid off for me because it helped me grow my list quickly. To me, if I know it’s going to pay off I’m totally fine with the hard work. That’s why I want you to really trust me that if you find a really good blog and they are going to let you guest post it is worth the effort.

! Review your About Page. I have mentioned the About Page already. It is important that you have a really well-written About Page and you include links in that About Page because it’s going to be visited frequently when people come to your website. If people have come to your website for the first time after reading one of your blogs on someone else’s website, they are definitely going to check out your About Page so make sure it’s ready.

Where You Might Get Stuck

Don’t make guest blogging your ultimate goal for getting traffic to your lead magnets. It’s a solid strategy, but using free social media strategies AND experimenting with Facebook ads are much smarter strategies!

You are controlling the flow of information. You are controlling how often you do it, when you do it, where you are sending your links. I think social media strategies and Facebook ads should come first and then you should consider some guest blogging opportunities. If you were to ask me how often you should guest post throughout the year I would say it depends on how much time you have on your hands.

If you are just starting out and you have more time than you would like to admit in your business because you’re not making a bunch of money just yet and you aren’t creating a bunch of things just yet, then take advantage of that. Maybe do one guest blog post a month.

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Then, as you start creating your own programs and as you get busier with creating your own content and are getting more traffic and your list is getting bigger, then you are probably going to have to pull back a little bit on the guest blogging. Do what works best for your business. But a few times a year would definitely be a good idea if you can find some really good blog sites that will get you the exposure and traffic that you’re really looking for to enhance your list-building strategy.

How To Land High-Value Podcast Interviews

As I mentioned, I have a podcast. I get a lot of requests from people that want to be interviewed on my show. I know what works for me and what doesn’t. I have talked to a lot of my peers who also have podcasts and they agree with these tips. I wanted to share them with you.

Landing Podcast Interviews

! Listen to at least five podcast episodes from the person you want to pitch to be interviewed. You have to listen to more than just a few. Five gives you a pretty good range. You learn their style, you learn a little bit of personal stuff about them if they share on their podcast, you learn about the different topics they like to talk about, you learn about their interview style. Listen to at least five episodes.

! Craft a pitch email similar to the LKR example. Give specifics about what makes the topic you are presenting interesting to them. It’s not about you pitching yourself, per se, but more about having a great topic you can talk about, their audience will love it because XYZ, and if you can actually mention that you know they have talked about specific topics and the topic you are presenting would be well aligned with that, then it’s going to prove to them that you have actually listened to their episodes and you get their show. That is important.

! List a series of potential questions that podcaster could ask you. It takes a lot of work off of their plate and gives them a good sense of what the conversation might look like. I’ll show you an example of that in a moment.

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! Link to a podcast interview you’ve previously done if you have done one (and one you are proud of). That way they can hear you in action, if they choose to.

Remember, you don’t want to make this too long but you do want to make sure you are presenting a really great idea to the podcaster.

Before I show you an example, a lot of guest blogging tips I have given you really apply to this as well; you don’t need to start out with a really big podcast, you don’t need to pitch to the best of the best, you can start out with some smaller ones and then ease into the bigger ones. Plus, if you start out with the smaller ones you can kind of cut your teeth on the interviews and get really comfortable with the back and forth and then when it’s time for you to get on some of the really big shows you will be ready for it.

I see a lot of value in starting off with some of the smaller podcasts and, like Donna was saying, you can grow along with that podcaster. They are new, you are new at it, that’s a good combination when you are just getting started.

I wanted to share with you an email I received. This is kind of long but it actually was really valuable for me. The caveat here is this is from my friend, Jill Stanton of ScrewTheNineToFive.

I have talked about Jill and her husband, Josh, a bunch throughout this program. But what I love is that Jill is Jill in this email. She is totally being herself and it is really fun because she has a fun personality. But she also knows me so she probably took some liberties here being a little bit more casual than she would be with someone she didn’t have a connection with yet. Just keep that in mind. But, the way she went about it in terms of what she added here was so valuable I wanted to share it.

This is what she sent me (after some niceties in the beginning of the email, she got to the point):

Since your audience is super interested in all things Facebook, list building and makin’ monnnaaay, I figured this could be a cool and unique topic to chat about!

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As I’ve mentioned to you before, our Facebook group strategy has been crazy-effective for the Screw Community and we’ve taken a bit of a strategic approach with it that no one really talks about. Specifically, we use it for list building, market research, and insight on what to structure our sales funnels around (buy-bye, guesswork!).

You get the point. But what I love is that right away she has pointed out that no one is really talking about this. That always peaks my interest. Then she gives me specifics including list building, market research, insight. I see how she is using her Facebook group. Then she goes on to say:

So if you want, we could talk about how to structure the group, how to grow it organically (we hit 5k members in 7 months with no ads), and then dive into how to use it for market research, list building and then upgrading members into customers.

Right away she gives some stats to say this is a legitimate strategy and this is how we can talk about it. Then, here’s what I love:

Here are some questions you might want to dive into in an interview:

Then she lists some questions I can ask her and right away I look at the questions and think, “Okay, I can see where this interview is going. I can see how we can structure it to make it really valuable.”

She ends it with:

If you think this would be a good fit for your audience, please let me know and we can lock in a date to record that works with your schedule!

This is great because it gives me everything I need to know. This was an instant “yes” for me. I knew exactly where we were going with it. I knew she had some great data behind it. I knew she was having success and the questions are so helpful for me to understand where the conversation could go.

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I could add different questions and I could move them around. But this is a great start for me. So I actually just recorded this interview with Jill and Josh. It was fantastic. It likely will go live in February or March and it was one of my favorite interviews. Plus, it was a lot of fun.

I just wanted to give you an example of what would get me to say, “Yes”. Now, one more thing I will add here, remember, she knows the content of my podcast. She listens so she knows the topics that I like to talk about the most. That’s why this was a homerun because it was related to the topics that I talk about often on my podcast.

There you have it. I thought giving you a real-life example might help you see this in action.

The “Pursue Simple” Rule For Guest Blogging

Go into it with a genuine desire to share your best stuff. Sure, we want leads from it. But that can’t be the only reason you want to do it!

The host blogger will see right through you so be really careful and respect their blog and respect that you’re posting on their website and get your best stuff out there.

Next Steps

Commit to landing just one guest post or podcast interview in the next 30 days. It’s important you test out these strategies to find out if they are a good fit for you!

If you are worried you are too new at all of this or if you think your content isn’t good enough or that you’re not really good at blog writing or if you’ve got all of these things going on in your head I want you to silence that negative voice. It’s very common to hear that negative voice when we want to try something new. Believe me, I hear it all the time.

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As you start pushing yourself more and more and believing that you really do know your stuff and you have something pretty awesome to offer this world, the more you believe in yourself and the more you push yourself even when you are kind of doubting your abilities, you are going to find that you will get more and more confidence in what you are doing.

My job is to push you and nudge you just a little bit to put yourself out there. Getting a great guest post opportunity or getting interviewed on someone’s podcast will give you that confidence you are looking for so I want to encourage you to go after it. Don’t worry. You’re going to be told “no” a few times before you are told “yes”. That happens. I have been told “no” a million times so I want you to keep pushing through.

Now we’re going to move on to the final video in Step #4. If Step #4 is all about traffic, the final video in Step #4 is all about creating content to get that traffic. If you’ve ever struggled with content ideas and creating content you definitely want to watch the final video in Step #4. I’ll see you there. Bye for now.

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