Video 13 - Getting Free Traffic From Popular Blogs In Your Niche

In this module, I’ll show you how to post your own content on popular blogs in your chosen sub-niche. 

The advantage for you is that you get free exposure, increased visibility and name recognition, and a byline which includes a link and an advertisement for your sub-niche product sales page.

So what does the actual blog owner get? He gets free content.

And who doesn't like stuff that's free? 

Here then is the step-by-step procedure for finding suitable blogs, approaching the owners to request a content swap and creating articles that get clicks…

Step 1: Find Suitable Blogs

The first thing you need to do is find blogs that are directly related to your sub-niche. The more targeted the blog, the better. 

Example: Let’s suppose you have a poodle-training sub-niche product. Now consider these blogs:

General dog training blog. This is ok, but not perfect, since obviously not everyone who owns a dog has a poodle. As such, you should put this type of blog lower on your priority list.

Toy dog training blog. This is better, since some people who have toy dogs will own poodles. Still, it’s not perfect, so keep it lower on your priority list.

Poodle training blog. Obviously, this is perfect, since it targets your EXACT niche. Focus most of your efforts on finding blogs like this.

Other poodle blogs. For example, a blog about poodle healthcare or a blog about grooming poodles. These are good because they appeal to those people who own poodles. And since those who own poodles often want to train their poodles, you’d find an overlapping audience.

The second thing you’ll want to look for are blogs that seemingly get a lot of traffic. You may happen to know the popular blogs in your niche, which you should add to your list. Otherwise, you’ll need to basically guess if the blog is relatively busy.

Here are five ways to do it:

See if the blogger posts regularly. You want to put your content on blogs that are regularly updated, such as at least once per week.

Check for longevity. Secondly, ideally you want to post on blogs that have been around for at least six months or so. That’s because these blogs tend to have traffic built up (including loyal, repeat visitors).

Look at the comments. Are there at least a few people commenting on the posts? If so, that’s a good sign. If there are a lot of people commenting on every post, that’s even better – it’s a sign of consistent traffic.

Use sites like Alexa.com. This site will give you an indication of how much traffic a site gets. However, it’s just an estimate. And it’s really only useful if you compare the site to other sites in the niche. That’s because this site counts traffic by measuring the number of Alexa Toolbar users whom visit a particular site.

Note: Online marketers tend to have this tool installed in disproportionate numbers, so don’t compare sites across different niches.

Ok, so now you know what to look for as you compile your list of potential blogs.

Here then is how to find these blogs:

Search Google

The idea here is to look for blog keywords alongside your niche keywords. So let’s say your niche keyword is homeschooling. 

You’d then run searches such as:

Homeschooling blog
Homeschooling WordPress
Homeschooling Blogger
Homeschooling LiveJournal

Check Major Niche Marketers

You already know about the “big dogs” in your niche – so check their sites to see if they have a blog. If you’re only familiar with their product sites, then search for their names alongside blog-related keywords. 

For example:

“Guru's Name” blog
“Guru's Name” WordPress

You can uncover still more marketers in your niche by going to Clickbank.com, clicking on the marketplace, and then browsing relevant categories to see which products are listed at the top of these categories (these are your bestsellers).

Then run a search for the product creator’s name alongside the blog-related keywords to see if these marketers have blogs.

These searches should lead you to a blog’s guest post guidelines page, submission page, or actual posts that were submitted by other guest bloggers.

You can also search on blogging directories like Alltop. These are two of the biggest  blogging directories online. Using Alltop you should be able to find links to blogs in any niche. Most of the blogs listed here are higher quality authority  blogs so you’re not going to find many smaller blogs. 

 Ask Around

Finally, you can simply ask members of your target market to list their favorite niche-relevant blogs. You can do this on niche forums, on Facebook, etc. If you’ve already started building your list, then be sure to email your list, too.

When you find sites that do offer guest posting make sure you read their guidelines.

Here's what you want to look for:

Links. Make sure they allow links back to your site. Some blogs will not allow “self serving” links.

Length. Make sure your article meets the required length before you submit it.

The Topic. Look to see if they specify which topic(s) to write about. If not, look over the site and write about relevant topics.

The Format For Submission. Each blog may have a different format for submitting your work. For example, it may be a Text File attached to an email.

What To Actually Submit. Some blogs may want an entire article and some may only want a sample. Find out before you do any work.

It may seem like a lot of work to write all this content but it’s really worth it.

Links from other, high quality, related sites are super-powerful and can get you instant traffic and almost near instant rankings.

This is WAY more powerful then having thousands and thousands of spammy links. You could have a handful of links from other high quality sites in your niche or related niches and outrank a site that has ten thousand spammy links.

It’s that powerful. 

Step 2: Approach the Blog Owners

Once you’ve compiled a list of blogs, then your next step is to approach the blog owners with your request.

Here are the factors that make the blog owner more likely to say yes: 

You’ve built a relationship with the blog owner. Maybe it’s a purely professional relationship, where you’re an affiliate for the owner and thus have already made him some money. Or maybe you’ve started a dialogue and are building a relationship on his blog, on a niche forum or even on Facebook. Point is, it’s easier to get someone say yes to such a request if they know who you are. You can also get “seen” by the blog owner before you request a guest post. If the blog owner “knows” you and is familiar with you before you request a guest post then your chances of being accepted skyrockets. How do you get “seen” by a site owner? It’s simple, about a week or two before you request a guest post start commenting on their site. 

Whenever they publish their latest post be sure to comment and try and get a dialogue started. Then when you request a guest post, be sure to mention who you are in the email.

You’ve seen other guest content on the blog. If the blogger is used to posting content from others, then he’ll be more open to your request.

You offer a good deal. Specifically, it’s better if you propose a content swap, meaning you post one of this articles on your blog too, as opposed to just requesting that your partner posts your content on his blog.

You’ve seen the blogger use content marketing. Have you ever seen this blogger post content elsewhere, such as in article directories? If so, then he’ll likely be more open to the idea of swapping content.

Below in the download section I've provided you with two proposal templates you can use when contacting bloggers.  This will make it super easy for you to get in touch with an owner whos blog you'd like to post on.

Note: Don’t forget that even if a blogger says no to your request (or totally ignores it), you may still be able to benefit from his blog’s traffic and reputation. How? Check to see if he has visitor commenting enabled. If so, then you can start offering useful comments on his posts – and include your backlink, where allowed.

Step 3: Write Engaging Articles

Your next step is to create an article for those bloggers who’ve agreed to your request. Ideally, you want to offer unique content. In other words, don’t just give your partner an article that you’ve already published elsewhere.

You may want to talk to the blogger about what type of article he or she is looking for. Basically, the key is to write something similar to his preferred article formats.

Example: So if their blog is full of “tips” articles, then create a tips article. If it has “how to” articles, then create a how to article.

Now you'll want to write these articles so that they are extremely useful and engaging, yet incomplete (so that people have a reason to click on your byline).

To make it very easy for you, I've included 5 fill-in-the-blank blog post templates you can download below this module. Each one of these templates were created to make the process of writing intriguing, interesting blog posts an absolute breeze. Again, you can find them in the download section below the module.   

To make sure that your posts get accepted you want to pitch the blog owner with topics that will do well with their audience.

One way to find what the readers of the blog find most interesting, is to go through and find the posts that have been shared the most on social media. 

The posts with the highest numbers are usually the most popular.

You can also look at the number of comments. This isn't as accurate as the social media shares, but it's close. If there's a lot of comments under a post that usually indicates interest. 

Another thing you can do to increase your chances of getting posted is to “Brown Nose” The Site Owner

Also, if you really want to “brown nose” and get on the good side of the site owner, you should include in your content that you submit a few internal links back to some of their posts. Just browse through some older posts on the site and link back to those in the article you submit. This will let the blog owner that you are REALLY familiar with their site (it’s an effective form of flattery).

A really great thing you can do, that can impress the site owner and get more of your articles posted, is to Get Comments

The more comments and discussion you can generate after your guest post the better. So make sure you put a call to action for comments at the end of the  article. Ask the readers what they think of the topic and then tell them to leave their opinions in the comment section.

Okay, now let's move onto Step 4: Create Clickable Bylines

Your byline is the little bit of text at the end of your post that identifies the author and often includes a couple lines about him or her. However, you don’t actually want to talk about yourself in this section. Instead, use it as a small, benefit-laded advertisement where you encourage people to click through to your site.

Let me give you an example:

Example: Are you tired of cleaning up after your poodle’s messes? Now you can find out how to housetrain your pup in just five days – no more messes to clean up! Click here now to discover this surefire housetraining method.

Here’s another:

Example: Imagine a perfectly trained poodle – and then make it a reality by clicking here. It’s easier than you think!

And one more: 

Example: Who else wants a perfectly housetrained poodle? Click here to find out how to get your poodle trained in just five days – you’ll b surprised when you see just how easy it is!

Simple right?

Okay, let's quickly recap what we've discussed in this module.

All you really need to do is find blogs that are closely related to your sub-niche, propose a content swap with the owners and then create articles with engaging bylines.

Also...

Write For Others As If You Were Writing For Yourself

Put as much effort into your guest posts that you do writing posts for your own site. Make sure your writing is well researched, informative, interesting, and unique. When I write guest posts they are often very long (1,000 or more  words) and I do this not because I’m trying to make them long but because I want to make sure I’m as thorough as possible.

Also, make sure you proofread your writing. Write it, let it sit for a day, and  then re-read it. Then have someone you know or someone you’ve hired proofread it. This is especially true for the bigger authority sites in your niche.  Your writing has to be free of any grammatical or spelling errors in order to get accepted.