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	<title>SEO Archives - Marketing Fix blog</title>
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	<description>Newsletter on growth marketing and paid ads, based on 12y of hands-on growth roles in 50+ tech companies in the EU, UK, and US.</description>
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	<title>SEO Archives - Marketing Fix blog</title>
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		<title>Website Redesign – the Hows and Whys (and Mistakes) Worth Knowing</title>
		<link>https://karolakarlson.com/website-redesign/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Karola Karlson]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2018 09:08:08 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Content & SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://karolakarlson.com/?p=3066</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Thinking about website redesigning? Learn how much it costs, what's the usual timeframe, how to select a creative agency, and much more. And always, always, always think twice if a redesign is really what you need.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/website-redesign/">Website Redesign – the Hows and Whys (and Mistakes) Worth Knowing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The idea to do a website redesign emerges as an occasional affair, whenever yet another person in the team starts to marvel “What if?”</p>
<p>What if we could improve our brand image? What if we could increase our conversion rates? The reasons for musing on this idea are plenty, and so is the potential scope of a re-design project.</p>
<p>Having been part of two large-scale projects focused on updating a company’s online visual identity, I’ve felt clueless and confused at least a dozen times.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>How can you tell if you <i>really </i>need to do a website redesign?</strong></li>
<li><strong>Should you only change the web design or the entire company’s visual identity?</strong></li>
<li><strong>What’s the cost and timeline of an average website redesign project?</strong></li>
<li><strong>How to cut the costs and time consumption into half?</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>And then there are all the small questions around the UX, web functionality, the shareholders’ mixed design preferences&#8230; This list could go on forever.</p>
<p>We recently completed a website re-design project with one of my clients, <a href="http://www.mindtitan.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MindTitan</a>, an AI and machine learning development company. And to be honest, seeing the website finally live last week was a huge relief.</p>
<p>We. Made. It.</p>
<figure style="width: 641px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null.png" alt="website redesign result" width="641" height="333" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">It’s alive!</figcaption></figure>
<p>While there’s definitely a lot for me yet to learn, I feel like I’ve acquired the minimum viable knowhow to write this overview I wish someone else had written for me to read a couple of years ago.</p>
<p><strong>So if you’ve ever contemplated about changing your website design or are in the process of doing so, you’re going to find in this article&#8230;</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>A bunch of <b>details </b>about the costs and timeframes of website (re)design projects</li>
<li>A set of <b>how-to’s</b> from setting expectations to asking for the right changes</li>
<li>A list of potential <b>mistakes</b> to be noticed early, and to be eluded at best</li>
</ul>
<p>Let’s kick off from the very beginning (January 2018), from the website version 1.0 and the reasons that lead us to redesign it.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Why did we decide to redesign our website?</h2>
<p>When I first redesigned MindTitan’s website a year ago (ok, this was actually going from web to 2.0 to 3.0), it served as my thesis for my personal amateurish graphic design studies conducted for some past months. I started off with an almost-empty Squarespace page, creating everything from scratch – from website copy to illustrations and other graphics.</p>
<p>Basically, my friends needed a website and I was fascinated by web design, so I did the best I could.</p>
<p>The website served as a minimum viable product to represent the company online. However, it was far from professional, not to speak of impressing enterprise-level clients looking to buy in artificial intelligence development services.</p>
<figure style="width: 556px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-1.png" alt="website redesigning" width="556" height="472" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The idea to use pink came from the guys</figcaption></figure>
<p>It seemed that many of the ad campaigns we did attract people to the website, but up from there, we couldn’t often pique their interest. Most of the deals came from other channels. (Clearly a sign I should focus on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/facebook-advertising-hacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook advertising</a> and copywriting, not do end-to-end web design.) 🙄</p>
<p>As MindTitan had grown from 3 to 6 people in the past six months and was looking to expand further, it seemed like the right time to take our website to the next level. Finally, I got all the three co-founders on board and I started thinking about the best ways to conduct the project.</p>
<p>I’d say that one of the foundations of a successful website redesign project is having a reasonable answer to the question <strong>“Why do we want to redesign our website?”</strong></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Setting the right goals for the redesign project</h2>
<p>It always serves you well to have a set of clear goals, especially when working with multiple stakeholders. In the case of MindTitan’s website redesign project, our goals were to:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Show the company from the right angle. </b>We wanted to come across as a trustworthy and professional international partner to large clients.</li>
<li><b>Give a better representation of the company’s services and educate the audience. </b>We planned to improve website functionality, add quality content and revamp the existing copy.</li>
<li><b>Strengthen the employer branding.</b> We wished for talented people to look at the company’s website and think “Damn I wanna work here.”</li>
</ul>
<p>Ok, so these are the kind of goals a website redesign project should derive from – you’ve got to have a specific list of items you’d like to improve.</p>
<p>Here’s another list of arbitrary (and regrettably, popular) goals that <i>should not be</i> among your reasons for redoing website design:</p>
<ul>
<li>We want our website to look “nicer.”</li>
<li>We haven’t updated our website for two years already.</li>
<li>Our investor suggested that we do a web redesign.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>😫Just don’t update your website if you don’t know why you’re doing it.</strong></p>
<p>But… Anyway… Enough of ranting.</p>
<p>With a clear plan in hand, we set out to look for a designer/agency to take on the project – the trickiest part in website development in my personal opinion.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Whom to hire on your web design project?</h2>
<p>At first, still loving to mess around with Sketch and Illustrator, I had a plan to do design mockups for the new website on my own and then send these to an agency for development. (<u>Probably</u> definitely a good thing we ended up hiring an agency.)</p>
<p>The reasons I first planned to do the designs on my own:</p>
<ul>
<li>I had a pretty clear vision of which elements and pages the website should include.</li>
<li>It would have been (a bit) cheaper to do the design in-house.</li>
<li>I didn’t know much about Estonian web design agencies, so I didn’t know which ones had good designers.</li>
</ul>
<figure id="attachment_3081" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3081" style="width: 393px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3081" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/giphy-1.gif" alt="bad idea gif" width="393" height="309" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3081" class="wp-caption-text">Glad we hired an agency in the end – – <a href="https://giphy.com/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Now, looking back, here’s a list of the reasons why I am more than glad we hired an agency:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Agencies have<strong><i> real </i>web designers</strong> that know all about UX and how to design for the responsive web.</li>
<li>These designers know how to <strong>collaborate</strong> with their in-house developers who will later implement your web.</li>
<li>You will get a <strong>project manager</strong> to handle your project and communicate between all parties involved.</li>
<li>Our agency reminded us to think about our <strong>target audience</strong> and introduced great UX approaches – they brought additional experience to the table.</li>
<li>All in all, you need a <strong>second (professional and experienced) opinion</strong> to tell you what works and what doesn’t.</li>
</ul>
<p>And to tell the truth, while creative agencies aren’t cheap to work with, the best ones are worth every penny.</p>
<p><strong>What about in-house designers?</strong></p>
<p>If you have in-house designers with enough free time to take on a web re-design project as their #1 priority, let them do it. Things get sketchy if the in-house designer has other priorities and your website project extends to eight months instead of two. In this case, I would say that hiring an agency or hiring an additional in-house designer would make more sense.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">How did we select the creative agency?</h2>
<p><b>It’s always best to work with a local creative agency so that you can have in-person meetings. </b></p>
<p>And to be fair, we’ve got some world-class web designers here in Estonia.</p>
<p>I started by making a list of about 10 agencies that I reached out to via email. The outreach email included:</p>
<ul>
<li>A <strong>brief on our redesign plans</strong> and needs</li>
<li>A request to see <strong>3 web design projects from the past year</strong> that the agency was most proud of</li>
<li>A request for an <strong>estimated quote and timeframe</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Out of 10 agencies I reached out to, around 5 sent over their work examples and 3 mentioned an estimated price for the project. There was also an agency that refused to share anything before we had a meeting. (Maybe it works for some people, I personally found this attitude arrogant.)</p>
<p>Out of the three agencies that sent over impressive work examples and an estimated price range for the project, we decided to go with <a href="https://www.velvet.ee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Velvet</a>. We liked the style of the designer who’d be working on our project and the fact that they’re a well-functioning agency with a long history. Our first meeting was pleasantly constructive and we set off on the right foot.</p>
<figure style="width: 577px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-2.png" alt="velvet creative agency" width="577" height="300" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Velvet was a great partner!</figcaption></figure>
<p>PS if you’re interested in what’s the average price range for web design projects (with no too complex features), the price quotes we receiver went from €5k to €15k.</p>
<p>If you start looking for a creative agency to work on your website re-design project, here’s what I recommend:</p>
<ul>
<li>It’s generally best to <b>hire a local agency</b> whom you can meet in person.</li>
<li><b>Do proper homework</b> – ask your contacts for recommendations, check out all agency websites, see what they’ve done in the past, etc.</li>
<li>Ask for their <b>best work examples</b>, preferably <b>from the past year</b> (so that the people who created those still work in the agency)</li>
<li>Ask which projects they’re <b>most proud of</b> – you’ll immediately see where the agency’s focus lies.</li>
<li><b>Check if the agency has worked with other companies in your industry.</b> At least, you don’t want to hire an agency with only B2C design experience to work on your B2B project and vice versa.</li>
<li><b>Ask about the timeframe </b>– some agencies’ time is booked for months to come and you probably don’t want to wait for that long.</li>
<li><b>Ask</b> <b>who’s the designer </b>that’ll be working on your project and check out their Behance and Dribble accounts to see if you like their style.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure style="width: 594px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-3.png" alt="Do due diligence on your creative agency" width="594" height="266" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Do due diligence on your creative agency</figcaption></figure>
<p>Asking those questions before shaking hands with an agency will help you avoid a handful of potential misunderstandings.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">What input to give to your creative agency?</h2>
<p>Usually, the collaboration with a creative agency kicks off with a meeting where you get to know each other and discuss the goals for your project.</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Key lesson #1:</b> even if you don’t agree with everything your designer and project manager tell you, keep an open mind regarding their suggestions. At least 50% of the time they’re right and you’re wrong.</li>
<li><b>Key lesson #2:</b> relationships between clients and agencies easily get sour. Give your best try at being empathetic and considering the agency’s point of view.</li>
</ul>
<p>Somewhere between the first and second meeting, I find it a good practice to <b>write a brief </b>for the agency where you include…</p>
<p><strong>An overview of the project:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Your goals for website re-design</li>
<li>Your expectations for the project</li>
<li>Your worries and limitations regarding the project</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>An intro about your company:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>A half page about your company’s mission</li>
<li>An explanation of your unique value proposition</li>
<li>A description about our customers and their level of expertise about our service</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Your preferences and ideas for the new website design:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The key features and functions you want the website to have</li>
<li>A list of landing pages the website should include</li>
<li>The scope of rebranding the visual language that you expect</li>
<li>A list of your competitors’ websites for further research</li>
<li>Some examples of websites you like in terms of style</li>
</ul>
<p>Well… At least that’s what I included in the brief of MindTitan’s web re-design.</p>
<p><b>Actually, there’s one more HIGHLY IMPORTANT thing to give to the creative agency before they begin to work on your new web design.</b></p>
<p><b>The revised website copy.</b></p>
<p>Your web design should be based on your brand’s key messages and <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/advertising-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UVP (Unique Value Proposition)</a>. Each element on your website should have a clear message and goal. You have to know what you want your website to say.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-4.png" alt="know your unique selling proposition" width="624" height="160" /></p>
<p>This is SO important, seriously.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a website design project end up with average outcome as the company didn’t know what they wanted the website to say to its visitors. This unawareness also made it really difficult for the creative agency to deliver any design proposals and stretched the design process across several months.</p>
<p>If you plan to fill in the copy after your new website is ready, you’re on a slippery road.</p>
<p><b>TL;DR: Write your website copy and hand it over to the designer before the design process begins.</b></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Marketer’s view to the website re-design process</h2>
<p>If you’ve never done a website design project before, you’re likely to underestimate the scope of work it requires on behalf of the client – your company.</p>
<p><b>Hate to break this to you, but you can’t just hire an agency and leave them to independently design, develop, and publish your website.</b></p>
<p>That’s not how the cookie crumbles.</p>
<p>In reality, the faster and comprehensive your replies to the agency, the quicker and desirable the end result.</p>
<p>Oh, and coming up with good website copy… It’s harder (and more time-consuming) than you’d think. Just brace yourself.</p>
<figure id="attachment_3082" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3082" style="width: 378px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3082" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/giphy-2.gif" alt="copywriting for website design" width="378" height="262" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3082" class="wp-caption-text">When you need to write a case study on artificial intelligence in aviation industry – <a href="https://giphy.com/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Design and feedback process</h2>
<p>There were several milestones where we needed to give constructive feedback. I will list these within a timeframe to give you a better overview of how it all went.</p>
<p><b>1 day after the first meeting with the agency –</b> A brief for the website re-design (the one I mentioned earlier in the article)</p>
<p><b>About 2 weeks after the first meeting – </b>Feedback for the first web design examples</p>
<p>In my experience, the first design proposals by the agency serve as a great starting point for a discussion around the future design language of the website. I’ve never seen the first round of design proposals get approved. Usually, a couple of rounds of changes and tweaks are made.</p>
<p>There’s also a good chance that you don’t like the proposed designs at all. It’s also ok to ask for the agency to do a complete re-design.</p>
<figure style="width: 535px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-5.png" alt="website redesign " width="535" height="420" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">We tested various designs before settling on the middle ground</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Look at it this way: It’s best to get things right from the start, rather than to move on with a design you don’t quite like.</strong></p>
<p>I think we bounced the design mockups back and forth for around 2 months.</p>
<p><b>About 8 weeks after the first meeting – </b>Feedback for all final website page designs</p>
<p>As the web designer’s completed all new website views, the ball’s back in your court. You’ll have to review all the landing pages, functionalities, etc. with a super critical eye.</p>
<p><strong>After my first website re-design project, I learned the importance of getting everything right before the final development part begins.</strong></p>
<p>Here’s what to check before approving the final web design for development:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Do all the websites look as you want them to?</b> (that’s an obvious one)</li>
<li><b>How will the web pages look on mobile? </b>(that’s what most marketers forget about)</li>
<li><b>Are you sure that you have all necessary landing pages and features? </b>(what about the Careers, Media, Contact, About, Check-out, FAQ, etc. pages?) Also, think about the pages that you’ll need in the future.</li>
<li><b>Are all website elements functioning properly?</b> E.g. how is an outreach form working? Where will some call-to-actions take the visitor when clicked?</li>
<li><b>How will you fill in all the copy? </b>Make sure that the good-looking website elements and custom solutions are actually manageable afterwards.</li>
<li><b>Did you really include all the necessary elements?</b> E.g. a blog article – does the final design include formatting for various headers, quotes, images, image captions, bullet points, etc.?</li>
<li>Do you have <strong><a href="https://karolakarlson.com/facebook-retargeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook retargeting</a> and Google Analytics pixels</strong> installed in the website&#8217;s code?</li>
</ul>
<p><b>And most importantly&#8230; Are you happy with the end result?</b></p>
<p>After all, you’re going to live with this website for the next couple of years at least.</p>
<p>Once you approve the final web design, the mockups will be handed to a developer who will work his magic and turn these into an actual website.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Publishing the re-designed website</h2>
<p>Around 12 weeks since our first meeting, we could finally see the developed website.</p>
<figure id="attachment_3083" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3083" style="width: 196px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3083" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/giphy-3.gif" alt="celebrations" width="196" height="238" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3083" class="wp-caption-text">Celebrations in order</figcaption></figure>
<p>But…</p>
<p>Don’t bring out the confetti cannons just yet.</p>
<p><strong>As your re-designed website is ready in the test environment, you will need to insert all the copy and images to really make it look like the mockups.</strong></p>
<p>Usually, the creative agency will set up the web pages (sometimes filled with mock copy) in your web management platform, e.g. WordPress.</p>
<p>When entering the copy and reviewing the new website, I spotted at least 20 small mistakes and lacking elements that needed improvement. However, this additional pre-publishing web review is an inevitable part of the re-design process. To move fast at this stage and get the website published, do your best to give constructive feedback.</p>
<p><strong>I simply created a ( ~ 20-page) Google doc where I listed needed improvements for each web page, sometimes illustrating these with screenshots.</strong></p>
<p>It seemed like the most efficient way to give feedback and it worked out really well – our agency was able to comprehend all of the feedback and quickly made the necessary changes.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" title="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-6.png" alt="" width="245" height="50" /></p>
<p><b>What to check before your website goes live:</b></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Do all the web pages look as they did</strong> in your approved design?</li>
<li><strong>Can you easily fill in the web pages –</strong> do they have all the necessary elements and features?</li>
<li><strong>Are all functionalities working properly?</strong> Make sure all outreach forms, checkouts, etc. work as they should.</li>
<li><strong>Is your new website looking good on mobile?</strong> Check all web pages, one by one.</li>
<li>Are all buttons, links, and elements <strong>linking to the right places</strong>?</li>
<li><strong>Are your website’s SEO tags in place?</strong> Do you have H1 and H2 tags properly set up?</li>
<li><strong>Proofread all your website copy</strong> before it goes live.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" title="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/null-7.png" alt="" width="266" height="56" /></p>
<p>The final question that remains is: Where will you host your website? That’s usually handled by the creative agency when moving your website from the test environment to a published version.</p>
<p>And now, around 16 weeks after the first outreach emails to agencies, hours of strenuous copywriting, countless discussions with your team, tens of emails exchanged… Your re-designed website finally gets published.</p>
<p>Was it worth the trouble? – The next few months will tell.</p>
<p>Right now, it just feels damn good to have the redesigned website published.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">TL;DWR:</h2>
<p>(Too long, didn’t want to read)</p>
<p>This article covered all aspects of a website redesign process, from start to end, with all its stages, complications, and specs – from a marketer’s point of view.</p>
<p><strong>Here are 5 key takeaways – the minimum you should take away from reading this article:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Before doing a web redesign project, ask yourself “Why?&#8221;</strong> And have a good reason for taking on the project.</li>
<li><strong>Website redesign projects take around 8-20 weeks</strong> and can cost anywhere between €3,000 &#8211; €30,000 (or even more, I wouldn’t know…)</li>
<li><strong>When selecting your creative agency, do a lot of research</strong> and check out what kind of work your designer has done before.</li>
<li><strong>Be a good customer and write a comprehensive brief.</strong> Also, prepare your web copy <i>before </i>the redesign process begins.</li>
<li><strong>Be prepared to put in many hours of work</strong> and feedbacking the designs, and try to reply timely so that the project moves faster.</li>
</ul>
<p>Disclaimer: This was my personal take on web redesign projects. However, I think many aspects and insights of it are applicable to a lot of web design projects, especially the ones involving several stakeholders.  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/website-redesign/">Website Redesign – the Hows and Whys (and Mistakes) Worth Knowing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
					
		
		
			</item>
		<item>
		<title>After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</title>
		<link>https://karolakarlson.com/guest-blogging/</link>
					<comments>https://karolakarlson.com/guest-blogging/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Karola Karlson]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Nov 2017 13:31:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Content & SEO]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[guest articles]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[guest posting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[personal branding]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>How to get started with guest blogging? How to submit a guest post to leading blogs? Get the tips from an Entrepreneur contributor and the author to 50+ guest posts.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/guest-blogging/">After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<ul>
<li><strong>How can I get started with guest blogging?</strong></li>
<li><strong>How can I submit a guest post to the leading business blogs?</strong></li>
<li><strong>How can I get more clients and work via guest posting?</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If you’re looking answers to these three questions, this article’s for you.</p>
<p><strong>Because that’s exactly what this article&#8217;s about – how to <span style="color: #000000;">get started with guest blogging and</span> accelerate your way to contributing to the top publications.</strong></p>
<p>But first, there’s one important question that needs to be answered:</p>
<p><strong>Is guest blogging even worth your time?</strong></p>
<p>Around 2 years ago, I wrote my first guest post for a small business blog.</p>
<p>Fast forward to 2017, I’ve become a contributor to some of the top-tier blogs that once seemed like a distant dream: <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302418" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, <a href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/03/promote-blog-content-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Marketing Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-drive-traffic-to-blog-posts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social Media Examiner</a>, and many more.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’ve learned about guest posting after contributing more than 50 articles to more than 15 blogs.</p>
<h2>Part 1: The benefits of guest blogging</h2>
<p>Believe me, I’m highly sceptical about the ROI of guest posting.</p>
<p>This said, I’ve seen both value and time wasted when publishing in third-party blogs.</p>
<p>If you want to get the maximum value out of guest blogging, <b>you need to know your goal</b>.</p>
<p><strong>Here are some common reasons for guest blogging:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Getting <strong>high-quality backlinks</strong> for your website</li>
<li>Establishing yourself as a <strong>thought leader</strong></li>
<li>Increasing the <strong>awareness</strong> of your brand</li>
<li>Finding <strong>new clients</strong> and potential partners</li>
<li>Building <strong>new connections</strong> within your industry</li>
</ul>
<p>The reason I started guest blogging was to get quality backlinks for <a href="https://www.scoro.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scoro</a>’s website – my employer at the time. I also loved the challenge of getting accepted to some of the top blogs I had myself learned from.</p>
<p>Guest blogging can be a highly efficient strategy to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/02/11-ways-to-improve-seo-in-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve your SEO results</a>.</p>
<p>Ahrefs <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">studied the correlation </a>between the number of backlinks and keyword rankings on Google. They found that those two metrics have a high correlation between them.</p>
<figure style="width: 549px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-4.jpeg" alt="google rankings' correlation" width="549" height="335" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Backlinks = more organic traffic – <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>While I personally believe that guest blogging didn’t contribute much to our blog’s growth, I still believe it had <i>some</i> effect on the rapid <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/growing-organic-blog-traffic/">growth of our organic blog traffic</a> thanks to quality backlinks.</p>
<figure style="width: 550px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-41.png" alt="guest blogging benefits" width="550" height="308" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Scoro’s blog traffic growth over time</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #1: You need to know <i>why</i> you’re guest blogging.</h3>
<p>Alright, we can say that submitting guest posts to other websites has the potential to increase your <a href="https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Domain Authority</a> in the eyes of Google and bring you more website traffic in the long term.</p>
<p>But there’s also a caveat: <b>not all guest blogging is equally beneficial to your SEO results. </b></p>
<p>There’s a big difference between a backlink from a popular blog and a website with low authority.</p>
<p>Compare this to creating your brand’s showroom in the middle of the woods or a royal castle.</p>
<figure style="width: 451px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-42.png" alt="backlink from a popular blog vs website with low authority" width="451" height="308" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Where would you rather be seen?</figcaption></figure>
<p>Guest blogging on a low-authority site with a few readers is likely going to have a smaller impact on your long-term website traffic than writing a high-quality blog article for your own blog.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #2: It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority sites.</h3>
<p>Popular blogs also get more traffic which means higher visibility for your post, you, and your brand.</p>
<p><strong>P.S. If you&#8217;re looking to increase your blog traffic, check out this article: <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/promoting-blog-articles-facebook-promoted-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18 Hacks for Promoting Blog Articles on Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p>If you’re hesitating whether to write a guest post for a particular website, use an SEO tool like <a href="https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar">Mozbar</a> to check how high Domain Authority that website has. Mozbar will show you the Domain Authority (on the scale of 1-100) of any website you’re interested in.</p>
<p><b>Try to find guest posting opportunities on websites with the DA higher than 60 points.</b></p>
<figure style="width: 553px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-43.png" alt="domain authority measurement" width="553" height="327" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Look for websites with a high Domain Authority</figcaption></figure>
<p>But what if your goal for guest blogging isn’t to improve your website’s SEO? What if you’re interested in building your personal brand?</p>
<p><b>Guest blogging is a great way of establishing yourself as a thought leader in any particular industry. </b></p>
<p><b>However, it’s not always as efficient as you might think.</b></p>
<p>For example, when I published an article in <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, only nine readers looked up my profile and website.</p>
<p>It looks like guest blogging isn’t going to bring you much fame after all… Even a small&#8217;scale <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/facebook-advertising-hacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook advertising</a> campaign would bring you significantly more results.</p>
<figure style="width: 611px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-44.png" alt="generating traffic through guest blogging" width="611" height="223" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Guest articles bring little traffic to your website</figcaption></figure>
<p>Tim Soulo, Head of Marketing at Ahrefs, conducted an <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive analysis</a> of 273 guest posts and their ROI.</p>
<p>Here’s what he had to say about referral traffic from guest posting:</p>
<figure style="width: 624px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-46.png" alt="guest blogging doesn’t bring you much website traffic" width="624" height="181" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Tim seems to agree</figcaption></figure>
<p>Out of 239 guest articles Tim wrote, 35% generated less than 10 visits and only 15% generated more than 100 visits.</p>
<figure style="width: 409px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-6.jpeg" alt="average referral traffic from a guest article" width="409" height="409" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">That looks pretty bad… – <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>Alright, so now we have data from two marketers saying that guest blogging is a terrible way of getting more traffic to your personal or branded website.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #3: Guest blogging is an awfully inefficient way to increase website traffic</h3>
<p>Does this mean you shouldn’t <span style="color: #000000;">be guest posting </span>at all?</p>
<p>Not necessarily.</p>
<p>Here’s another finding from Tim’s research:</p>
<figure style="width: 624px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-48.png" alt="guest posts with links" width="624" height="144" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">You can make your guest posts work!</figcaption></figure>
<p>If you’re able to include a <strong>relevant link</strong> to an article or research material on your website, the guest post will bring you a lot more value.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #4: Increase your traffic from guest posts by linking to your other articles/research.</h3>
<p>Another cool idea is to create a content upgrade, e.g. an eBook with additional insights, and offer it to your guest post readers in exchange for their emails. This way, you can collect the readers’ emails and reach out to them in the future.</p>
<figure style="width: 555px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-49.png" alt="free e-book for your guest post readers" width="555" height="273" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">For example, an eBook with relevant material</figcaption></figure>
<p>I’ve also learned that <b>the topic of your guest post matters a lot</b>.</p>
<p>For example, if you’re a marketer looking to get hired, it makes sense to write guest posts on marketing, not productivity or management.</p>
<p>When I wrote an article on Facebook advertising for Content Marketing Institute, it was picked up by other marketers.</p>
<figure style="width: 626px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-51.png" alt="9 brilliant tactics to promote your blog content on facebook" width="626" height="311" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Article I wrote for Content Marketing Institute</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Compare to the nine website visits I got from a guest post in Entrepreneur, writing for a marketing blog had a significantly higher ROI.</strong></p>
<p>The guest post brought me 30+ visitors. While it’s not much, some of those people were interested in collaboration or hiring me.</p>
<figure style="width: 376px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-53.png" alt="some guest posts have a high ROI" width="376" height="292" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">This guest post had a high ROI</figcaption></figure>
<p>Look for blogs where your potential customers hang out and write guest posts that show your expertise on the right topics.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s another question people are curious about:</p>
<h2>Can you get hired via guest blogging?</h2>
<p>Definitely!</p>
<p>More than once did I write a guest post to a marketing blog and got made an offer to keep writing to them as a paid contributor.</p>
<p>I’ve also had several people read my guest contributions to leading marketing blogs and reach out to hire me.</p>
<figure style="width: 621px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-56.png" alt="sometimes you get hired via guest blogging" width="621" height="260" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Guest blogging can bring you cool job offers</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #5: Guest blogging can be an efficient way to attract new customers.</h3>
<p>However, don’t get too excited about writing one or two guest posts and seeing all the business to come in&#8230;</p>
<figure id="attachment_2264" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2264" style="width: 374px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-2264" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/lounging.gif" alt="pokemon gif" width="374" height="281" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2264" class="wp-caption-text">It’s not THAT easy – <a href="https://giphy.com/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p><b>You also need to have a strong landing page / personal blog to land a job. </b>People who love your guest post will check out your website.</p>
<p>Having a website to back up your expertise will help to convince people to hire you.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #6: You need a personal website for people to find out more about you.</h3>
<p>For me, guest blogging has always worked hand-in-hand with my personal website. <i>The best </i>job offers never even came via a guest post, but thanks to people reading my blog.</p>
<p>However, guest posting helps to <strong>strengthen your personal brand a</strong>nd establish you as an expert in your field.</p>
<p>Here’s an example of a Twitter profile belonging to marketing influencer <a href="https://twitter.com/iconiContent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aaron Orendorff</a> – having published in so many well-known publications helps him to increase credibility.</p>
<figure style="width: 576px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-58.png" alt="Aaron Orendorff twitter cover image" width="576" height="297" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">That cover image definitely creates trust</figcaption></figure>
<p>To sum up the first half of this article, here’s how you can benefit from guest posting:</p>
<ol>
<li><b>It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority websites</b> and the blogs your potential clients read.</li>
<li><b>Guest posts do not usually bring much traffic to your website</b>, even not the articles published on high-authority sites.</li>
<li><b>Sometimes, it’s worth skipping a guest posting opportunity</b> and write an article in your own blog instead.</li>
<li><b>Guest blogging works best when combined with a personal blog</b> or a branded website.</li>
<li><b>Look at guest posting as a way to increase credibility</b> and connect with other people in your field.</li>
</ol>
<figure style="width: 571px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-59.png" alt="guest blogging on high-authority websites takes time" width="571" height="316" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">It takes some time to get there</figcaption></figure>
<p>If you find the goals above worthy of your time (it takes around 8h to write a 2000-word article or even more) and you’re willing to put in some hard work, keep reading.</p>
<p>In the second part of this article, we’re going to explore how you can become a guest <span style="color: #000000;">blogger</span> to world-class blogs like <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, <a href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/08/marketers-use-artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Marketing Institute</a>, and <a href="https://thenextweb.com/guests/infographic-explains-teamwork-fails/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Next Web</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Part 2: How to get started with guest blogging</h2>
<p><strong>I wrote my first ever blog article in 2015.</strong></p>
<p>I had just joined the software startup Scoro as their Content Marketing Manager.</p>
<p>My first week at work, I wrote <a href="https://www.scoro.com/blog/business-hacks-part-1-basic-lifehacks-applied-to-business/">the first blog article </a>I’d <i>ever written in English</i>.</p>
<p>Looking at it now, I feel slightly embarrassed, would like to rewrite the entire article, and prohibit my past self from publishing any more content.</p>
<figure id="attachment_2265" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2265" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2265" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/giphy-copy-28.gif" alt="embarrassed gif" width="250" height="250" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2265" class="wp-caption-text">Never re-read your first articles – <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/dog-tired-sleepy-EMyypuqU025Da">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>However,<b> if I hadn’t started to publish those blog articles, I never would have learned to write</b>.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #7: The best way to learn to write is to write.</h3>
<p>Your first articles are 99% sure to be poorly written and will fail to attract many readers.</p>
<p>But that’s just fine.</p>
<p>The worst thing you can do is to give up and never take on writing again.<b> Keep blogging on a regular basis until you get better and start attracting some readers.</b></p>
<p><strong>A good litmus test is to show your articles to your friends and ask if <i>they’d </i>read that.</strong></p>
<p>I started to write and publish a blog article on Scoro’s blog every week. After six months, my articles <a href="https://www.scoro.com/blog/workplace-productivity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started to improve</a> and I kept learning from my colleagues that helped to edit my work.</p>
<p>I was super eager to start guest posting in some of my favourite marketing blogs. Yet some of my earliest outreaches got negative replies.</p>
<p>I still needed to grow as a writer.</p>
<figure style="width: 716px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-62.png" alt="early pitches will be rejected" width="716" height="262" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">You’re going to get a lot of those emails</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #8: Your early pitches will be rejected. Don’t give up.</h3>
<p><b>Reaching the level of expertise and writing skills demanded by top publications takes time.</b></p>
<p>If you submit the first article you’ve written in your life as a guest contribution, it probably won’t get accepted. You’ll first need to gain some credibility as a writer.</p>
<p>So here’s what I did next: <b>I started by</b><span style="color: #000000;"><strong> guest posting</strong> </span><b>to small blogs.</b></p>
<p>Here’s how I looked at it:<b> If I get accepted to some mid-tier blogs, I can put in hard work, publish some amazing articles, and then pitch larger blogs based on that experience.</b></p>
<p>I sent out 10+ pitches to some of the blogs I considered to be reachable, pitched them highly relevant ideas and was given a chance by a couple of editors. You must constantly improve your <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/copywriting-for-facebook-and-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">copywriting</a> skills to write better pitches.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the thing:<strong> Instead of pitching your ideas to 1-2 blogs, reach out to more than 10. There&#8217;s a lot higher chance that one of your pitches will get accepted.</strong></p>
<p>One of the first guest posts I wrote was for the HubSpot blog.</p>
<figure style="width: 691px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-64.png" alt="6 ways to transform a hectic office into your personal haven" width="691" height="249" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Thanks HubSpot for the opportunity!</figcaption></figure>
<p>It even had a decent amount of social shares that made it possible to pitch myself as a <span style="color: #000000;">guest blogger to</span> additional blogs.</p>
<figure style="width: 306px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-65.png" alt="number of social shares" width="306" height="311" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">71 LinkedIn shares is pretty good</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #9: Start guest <span style="color: #000000;">blogging in</span> small or mid-tier blogs and work your way up.</h3>
<p>Don’t expect those first guest posts to bring you fame and new customers.</p>
<p>However, <b>you’ve got to get your snowball-effect snowball rolling from somewhere</b>. So look for blogs that accept articles from less-experienced writers like yourself.</p>
<p>Here’s one more highly important tip: <b>Write relevant and original pitches.</b></p>
<p>Here’s how NOT to get your guest post pitch accepted:</p>
<figure style="width: 652px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-67.png" alt="example of a bad pitch" width="652" height="211" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Don’t write these kinds of pitches</figcaption></figure>
<p><b>Here’s what’s wrong with this pitch:</b></p>
<ul>
<li>The blogger did not introduce herself.</li>
<li>The blogger made no pitches for articles she wanted to write.</li>
<li>She didn’t refer to her previous work to prove she can write.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>That’s worse than not sending any email. It’s sending an email and wasting the editor’s time.</b></p>
<p>Here’s another one: the regular guest post pitch I saw when working as the Content Marketing Manager for Scoro.</p>
<figure style="width: 789px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-68.png" alt="Generic pitches get rejected" width="789" height="390" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Generic pitches get rejected</figcaption></figure>
<p>What’s wrong with<i> that </i>pitch?</p>
<p><b>All the three topics they pitched are generic,</b> and there are probably 10 articles with the exact same titles already published. This pitch is a no-go.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #10: A bad pitch is worse than no pitch at all.</h3>
<p><b>So what makes a good guest post pitch –</b> one that gets you accepted to the leading blogs?</p>
<p>CopyHackers has a funny and insightful guide to writing an <a href="https://copyhackers.com/write-a-guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awesome pitch</a>. Here’s what they suggest:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>STEP 1: Be awesome.</strong></li>
<li><strong>STEP 2: Choose a topic you know shit-tons about.</strong></li>
<li><strong>STEP 3: Work on that headline some more.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In fact, their guidelines make you almost too intimidated to send over a pitch.</p>
<figure style="width: 705px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-71.png" alt="post guidelines by copyhackers" width="705" height="289" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Would you dare to send in your pitch?</figcaption></figure>
<p>But these guidelines also <b>push you out of your comfort zone, nudging you to be creative and put in some hard work.</b></p>
<p>That’s exactly how writing a good pitch should feel like.</p>
<p>As I’d always wanted to <span style="color: #000000;">be a guest blogger</span> for CopyHackers, I decided to take my chance. It took me <b>22 minutes (instead of the 3 minutes most people put in their pitches) </b>to write an email to the blog.</p>
<p>I’m still proud of myself when looking at this<em> </em>pitch.</p>
<figure style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-73.png" alt="engaging and original pitch" width="760" height="460" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Write engaging and original pitches</figcaption></figure>
<p>A couple of hours after sending over my email, I got a reply from CopyHackers’ founder Joanna Wiebe, saying <b>she loved the pitch</b> and would like to see the outline or first draft. ????</p>
<p>In a few weeks, <a href="https://copyhackers.com/2017/05/36-facebook-ad-hacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my article</a> was published and got tons of positive feedback.</p>
<figure style="width: 689px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-75.png" alt="guest post for copy hackers" width="689" height="342" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">This pitch turned into an article</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Which leads us to the next lesson…</strong></p>
<h3>Key takeaway #11: Work on your pitches like your life depends on it.</h3>
<p><strong>Here’s what a go<span style="color: #000000;">od guest post </span>pitch looks like:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><b>It shows personality – </b>your introduction should differentiate your from other contributors</li>
<li><b>It’s original </b>– the ideas you pitch have not been written about before or you’re offering a unique angle to the subject.</li>
<li><b>It’s practical –</b> you’ve done your research on the blog and suggest topics they haven’t published yet.</li>
<li><b>It’s convincing –</b> you explain to the reader why you’re the right person to write on the proposed topics and also link to some of your previous articles.</li>
<li><b>It’s entertaining –</b> use interesting wording and create a good flow, so that the reader will enjoy reviewing your pitch.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yeah, that’s a lot of things you need to get right. It&#8217;s a lot harder than creating an <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/instagram-campaign/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram campaign</a> or brewing the perfect espresso.</p>
<p><b>But&#8230; The more you practice the art of writing pitches, the better you’ll get at it.</b></p>
<h2>How to become a<span style="color: #000000;"> guest author in</span> top blogs</h2>
<p>If this question&#8217;s the reason you&#8217;re reading this article&#8230; Well&#8230; <strong>Here comes the answer!</strong></p>
<p>After I had written for some notable marketing blogs, I felt ready to approach the big players – blogs I had only recently<i> dreamed</i> of writing for.</p>
<p>By this time, I had <b>tens of articles and referrals to prove my expertise.</b></p>
<p>I had written 30+ articles<i> </i>for <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/office-personal-haven">HubSpot</a>, <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/emotional-marketing-to-facebook-ads/">Kissmetrics</a>, <a href="https://copyhackers.com/2017/05/36-facebook-ad-hacks/">CopyHackers</a>, <a href="https://adespresso.com/blog/landing-page-mistakes/">AdEspresso</a>, <a href="https://klientboost.com/ppc/facebook-ad-tips/">KlientBoost</a>, <a href="https://learn.infusionsoft.com/marketing/social-media/7-facebook-ads-examples-for-irresistible-lead-magnets">InfusionSoft</a>, <a href="https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/content-optimization-tools/">Duct Tape Marketing</a>, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/guests/infographic-explains-teamwork-fails/">The Next Web</a>, and many more blogs.</p>
<p>More importantly, I had set in motion the growth of my personal blog that was seeing high readership from fellow marketers.</p>
<p><b>First, you need credibility. Only then can you start pitching to the high-level blogs.</b></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure id="attachment_2266" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2266" style="width: 320px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2266" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/giphy-1.gif" alt="supermario gif" width="320" height="300" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2266" class="wp-caption-text">You need to level up – <a href="https://makeagif.com/gif/super-mario-bros-fireworks-flag-pole-run-neogaf-DcqsiW">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #12: Before pitching to top-level blogs, build up your personal brand and credibility.</h3>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">Look at guest blogging like</span> a game – y<strong>ou need to level up in order to get accepted to high-rank blogs.</strong> Coming up with original ideas and pitches that get accepted gets harder once you start approaching the leading business blogs.</p>
<p>Becoming a contributor to leading publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and the top industry blogs is not easy, but definitely a goal that you can reach.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Did something remain unclear? Do you have additional questions regarding guest blogging? Leave a comment and we&#8217;ll get back to you.</p>
<p><a href="https://karolakarlson.com/facebook-ads-ebook/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2770 aligncenter" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad.png" alt="200 facebook ad examples ebook" width="1400" height="800" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-300x171.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-768x439.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-1024x585.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" /></a>  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/guest-blogging/">After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
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