So you’ve planted your crop. Some shoots are pushing through; some seeds are yet to germinate, some have shriveled and died. Here and there, a few tall plants have really begun to fruit. But as every gardener knows, that’s just the start. You have to keep watering, weeding, harvesting, re-planting, taking cuttings. Depending on your growth, these are the next steps…
Post Accepted?
- Harvest the Fruit…
– Follow up with a thank you email
– Promote the article on your own channels (be sure the site can see your promotional activity!)
– Respond to any comments made about by readers on the blog or social media - Take Cuttings…
Send the article to anyone you might have referenced in the piece and begin building links with them - Re-Plant the Seed…
After a couple of weeks, contact the editor again, either with more ideas or a general nod to working together again in the future. Ideally ask for a column with a strong, original idea, or find out how to become a regular contributor
Not Heard Back Yet?
- Keep Watering…
Give it at least a couple of weeks – bloggers are busy people too! – then send another email or follow up on Twitter. Check their social media to see if they are on holiday or got a lot on their plate at the moment. Bring that into your follow-up email. See if they haven’t posted on the site for a while. Above all, don’t be a pest! - Weeding…
Some places you just won’t hear back from. Remember that 1 in 4 is a good acceptance rate. Move your article on and cross your fingers for next time.
Rejected?
- Apply Fertiliser!
Manure is very valuable to a gardener. If your submission is rejected, try to find out why and use that to either improve your overall approach, improve your content, or improve your relationship with that blogger. If it feels like the host might be open to something else, acknowledge and accept their feedback and offer an alternative article that alleviates that concern.
Remember to Keep On…Organising
• Update your prospecting spreadsheet with information pertaining to each site
• Update your article record with info about each placement, incl. feedback (positive and negative!)
• Make sure your articles folder is updated so you don’t offer the same article elsewhere!
…And Monitoring
Don’t forget the SEO in all this! You need to keep track of your keyphrases used in each article, in order to monitor the number of times each keyphrase has been used, to ensure you are varying your output and meeting SEO goals.
• Priorities for future articles are chosen by how well they convert, the potential monthly traffic level, the strength of the competition and the current search position
• For Google over-optimisation rules, we need to make sure we do not build more than, say, 4 links using the same keyphrase
Beyond the Screen: From Content to Collaboration
Blogger Outreach as a general term can – and in many cases, should – expand beyond guest posting to incorporate offline outreach work as well. The powerful trinity of direct blog action, indirect action (social media) and offline strategy can be a really effective approach. This is more applicable to some clients than others – retail will gain the most from offline blogger involvement. Fashion is the main area in which blogger-brand collaboration has seen powerful results for both parties, with fashion brands inviting high profile bloggers to design a product, shoot a look-book or direct a marketing campaign. Many established bloggers now work as editorial consultants themselves, often writing and overseeing a company’s in-house blog or web content.
You could…
• Invite bloggers to attend events (either online or offline)
• Invite bloggers to write about you, rather than taking guest posts – this could be through reviews of your products, receiving free services to write about, giving them exclusive online launch material
• Host a blogger networking event, inviting people who all blog in the same sector. This could just be an informal drinks meet-up, or a workshop / seminar afternoon
• Invite a high profile blogger to get involved in a partnership with you – creating a product, hosting an event, modeling for a photoshoot, designing a project or writing an exclusive column in your e-newsletter
Previous Posts in this Series:
How to Grow Your Business Through Effective Guest Blogging
Blogger Outreach Part 1: Finding Places To Plant Content
Blogger Outreach Part 2: Choosing Your Crop – How to Write Effective Content
Blogger Outreach Part 3: Sowing The Seed – How to Get Your Content Placed
