The 7 Personalities of the Guest Post Hunter
Guest blogging has become the preferred method of link building over recent years as people begin to realise that guest blogging can do much more for your site than simply provide you with relevant backlinks. It is a great way to establish your site as an authority within your niche, create a PR buzz around a product or service and open your site up to new pools of potential customers. When searching for guest post opportunities, there are many ways in which to go about it. You will no doubt want to find sites that are relevant to your niche and already have a good following that will be interested in what you have to say. Chances are you have tracked down guest post opportunities in a number of ways, but there are always those few that favour their method of hunting host sites. Here is a snapshot of what we think are the 7 personalities of the guest post hunter.
The Pal Persuader: Keen to utilise all the contacts they have at their disposal, the Pal Persuader will track down every friend, family member, ex-lover, co-worker and acquaintance with a website in order to bag that guest blog opportunity. The Pal Persuader makes everyone feel like a friend and is adept at leveraging their personal contacts, on LinkedIn and other social networks, in order to secure a guest post on their contact’s site. Treading carefully, they will be tactful in approach and never cash in their “but we’re friends” card.
The Google Go-Getter: Some people use Google’s search facility, others live it. The Google Go-Getter is a bit of a guru when it comes to hunting for guest posts. Using a variety of techy queries, this hunter exhausts every synonym and uses Google operators in order to track down sites looking for guest posts or recently posted content from other parties. See Ann Smarty’s great article onGoogle search tips to hunt for guest post opportunities.
The Shameless Shouter: Hoping to scare guest post opportunities out of the bushes, the Shameless Shouter is not shy when it comes to promoting their posting prowess. Often found on social networks and using their blog as an advertising platform, the Shameless Shouter is smarter than they seem. A firm believer in “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”, the Shameless Shouter will receive genuine interest from people looking for content but must be careful not to become a cold-calling salesman. Instead, this hunter researches a particular blog and shows they are interacting on a more personal level.
The Social Sifter: Foraging through the many tweets and posts, the Social Sifter will unearth hidden guest posting opportunities by monitoring social conversations. Often seen searching for tweets containing the phrase “guest post”, they are practised in spotting recent guest posts within their niche, they are quick to identify sites that will be open to allowing them to write a related article for their site.
The Comment Catcher: Not one to waste a guest post opportunity, the Comment Catcher will utilise every part of their post. Using a previous guest post as bait, a Comment Catcher will scour the feedback for people with their own blogs within their niche, striking up a conversation with them about their own post and how great it is.
The Directory Digger: Keen to identify every blog website within their niche, the Directory Digger will sniff out guest post opportunities using directories, sites like MyBlogGuest.com, forums and community boards. Often seen complimenting bloggers and claiming to be long-time-followers, these hunters must be quick to develop rapport with their guest post prospects as they begin emailing cold guest post leads.
The Search Engine Surfer: Not satisfied with the almighty power of Google, The Search Engine Surfer believes that Google is not the only way to search for bespoke quality guest posts. Adept at using other search engines on the block, the Search Engine Surfer uses sites like http://blekko.com andhttps://duckduckgo.com/ to cut the spam from search results and find only trusted, authoritative guest post sites from their queries. Tactical timesavers, they can be seen using slashtag parameters and have the ability to narrow their search into human-curated results.