Interview: Gregory Ciotti Revealing His Guest Blogging Secrets

Do you want to land on top blogs in your niche through guest posts?

Then this post, sorry interview is for you!

Last time when I had an interview with Ileane Smith, it got over 100+ comments! That shows indirectly this blog readers are also alike me! So, I’ll be happy to conduct more in coming days.

This time, the interview with Gregory on guest blogging secrets. Lets welcome Gregory Ciotty from SparringMind.

[note]Two cents about Gregory from my side: Your scrolling fingers should sore after reading his blog posts ;) He adds IMMENSE VALUE not only on his blog posts, but also on his guest posts. Don’t believe me? Check out his recent post(4500+ words)[/note]

Greg (short name) is the regular contributor of Problogger, DailyBlogTips, BufferApp, FamousBloggers etc. You can check out few of his guest posts here. Today he is going to reveal few of his guest blogging secrets with us. Ready?

1. Can you introduce yourself & your blog ‘SparringMind’?

Sure thing: my name is Gregory Ciotti and my blog, Sparring Mind, combines content marketing + social psychology and makes them play nice together. :)

Basically, I wanted to approach something I really feel is important to all businesses with an online presence (content marketing), and create content that actually had some legs, as in it was backed by research studies and some actual data, rather than ‘gut feelings’ and best practices.

2. What tips do you have for those who want to get started with guest blogging?

I do love guest blogging, and still do it to this day.

A lot of people will say that guest blogging is “dead”, and while I will admit that it has become less effective over time, you still have to start somewhere (and it still can work quite well, it’s just going to take more effort).

The first thing I would recommend it to make a huge list of blogs that you would like to appear on.

Make sure you don’t just include blogs in your immediate niche, but blogs that you could also write for if you put your own “spin” on the topic.

For instance, I write for the Buffer blog from time to time. That blog focuses on productivity, social media, and start-up culture.

These things are directly related to content marketing, but they are fairly entwined, so I just have to create content that incorporates both, and I can get featured there and still have people be interested in my site.

Now, there are obviously some blogs you are going to want to stay away from since they won’t be worth your time, but don’t be afraid to get featured on a few blogs that aren’t directly connected to your niche, after all, the links won’t hurt either!

The other things I’d recommend could be summed up as follows:

1. A guest post should funnel people to an outcome, not a home page (try to have an opt-in freebie or a landing page set up, just linking to your blog doesn’t work as well)
2. A guest post should mention big bloggers in your niche (it gets more people to share the post)
3. Each guest post should be part of an anchor text strategy (for SEO purposes)
4. Guest posts should be aimed mostly at beginners (a larger audience base)
5. Always write for the audience at hand, and always include a “twist” in the post that relates to your blog’s unique selling proposition.

Also, try to schedule two or more guest posts to get published on the same day, you’ll create this impression of “being everywhere” and you’ll get more clout as a result.

3. How do you approach the bloggers to guest post on their blogs (if it’s for the first time)?

Since I write guest posts regularly, these days, it’s usually me who gets approached.

Typically though, I just send out a quick email stating my personal connection to the blog (I don’t ever posts for blogs I’ve never read).

I then follow up with a quick pitch with about 3 different post ideas, making sure each one is original and specifically tailored to that blog.

This saves me time if the owner doesn’t like the original post idea or isn’t accepting guest posts.

After that, it’s all about delivering on your promises: people who accept guest posts usually make it known, and convincing them otherwise doesn’t go much beyond a very personal and genuine email, so don’t be shy!

4. Who is your inspiration in blogging? 

I observed ViperChill, SocialTriggers and Copyblogger’s pattern on your blog -> Writing as lengthy as Glen, Using short paragraphs throughout the post as Derek, and placing images right side in the beginning of the post, this is Copyblogger’s pattern

Oh man, way too many to list unfortunately. I subscribe to just about every decent marketing related site via RSS.

Instead of citing my regular reads that everybody already knows about (such as Copyblogger), let me recommend a few names you might not recognize just yet.

These aren’t necessarily marketing blogs either, I just take a lot of inspiration from them in one way or another:

5. What do you consider before writing a guest post? How much time do you take to create it?

I can answer the time question easily: it depends.

It depends on what the topic is and what blog the post is for.

As for things I consider, I usually break down the following aspects:

6. How much time do you spend on blogging in total, every week?

I spend about an average workday, since content marketing & running websites (along with SEO work) is what I do.

The key is this: always write down a “gameplan” the night before.

That way, each morning, you’ll know what needs to get done and you can get started right away.

Staring at a blank screen or not knowing what’s next is the ultimate time-killer: having a big checklist to get through is what will keep you working productively.

7. Few guest blogging secrets to land on a popular blog.

Only secret I have is to make sure every post you put out is worthy of being read, and that you should start small and work your way up.

In the earliest stages of Sparring Mind, Problogger was the first place I guest posted for (it’s where most people in this space start).

You have to keep making moves though, Problogger posts don’t carry the weight they used too, they are just for warm-up these days.

I’ve made moves to places like KISSmetrics, SEOMoz, AWeber’s blog and many others, you have to try to land onto more difficult blog as you progress.

My next goal is to write a piece for both FastCompany and Forbes, just remember to keep your guest blogging efforts moving, and never become static!

8. Have anyone rejected your guest posts? What do you do if they reject? And what would you suggest to not being rejected?

Yes my guest posts have been rejected before, although this was earlier in my blogging career.

More recently though, a post of mine got rejected from KISSmetrics, I know they like quality content, and it was a good piece, it was just too “obvious” for the audience at hand.

That’s why I include the “know thy audience” in my guest blogging commandments: you may discuss something too basic for the audience you are about to write for.

That was the case with this post, luckily I was able to work out another idea with Sean Work and in no time, I had a different post approved and live on their blog.

My advice is to not get upset about it in anyway, it’s just a learning experience, nothing more.

Find out why the post didn’t work, understand what you may have done wrong, and then get back to the grindstone!

9. What is the secret behind your blogging success? How come you are creating such an awesome content? Please share some of your content creation tips.

This is tough.

That’s really what my blog is all about, proper content marketing, so this is a large question for me to answer.

In a nutshell though, it’s all about creating content that solves problems, or creating content that evokes strong emotions (preferably… both!)

Then you need to position your content in a way that is memorable.

Here’s a great example…

Steve Kamb is a fitness blogger. Big deal, right?

However, Steve incorporates an 8-bit gaming and “Average Joe” feel to his site NerdFitness and as such, it’s taken off.

Give people something to discuss, boring won’t do at all, even if the content is great.

Find an angle, find topics that get folks in your space fired up, and purposefully write about then to get people talking.

You need to find things that you can also piggyback off of, including popular topics in your niche, but at the same time, you should be creating “evergreen” content that will last far longer, authority content that people in your niche will cite time and time again.

Then you need to get the word out about this content, and that’s a whole ‘nother ballgame’ right there. ;)

10. Can you give our readers the top 5 guest blogging tips?

The best advice I can give is as follows:

About the blogger: Gregory Ciotti is the founder of Sparring Mind and the author of the free ‘Conversion Psychology’ e-Book, which you can download instantly. Get more from Greg on Twitter.

Thanks Greg for the awesome interview

[note] Greg With His Family

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