Your blog is a content beast, so who couldn’t use free content offers and pitches?
One of the easiest ways to generate regular content pitches, build an army of contributors and grow your blog’s subscriber base at the same time is to develop a well-crafted ‘Write for Us’ page.
If set up correctly, this page will attract relevant writers to your blog and generate free content offers on a regular basis.
Here’s how to make a “Write for Us” page, the right way:
1. Optimize for Discovery:
Ensure your ‘Write for Us’ page is easily found by using an SEO-friendly URL like www.yourbrand.com/write-for-us.
Incorporate search-friendly phrases such as “guest post”, “guest blogger”, and “write for us” in your page content to attract writers through SEO.
2. Comprehensive Contact Form:
Utilize a detailed form to gather essential information from potential contributors, including social media profiles, writing samples, and professional background. This depth ensures that those who submit are genuinely interested.
Automatically enroll writers as blog subscribers upon form submission, streamlining the process of building a community around your brand.
3. Craft a Compelling Value Proposition:
In a succinct pitch, highlight what makes your blog an attractive platform for contributors. Focus on the benefits such as exposure, community engagement, and portfolio enhancement.
Ensure your blog offers real value to contributors, making it a sought-after place for their work.
Step 1: Get Discovered
SEO writers use a variety of methods known as search operators to find guest blogging opportunities. One of the most well-known search operators is the “inurl:write-for-us” search string. Make sure that your page shows up in these searches by making sure that the url structure is www.yourbrand.com/write-for-us. This simple step will ensure that your Write for Us page shows up in SEO writer searches.
On-page content is also an area to use phrases that SEO writers search for to find blog contribution opportunities. Just like using the optimized URL structure mentioned above, use common contributor opportunity keywords in the value pitch such as:
- “guest post”
- “guest blogger”
- “writers needed”
- “blog for us”
- “write for us”
Also be sure to use relevant keywords in the on-page content to attract writers that understand your brand topics and niche.
Step 2: Contact Form
A contact form will allow you to gather relevant data about the prospective contributor as well as receive instant notification that a writer is interested in your blog. Short contact forms are a best practice for online sales, but I recommend going long when trying to convert writers. Gathering more information about your prospective contributors such as social network handles, examples of recent work and education/experience details will give you a ton of relevant information to consider before investing more time with the writer.
A longer form will also require the writer to invest more of their time into the opportunity. A complete form will let you know that this author is genuinely interested in your opportunity and not just looking to take advantage of an easy post & go.
Also be sure to program the contact form to automatically register the person as a blog subscriber, which can be done easily with WordPress or other popular blogging platforms. Doing so will allow you to switch the profile into a contributor by simply changing the user status rather than having to create a profile later. This will also naturally build your blog subscriber base of people interested in your brand!
Step 3: Value Pitch
This is the area where you need to convince a quality writer that your blog is a great opportunity in 150 words or less. Empathize with blog authors and really think about what they will get out of contributing to your blog. Make sure that your blog is attractive to writers before writing this section. Outline all of these details to convince quality writers that your blog is the place to contribute!
Grow Your Contributor Base
A great Write for Us page will attract relevant writers and convince them that your brand is worth their time and effort. Set your blog up for success by making it easy to be found, building the case that your blog is valuable and gathering author data in an efficient manner. Following these best practices will grow your contributor base and supplement your blog content generation efforts.