How to Increase Your Reputation and Your SEO
The term “blog” has expanded right along with the technology that gave it birth. Once upon a time, a blog was just a rambling of your thoughts as in an electronic diary or a vehicle to dispatch coupons and deals via newly sprouted social media channels. Today, a blog post is much more akin to an article published in a magazine.
Magazine articles, both online and in hard copy, are usually longer than quick marketing blurbs, and they’re much more professional than personal journal ramblings. Articles are closely edited. Articles serve a distinct purpose — to educate or entertain a specific publication’s audience. To get your blog published in a magazine, it must read much more like an article than a blog of the past.
Write with Authority
Online readers have become sophisticated. Today, they expect blogs to contain at least some useful information, backed up by references, or funny anecdotes that they can pass on or use to better their lives. When you post a thoughtful blog on your website and social channels, readers appreciate your efforts and hopefully pass along your words of wisdom on their way to becoming loyal customers … or at least loyal readers.
Thoughtful blogs also set you up as an expert in your field. To get your blog published in any other form or on anyone else’s website, you must present yourself as an industry expert. That means you have to know your stuff, while researching and quoting the other experts. Guest posts on other blog sites serve as links back to your site, and that’s one of the cornerstones of search engine optimization. So it’s worth writing with authority to get your blog published on another popular website.
Editors Seek Quality
Magazines, whether they’re online or strictly in hard copy, have high standards. They’ve either been operating for decades and already have a stellar reputation, or they’re new on the scene and want to build that kind of reputation. To get your blog published in a highly-coveted spot in a prized publication, you must follow a set of guidelines and protocols.
Those rules and regulations typically are either posted on the magazine’s website or they’re available through other sources, such as Freelance Writing or Writer’s Digest.
Other basic guidelines that apply to most media when you want to get your blog published include:
- Follow the publication’s submission rules strictly and to the letter.
- Get your writing edited by at least one other set of eyes. Even though they have their own editors, don’t submit work with blatant errors.
- Read a number of issues of the publication to get a sense of the tone and style they prefer.
- Submit your blog in the format requested.
- Start small and get a few clips under your belt in local freebie magazines. Their writers’ policy is going to be less strict than that of national publications.
- Attach a brief resume so editors know that you aren’t a total amateur, especially after you’ve got a few clips.
- Proofread your queries and introductory emails. Consider these your cover letters to get your blog published. They must be as error-free as your article.
- Address your queries and emails to a specific person. Never send it to an impersonal “info” address if you can help it.
- Prepare to get rejected. It’s part of the package.
Eventually, You’ll Get Your Blog Published
If you don’t have an agent or marketing staff sending out your queries, requesting backlinks and introducing your writing to magazine editors, the process can be extremely time-consuming. It can get frustrating too.
But keep in mind that it takes only one “yes” to get you noticed on a national level. Remind yourself that there are readers who specifically want what you have to sell and are interested in what you have to say. In fact, write to those readers as if they already are your customers, and they’ll appreciate your expertise and believe that you know just what they need.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
