How to Attract Guest Bloggers to Your Blog (With Minimal Traffic)

Opening the doors to guest bloggers can gradually help your website gain traction, traffic, and overall authority in the long-run.

But wait… what if your blog is brand new and/or doesn’t get much traffic? What if it has very little authority?

This article is meant to tackle that very obstacle. As you’re about to see, you don’t need a wildly popular website to attract guest bloggers on a regular basis.

Part One: Planning

This section focuses on constructing an ideal page to attract guest bloggers with ease.

Publish your ‘Guidelines’ Page

The first step is to plan out exactly what you want out guest contributors. Create a new page detailing everything you need while asking yourself:

• How long must articles be?
• Do they require images, or will you get them yourself?
• Should articles interlink between other existing content on your blog?
• Do you worry about everyone using different writing styles?

The above are only some common considerations. As this part is so crucial, ensure you don’t publish this page until you’re 100% satisfied with the rules.

In my opinion, implement all the essential requirements that make you happy without being overly picky.

Don’t reject a piece over a few typos, and certainly over the fact that a first-time contributor forgot to follow one or two steps. Simply send these people a gentle reminder of the rules and embrace second chances.

Display the Page Prominently

Once ready, make sure this page is prominently displayed throughout your blog while making it clear/obvious what it’s all about. Here are a few tips to consider:

• Display it alongside your top menu items
• Place it on the footer area
• Call it “Write for us” or “Become a Contributor.” Use other keywords and phrases to help bring interested bloggers through search engines. Anything from “Write an article” to “Get published” to “Writer guidelines” always helps.

Part Two: Benefits

Above all else, your “Write for us” page should list some of the following benefits.

Mailing List

I will assume, for the sake of this post, that you are slowly building a mailing list (as you should).

Remind potential guest bloggers that their articles will be distributed to your growing newsletter. Even if it’s a tiny list, let’s remember that you’re building a loyal and targeted list. The value of your newsletter is in its quality rather than its quantity.

You will naturally attract guest bloggers slowly but surely as you continue building the business.

Social Media Sharing

While speaking of overall benefits, you should ideally share their pieces all over social media. And I don’t mean just your personal accounts; use one (or all) of the following communities to enlist the help of fellow bloggers:

• ViralContentBee
• JustRetweet
• Blokube

The above sources can help your content spread like wildfire as everyone shares each other’s work. Click here and here for a more thorough look into these.

It’s a Chance to Build Relationships

Even if your website has minimal traffic, remind guest bloggers that they’re effectively establishing a new connection by working with you.

Granted, everyone has to draw the line somewhere, and I understand that. But if you show how serious you are about the business, this benefit alone should attract guest bloggers with relative ease.

I should also mention: Don’t deceive contributors by promising some wild amount of exposure. Don’t claim that their article will be placed in front of thousands and thousands of “hungry readers.”

Simply talk about the things you can realistically provide, as this will help build stronger relationships later down the road.

Part Three: Promotion

Now it’s time to get out there and look for potential guest contributors…

How to Spread the word

Thankfully, there are plenty of places to attract guest bloggers (and high quality ones, too). Here are a few that I have personally used with great success:

• Craigslist.org (writing section)
• Reddit.com/r/blogging
• Kijiji.ca (writing section)
• Writing and marketing communities such as AbsoluteWrite.com and the WarriorForum.com

Post a free ad as much as you need to and don’t feel discouraged if nobody takes on the offer initially.

Final Word

Do you accept contributors on your website? How do you attract guest bloggers? How did you do when your site was still new? Please share additional tips in the comments section below.

Don’t Miss:

How to Create an Authority Site that Gets Results