Guest Post Topics that Command Attention
Getting some decent exposure with guest posting is every blogger’s dream. If we are going to be honest, a lot of marketers we know would also sleep a lot better knowing they were able to get themselves, or their clients, featured in top publications in their respective niches.
If you’re an established author, guest posting on reputable sites solidifies your reputation in your field and if you are content marketer you are aware of multiple other benefits that come with guest blogging.
Pitching a great topic from an angle that hasn’t been covered yet is half the battle won but that is easier said than done. And as we all know it, writer’s block is as common as a Donald Trump tweet. Oftentimes it hits you just when you’re trying hard to think of that amazing pitch for a guest post.
No wonder – great websites are usually very picky about their guest posts. They demand killer pitches to even consider publishing something you wrote. Add to that the sheer number of bloggers and content writers; all trying to do the same thing and get published on the same websites.
And somehow you have to make it on top.
To help you fight that annoying writer’s block, we compiled a list of several unusual ways to draw inspiration for your next guest posting endeavors.
Jump into the well of sterling post ideas for you to tap anytime you feel you need that additional push for the inspiration to take over!
Use your existing audience for ideas
If you have been blogging for a while, you’ve probably gathered a certain number of followers. Even if just 10 people are reading what you write, you must be doing something right. Also, that means that there are another 10 just like them that you haven’t reached yet.
Engage with your audience. Browse through their comments for ideas and fresh perspectives.
Entering discussions and asking for their opinions is also a good idea. These people follow your work because they have a genuine interest in your niche. Some of them might also be experts in the field. Why not utilize on that?
Just a single sensibly written sentence in the comment section can be a whole new topic you can cover next.
When out of your own ideas, promote someone else’s – the power of writing interviews
If you feel like you have nothing new to say, let someone else do the talking!
That doesn’t mean you won’t have to think – you’ll have to prepare the questions, find the right tone and style to keep things interesting while staying true to your subject (and let’s not kid ourselves, that’s a hard thing to do).
However, doing a well-rounded interview with an expert in your niche is also very rewarding. It gives both you and your readers a chance to peek inside someone’s mind (there is a little voyeur in all of us).
Just like all hair salon magazines in the world know, and as Andrew Brookes writes for Zazzle Media – everyone loves a human-interest story.
Chatting with someone interesting might just fire up a spark of an idea for your next post.
If reverse engineering works for industry, why not for content writing?
Getting your hands on your competition’s product, analyzing it and trying to improve upon it, is called reverse engineering.
Though you might feel a bit shady turning to your competitors for an idea, it’s something that everyone does at some point.
However, the idea here isn’t to try and steal other people’s work. Check out what other influencers in your niche are writing about just to fire up your imagination. Look for subjects you can cover from a fresh angle with new input and useful insights! Otherwise, you’re just plagiarizing.
A smart hack – Amazon book listings as an idea source
Generally, books are a great and undervalued source of inspiration.
But what if I told you that you don’t actually have to read any to get inspired? You would probably think I’m crazy. Let me try and prove you wrong.
What we are going to concentrate on here are Amazon book listings. Amazon has neatly (and conveniently) grouped their best seller lists by topics which makes this process that much easier.
Go to Amazon and under the Departments tab find the Books and Audible section.
Click on Books. A new window will open. Scroll down to find a selection of various types of books.
Let’s say you’re writing a blog related to the Law so you’ve, naturally, decided to check the law section (from the list of sections that appears on the left side of your screen). A new window will open that will allow you to choose your topics even further.
Browsing through these books will surely give you loads of amazing ideas worth writing about.
Also, be sure to check book reviews section. People often write useful inputs about what they expected from the book they read. There is a whole world of post-worthy ideas hidden in the disappointed book reviews.
For instance, let’s select the Criminal Law section and pick a book that seems interesting. But rather than just browsing through the summary, let’s also scroll down to find the comments at the bottom of the page.
Comments are always a great way to see what people like and dislike as well as what they are really interested to know about more. Writing a post that covers something you know for sure people are struggling with is an opportunity that shouldn’t be discarded lightly.
Stay current – trending topics on the internet are your best friend
Probably the best way to find fresh ideas for creating engaging yet fresh content is to follow current trends and quickly follow up on big news in your industry.
To stay on top of the ever-changing news and world events utilize social media. Follow a few reputable news agencies as well as some internet-based opinion makers.
If you have Twitter (highly unlikely, you can use Tweetdeck to follow current news in your field of interest. Just arrange the columns and choose which hashtags you want to keep an eye on. However, be prepared to sip through a lot of republished content as people tend to retweet their old articles which is a standard promotion method.
You can also check out sites like Alltop to find new and popular stories in the field you are interested in.
Don’t forget to take advantage of tools like BuzzSumo which do a great job of gathering all trending topics in one place, relieving you of having to waste too much time on browsing.
As always, it’s important to stay true to your own voice. Don’t just repeat the information like a parrot. Add some meat to it! If you just repeat what has been said you’re not adding any new value and that is a great way to lose exposure you could have gotten if you presented new information.
Browse through Q&A Sites Like Quora
Browsing forums should always be a part of your research. We can admit this can be quite tedious and time-consuming but it often reaps the best results.
We are mentioning Quora here as an example of an excellent Q&A site because it covers an extremely wide array of different subjects but this doesn’t mean you should avoid forums that are specific to the niche you want to guest blog about.
Quora is extremely simple to use. It is just a stylish and more user-friendly version of your average forum.
Just type in the area of your interest in the search bar.
Choose the result you want; for the purposes of this example, we went with Guest Blogging.
On the left, you can browse through questions people asked. However, don’t just scroll through questions. While the questions itself can be a good source of inspiration, we would urge you to also take your time and read through answers that have a high number of upvotes. This kind of answers often provide a lot of valuable insight and, in the worst-case scenario, you could learn something new.
On the right, you can see how many questions people have asked that are related to guest blogging and how many people are following answers related to it. This can give you a good sense of how many users could actually be interested to read posts that solve some of the problems mentioned here.
When you click on any question in your pursuit to read the answers people wrote, you’ll notice a list of Related Questions on the right side.
If you’re short on time and looking for a great guest post topic, you can just cycle through these questions until you come across something that catches your eye.
It is a great feeling when you find a question that is so good that you can only change a word or two and you have an excellent guest post topic ready to go.
Before we wrap this up, we have to give an honorable mention to Reddit. Considering the large and engaging audience it has, as well as the huge amount of subjects it covers, it can be a great source for finding new topics to write about. The only downside is that it does take some time to get familiar with the way it works.
Standing out above the crowd
Finding the right subject for your next killer post is important, but will only get you so far. Writing a superb guest post is just another challenge on your guest blogging journey. Just because the editor wants to read your draft, it doesn’t mean your article is as good as published.
You might have noticed that throughout the article importance of unique and fresh ideas was stressed. There was a good reason behind it. Guest blogging has been on the rise for a few years now and most niches are highly saturated with average content. The only way to stand out is to rise above mediocrity.
Author Bio:
Dario is an outreach specialist at Point Visible. Except for taking care of blogger outreach projects s and creating helpful blog posts, his interests are related to graphic and web design. He occasionally throws in an On-page SEO project, just for good measure.
