A special welcome today to all those joining us from this weekend’s Publish15 in Atlanta, GA! We had a great time speaking on curating digital communities and blogging to make waves… welcome aboard!

Click on the image at right to view the full size guest blogging infographic!

Guest blogging is a valuable strategy for any author marketing campaign and no matter where you are in your publishing/marketing process, it’s a step you can begin right this minute. Author guest blogging extends your reach beyond your own website and social marketing efforts, plugging you into the websites and social marketing efforts of others. You benefit from the exposure; they benefit with new, original content for their sites. Everyone wins.

Finding guest post opportunities is easier than you might think. First, you probably already have a sense of where you’d like to blog. For example, if you’re a non-fiction author writing about cats, you may already know the top pet/animal blogs out there. If not, you need to search for them.

You can expand your search by using your keywords along with certain search terms regarding guest blog posts. In example, if you’re writing chick lit, you can search chick lit, and add phrases about guest blogging, such as:

• Write for us (write chick lit for us)
• Guest posts (chick lit guest posts)
• Blog submission guidelines (chick lit submission guidelines)

Seek guest blog post offers on these sites:

1. BloggerLinkUp.com:

BloggerLinkUp is a service provided by Cathy Stucker and Special Interests Publishing. The purpose of the service is to help bloggers get exposure for their content and find content for their blogs. BloggerLinkUp provides the leads, the rest is up to you. You can list there whether you need a blog (WWW has found several blog posts through them) or when you have content to offer.

2. MyBlogGuest.com:

Like the others, the process is pretty straightforward here. The author writes an article and shows it to the blogger. The blogger decides if the article fits his blog and if yes, publishes it on the site. (Optionally) The blogger and the author may arrange that the author promotes (i.e. shares) his post once it is published (and thus drives more traffic to the blogger’s site).

3. BlogDash.com:

Bloggers choose to which kinds of opportunities they’re open to being pitched about. Brands find and connect with the right bloggers for their projects or campaigns. Blogdash is free for bloggers, and you can choose the kinds of opportunities that you’re open to being contacted about.

4. Guestr.com

On Guestr, blogs are listed by category, so it’s easy to connect with other specialty sites. You can post a website listing and have others pitch blog ideas to you or pitch a guest blog idea for someone else’s site.

5. Google Alerts

Finally, make sure you set up Google Alerts for your favorite relevant search terms. Paying attention to blog results that come in can lead you to potential blogging opportunities there, as well as be possible guest bloggers for your own site!