How to get a guest post: find a fit, pitch an editor, and write something useful

Choose a publication your customer already trusts

A guest post is an article you contribute to someone else’s publication. The publisher decides whether to accept, edit, and publish it. Start with audience fit, recent activity, clear authorship, and actual editorial standards. A site selling hundreds of unrelated articles is a poor substitute for a readership that cares about your subject.

Read three recent pieces and the contributor guidance. Search for “[topic] contributor guidelines” or “[publication] write for us,” but inspect every result. Also consider association newsletters, local business organisations, software ecosystems, and a partner’s educational blog.

Find a gap you can credibly fill

Do not pitch “an article about marketing” to an editor who already has a marketing section. Offer a specific reader problem, distinctive method, and evidence you can provide. A new author can contribute a careful tutorial, a transparent small experiment, or a worked example without pretending to have a large audience.

Check that the idea has not already been covered. If it has, explain what has materially changed or what new angle serves a different situation. Match the publication’s level of depth and avoid disguising a product advertisement as independent advice.

Write a short, complete pitch

Example subject: “Contribution idea: setting a first PPC budget from delivery margin.” Example pitch: “I read your guide to getting a service business’s first leads. I’d like to contribute a practical follow-up showing how an owner can calculate affordable CPC before buying ads. It would include a fictional worked example, an editable worksheet, and clear limits on the assumptions. Proposed sections: contribution, conversion assumptions, a small-test plan. Here are two relevant writing samples: [links]. Would this fit your readers?”

State your relevant experience accurately. If you have no external bylines, link to two strong pieces on your own site. Do not invent credentials, named clients, test results, or a relationship with the editor.

Agree the terms before writing the full piece

• Confirm topic, length, format, deadline, revision process, and whether the publication pays contributors or charges for sponsorship.
• Clarify ownership, exclusivity, reuse rights, and whether you may later publish an excerpt or adapted version.
• Ask about author biography, disclosure, and link policies. A publication can reasonably reject self-promotional links.
• Check image permissions and whether AI assistance must be disclosed under the publisher’s policy.

If money buys the placement, treat it as sponsored content and follow applicable disclosure and link requirements. It is not an earned guest contribution just because the seller uses that phrase.

Deliver an article an editor can use

Make the opening answer the promised question. Include clear steps, concrete examples, sources for material claims, and limitations. Remove unsupported adjectives and a sales pitch disguised as a conclusion. Provide image alt text and a short biography. Respond to revisions carefully and meet the agreed deadline.

Google’s link-spam policies are another reason to avoid large-scale guest-post campaigns built mainly for ranking links. An editorial contribution should still be worth publishing if the biography link were removed.

Make publication the start of a relationship

Thank the editor, share the published article accurately, and respond to legitimate reader questions. If the publication permits a link to your resource, make the destination match the article’s promise. Use a tagged link where accepted; otherwise record the referring domain and ask new inquiries how they found you.

Track pitches, meaningful responses, accepted pieces, relevant visits, resource use, and qualified conversations. For a first attempt, choose five suitable publications and create two strong pitches rather than sending a generic email to fifty. Follow up once after a reasonable interval, then respect the editor’s silence or decision.