3 Proven Steps To Publishing An Article On Your Dream Site

Story Time: That time I got published on Social Media Today and what I did to get published.

Getting published on popular blogs/sites is not an easy task, much less so if you're not going to post on those websites on a regular basis or don't have a lot of experience/clout.

So how did I do it? Here're the steps I followed:

1. Understand the topic inside and out

- For you to stand any chance of publishing on a popular website with hundreds of millions of monthly visitors, you will need to know the topic very well or have some sort of clout

- In my case, the topic was App Development, and I spent close to 6 months reading everything about the topic and putting as much of it into practice as possible.

- If you have clout, you can -- to an extent -- get away with writing about a topic that you don't specialise in e.g. best-selling fiction writers writing an op-ed on politics

- Practicing is perhaps the best way to really learn about the niceties of a topic which, in turn, can become fodder for great content. It certainly did for me!

2. Write about the topic, internally and externally

- Understanding a topic is the first step, however, if you want to write about a topic for a popular website, you need to have some authority in that domain

- The best way to build some authority is of course to write about it

- Start off by publishing blogs on your own blog/company's website, where the bar will be low.

- Once you start feeling confident and get your creative juices flowing, raise the bar on the content you create by starting to guest post on external sites. Remember to start with small blogs/websites.

3. Outreach

- Reach out to webmasters of the blogs/sites that you'd like to be published on.

- Have the article(s) and a clear strategy ready before outreaching e.g. tier 1 articles for tier 1 sites, tier 2 articles for tier sites

- Make sure to mention in the outreach email how you will be adding value to the site's audience through your content

- Don’t push for backlinks in the outreach email - over time, if you keep publishing top-tier content, you will attract backlinks naturally.

The whole experience of:

a) Coming up with ideas to write about

b) Creating content that people will find valuable/will consume and that has not been published before

c) Writing click-worthy titles & designing click-worthy featured images

d) Reaching out to webmasters of popular external sites in your domain and persuading them to publish your content

f) Editing, then re-editing the content as per the demands of the editor and requirements of the blog/site

will set you up for success.

It might take some time, patience, and persistence, but you will definitely be able to become an author on the blog/site that you wanted to write for.

- I wrote a sum total of 40+ articles on app development, publishing half each on my company's site and on external sites.

- I approached a least 200 webmasters of sites in my domain with a sophisticated outreach strategy, only a quarter of whom responded.

- What really helped me get half of the webmasters who responded over the line was:

a) Sharing some of my relevant previous articles

b) Sharing my draft article and expressing my willingness to edit it to their liking

c) Helping them understand how my article will provide unique value to their audience and hasn't been touched on before

I finally managed to publish an article on Social Media Today. While I could publish more than 1 article, I chose not to as the core objective was to get a backlink.

Here's my article: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/why-you-should-integrate-social-media-platforms-into-your-app/455287/

P.S My article was published in 2015. Things have changed slightly in the world of outreach and guest posting, but the fundamentals — shared in the steps above — have not. So these steps still work!