Until I started blogging, way back in June 2006, most of my writing was for clients. I wrote to reach to their markets/media contacts/communities in a voice that reflected their sound, not mine. If you’re a professional writer, you know that writing under your own byline in an incentive to do your best.

And, writing for a popular blogger with a fanatic following online is even tougher. It’s not just their space, it’s their readers’ communal gathering zone where they can and do talk back. Here’s a quick how-to guide along with an invitation to be a contributor to wiredPRworks.  

How to Be a Great Guest Blogger

Excerpted from a post originally published on March 13, 2008 after I wrote this guest post, Demystifying PR: 7 Ways to Become an Expert News Source  for Liz Strauss.

- read the blog and know the blogger [the same advice you hear about contacting any journalist or publisher]

- search the archives to see how and if your topic’s been covered

- send a short email asking about the possibility of guest blogging and include a brief summary of the proposed post

Contact us to be considered for a guest post on wiredPRworks.

- interview the blogger about what they think their audience wants to know about and why

- ask about word count and preferred format

- read other guest’s posts to get a sense of how they fit in

- write something fresh and challenge yourself to be your best

- set a tight deadline so you finish the piece while you’re still inspired

- suggest an image that tells your story

- include a bio that links to your blog/site

- offer a call to action that benefits the reader, in my case, a free Q&A call open to anyone

- send a final draft and be open to comments

- comment on the post with a note of thanks

- link to the post from your own blog

One of the benefits of guest posting is, of course, to reach a new audience on another blog. Would you like to see your writing here?

wiredPRworks Guest Blogger Posting Guidelines

How to Apply

Please complete this guest blogger application form, which will give us your contact information. Before you write a post just for us, suggest a few ideas and give us three links to your writing online.

Quality

We reserve the right to review all submissions. Once approved, content is subject to editing. What our readers like: numbers, ideas and stories about what works.

Topics

Topics: social media strategy, content marketing, public relations, press releases, what gets attention and why.

Framing

Our readers are marketing and PR professionals. Our goal is to give them information to help them do their jobs better. We’re not so much interested in lists as we are in original ways to get attention, attract prospects and build communities.

Images

Each post requires an image. Please suggest one to accompany your post. If you don’t have one, we can supply one for you. All images must be approved, properly attributed and free of paid licensing requirements.

Format and Style

Headlines must be under 80 characters. Posts need to be at least 300 words, but less than 750 words.

Our readers prefer short and crisp paragraphs with succinct sentences. They love images and videos – so feel free to send a link to a YouTube video to accompany your post.

Use subheads in the post body. Include H2 and H3 tags. Use short paragraphs or bullet points to make the post easier to read.

Link Policy

You may link to your site in your author bio credit. Please consider linking to other posts found on http://wiredPRworks.com.

You may link out to other sites once for every 100 words.

Affiliate Links

Affiliate links will only be considered when products or services add value to our readers. All affiliate links must be disclosed in compliance with FTC guidelines. Additional agreements will be made in advance of posting. Disclosure: Affiliate links appear throughout wiredPRworks.com. This means that when someone clicks on an affiliate link, a commission is paid on the sale.

Keyword-Rich Anchor Text

Requests to include keyword-rich anchor text links will be reviewed, but will only be accepted when including them raises the content’s visibility in search engines.

Author Promotion

Authors may include an approved 50-word bio with a link back to their site. If available, an affiliate link may be used. Authors may choose to use a link to one of their social networking profiles or their blog.

Author Compensation

At this time, authors are compensated in the way of exposure throughout the wiredPRworks social networks, which includes being on Alltop PR. One guest author’s post was selected as a top 40 social media content in the first quarter of 2011.

Republishing Policy

Content must be original and written for wiredPRworks.com. After being published here, we suggest the author post a mention about the piece on their blog. We prefer that content be limited to these two publishing placements.

Editorial Policy

Content may be edited for style, readability and search. Please don’t be offended if we suggest changes.

Guest Post Submission Checklist

Headline: 80 characters or less

Image with attribution credit

Content: 300 – 750 words

Headers: as subheads

Links: up to one for every 100 words

Headshot: author’s image

Apply to be a guest blogger on wiredPRworks.

What topics would like to see covered here?

Even though I don’t have an iPhone, I want iPhone apps. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve said, “If I had an iPhone, I could _______________.”

That’s the personal side.

From the business side, I looked into making iPhone apps for clients a few months ago. We found a developer who said the cost started out at around $800, which is a small price to pay for the cool factor. What stopped us? The developer – who said, “Unless you make something really cool and useful, having an iPhone app might backfire. People won’t use it or they might make fun of it.”

That was then and today it’s WOW!

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki, now anyone can make a reasonably priced iPhone app with AppMaker. Use coupon code “GUYK” to pay $49 instead of $199 before January 19, 2010.

Video on how to Turn RSS content into an iPhone app easily, with AppMakr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsix7R7BOro

Since this post is going out on the first business day of 2010, here are 10 iPhone apps that will help you keep your New Year’s resolutions. Browse through over 100,000 selections at the iPhone App Store.

Image: AppMakr model of Wired PR Works’ iPhone App. Credit goes to Artist Tara Reed for sending the link over.

What do you think? Is an iPhone App the next social marketing must have?