How We Launched 50 Guest Posts In One Day (And How You Can, Too)

Crazy, right?

Looking back, I still can’t believe Darcie (my wife) and I pulled it off. It was definitely a helluva way to launch Trekity and TBA.

And you know what?

It was easier than we expected.

In this lesson, I’ll show you how– with a little planning and a LOT of hard work – you can do the same.

Let’s begin…

#5. Prospect

I’ve beaten this topic to death before, so we’ll summarize here.

When prospecting, look for blogs that:

• Sends you QUALITY traffic (e.g. other travel blogs!)
• Builds your brand (e.g. Time Magazine)
• Improves your Domain Authority

This last one is a bit tricky. I worked with an SEO firm so my nerd is just DYING to come out… but I’ll try to keep this short.

Domain Authority is a measure (on a scale of 1 – 100) of how important a website is in the eyes of the almighty-but-evil Google.

For example, a website with a DA of 50 is more likely to rank in Google than one with 20. Most travel blogs fall between 40 – 65.

All you really need to know: guest posting on sites with a high (60+) Domain Authority helps your SEO. We’ll talk more about SEO in a future lesson. That’s when my inner nerd gets to run free for a few hours (hey, you’ve been warned).

Oh yeah, download this toolbar to find out the DA of a website.

#4. Create a spreadsheet

Oh my god Darcie KILLS at Excel spreadsheets. The woman is a freaking NINJA with these things… which makes her deadly in the art of blog outreach.

It’s deceptively simple. Create a spreadsheet with each website you want to post for, their DA and contact info.

It is simple. But it’s damn hard to keep at it (for me, at least).  If you want to skip this step, check out Guest Posting on Steroids - where we do all the heavy lifting for you.

Once you’ve got your list, go out and…

#3. Contact other bloggers

This part still shocks me. You contact some people, offer them free content, and they still manage to make it hard.

Others are easy. My first post at ProBlogger? I just wrote a post and sent it to them.

Most people fall in between. You will have to contact them with your pitch, then follow up with them with your post and follow up again to make sure they publish it.

But it’s worth it.

For the exact email templates we use, read this post.

#2. Write

So you got some posts lined up? AWESOME. Now it’s time to write them.

Writing faster – without sacrificing quality – is a life-or-death prospect for writers. If you wanna get your travel blog ahead of the pack, you’re gonna have to hustle.

So do it 😉

#1 Publish

OK, this is the REAL important step.

I’m glad you made it this far. OK. Are you ready? I want you to write the following down and put it somewhere prominent. Like your forehead.

Guest posts released simultaneously are exponentially more powerful.

One post is good… two guest posts are better… but fifty guest posts is BUZZ.

Remember when Pinterest blew up? At first I was like “What the hell is Pinterest?” then – after seeing it a few times on other blogs – I figured I’d check it out (and eventually signed up, profited from it and wrote about it).

This is what you need to do. You want travelers – and other travel bloggers – to see you EVERYWHERE. It’s a lot easier than you think.

Just work with other bloggers to post your article on the same day. The further out you plan this, the better. Some blogs – especially bigger ones – schedule posts out for weeks, even months in advance.

Therefore, I suggest a 90 day plan. The first 30 – 60 days are all about prospecting. Write the posts as they get approved, and ask them all to go out on day 90.

THAT is how you can launch a LOT of guest posts all at once. Even if you just write five posts a week, that’s 40 -60 posts you’ll launch with (the actual number varies because it’s harder to publish guest posts on short notice).

Doing this requires a lot of planning, organization and writing.

But three months of hard work pays off. And the next time you do a guest posting blast, you won’t have to contact people “cold.” Just say “Hi, I wrote this post (insert link) for you a few months ago. Are you interested in another?

The second 50 will be much, much easier 😉

To your successful travel blog,

Adam Costa

Editor in Chief, Travel Blogger Academy

P.S. This is part of a 24 part course on travel blogging. If you haven’t already, sign up for it now.