We have worked really hard over the last few years to build the Roundpeg community. We have created a blog we feel is engaging and varied. It has a loyal following of regular readers who are interested enough to contribute to the conversation and share the links. And we have been happy with the growth of the community.

But the truth its, this is a relatively small blog. There is only so much we can do by sharing links on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin before is starts to feel like we are standing on a corner shouting “Come Read Our Blog”.

So as we look to build the community one of the most effective strategies we can employ is focusing on guest posts, both inbound and outbound.  We have a pretty liberal policy for people who want to submit a guest post for our blog.  You need to write on topics relevant to small business owners, share a bio and photo and promote it to your community.

We love good guest posts, because the authors bring their own following. We also enjoy sharing our content on other blogs.   Since the beginning of the year, we have put more emphasis on writing guest posts for other sites. How do you get invitations to guest post?  We use a number of strategies.

The Standing Invitation:  Over the last few years I have built trusting relationships with a number of content heavy sites. As a result, I have a standing invitation to submit content whenever I write something I think is relevant. Recent posts in this category include:

These sites have a strong readership of their own so guest posting is a great way to introduce my content to a whole new group of readers, while creating credible external links at the same time.  Since it is common to see multiple posts a day on these sites, there is no need to wait for an open day in their schedule to see my p0st featured.

The Blog Exchange: In this case I reach out to bloggers who write on topics I think will be of interest to my readers and we swap blog posts on a particular day. I love blog exchanges because they take the pressure off.  As I write the post, I am not worrying about what I will post on the Roundpeg blog.  Recent exchange posts included:

There are also Unofficial Blog Swaps, where we don’t necessarily do it on the same day, but in return for a guest post on their site, some time down the road, the author returns the favor.  TKO Graphics, Slaughter Development have both hosted posts by me and Allison, and in return we have enjoyed content shared by Randy and Robby respectively.

The Invitation – Every now and then someone stumbles across our blog, likes our content and asks us to write for them. Recently both Allison and I have had invitations.

Regardless of where the invitation comes from, we try to be good guests, giving our hosts relevant  content and sharing the link with our community. The result has been positive.  The more we write elsewhere, the more our own community has grown.

Would you like to write a guest post for us, or have us write one for you?  Drop us a note, and let’s chat!