In recent years, content marketing emerged as one of the leading digital marketing strategies. Using quality content to gain traffic is a smart and useful way to bring in clients to your site. It is a starting point to build a connection, but there are certain guidelines you need to follow when you write a guest blog.

When your target audience is the B2B market, it is best to be selective on where to post your guest blog. You can post on blogs from connections that you have discovered via LinkedIn automation since they are more on the professional side of the social media landscape.

However, guest posting has started to become a common practice, so you also need to stand out. Here are some guidelines to achieve this.

1. Focus on Your Niche

When you are building your brand, it is best to focus on a niche. Try to be very specific and take a confident tone so you can eventually become a respected voice in the field.

You should be able to support your stance with actual facts and data. If you will be addressing bloggers in the same field, they would be very capable of determining whether you really know your stuff or just faking it.

2. Write a new, innovative topic or a fresh take

If you are aspiring to guest post on a popular blog, you need to have a topic that has not yet been posted there before. That means it is not a topic that has been covered by one of the regular contributors.

Usually, you would need to pitch your idea with the blog administrators, and that could also entail some revisions on your part.

If the ideas you want to pitch are already covered, you could improvise with a fresh take on twist on a previous topic.

3. Align your Post with the Tone of the Site

Remember, while you are posting on the blog to promote your expertise, it is not all about you. You are writing to the blog’s audience and they already have clear expectations on what they expect from the blog that they have followed.

Some bloggers would want to consult with you, make suggestions and even make an outline of what they want to see from your guest post. By all means, you should cooperate and learn from them. There is a reason why they have reputable blogs. It’s not an accident.

Show your appreciation by including internal links to the some of the blog’s best posts. This will also help with driving traffic and earn points with the blog owner that you really follow its content.

4. Maximize Your Time to Shine

The actual writing process is where you make an impression. While you adapt to the blog’s general format, you can incorporate your own style.

After impressing the blog audience with your fresh, innovative content and unique writing style, make sure to craft a bio that leaves an impression. Present yourself as someone passionate about the topic but also approachable with a light sense of humor—if this is the tone of YOUR own blog and if it applies to the target market. But a light, conversant tone is almost, always a safe bet in the business circles.