Backlinks are an important part of building your SaaS website’s domain authority and search ranking. One of my favorite ways to get those backlinks is to write guest posts on reputable and relevant websites. What sites should you pursue getting posts published, and how do you get published on those sites? In this guide, I’ll share with you my strategies as a freelance SaaS writer to get posts published on guest posting sites for my clients.
Why Write Guest Posts?
Every SaaS business needs a website with strong domain authority. This helps you rank for the high intent keywords that attract your top of funnel visitors. Having a strong search position helps show your customers and investors that you’re trustworthy. One way to improve your domain authority is to get backlinks from reputable and relevant websites. Guest posting helps you accomplish that.
A Word of Caution
If backlinks are your goal, don’t pursue them blindly. Buying backlinks or getting a lot of spammy, irrelevent backlinks can do more harm for your domain authority and search position than good. If Google detects that you’re trying to cheat the system, they can penalize you and even remove your site from search results entirely.
Guest Posting: A Knowledge Exchange
It’s easy to fixate on our goal — to get backlinks — and go on autopilot to get as many of them as we can. However, that may not be the best way to go about it. It’s not about how many backlinks you have, it’s about what backlinks you have.
That’s why I prefer to take a more human and genuine approach to guest posts. Consider why websites like TechCrunch, HackerNoon, and Medium allow you to post articles on their platforms. Think about why a potential customer might visit one of those sites to read posts. The answer is: knowledge — and I don’t mean like that silly Tai Lopez video.
Guest posting is a knowledge exchange. The website I’m targeting and I each want something. The website wants high quality content that keeps readers coming to their site. I want a backlink. We have to cooperate to make everything work. To do that, offer the knowledge that I or my client has in the form of a guest post. The website receives interesting content for their readers, and in exchange my client and I get a backlink and greater brand recognition.
Guest Post Example
Here’s an example of a guest post I wrote for a client that was successfully published to HackerNoon.
The Guest Posting Process
If you’re sold on the guest post strategy to get backlinks and greater brand awareness, the strategy is pretty straightforward:
- Choose sites to send contributions to.
- Investigate their guest posting guidelines to make sure you don’t break their rules and optimize your chances of success.
- Write interesting and unique content that fits well with the theme of the site.
Let’s go into some more detail.
How to Choose a Guest Post Site
It can seem overwhelming to choose a website to contribute to. Some sites are easy to get published on, but they might have lower domain authority or your post might get buried in content. Other sites are difficult to get published on, or are locked behind paywalls, limiting your chances of success as well as your readership.
Ultimately, you want to choose a guest post site that meets the following criteria:
The goal is to get backlinks that are reputable and relevant. Therefore, you should be looking for high quality sites to send guest posts to. You should also keep in mind your audience. If your target audience isn’t reading the posts on a given website, you may want to continue looking at your options.
Here are a few popular sites that take guest post contributions that I think work well for SaaS businesses:
| Website | Topic | Notable Features |
|---|---|---|
| TechCrunch | Technology, startups, news | Tech-focused editorial. High standards for guest columns. Wide readership. |
| HackerNoon | Technology, Business, Cybersecurity | Open to anyone to submit stories. Brand as Author program. Focus on technology. |
| HubSpot | Marketing, Sales, Service | Covers marketing, sales, service, and websites. Detailed guidelines for guest posting. |
| Content Marketing Institute | Content Marketing | B2B and B2C focus. Requires unique angle and practical takeaways. |
| MarketingProfs | B2B, Marketing, Training | B2B marketing community. Offers newsletter and training. |
| Buffer | Social Media, Management, Analytics | IT and social media focus. Accepts guest posts with actionable insights. |
| Freshdesk | Customer Support, Cloud-Based, Automation | IT and customer service focus. Encourages detailed, helpful guest posts. |
Follow Contribution Guidelines
There’s nothing worse than annoying the editors of another site by ignoring their guest posting guidelines. Trust me, I’ve been there and made this mistake. One time years ago I tried asking for money from a site that was taking guest post suggestions after they responded to me saying they liked my proposal. Their guidelines specifically said they don’t offer money for contributions. I got ghosted. Don’t be me. Definitely not my finest moment.
Another important thing to consider about contributing to other sites is they typically have provisions about licensing. They usually require that the content you submit not be posted anywhere else, so they get the exclusive right to host the content you write.
Bonus Points
When sending in guest posts to sites, I like to read between the lines a little bit. If I’m writing for HackerNoon, I take note of the site’s default black and green theme. Whenever I make data charts or infographics for my posts, I always use a black and green color scheme that matches the design of the site. I like to think that strategy might give you some brownie points with editors. Well, I hope so anyway!
Write Unique and Interesting Content
The more original and interesting the content, the better. Guest post sites love original research, thought leadership, and storytelling. The more evidence, research, data, and stories you can tell, the better. Take a look around the site to see what other people have written to get a sense of what’s already been done and what readers of the site are interested in. You can also get a sense of the style and quality that the editors are going for. This can help you decide what you should be doing to maximize your chances of success.
Make sure that your content isn’t promotional. I know that seems counterintuitive. However, it’s critical that you remain respectful of guest posting sites if you want to get respect in return. Remember, the minimum you want to take away from this process is a backlink to your website, not a sales pitch. However, if you provide interesting content, demonstrate your expertise, and are respectful of the process, I guarantee that in the long run you’ll start to get good, authentic attention. Editors and readers don’t want to read promotional content. They want to read stuff that interests them.
Handling Rejection
We can’t win them all. Sometimes we can write really good content and editors just don’t like it. Here’s how to take guest post rejection like a champ:
- Don’t take it personally. editors receive tons of submissions every day. It’s not necessarily that your content was bad, they just have other priorities for their content calendar right now.
- Ask for feedback. If you have the opportunity to do this and they didn’t already give you feedback, it can’t hurt to ask. If they answer, you’ll know what you need to do to improve in the future.
- Try again. Make edits or try a new idea and give it another shot.
- Repurpose your content for your own site. You went through all the effort to write the thing, if the site you wanted to submit to didn’t publish it, might as well use it for yourself!
Get Published, or Get Your Money Back
Not every contribution is a home run. If I write a guest post on your behalf and it doesn’t get published (and you aren’t interested in running it on your website), get your money back.
You Got This!
Now that you know how guest posting works, it’s time to get out there and get those backlinks! Take some time to identify target websites that you want to get published on. Then, start coming up wtih your submissions strategy. Need a hand? I’m here for you! Give me a shout and let’s see how I can lend a hand!
Liam Shotwell: SaaS Content Writer
I’m a human B2B SaaS content writer with a focus in SEO. I’ll shine a light on your brand to help you find potential leads lost in the dark of SERP.
