Given the importance of content production in modern marketing, creating a solid stream of quality blog posts could be one of the most critical steps of your digital strategy.
After all, blogs can be used as a hugely successful tool for lead generation while viral content will be sure to increase the awareness of your company too.
Even if you are full of ideas and boast the linguistic storytelling skills to engage readers in a winning fashion, the fact that those endeavours will distract you from your main role means that establishing a team of quality writers is essential.
While you can certainly contact bloggers and writers that you like, having talented contributors apply to join the team is the ideal solution. Your ‘write for us’ page is the perfect platform to grab their attention.
However, ensuring that the page gains the attention it deserves is an equally crucial challenge. Here’s how you can make it happen in 11 simple steps.
1. Post The Page In A Prominent Position
Many of the writers wanting to make contributions will be readers of your site. However, they need to know that you are open to unsolicited submissions along with the company’s contact details, guidelines, and application procedures. Unfortunately, if the information isn’t clearly displayed, you could miss out on potential applicants.
Firstly, the ‘write for us’ section should be given a unique page rather than be incorporated into other on-site pages. Nonetheless, you can still promote it from the ‘about us‘ or contact pages by using backlinks (which can also aid SEO) directed to the ‘write for us’ page.
It’s also a very wise idea to include the link to the ‘write for us’ page on the top menu rather than in your footer menu. A lot of users won’t even think about looking at the bottom of the page. Whether it’s a primary page on the menu or an item that appears from the drop-down menu is entirely up to you.
2. Use Social Media Channels For Promotion
The majority of blog readers will also follow your social media pages, which is why making a call for submissions through those channels can be a very smart move indeed. Facebook and Twitter are the most effective platforms as alternative sites like Instagram and Snapchat are almost exclusively about images and videos.
A snappy and engaging post that also carries a link to your ‘write for us‘ page will work wonders. A relevant photo will naturally enhance the conversion rates as it’ll help the post grab the attention. If you are planning to run a sponsored campaign, filtering the reach to fans that show an interest in writing will boost the impact.
Another top trick is to use posts that will encourage readers to tag their creative friends. Even when the tagged users decide against applying to join your team, it’s possible that you’ll gain a new reader, which is a pretty good consolation.
3. Promote Cool Opportunities On Offer
The benefits of acquiring quality writers and content producers are pretty obvious for the business. It’s an ideal way to increase your reach, show the brand personality, and generate leads by engaging the readers in an entertaining way. It’s not all about you, though.
In order to gain the best writers, you’ll have to sell the role to them by informing them of the great opportunities that working for you can bring.
For new writers, having the opportunity to have their work read by thousands of readers is very exciting. Meanwhile, students may find the ability to build a solid network of connections can be equally appealing. The flexibility of working from home is naturally a good selling point too.
Other rewarding features can link to the industry. If your business and blog are fashion-related, the option to interview designers or attend fashion show events can incentivise individuals. Don’t be afraid to promote these in adverts as well as on the page itself.
4. Detail Payments Or Perks
Many writers will deem the opportunities to express their passion and get their work seen as enough motivation to join the team. For others, though, financial rewards are the key incentive. Ultimately, a PPC ad or post that has a title reading “get paid to write for us” or “earn money for your opinions” is sure to make a bigger impact.
Your business may be prepared to pay a set fee per post. Or perhaps you’ll offer payments based on the number of reads. Alternatively, you may set up an affiliate link for within their posts and pay writers based on the sales their content converts. Given that many contributors will be fans of the brand, it may be possible to offer stock instead of financial payments.
Whatever those perks might be, they should be promoted within all adverts as well as the ‘write for us’ page itself. After all you, wouldn’t advertise another role within the company without providing those details.
5. Use Job Boards
Whether you intend to hire contributing writers as paid freelancers or voluntary contributors, it’s important to remember that some writers will be actively looking for opportunities.
Crucially, they won’t be focusing solely on your business, but will be searching job sites and job boards or the latest news. This is a great way to promote your ‘write for us’ page.
You can list the essential details on a job board post or even a LinkedIn post. Including a line such as “visit [insert your ‘write for us’ page URL] for full details” should generate traffic from people that are actively interested in writing for the site. Perfect.
6. Celebrate The Successes Of Past Writers
Showing that writing for your site could be the gateway to greater success is another very popular tactic. One of the best ways to achieve this is through PR and positive comments celebrating the success of past contributing writers that have gained permanent employment either in your company or elsewhere, as well as any award or accolades that they may have scored.
The website blog is a great place to write the occasional post detailing those successes. Meanwhile, you can seek press coverage from a local journalist or online publication. Podcasts and other media appearances are also great times to mention the ‘write for us’ page.
7. Invest In The Page’s SEO
Every business owner can appreciate the importance of Search Engine Optimisation. However, the home page and product pages aren’t the only sections that deserve attention. A surprising number of writers and content producers will search for opportunities on Google. Ensuring that your ‘write for us’ page ranks highly will bring huge results.
Given that many prospective writers will contact several websites, you probably won’t need to reach the top three links. Still, appearing on the first one or two pages of the SERPs should be the goal given that it will open the door to a far greater level of traffic.
Better still, this traffic will come from people with a genuine interest in the prospect of writing for you.
8. Use The App Notifications Features
People that have actively downloaded your App are clearly very interested in the brand. As such, you should be eager to capitalise on this by capturing their interest in writing for the company.
They are the people that understand the rhetoric of the brand while they also fall into your target market. Therefore, the content they love will be enjoyed by others.
While you do not want to bombard users with links to the ‘write for us’ page, especially because many customers won’t have any interest, a bi-weekly push notification can work wonders. You can also leave a link to the page from within the App menu too.
Notifications in this manner can be a great way to encourage people that have considered contacting you to finally do it. Besides, the fact that users can take the next steps while sitting on a train or at other potentially tedious moments can have a telling impact.
9. Utilise Email Marketing
As with the App, anyone that has actively subscribed to your email marketing streams is far more likely to show an interest than those that haven’t. Sending emails to your entire contact list can be achieved in seconds while it doesn’t have to cost any extra money if you’re already using email marketing templates. This makes it a very practical solution indeed.
As long as you use a clear (yet engaging) email headline, non-interested recipients won’t be too bothered about receiving the email. They’ll simply delete it. Meanwhile, a good percentage of those that do open the site will navigate to the ‘write for us’ page with the intention of contacting you about opportunities.
You may also want to include a brief paragraph or a link to the page on your other emails, merely as a side note.
10. Word Of Mouth
Word of mouth is still a very powerful tool. If someone shows an interest in writing for websites like yours, simply tell them to visit your site and navigate to the ‘write about us’ section.
This is another reason to have the page featured in a prominent position. When you have talked up the benefits of writing or the site, there’s a very strong chance that an application will follow.
11. Promote Your Write For Us Page With A Video
Video is important in content marketing on social media and for businesses. This is because it has more prominence in catching a viewer’s attention. Here are the Top 20 reasons why businesses need to use video in content marketing which you can read here.
Here are the links to two examples of Write for Us pages from our websites:
