So you write a kick-ass article and publish it on a reputable blog. The post gets shared quite a bit, and gets a reasonable number of comments. You excitedly check your site’s analytics. Surely, a post on [insert famous blog here] would send an avalanche of new visitors/subscribers/leads your way.

Except that it doesn’t. You check the numbers and all you hear are the sound of digital crickets. Your subscriber count barely moved, you don’t have a lot of leads, and you’re generally underwhelmed with the results.

What went wrong?

If you find yourself in this situation and are scratching your head wondering what happened, evaluate your guest posting strategy and see if you committed the following mistakes:

1. You weren’t clear about your goals

Guest posting has come a long way from its simple link-building roots. Now, people use guest posts to boost their reputation, demonstrate thought leadership, and even generate leads, subscribers, or customers.

Which of those things is your end game? It is to build relationships? Increase your subscriber count? Position yourself as a thought leader in your field? Whatever it is, be absolutely clear, and see to it that the blogs that you choose to write for actually align with your purpose.

There are some highly reputable websites that can do wonders for your reputation, but they’re not ideal for generating leads. Let’s say you’re a clothing retailer trying to market your store. Publishing an article on the National Retail Federation blog would certainly strengthen your credibility (it’ll be a great addition to the “As Seen In” part of your site) but it probably wouldn’t get a lot of consumers through your doors. Why? Because the NRF blog is read by your fellow retailers, not your customers. If your goal is to get in front of people who want to buy clothes, then go for the fashion blogs or bargain websites.

If your purpose is to build relationships and JV partnerships, then you’d want to target highly engaged blogs wherein the owner regularly communicates with their list of active subscribers, as opposed to just the big name websites.

Determine your guest blogging goals and use them to qualify the sites to post to. Create a list of potential blogs, then go through each one and decide if they’re really worth writing for.

2. You didn’t determine your target audience

You have to be clear about whom you’re targeting. Be specific. How old are they? What are their pet peeves? How can you help them? Finding out these details will enable to qualify blogs more effectively. Not only that, but it’ll help you come up with better topics and articles. (We’ll get to that in a bit.)

Got a solid picture of whom you’re targeting? Great. Go through your list of potential sites and determine if your target users are actually reading those blogs. A great way to find out is by checking the comments. Read what people are saying, click through their websites or social media profiles and determine if they’re the type of audience or customers that you’re looking for.

Or better yet, talk to your target customers and ask them about the blogs that they read.

3. Your topic didn’t resonate with readers

Just because a top tier blog decided to publish your post doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to fly. You have to choose your topic wisely and ensure that it resonates with your particular audience.

This is especially important if you’re writing for a site that’s read by a wide range of people. (i.e. Lifehacker, TIME, etc.) Write a post that would appeal specifically to your audience, not just something that the site would accept.

So how do you decide what to write about? Turn to your audience. Go to the places where they hang out and take note of what they’re talking about.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by using LinkedIn. Whenever I’m short on ideas or new material, I visit LinkedIn Groups for online marketers (my target audience). Then, I pay attention to the top discussions and the questions that are being asked, and I construct articles based on them.

When mining forums and groups for ideas, the two main things you have to keep an eye on are questions that keep coming up and discussions with the most comments.

Speaking of LinkedIn, you can also use the site to find the hottest topics in your niche. Check out LinkedIn’s Pulse section and follow relevant topics and thought leaders. Read up on what they’re writing about and get some inspiration for your posts.

To make your article even more powerful, have a look at the site’s most popular posts. Find common themes. What types of articles make up the list? How-Tos? Round ups? Controversial articles? Also take note of their headlines and structures then incorporate those elements into your own piece.

4. Your author bio wasn’t compelling enough

Most guest posters just write a generic two-sentence description of who they are and leave it at that. Don’t make the same mistake. Add personality to your bio. Make it interesting. Tailor it to the blog AND to your post.

You can even make it more compelling by offering a freebie, such as an eBook or report. Doing so can greatly increase the number of clicks and sign ups that you have. Be sure to include a call-to-action in your author description. Give people a reason to click on your link and tell them what they need to do.

Don’t have a free offer? At the very least, come up with custom landing pages for each of the blogs that you write for. This earns you points with the readers because it’s customized and shows how much value them. It’ll also make it easier for you to measure your guest blogging efforts and will give you a clearer picture of which sites are sending the most traffic.

See the example above? Notice how the blogger, Carol Tice, didn’t just write a custom welcome message; she took it a step further by recommending relevant articles to her visitors to keep them on her site.

What to do when your guest post gets less-than-stellar results

Published a guest post but aren’t thrilled with the results? Here’s what you can do to turn things around:

a. Find out why

• Go back to the reasons why you chose the blog and see if they align with your goals.
• Read the comments on your post and see if the people who weighed in really are the type of readers that you want to connect with.
• Re-evaluate your topic. Be critical. Did you really write about something that your audience cares about?
• Read your bio. Was it compelling enough?

b. Contact the blog owner

Be courteous and graceful. Thank them for the opportunity and ask if there’s anything that you could do to improve.

Very few bloggers do this. Most people just publish and run, so you’ll definitely make an impression and there’s a good chance that the blogger will share some valuable tips. Not to mention, taking this extra step actually builds a relationship with them, and you’ll have a better chance of landing another post in the future.

c. Find other ways to use the post to your advantage

Just because a blog post didn’t give you the results you wanted, doesn’t mean you can’t get anything out of it. For instance, you can still use it to establish your credibility by including the blog name in the “As Seen In” part of your website.

If you’re running low on content, you can add the post to your queue of stuff to share on social media. Or maybe you can re-purpose it for your own blog or newsletter.

Last but not least, you can use the post to build relationships--not just with blog owner, but with readers, too. Connect with people who commented on your post. Find out more about them and visit their website. They may not be your target customers, but who knows? Perhaps there’s a possibility of working together, or maybe they can put you in front of your target audience.

Your turn

Have you ever published a guest post that didn’t take off? What happened, and what did you do about it?