How We Constructed the Buffer Visitor Posting Program

Six months in the past, we observed an fascinating phenomenon. Every week, we (the Content material staff) would obtain overflowing inboxes full of requests to submit articles on the Buffer weblog. This was in all places, from our emails to our LinkedIn accounts. 

Often, we’d pay these messages no thoughts – visitor posts simply weren’t part of our content material technique. So what modified?

Effectively, we had been additionally understaffed on the time and on the lookout for methods to extend our content material output. It felt like the fitting time to rethink and ask ourselves: what if we arrange a visitor posting program?

Now, this isn’t a brand new factor to the Buffer Content material staff – there’s precedent. In 2012, we usually had writers like Matt Ragland share their distinctive views on the weblog.

Over time, this observe modified as we leveled up as a staff and have become extra targeted on content material targets and we moved away from working with visitor authors due to the enhancing time it took. And, after all, there’s an almost decade-long hole between then and now, so we additionally confronted the distinctive problem of determining replace that outdated program for right this moment’s Web.

Nonetheless, the thought was taking form, and in a couple of weeks, the Visitor Posting Program was born, to rousing success. We’ve printed 17 visitor posts which have introduced in over 26,000 pageviews to the weblog, with some items performing in addition to in-house content material. We’ve additionally had a lot success from the preliminary article saying this system, bringing in over 45,000 pageviews and 350 signups.

You could be on a Content material staff going through the identical questions we confronted whereas creating this system. So, on this article, I share how the Visitor Publish Program got here to be and the way we’re fascinated with its future.

Conducting analysis and setting benchmarks

We dove into the most effective practices of profitable visitor posting applications. Our analysis wasn’t nearly setting guidelines; it was about understanding outline our targets and create one thing useful for us and our writers.

In crafting our visitor posting program, we turned to industry-leading Content material groups for inspiration. Visitor posting sources like Convertflow, Shopify, and Zapier provided numerous approaches tailor-made to their distinctive viewers and model voice.

We additionally sourced recommendation from our community of Content material professionals, which boiled down to a couple key ideas which have knowledgeable how we method this system.

1. Defining targets: We set clear targets for visitor posts so we knew what to reject or settle for from the beginning. In the end, we determined that we’re after extra numerous views to share with our viewers and high-quality content material. This readability has helped form our method to this system.
2. Prioritizing experience and expertise: Our analysis underscored that high quality contributors usually include a worth. Nonetheless, since we didn’t have the funds for paid writers or the luxurious of gatekeeping, we’ve clarified that we don’t pay for visitor posts however deal with them as a possibility to reveal your writing to our present viewers. This implies we obtain many pitches we will’t publish, nevertheless it has helped us keep the standard we attempt for on the weblog.
3. Streamlined enhancing and publishing: We created a strong course of for submissions, edits, communication, and distribution. Because of our strict processes, we’ve been capable of publish the strongest content material out of all of the pitches we obtain. Robust pitches and submit examples have turn into essential in guiding contributors towards our requirements.
4. Beginning small: Initially, we reached out inside our networks for high-caliber contributions. This helped us set a benchmark for high quality and experience earlier than scaling up. We plan to standardize this course of and repeat it extra continuously to get high quality writers within the door.

These insights had been instrumental in creating a visitor submit program that was not only a submission portal for random pitches however a platform for priceless, expert-driven content material.

Organising tips and FAQS

After conducting the analysis, we used the data we gathered to stipulate the weather of this system.

First, we repurposed our present weblog tips and magnificence information. It’s because altering our type for visitor posters would conflict with our want for nice content material just like what our readers would anticipate on the weblog.

In our Visitor Posting tips, we share details about:

• Publish size
• Voice, tone, and magnificence
• Mechanics round emoji utilization and capitalization
• The kind of content material we’re on the lookout for – and what sort of pitch is most certainly to be accepted. We’ve since included examples of nice pitches.

We additionally developed some FAQs which may come up, comparable to “What ought to I write for the Buffer weblog?” and “What does a typical pitch appear to be?” We additionally included steering on our viewers classes and the anticipated timeline for working with us.

Setting these tips has helped us internally know when to reject a pitch outright. Nonetheless, we go away room for instinct when pitches that don’t match our tips nonetheless really feel like our viewers will love them.

Automation has been instrumental within the technique of creating the Visitor Posting Program. We use a couple of instruments to gather and handle visitor posts.

• Submissions are despatched in Typeform. We accumulate names, contact info, and the pitch.

• These submissions are then despatched by Notion, by an integration with Typeform that was pretty straightforward to arrange.

• Communication is dealt with with a mixture of Gmail and Zapier. We ship acceptance emails manually and automate rejection emails due to the sheer scale of pitches we obtain. These emails element potential fixes and go away room for brand new pitches.

• As soon as we’ve accepted a pitch, we create a folder in Google Drive for the author to ship their outlines and articles. All content material is predicted to be shared by Google Docs.

From acceptance, each facet of the editorial course of is dealt with manually, as we ship emails forwards and backwards until an article is totally fashioned and prepared for publishing.

Figuring out the evaluate and choice course of

We’re strict with our requirements, however the fitting posts get by – so when you’ve got pitch and expertise with writing, your probabilities of getting printed on our weblog are excessive.

We prioritize content material that shares a first-person expertise with the subject. So, when you’re pitching to us about rising on Instagram, there must be proof connected for us to maneuver ahead. Alternatively, an incredible pitch aggregates info from a number of sources to create a cohesive, priceless piece of content material.

We’ve got two classes in Notion for working by pitches:

• Pitch obtained: That is the place Typeform sends all of the pitches we obtain, made attainable by a useful and easy-to-setup integration. I’ll normally parse by the pitches on this listing for gems each different day to maintain up with the brand new submissions, then share them with the staff.
• Pitch accepted: If we agree {that a} pitch appears to be like adequate to maneuver ahead, that is the subsequent stage for it.

Reviewing the articles is kind of just like how we function as a Content material staff. Our fundamental inner communication device is Slack, the place we’ll share new updates from visitor posters. 

Between Kirsti (Lang, a Content material Author on the staff) and I, we choose which pitches we’d prefer to deal with and transfer ahead with communication from there with our staff lead, Hailley Griffis. We additionally loop in our social media supervisor, Mitra Mehvar, for social content material.

We work in six levels after accepting a pitch:

1. Define in progress: We request a top level view that can make up 30 p.c of the ultimate article. This enables us to see what course the author plans for his or her article and make corrections earlier than they get too deep into engaged on the submit. As soon as we obtain a top level view, we transfer it to the subsequent stage.
2. Define in evaluate: That is the place outlines we’ve obtained wait whereas we evaluate them. Though we hardly ever have to show a submit again on the define stage, it occurs sufficient that preserving this stuff right here is an efficient observe.
3. Article in progress: As soon as a top level view has been accepted, we transfer on to the drafting section, when the author is requested to share a date when they’ll have their article to us.
4. Article in evaluate: That is the place articles are moved as soon as we begin enhancing them. We’ll normally tag one another in Slack with updates about new articles which have been added to the Google Drive folders of any author. We very hardly ever must reject totally fashioned articles, as we’ve normally carried out a number of checks. 
5. Article accepted/scheduled: At this stage, all proofreading and enhancing are full, so we schedule it in response to our content material calendar.
6. Article printed: The final section is for printed articles, the place all of the content material that has gone out on the weblog sits. 

Formalizing the method this fashion permits us to see the progress of all of the content material coming in on one dashboard. This fashion, we will spot gaps in communication and request updates in case somebody has been missed (which occurs on a regular basis on a staff as small as ours).

Outcomes to date

We’ve been working the Program lengthy sufficient to have some fascinating outcomes. Listed here are among the prime metrics to date.

• We’ve obtained 606 pitches to our submission kind in 6 months.
• The article sharing the main points about pitch and submit has introduced in additional than 45,000 web page views in natural visitors and contributed to over 350 signups.
• We’ve printed 17 visitor posts which have introduced in over 26,000 pageviews to the weblog.

All in all, the visitor submit program has been extremely priceless to us as a staff and to our viewers. 

A few of our favourite pitches and visitor posts to date

We’ve gotten sufficient pitches and printed sufficient posts that we’ve been capable of establish which of them are prone to be hits with our viewers. Listed here are a few of our favorites.

1. Anna Burgess Yang: Anna wrote the primary visitor submit we ever printed, and there’s a cause we moved so quick. She supplied the fitting mixture of details about herself (her experience) and the main points about what she would write (the pitch). Learn her article right here.

2. Akshita Sharma: With 7,000 pageviews up to now, Akshita has written the top-performing weblog submit of the visitor submit program. Whereas her pitch wasn’t pushed by private expertise, it nonetheless ticked two different containers: viewers relevance, and we hadn’t written about it earlier than. Learn her submit right here.

3. Matt Giaro: Matt’s pitch was easy and succinct whereas telling us precisely what to anticipate from his article – and he delivered. His article has introduced in over 1,000 web page views to the weblog to date. Learn it right here.

We’re preserving this up subsequent yr

Going ahead, we wish to enhance the standard of the content material from the visitor submit program. In 2024, we’re seeking to publish a minimum of one visitor submit per week. According to this objective, we’ll even be growing the strictness of our editorial course of, guaranteeing that solely the most effective articles make their means by to our content material calendar.

Do you wish to write for us? Check out our tips, then submit your pitch!