If you want to be a trendsetter in your niche, you might first need to know what’s trendy now. More importantly, you’ll want to know what’s coming next. You’ve heard the wise advice that it’s good to stop and smell the roses once in a while. Well, that applies to promotion as well. Occasionally it’s a good idea to get your head out of your niche long enough to look around and see what else is going on in the world.

I performed on stage as a musician for a decade or so when I realized that what I truly enjoyed about the music business was composing. Soon afterward I attended a workshop on writing jingles and background music for film. The host was the guy who wrote the original theme music for HBO’s Feature Presentation that is played just before their primetime movie of the evening. He signed a needle-drop deal so he gets paid every time it’s played. What you hear now is still the same song he wrote so many years ago. Needless to say, he’s made a nice income from that one deal.

As a background music writer, he was called upon to compose in a variety of genres. Most of the workshop attendees were singer/songwriters who were focused on making it big in their chosen genre. One of the golden nuggets he gave to the attendees was that to be “fresh” in your genre, listen to what’s going on in other genres.

How much money do you think the first Christian music artists made who brought a pop music sound to that genre? They made a fortune and established a new genre in the process that is still going strong today. In fact, because of it, there are now twelve or so Christian music genres instead of only two or three. But, at the time, doing such a thing was pretty controversial with some folks. Not anymore.

So, read popular blogs that are outside of your niche once in a while to see what appeals to their audience. You may want to bring the essence of those elements into your own site. Doing so may help you become attractive to an even wider audience.

In today’s guest post, I’m delighted to have The Savvy Book Marketer, Dana Lynn Smith share her expert advice. I admire her work so much that it is only appropriate for the first guest post on BlogAid to be from the person who taught me why such things are important to your blog and to building professional relationships.

I write most of the posts on my blog, but once a week I invite a guest to share his or her expertise with my readers. Guest posts are win-win for everyone. Readers get valuable tips and insight from a variety of experts, guest posters build their expert status and get links back to their websites, and bloggers get additional content for their sites. Guest posts are often used in ezines as well.

Guest posts can take the form of how-to articles or interviews, and you can even post audio or video clips from the guest. Fiction authors can interview other authors in their genre.

Where can you find experts or authors to contribute to your blog or ezine? Seek out others in your field or genre through your social networks and your own contact list. Send guest post invitations to the owners and guest posters of the blogs, ezines and print newsletters that you enjoy reading. Use search engines to find other blogs and ezines in your field.

When sending a guest post invitation, describe your blog or ezine, suggest topics of interest (or request permission to reprint a specific article from their site), note whether you accept previously published content, specify a word count range for the article and a limit on the length of the resource box, and request a photo.  Here’s an example:

“I enjoy reading your blog and I would love for you to do a guest post on The Savvy Book Marketer blog about how to write effective press releases. My audience is primarily authors and independent publishers. About 400-600 words would be ideal, with a 50-word resource box. Previously published content is fine. Please send me a photo as well.”

Some bloggers request that all guest posts be original content (articles not already posted elsewhere). That’s nice for search engine optimization purposes, but may limit your ability to get guest posts since your experts may not have time to produce an original article for you. If you’re willing to accept articles published elsewhere, you’ll have access to many more articles.

On the day a guest post runs, be sure to write a thank you note to the contributor and include a link to the article. In addition to being good manners, this encourages the author of the article to share the link with their social networks. And don’t forget to link to the article from your own networks.

In many cases, you can reprint articles without asking permission. Look for a “permission to reprint” or “creative commons” notice on blogs and ezines that you read. You can also search article directories such as EzineArticles.com for articles to reprint. It can be a bit time consuming wading through article directories, because many of the articles are of low quality. Still, there are lots of excellent articles available.

When reprinting other people’s articles, be sure to include their resource box with a link back to their website. I always let writers know that I’m using their article, even if it’s not required. It’s courteous and helps build relationships.

Excerpted from The Savvy Book Marketer’s Guide to Blogging for Authors by book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith. For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana’s Savvy Book Marketer blog, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter.