In the three years I’ve been blogging regularly, I’ve missed out on the one opportunity that I will be taking more advantage of in 2010, and that is guest blogging. It’s a simple process that ProBlogger (http://www.problogger.net) recommends. In fact, anyone with a successful blog (one that earns advertising revenue and attracts hundreds of readers) does it. And anyone who WANTS a successful blog should do it.

If you’re not taking advantage of this opportunity to market yourself on other people’s sites because you don’t know how, here’s how it could work for you, step by step:

STEP 1) Decide you’re going to do it.

STEP 2) Find willing partners. Ask friends, for starters, if they’ll let you guest blog on their site–and offer to let them blog for you. If no takers there, move on to colleagues whom you know well. Whenever possible, you want to post your guest blogs on sites that get a lot of traffic, so you get a lot of readers. So, if nothing else, shoot for the top, provided you have an “in.”

STEP 3) Once you find a willing partner, discuss how you can use YOUR expertise to write about THEIR topic, and vice versa. Share a few ideas that might work well, and pick one. Each of you should end the conversation with a blog topic you’ll write about for the other person’s blog.

STEP 4) Decide on a date you’ll both run the guest posts and begin to announce this on your blog. They do not have to be the same day, but it works well if they are.

STEP 5) Write your post and e-mail it to your partner a few days before it’s scheduled to run. Attach any graphics or photographs you want included with the post and send a bio as well.

STEP 6) You both use the bios to introduce your guest blogger in a paragraph or two before the guest post begins. Don’t forget to use the accompanying photograph. And write an action-oriented headline.

STEP 7) Be sure to include a link back to each other’s blog in the introduction, using this space to let your regular readers know where your work is appearing on that day.

STEP 8) Use the social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, to “advertise” your blog. Encourage readers to post comments with a question at the end of the post.

STEP 9) Include a list of tags so your partner can key them into the appropriate place and search engines can find you.