Insider Tips for Guest Blogging Everyone Should Know

Guest blogging can be a very valuable addition to a well-rounded SEO campaign that can provide a nice off-page SEO boost for a website. However, if you want to promote your business and build quality links to your site, it requires a bit of work in not only finding opportunities but also picking the best ones for your goals. As a top digital marketing firm, we wanted to share our insider tips for guest blogging everyone should know that will help make this content marketing technique as effective as possible for your business.

What is Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging is where blogs are posted on other websites in an effort to expand your business to a new audience, create high-quality backlinks, and drive traffic to your site. A business will identify potential guest blogging sites, evaluate that site based on their audience and how it relates, and then create blogs that provide value and expertise to that audience.

The benefits of guest blogging are:

• Increase brand awareness
• Showcase expertise in a field
• Increase website traffic to your site
• Build backlinks from relevant websites to increase authority and ranking score with search engines

While many people are aware of and/or utilize guest blogging, not everyone takes it very seriously which can seriously affect the overall effectiveness of this SEO technique.

Insider Tips for Guest Blogging

• Only use premium guest post opportunities – All guest blogging opportunities are not created equal. Some will have a higher value than others because of the rank of the hosting site, the size of their audience, or how receptive that audience will be to your business’s products or services. While a business that is starting out might jump on any guest blogging opportunities it can get, ideally, brands should be relatively selective in who they choose to partner with. Make no mistake, guest blogging is a partnership where you exchange the value of your content in exchange for exposure to an audience. After creating a list of blogs, you could post to, take the time to analyze each prospect to ensure it is the right fit. Start by considering the theme of the site and blog, topics they cover, how those things relate to your business, and getting a general feel for its target audience. Using analytical tools, you can better understand a site’s traffic volume and where it comes from. Also check how often they post, how active users are in the comments, and then review the SEO aspects of the page to ensure it is as reputable as your own site.
• Perform guest blogging outreach – Not surprisingly the good guest blog opportunities are inundated with hundreds of people wanting to provide content at any given time. Due to this simple fact, it is important to take the proper amount of time crafting a sales pitch email. Prior to sending any emails, first try and get your name in the blogger’s circle. Take the time to follow social profiles, join social groups, post comments, etc. without being weird or overenthusiastic. Make sure to personalize the message and include your knowledge of other recently posted blogs and their audience so they understand you know who you are writing to. Include a few credentials to reflect your bona fides as well as reflecting the value your content will provide both of you, such as your promotion of the post. Finally, if you don’t get a response make sure to send at least one follow-up to confirm in case the first email went unnoticed.
• Craft blogs that are mutually beneficial – Posts need to serve a dual purpose of meeting the blogs needs as well as your needs. Generally, that means it needs to be a very good piece of content that the audience will have a lot of interest in for views, sharing, and providing traffic. As the goal is high content, writing a medium length piece that allows a good deal of depth. Sources should be used and properly cited to add weight to points.
• Follow standard post-publication promotion – After the blog is published the job is not done! That post should be promoted just like any piece of content posted to your own site. It should be promoted on social media accounts, etc. to ensure your audience sees this high-quality content as well along with reinforcing your authority with them. Also, for guest posts, make sure to check the comments on the guest site and take the time to respond there, just as you would on your own accounts.
• Send “Thank You” emails – Take the time to tank each blog that allows you the opportunity to post content. The goal should be to develop a relationship for mutual benefit in the future.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that guest blogging is still a very powerful SEO component for gaining exposure and building quality backlinks. Our insider tips for guest blogging everyone should know can help you get the most out of this SEO technique to not only increase traffic but also your brand’s authority.

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