Did you know that marketers have mixed feelings about some marketing strategies like guest posting?
Some find it helpful, some don’t. Well, it definitely has its pros and cons.
In this article, learn all about guest blogging, including its best practices so you can use it to your advantage.
First, What is Guest Posting?
Guest posting, also known as “guest blogging”, is a content marketing move wherein you write content for another company’s website. Usually, guest bloggers write similar content within the industry for mutual benefits.
A guest post brings some, if not all, of these mutual benefits:
- Build relationships with others in the field
- Establish yourself as a credible source or authority figure
- Expose your brand to a new audience
- Get a high-quality backlink
Sometimes, companies or publications offer compensation for your work. But that’s not always the case. Others will offer non-monetary rewards like a backlink.
Is Guest Posting Important?
If you’re in a room full of marketers and ask them about guest posting, you’ll most likely divide the crowd into two. The other half is in favor of it while the other half is against it.
Why is this so?
A lot of marketers doubt guest posting because of “spam bloggers” who provide low-quality content in exchange for a quality backlink that benefits their SEO more than it does yours. With this in mind, will you take the risk knowing it might hurt your business?
On the other side of the room, some marketers still see the value of guest blogging, too. As long as you stay vigilant and careful, and do your research, guest posting can do you good in terms of building your domain authority and climbing up SEO rankings.
If you want to succeed in this marketing tactic, always remember what a good guest posting marketing strategy entails.
It means you should provide valuable and relevant content that aims to help readers find the answers they are looking for – not spam-like articles that have absolutely no helpful information at all.
Guest Posting Best Practices
What does a good guesting posting look like and how can you start? Well, that’s pretty easy.
If you want to be a successful guest blogger, create content to educate readers. Write guest blogs with the goal of positioning yourself as a credible and authority person in your niche.
Do your best to avoid promoting or selling your product or service. However, if it’s relevant to the topic you’re writing about, then that’s acceptable.
Check out these other tips in guest posting:
Do your research and set goals
Get started in guest blogging by doing thorough research. Look for reputable publishers that accept guest postings. Then, look for guidelines for your reference.
While you’re at it, set attainable goals for yourself too. What do you want to get out of the result of your guest posting? This could be any or all of the following:
- Generate traffic
- Connect to a new audience
- Have a relationship with others in the niche
- Getting leads or new clients
- Improving visibility
Do read the site’s guest posting guidelines
Before contacting the website blog owner, read the guest posting guidelines, if applicable, and follow them closely. You might have specific rules to follow or be asked to write in a similar style to what’s already on their website.
Following a publisher’s guidelines is the quickest way to win their trust and eventually get your article published.
Prepare your bio
Sometimes, companies or publishers allow you to link back to your website within your guest post. But sometimes they don’t. If that’s the case, your bio might be the only place where people can find you, your website, and your socials. So make sure it’s updated and includes all the links you want them to find.
Choose topics that benefit you too
List down topics that will benefit both you and the publisher. A lot of times guest bloggers focus on topics that benefit the publishers more than it does to you.
While it’s understandable to do it that way, don’t forget the reason why you’re doing this. Make sure you get something out of it too.
Reach out to credible and popular websites
After doing the previous tips, it’s time to reach out to those reputable sites you researched on. Send them an email and see if they’re interested in guest posting.
Prepare your pitch in a way that convinces them that having you as a guest blogger will help them as much as it helps you. Introduce yourself, what niche you’re in, what you write about or what your website is about, and why you want to work with them.
Give them reasons why they should get you and support it with numbers.
Include whatever is applicable to you:
- Your domain ranking
- Monthly visitors and pageviews
- The number of shares
- The number of followers
Write the article
When writing the article, do your best to follow the best SEO practices. Following proper keyword placement, appropriate word count, and other practices will help generate more traffic organically.
While you’re at it, make sure to include a link to one of their pages within their website (a related article, video or product page). This is called internal linking and will help with SEO rankings.
Lastly, don’t forget to include a call to action. This will drive readers to do something after reading your content. Call to actions vary from leading them to shop, sign up in an email list, place an order, and many more.
Promote your work
Once your guest post is published, promote it. Share it on your social media accounts and newsletters or email marketing platforms (if applicable). Not only will you expose your content to an audience in real time, you are also helping generate traffic to the publisher’s website. Doing so will strengthen your relationship with the publisher and build rapport.
Check results and track your posts
As with any other content, it doesn’t stop with publishing and promotion. Monitor how it performs and see if the public is receiving it well. Check the traffic acquisition, pageviews, and average time spent on page.
You can use Google Analytics for tracking your posts, but you may also use other platforms such as Ahrefs, Semrush, etc.
Final Thoughts
So, is guest posting worth it?
Just think of it as considering a huge purchase. You do your research before buying, right? The bottomline is, as long as you’re careful and go an extra mile to avoid “spam bloggers”, guest posting is worth a try.