The many benefits of guest blogging

Great content produced on a consistent basis is definitely at the core of a successful blog. But many writers and blogs ignore strategies which would massively increase their traffic, in the naïve hope that content is the only requirement for success.

Think of all the dusty corners of the internet where reams of well-crafted content languish, never to be seen, never to do their job.

Promotion and marketing, terms which encapsulate a host of techniques, tools and approaches are equally as fundamental as great content to online success.

One strategy which has remained popular for some time is that of guest blogging. Guest blogging is simply pitching and writing articles for blogs relevant to your niche or market.

Working for my competitors?

At first glance guest blogging might seem like producing content for your competition. And it can be.  Yet, it’s still an excellent strategy for many reasons. Here's just a sample of those reasons.

Authority

Of course you will need to maintain the same high standards of content in your guest posting as in your own postings – the more popular sites within a niche can afford to be very picky as they will be inundated with pitches.

But if you do manage to get something posted, you have the opportunity to engage a new audience with your brand. Two crucial points of engagement are the author bio and the comment field.

Responding to comments is just good practice. Popular blogs will have large and responsive communities. Don’t ignore their questions and comments – they represent another opportunity, in addition to the guest post itself, to communicate your authority on the subject.

The author bio is where you lay out who you are what you do. It’s brief window where you can communicate your brand – and of course link to your own blog. If you write great stuff, people will naturally want to know who you are.

Building relationships

So you've reached out to another audience – but done right guest posting can also develop new relationships. If you pitch and write great content for a blog, they may return the favour by writing for your blog. And when it comes time to release a new product or service, this relationship may be a source of free marketing. Perhaps you can invite them to review the product – if the product is good, you get a great review and exposure to the readership of a popular blog. The writer of the review can directly link to the product or service through an affiliate marketing scheme – making this a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Those precious backlinks

The competition for ranking will always be fierce. It’s such a huge advantage to appear on the first page of results (68% of users will find what they are looking for on this page). Linking to your website or blog from the author bio of your guest post will increase your ranking. Google gives weight to backlinks, particularly from reputable or popular sites. But it’s also important to link from the right part of your bio. Presumably, you are already trying to rank for a particular keyword or group of keywords (if not, why not?). Make sure to include and backlink this keyword on the author bio you submit for your guest post.

Expect change

Guest posting is a popular and fairly well established technique; but because of this its popularity will, over time, reduce in effectiveness. Content marketing is a constantly evolving world – its vital to adopt new techniques when they come around (and to know which ones are useful and which are duds) because they have the most power when they have yet to be adopted by man and his dog.