2.05 – Guest Blogging to Grow Your Audience & Exposure

Guest Blogging to Grow Awareness & Expertise

Another way to use content to drive traffic to your website is through guest blogging. Guest blogging enables you to create content to showcase your expertise, but you’re posting it to someone else’s blog. This might seem counterproductive, but there’s a definite purpose to guest blogging.

Figure 2-7 shows the Type-A Parent blog with a guest blog post. With guest blogging you can do the following:

» Share your perspective with a new audience. The purpose of guest blogging is to find people who don’t hang out in the usual places. You’re expanding your network.

» Grow backlinks for your blog. Guest blogging is terrific SEO. When another blog links to your blog, you now have what are called backlinks. Backlinks are important for driving traffic and catching the attention of the search engines.

» Sell to people who you might not have reached otherwise. Because you’re reaching out to a new community, you’ve expanded your selling base. Guest blogging can lead to new fans, newsletter signups, and even sales.

— Guest blogging example —

Understanding guest blogging

Guest blogging is a form of content marketing in which you’re writing articles for someone else’s blog or website. Even though your content is on a blog that isn’t owned by you, you still reap many benefits. Having other blogs link to your site attracts people to your site and helps your site rank higher on search engines.

Just as when writing content for your own blog, guest blog posts have to offer something of value. You won’t have many people inviting you to guest blog if you share only fluff. Guest blogging content should teach, inspire, or cause people to take action. However, guest blog posts should never sell. Nothing turns off readers more than a blatant sales pitch.

Something else to know before you write your first guest blog post is that you shouldn’t write an article filled with links to your blog or website. Most blog owners allow a link in a bio, where you can describe your expertise and link back to your business. Some bloggers also allow a relevant link in the body of the guest blog post. It’s best to ask each blogger his or her policy on linking back to your site. Everyone who accepts guest blog posts does so with the knowledge that there will be at least one link back to the guest blogger’s site of choice.

Don’t limit yourself to a particular subject or demographic. Think about all the types of websites that can benefit from your content. For example, if you are a writer, reach out to a variety of businesses in which writing is relevant to what they do. So you might create a guest post for a marketing company on writing sales copy or calls to action, or one for a real estate school on writing effective home descriptions.

Finding relevant blogs and pitching your content

If you’d like to include guest blogging as part of your content strategy, it’s important to put together a list of relevant blogs and websites so you know to whom you should pitch your guest blog post:

Consider the following when looking for relevant blogs for your content:

» Relevant subject matter: You don’t have to stick to the exact subject matter, but the topics should be someone related. It wouldn’t do to submit a post on the benefits of free-range chickens to a vegan recipe blog, for example.

» Search engine ranking: Do your best to choose blogs that rank high on search engines. For example, Huffington Post is a favourite for people who want to submit guest blog posts because it ranks so high in searches.

» An engaged community: Find blogs with active readers. If a blog has many active discussions going on in its comments section or on social networks, your guest post might receive the same attention. This attention can drive interest to your own blog, which can result in action.

» Traffic: It makes no sense to post to a blog that receives no traffic. Research each blog to make sure it has a good flow of traffic to both blogs and social networks.

» A positive reputation: Make sure the blog fits your own rules for engagement. For example, if you provide a family atmosphere, you don’t want to risk your reputation by posting to an adult-oriented blog.

After you have an idea of whom you’d like to share a guest post with, it’s time to work on your pitch.

Nothing makes bloggers less inclined to accept your guest blog post than a cookie-cutter pitch. If you tailor each pitch to fit the individual blog, you’ll have a better chance of acceptance.

Consider the following questions when pitching to another blogger:

» Who is the blogger? Make sure you know exactly to whom you’re pitching. Use a name when reaching out and make it clear you know who the blogger is and what he or she does.

» Do you understand the subject matter? In your pitch, it’s important to show that you know the focus of the other person’s blog and how your business – and guest blog post – are related.

» What will readers learn or take away from your blog post? Why should someone else give up precious bandwidth for your post? Your pitch should detail talking points and takeaways so that the blogger has a good idea of the value you offer to his or her community.

» What is your end result with guest blogging? Why are you guest blogging? Are you promoting a product? Are you launching your business? Do you want to establish yourself as a thought leader? Make your intentions clear.

Your writing is reflected in your pitch. Be sure to proofread; you don’t want to create a bad impression with typos or grammatical errors.

Promoting your guest blog posts

When you pitch a guest blog post, make sure the person you’re pitching to knows that you are going to help promote it.

For example, you can do the following:

» Share the blog post on social networks. Post your guest blog post on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, and anywhere else you feel your readers will benefit from the link.

» Link to the blog post on your own blog or website. You can link to your guest blog posts in different places, including a bio page, an About page, or a media page (where you list all your online contributions), or even as a relevant link in articles or blog posts.

» Share the blog post in your newsletter. Don’t forget to share your guest blog post in your newsletter. Many people subscribe to newsletters so that they don’t have to become members of online groups or fan pages.

Guest blogging is a two-way street. Don’t assume you’re being allowed to submit guest blog posts because the other bloggers are kind. They would like you to also drive traffic to their own website. Make sure you promote your guest blog post in a way that benefits everyone involved.