Guest blogging is an excellent way to increase your impact with your ad campaigns. Some people are afraid to get involved in guest blogging because of some of the Google algorithm updates that have occurred in the past.
But Google has never punished relevant content that is present in a guest blog. Many website owners stopped posting guest posts a few years ago when Google issued their Panda updates that discouraged cross-linking. But Google wants backlinks pointing to your site, and it will increase your rankings. What they don’t want is content that is not relevant or any form of “black hat” techniques that are not honest in their intentions.
Transparency is Key
The key to creating a guest post that Google will like and that will help you is to be transparent. Transparency is a term that has been widely used by Google to indicate a business practice that is straightforward and honest. They discourage any form of trickery to get people to your site so all of your content should be natural and you should refrain from keyword stuffing.
How to Write a Great Guest Post
When you are invited to post on another business’s website, you should follow a few tips to make it the best post possible.
- Keep it relevant to the site’s content.
- Don’t over promote your site.
- Use your backlink only once.
- Include valuable content for your target audience.
Following these simple tips will keep your content from rambling into topics that are not relevant to the site you are posting on. It will help your host site increase their traffic, which they will appreciate. Google will reward this type of content because it is valuable to the target audience of the host site.
When you do a good job on your host site’s blog, they will return the favor often by posting on your site or blog as well. As long as the content is related in some way, it’s a good idea to trade guest posts in this way as it will give you both a backlink to your site and provide your host site with relevant content as well.
Including a Bio
When you offer a guest post to a website or blog, make sure they include a Bio. Google prefers this so that people will identify the writer of the content. They also need to know that it is not the site owner or blog owner’s content and it increases the credibility of the host site when you include a biography. It does not have to be long. A simple two or three sentence blurb at the top or bottom of the post will suffice.
At its core, all of this information is quite simple. However, if you are new to the process of blogging and creating content, we recommend you take a look at doing a quick WordPress blog training course. Many of these are free or available at low cost through the use of learning sites like Udemy.
9 Resources for Guest Blogging
If you need some resources about guest blogging, we have included some good references below. These sites give you some great information about the benefits of guest blogging and some show examples of good guest posts for reference.
Duct Tape Marketing
Duct Tape Marketing is a website that is devoted to giving excellent tips on marketing for online business owners. In the above post, they offer seven examples of the power of guest blogging by taking you through several points that illustrate why they are so valuable.
They show you how you can guide the customer experience through a powerful guest post as well a to create a “sales hourglass” that takes them on a journey through the posts.
Creating this type of great content takes some time, but it is well worth the effort to get the most out of guest blogging.
Kissmetrics
Kissmetrics, owned by Neil Patel, a well-known internet marketer and blogger, illustrates some of the best ways to find blogs to post content on as a guest poster.
They remind you to locate sites that are relevant to your content as well as to find sites that will help your business by posting on them.
When you are finding experts to be guest posters on your site, you will want to find people who are considered influencers in your niche area. They don’t have to be world-famous, but it helps if you can connect with people who will have a positive impact on your site and who have quite a bit of knowledge about your niche area.
You want to make sure that you appear to be the best expert in your key area. But having fellow entrepreneurs who focus on topics of interest to your visitors will pay off.
Copyblogger
Copyblogger.com is a great resource for guest posters or for entrepreneurs who wish to have other bloggers post on their site. They state on their site that “tactical guest posting grows careers.”
They recommend seven tactics in posting an excellent guest post on other sites. One of the things they say you should keep in mind is to think about where you are sending your visitors. Remember that when you guest blog, you are sending visitors to a landing page so you should choose this carefully. They recommend sending people to an “outcome” such as a sales page where they can buy your products or other things.
Don’t waste the one chance you may have to get a new audience on your guest posts by sending them to a site that they won’t take action on. Be clear about your purpose. Click the link to Copyblogger to learn more about their guest posting tips and the benefits of guest blogging.
Quick Sprout
Quick Sprout is another site that knows about the power of blogging and how it can help a site grow. They offer five tips on this site that will help you figure out how to target customers through a successful blog post. You should try to incorporate something that your company is doing that is relevant to the post.
They also recommend including an Author Bio at the bottom of the post.
Zac Johnson
Zac Johnson is well-known for his success and skills in the world of affiliate marketing, but he’s also become quite famous for his role in the world of blogging as well. Once he launched his blog in 2007, he then realized the power of becoming a brand of your own. With a focus on content creation, Zac has over 3,000+ published articles across his sites, while also doing a lot of guest blogging and content contributions on other sites. In his guest blogging tips and best practices guide, he walks you through everything you need to know how to find success with your own guest blogging.
Social Media Examiner
Social Media Examiner is another example of a resource that showcases the benefits of guest blogging. They have a list of eight brands that have benefitted from guest posting on their site that you can scrutinize and get ideas from. Not only will you get to learn some actionable tips from this guest blogging guide, you will also see how major brands are using it to their advantage.
Peter Sandeen
Peter Sandeen has a site that offers you over 140 sites that you can offer a guest post on. This is a helpful resource if you are just not sure where to start in guest posting. Look these over but remember to only write for sites that are relevant to your content and where you’ll be able to plug your site naturally.
Seo Hacker
Seo Hacker is a site that is dedicated to improving your SEO as an online business. You can read their information here which also offers ways to post effectively on a blog that gets results.
Blogging.org’s Guest Blogging List
In addition to each of the resources and guides above, it’s also important to make sure you have an updated list on the most recent and trustworthy sites to guest blog on. The team over at Blogging.org have put together a great list of guest blogging opportunities that everyone can act on. The list is broken down by category and shows how to contact each site to create your own writing account or to simply email their site editor.
All of these sites show reasons and examples that should convince you of the value of guest blogging. But just make sure that you choose sites to post on that are relevant to your site. This will increase your impact and help both you and your host site.
Developing mutually beneficial relationships with others online will help you to grow as a business as well.
Including an infographic with your post is a great idea, too! If you do not know about the power of infographics, contact us, and we’ll show you how including a well-designed custom infographic can be your chance to strut your stuff when you do a guest post.
Go to infographicdesignteam.com to learn more!
