If you’ve been following along, we love to share information, especially when we see how it could benefit you. What we’re sharing today is no different! We want to talk about guest blogging, which has been a prominent marketing technique since 2014. We’ve been working with a few sites ourselves as invited bloggers, and the outcome has been pretty great! Guest blogging is just one of the many unique ways to get your local business out there if you follow the correct protocol.
First: You need to understand what guest blogging is.
To put it in lemans terms you’re putting together an article that will appear on a hosts site. Host sites can look a lot like Pinterest or a lot like an online magazine. One of the recipients we work with has a primary focus on instructional blogs and since many of our pieces are informative and “how to” as well we matched the criteria. Being able to relate to the hosting site is necessary! Why? Because when you post your piece to their site you’re allowing their audience to visit back to you. Misleading an audience is the number one way to show a lack of authenticity. It’s your voice that you’re representing, so make sure that you showcase it appropriately!
One of the many reasons why guest blogging is a great opportunity goes back to the beginning of companies like ours. Content and interaction are crucial points you need to make sure are hit for the success of your online marketing! Utilizing the opportunity to share some of your content opens the door to a much larger discussion group, which can open the door to more business. If the content is good in this piece, the content must be the same or better on your website. There are plenty of ways to monitor and work on your interior content before taking the leap into shared information. No worries, there is plenty of time to get you ready.
Second: Some warnings and disclaimers.
Back in 2014 a professional blogger Matt Cutts released some disheartening information about guest blogging. What he said was correct, he warned his audience about the possibility of being seen as spam. Two years ago Google sorted through credible and incredible information much differently than it does today. However, the most recent algorithm update from Google is showing a heavy emphasis on location. So if that’s at the forefront of your brain, this should be easy! Don’t petition to have your work posted; it shows the host site that you’re just looking for links and SEO opportunity. Your information will automatically become flagged as spam to them, which will trace back into Google.
Utilize your data! Personally, we prefer Google Analytics, because it’s easy to follow and clear in understanding. If you use your data properly though you can figure out how to improve your content, to make it appealing to the host site. Appeal is an important factor in the process of guest blogging, because you’re going to have to submit a pitch piece for them to review. Host sites are more likely to accept a blog post if they can see that your information is legitimate and that you’re active. Being active means that you’re not just sharing your product, but others as well. Guest blogging is supposed to be beneficial to you and them.
Third: Bringing it all together.
Once you understand the site on which you will be appearing, you can get to work! Remember how we said that the host site doesn’t want to see you only looking for links and SEO opportunity? Well good news, the host site is doing it for you. Because of your posts attachment to this site, Google will be able to rank you better, plus it’ll be a definite link to you and your business! You can form your post however you want, but we recommend you follow certain guidelines.
Rules:
- Don’t make the post a personal advertisement.
- Follow the layout of the posts already listed on the site.
- Be able to back up your sources! It’s ok to link to the outside if it boosts your credibility.
- Embrace comments and conversation.
Becoming a guest on a site can lead to many different opportunities. One of which being the publicity! The more your name is out there, the more you get back in so, in the end, the two days it may take to complete this process may provide you with two weeks of additional leads and business. Once the post is up you’ll be able to track your progress physically, and that’s an incredible SEO and content marketing objective met.
Fourth: Being Consistent With It
One guest post placement can lead to a short burst of traffic and signups, but if you get enough high quality guest posts, eventually your Google rankings can increase as well. After you get comfortable with the process of guest posting, think about how you can expand your reach to more relevant sites at scale. If you can land several dozen guest post placements over the course of several months, you’ll benefit long term with more organic traffic.
OutreachMama’s guest posting guide lays out the following things to avoid when trying to scale-up:
– Don’t use low quality content
– Don’t get placements on sites that have no organic traffic or are not relevant to your niche
– Don’t try to get links to your sales pages (good quality blogs are not interested)
