In any SEO campaign, obtaining inbound links are a vital way to boost your position in the SERPs. While there are a variety of ways to obtain inbound links, not every method will be a white-hat tactic. Luckily, guest posting is one of the best ways to gain backlinks and is as white-hat as they come. For any business that's implementing a SEO strategy, guest blogging is one tactic that should not be lightly ignored.
What is Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging is a process in which a blog or website will accept and publish content written by another. The relationship between the guest writer and blog is mutually beneficial, as both are able to gain advantages from the exchange. While the blog is able to take advantage of quality content, the guest blogger can gain from benefits that positively influence their own site. The following are just a few examples of benefits available to individuals engaging in guest blogging:
- High Quality BacklinksMany blogs will gladly allow you to place backlinks back to your site in exchange for high quality content. These backlinks are valuable for a variety of reasons - not only do they link back to your own site, they also direct readership traffic and interested visitors to your pages. In addition, if the site that publishes your guest posts has a high Page Rank, this will reflect positively on your own site.
- AuthorityOver time, writing articles for a variety of sites will spread your name and visibility, allowing others to recognize your business's name as an authority. Guest posting can quickly allow you to establish yourself and your brand, allowing your site to rise higher in the SERPs. However, keep in mind that you should be guest posting to sites that are highly relevant to your niche. With the recent changes to Google's algorithm, placing links on articles that have little to do with your business can negatively impact your search engine rankings.
- DiversityGuest blogging is an active effort to spread your links across a wide variety of domains. This appears favorably to search engines, as it shows that your website is seen as an authority among multiple blogs. As your link diversity increases, your page rank is likely to rise as well.
How to Get Started with Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a valuable strategy for any SEO campaign and can be implemented relatively quickly. The following is a brief timeline of the guest posting process, and what you should do to start publishing guest articles:
Research for Blogs:
There are a variety of methods to find quality blogs that allow guest posting. One way is to perform a Google search for blogs that are within your niche, through terms such as "niche Guest Post" or "niche Write for Us". Another way is to join websites that specifically connect guest authors with blogs, such as My Blog Guest or Guest Blog It. While looking through blogs and their past articles, make sure that you choose quality blogs that will add value to your own site. For example, a relatively low PR blog or a site filled with spammy articles will not look favorably upon your own article. But a site that possesses its own writing team and a consistent posting schedule would be a great guest posting opportunity.
Make Contact:
Once you find a blog that seems worth writing for, it's time to make contact with the owner of the site. Find the contact email and reach out to the individual, asking whether they'd like to accept a guest post from you. At this point, you'll most likely get a mix of responses, ranging from inquiries of payment, refusals, or no responses at all. But several will start a dialogue with you, opening up the chance for a guest post.
Write Articles:
Once the blog has agreed upon a guest post, the next natural step is to write the article itself. Before writing the post, make sure that you take a look in the articles that have been published by the blog in the past. What topics do they address and what style of articles appears frequently on their site? By understanding the needs of the blog beforehand, you'll increase the chances that they'll accept and publish your article.
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