Building Links through Guest Blogging

One of the greatest and most cost-effective strategies in link building is guest blogging.  Mainly because it’s free, but also because it’s a great opportunity for both you and the blog owner in question.  Whether or not it’s right for you is another question, but it’s a strategy that can serve anyone quite well.

Guest blogging, for the sake of reference, is the process of creating a post for a blog owner on another site.  Those blog owners are often happy to feature your content, as it is a means for them to generate new quality content that they do not have to write.  In return, you are getting a byline (hopefully) and a link back to your website.

Anything you write should be quality.  You can’t expect a blog owner to simply accept whatever you churn out..  Anything you produce should pass your own standards.  If you wouldn’t post it on your own website, you certainly shouldn’t post it somewhere else.  You should also make sure that the blog you are writing for is closely related to the subject matter of your own site or blog.  It does you little good to write about antique pocket watches on a blog devoted to new age Hip Hop artists.  Your post should serve the audience, and in turn bring new visitors to your own site.

Here are some of the primary benefits to guest blogging as part of your link-building campaign.

• Links – Of course, your focus needs to be link acquisition.  If you’re not generating quality links then you’re wasting your time. It’s quite possible to generate more than one link from a guest post, as well.  Other bloggers may latch onto your post and create links to your content on their site, produce talkbacks or post rebuttals.

• Publicity – Unlike ghostwriting content to generate links, you’re create guest posts with a byline.  With quality content on another bloggers site, you may become associated with that specific niche.  Essentially, you are branding yourself.  The best part about an increase in popularity is that, over time, your reader base will grow exponentially. Those readers will often want to echo your thoughts, ideas and opinions.  You’ll also find yourself receiving invites to post elsewhere.  You will be able to generate more links with less legwork.

• Traffic – When you make a guest post on a popular blog, you’ll see a large volume of traffic come in immediately that often trickles off.  These visitors are the regular readers of the blog.  They’re loyal, and they trust the blog owner not to post spammy smut, so they’re certainly interested in any sites and links that make it through into their reading experience.  If they like what you have to say, you’ll generate some return traffic or at the very least some RSS subscriptions.

Now, before you go riding off like Zorro, swinging your hat in the air to hunt for a place to mark your first Z, look over this tidbit.  If you’re interested in making a guest-spot on another blog it’s necessary to keep a few things in mind.  Otherwise the whole experience will flop, and you could end up with negative press from it.

• Target your audience – This cannot be stressed enough.  Your post must be written specifically for the readers of the hosting site. You have an opportunity to speak to a new audience, on their home turf.  You need to wow them if you’re intending on garnering any readers from the lot.

• Stepping up your image – Present yourself as if you were speaking at a celebrity conference, with a guest list that is a who’s who of important people around the world.  You need to put your best foot forward and make sure your post is well written.  It doesn’t hurt to research the most popular topics on the blog, reviewing which received the most comments.  Write with confidence, your readers will pick up on it.

• “Zero” promotion – While it’s true that you’re only there to promote yourself, it’s very easy to overdo it.  People on the net are sensitive to spammy material, and they can pickup a sales pitch pretty fast.  Since the blog owner is doing you a favor by allowing you to contribute, you should be giving something back.  Provide content that is original and informative.  Sell yourself, but let the writing do it for you.  This is no time for a sales pitch.

When handled properly, guest blogging can send you and your site into a viral spin.  You’ll need to find a place to start however.  It’s far too much work to individually find blogs through a search engine.  You will find plenty of what you need using some listing services like this one: My Blog Guest.  Resources like this site help connect guest posters with blog owners.

All that’s left is for you to start making contact with blog owners.  Good luck!

Related posts:

1. Link-Building Strategies for Online Marketing
2. Advanced SEO – Examining Social Media Outreach