What is Guest Blogging and How to Get Started with it?

Contents

What Is Guest Blogging? And Why Is Guest Blogging Important for SEO?

How to Get Started With Guest Blogging

1. Identify Your Guest Blogging Goals
2. Look for High-Quality Guest Blogging Prospects
   • Google Search Strings
   • Competitor Backlinks
   • Social Media
3. Focus on Relevant Guest Posting Websites
4. Pitch A Guest Post Effectively
   • Do your research
   • Know When to Pitch
5. Write a Winning Guest Blog That Checks Off All the Boxes!
6. Promote Your Guest Blog Like a Pro
7. Track, Track, Track!
8. Start Planning Your Next Guest Blogging Campaign

Final Thoughts on Guest Blogging

We’ve talked about how consistent blogging can help you build credibility and ranking. In this blog, we want to talk about another content marketing strategy that’s pretty much become a buzz word in 2020: guest blogging.

If quality traffic and powerful backlinks is your SEO goal, then you need to start talking about guest blogging or guest posting.

Let’s cut to the chase.

What Is Guest Blogging? And Why Is Guest Blogging Important for SEO?

Guest blogging is the process of writing content for other websites. The blog is published under your business name or your own name on a third-party website.

For the most part, they’re free of cost. So what’s the catch? A lot of websites allow guest posts because they provide insider expertise and analysis to their readers. And because of that, keep in mind—and we cannot stress this enough—guest posts cannot be promotional!

Guest blogging isn’t just another run-of-the-mill content marketing strategy; it’s designed to help your business get a wellness shot that’s packed with visibility potion, ranking tonic, and lead generation elixir.

In short, it’s a revival kit for your business.

Here’s a closer look at why guest blogging is touted as the crème de la crème of modern content marketing strategies:

• Guest blogging generates 3x more leads close to conversion
• Guest blogging boosts direct sales by 75%
• Guest blogging generates 5x more valuable backlinks, resulting in better rankings
• Guest blogging generates 80% increase in organic and referral traffic

Creating winning content for websites with high domain authority (i.e., great ranking capabilities) is a surefire way to become more visible on the web.

Think about it; you’re probably familiar with websites like Medium and Forbes. Why?

Because they continually show up among the top search results for just about any search.

These websites are comfortably and firmly seated on the ranking throne because of their impressive DA.

Instead of solely writing blogs for your website and generating fair-to-middling traffic, writing blogs for high-DA websites is a great way to get your content seen by more people.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of guest blogging so you can create a winning strategy that helps you hit the ground running. We’ll also look at some additional benefits of guest blogging along the way, so you know exactly what’s in store for you.

Let’s dive in!

How to Get Started With Guest Blogging

1. Identify Your Guest Blogging Goals

One of the best ways to get started with guest blogging is knowing exactly where you stand.

Typically, it could be one or a combination of the following:

• You want to increase visibility for your products/services
• You want to position yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry
• You’re looking to generate backlink opportunities

Analyze your business model and performance over the past few months/years. This will help you list clear guest blogging goals and create a strategy that focuses on achieving them.

Make sure you get as specific as possible. The last thing you want is to execute a guest blogging strategy that simply isn’t right for your business.

If you’re unsure about how to set guest blogging goals, feel free to look into professional guest posting services.

2. Look for High-Quality Guest Blogging Prospects

Once you have a set of well-defined guest blogging goals, you can start looking for the right opportunities for your business.

As a rule of thumb, here are some things to look for when choosing a guest blogging website:

• High DA
• Content that’s relevant to your niche/industry
• A wide audience that will be interested in your content and products/services
• High-quality blogs with substantial engagement, i.e., likes, comments, shares, etc.
• A great reputation (no history of allegations, lawsuits, questionable content, inaccurate claims, etc.)

Make sure you’ve already checked your website’s DA in advance.

The score ranges from 0–100; 40–50 is considered average, 50–60 is considered good, and 60+ is considered excellent.

If your DA is less than 40, it goes without saying that you’ll struggle to get a response from websites with exceptional DA.

Over time, better rankings will equate to an improved domain authority, and you’ll be able to partner with companies like Forbes, Medium, Entrepreneur, Inc.com, Business Insider, and the likes.

Here’s a look at some of the best ways to search for—and actually find—great guest blogging opportunities:

Google Search Strings

Using customized search strings is easily the most effective way to find the right guest posting prospects for your business.

Enter these search queries on Google (use relevant keywords for your industry):

• [enter keyword] “guest blog”
• [enter keyword] “guest post”
• [enter keyword] “submit a guest blog”
• [enter keyword] “write for us”
• [enter keyword] “contribute to our site”
• [enter keyword] “accepting guest blogs”
• [enter keyword] “guest blog opportunities”
• [enter keyword] “guest blog guidelines”

You’ll receive highly-specific, relevant results. Browse through the guest blogs, guidelines, and submission pages to shortlist websites accordingly.

Here’s an example of how you should go about this if you run a financial advising business:

You can also refine your search by selecting a specific time period for more relevant results. Stick to the past month or past year to find fresh guest blogging opportunities.

Competitor Backlinks

Run a backlink analysis/audit of your top competitors to receive comprehensive data about their link building partners.

• Which websites are offering them backlinks?
• Do these sites have high DA?
• How frequently are the backlinks offered?

These insights will not only help you identify great guest blogging sites in your industry, but you’ll also manage to pick up on link building strategies and patterns that help you start off on the right foot.

Social Media

When it comes to exploring opportune guest blogging prospects, social media works wonders.

The large majority of companies promote their guest blogs on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Scouring these platforms for guest posts will help you identify great opportunities and promptly reach out to the relevant professionals.

Follow the same search strategy we mentioned earlier; type in an industry-relevant keyword and follow that up with “guest blog,” “write for us,” “submit a guest blog,” and so forth.

Here’s an example:

Surviving on a rapidly warming 🌍 is one of the top economic & social challenges facing us today. Yet as @SEforALLorg research shows, providing #CoolingforAll risks a spike in energy demand

New SEforALL guest blog explores passive solutions to help: https://t.co/PR4TJq1sN8 #SDG7 pic.twitter.com/9CjeneTgFj

— Damilola Ogunbiyi (@DamilolaSDG7) November 3, 2020

As always, feel free to specify your search requirements by using the search filters or opting for an advanced search. This will help you fetch results in your city/state and look for posts with high levels of engagement (e.g., a minimum number of replies, likes, and retweets). You can also select a certain time period and emphasize specific keywords.

3. Focus on Relevant Guest Posting Websites

Sure, you can opt for non-specific websites with all-encompassing content; in fact, that’s recommended. However, make sure you don’t start relying on these sites too much.

Opt for a 50:50 ratio, i.e., 50% of your guest blogging partners should be non-specific sites (e.g., Forbes, Medium), whereas the remaining 50% should be industry-specific sites.

For instance, if you run a travel and tourism business, partner with Go Abroad (DA = 76), Hostel Bookers (DA = 75), eDreams (DA = 70), and the likes.

If you offer health services, partner with sites like Psychology Today (DA = 92).

If you run a restaurant, look into sites like Kitchn (DA = 87) and One Green Planet (DA = 80).

We’re sure you get the gist by now.

Establishing industry-specific guest blogging partners is a great way to get more leads since the content is right up the audience’s alley.

4. Pitch A Guest Post Effectively

While you may feel tempted to make a pitch then and there, take things slow. Keep these pointers in mind!

Do your research

Head over to the guest blogging site and familiarize yourself with their brand philosophy, story, mission, and values. This bit of research will come in handy when you’re making a pitch.

In addition, closely examine their content.

Do you like the style, tone, and level of research?

Can you see your content fitting in?

This is a two-way street; not only are you learning more about them, but you’re also gauging whether they’re right for you.

Once you’ve gotten a general gist of their brand identity and content, look for their guest blogging guidelines to ensure you make an informed pitch. The last thing you want to do is ask a plethora of questions that are already clearly specified on their guest blogging guidelines page.

Make a great first impression; do your research and make sure it reflects in the way you approach them.

In some cases, certain sites only accept completed guest blogs and want nothing to do with pitches. This is more common among sites with high DA.

Ultimately, the more research you do, the better the outcome. You’ll avoid getting entangled in embarrassing faux pas and ruining your chances of getting approved.

Know When to Pitch

Here are your cues:

• The website openly advertises that they accept guest posts
• The website has listed your business in one of their blogs
• The website consistently posts guest blogs
• The platform is a credible source in the community/industry
• Some of your more successful competitors are posting there

5. Write a Winning Guest Blog That Checks Off All the Boxes!

Ah, the fun part.

Or the daunting part, depending on how equipped you are to write a guest blog.

With the competition becoming more fierce every day, pulling out all the stops has become imperative.

Today, the large majority of guest blogging companies hire experts to get the job done to a tee.

While you may feel compelled to take care of things yourself, it’s important to note that writing a guest blog isn’t a walk in the park; it requires:

• Extensive experience
• Meticulous research skills
• Industry insights
• Strong language, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling skills
• The ability to write engaging content that draws the reader in from the get-go

Start by getting in touch with guest blogging professionals who are adept at writing gripping, industry-specific, and well-researched guest posts.

The overall quality of the blog will go a long way in keeping readers engrossed till the very end and generating more leads.

Since guest blogs can’t be too promotional in nature, they don’t include more than 1–3 backlinks. While you can use more internal links in your own blogs, you can’t do the same with guest blogs.

In most cases, guest blogs only include a single backlink in the “About the Author” section towards the end of the content. So if readers don’t stick around till the very end, your content may not yield the intended results.

What are we getting at?

Complete engagement is essential, and you can’t achieve it without turning to the pros who know the ins and outs of creating page-turning content.

Expert guest blogging writers are adept at writing stellar author descriptions, using opportune backlinks, demonstrating industry-specific expertise, and meeting the hosting website’s requirements.

They also use guest blogging SEO strategies to ensure the content ranks higher on SERPs and helps you generate massive traffic that results in skyrocketing sales.

As you partner with more high-DA websites and continue to write multiple guest posts each month (or at least every other month), you’ll notice a significant improvement in web traffic.

Recommended Read: How To Write A Blog That Ranks

6. Promote Your Guest Blog Like a Pro

Submitting a terrific guest blog and sitting on it is tantamount to baking a delectable chocolate cake and watching it sit on your counter for days on end.

Promote the guest blog like you would devour the cake!

We strongly recommend creating a separate guest blog promotion strategy to ensure you don’t leave any stone unturned.

Actively share your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

You can also email the blog to customers who have subscribed to your newsletter/emails.

Here are some great examples of how to do justice to promoting your guest blog:

Got a guest spot on the Cionic blog! Check out my thoughts on building remote teams. https://t.co/QHIUicXy32

— raycourtney (@raycourtney) November 3, 2020

Remote Work: 6 Ways to Manage Stress While You Work From Home https://t.co/n0toIA51FT Check out my guest blog post!

— Janice Simon (@JaniceSimon) November 5, 2020

7. Track, Track, Track!

No matter how great your guest blogging strategy may be, you’ll struggle to ensure long-term growth if you sideline the importance of tracking.

Ultimately, you want your efforts to yield great results. And you can’t gauge where you stand without tracking your site’s performance.

Closely monitor your site’s rankings, impressions, traffic, leads, and sales. As you periodically assess these metrics, you’ll manage to ascertain which guest blogs are performing better than the others. This will help you replicate certain strategies across the board and focus on writing more guest blogs for certain high-DA sites that bring more traffic to your domain.

In addition, identify content needs and gaps to avoid running the risk of rehashing ideas, topics, and themes. Think outside the box and let your creative juices flow!

8. Start Planning Your Next Guest Blogging Campaign

Guest blogging rests on the foundation of consistency.

Once you’ve successfully written, submitted, and promoted a set of monthly guest blogs, make sure you start planning your upcoming guest blogging campaign.

In fact, kick-start the process while you’re still promoting blogs from the previous campaign! A head start will help you make timely changes based on the negatives and positives of the last campaign.

Be open to making adjustments; your content should grow with your brand.

Final Thoughts on Guest Blogging

“What is guest posting in SEO?”

“What are the basics of guest blogging?”

“What are the benefits of guest blogging?”

If you started reading this blog with those questions in mind, we’re sure we’ve covered a major chunk of it. Keep in mind; guest blogging is no piece of cake. It’s really challenging for businesses to maintain their blog; let alone gust blogging. So feel free to hire blog outreach services.

As one of the most powerful content marketing strategies, guest blogging works wonders for startups, small businesses, ecommerce companies, and established corporations looking to gain an edge.

Create a winning guest blogging strategy, ensure consistency along the way, track your performance, and make the required adjustments!

Ready to get started? Call 855-444-4777 now or fill out the form below to kick-start your Guest Blogging project today!