What is Guest Posting or Guest Blogging?

Blogging is an important tool for attracting the right visitors to your website, as any savvy inbound marketer knows. If you've been blogging for any length of time, you've probably considered guest blogging.

And if you've been on the fence about it, we're here to tell you that you should.

What exactly is guest blogging?

Guest blogging, also known as "guest posting," is the act of writing content for the website of another company. Guest bloggers typically write for similar blogs in their industry in order to:

- Drive traffic back to their website

- Increase domain authority by linking to high-authority domains

- Improve brand credibility and awareness

- Develop relationships with peers in their industry

Guest blogging almost always provides mutual benefits to both the guest blogger and the website hosting the guest content. In other words, guest blogging is a two-way street, so if you decide to join the bandwagon of guest blogging, you should also consider featuring posts by guest bloggers on your own website.

Why Is Guest Blogging Beneficial to Your Business?

Guest blogging has numerous advantages for any business. You can establish yourself as an authority figure in your market, build relationships with other thought leaders in your field, and expose your brand to an entirely new audience by sharing your expertise on the websites of other companies.

In addition, featuring guest posts on your own blog will help you provide your audience with new perspectives and content. We're all guilty of becoming bored with the same old things, so featuring guest posts is a great way to keep readers engaged ” not to mention the promotional boost that occurs when your guest bloggers share their blogs with their personal network.

Some blogs, such as OpenView, get the majority of their content from other industry leaders. Even if you lack the resources to maintain a consistent blogging schedule, guest bloggers can assist you in providing new content to your readers without requiring much additional time and effort from your team.

How Do I Proceed With Guest Blogging?

Before you begin guest blogging, make sure you understand what you hope to gain from the experience. Look for industry blogs written by non-competitor companies where you can provide real value to readers.

Guest blogging for your partners is an excellent place to begin. As part of our co-marketing strategy, New Breed writes guest blogs primarily for our partners. We also use guest blogging to build relationships with companies with whom we hope to work in the future.

In any case, research is critical for successful guest blogging.

It's no secret that there's a lot of spam floating around the internet. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are not posting to these types of blogs ” or publishing spammy content on your own blog.

Look for writers who fit your niche, market, and come from a reputable company or background. You should also agree with what they say in their post and make sure the message is relevant to your personas' interests. Guest blogging can have a quick and negative impact on your company if the content does not align with your business, personas, or brand voice.

Before offering to guest blog or vice versa, consider the following:

- Does this blog or blogger have a large number of followers who actively post comments, share blogs with their networks, and engage with content in other ways?

- Do they have a Facebook or Twitter account where they regularly share their own blog posts?

- Do they have a high domain authority, which would boost my SEO ranking?

- Do their industry and expertise complement mine?

Search for a relevant industry keyword + "guest post," "write for us," or something similar when looking for blogs to publish on. If you wanted to write about inbound marketing, for example, you could Google:

- Inbound marketing guest post - Guidelines for inbound marketing guest posts

- Inbound marketing is looking for guest posts.

- Write for us using inbound marketing

- Guest post submissions for inbound marketing

This will assist you in locating relevant industry blogs that are interested in the topic you're writing about and are currently accepting guest blogger submissions.

What Effect Does Guest Posting Have on SEO?

The short answer is that, as long as you are careful and considerate when creating high-value guest blogs for legitimate websites, guest blogging can be an excellent tool for increasing domain authority and moving up in SEO rankings.

It's understandable that many people have wondered whether or not guest blogging will harm their business. Many marketers have decided to avoid it entirely due to the risk of "spam bloggers" attempting to bribe blog owners into allowing them to post low-quality content for their own link-building and SEO benefit.

Finally, developing an SEO-boosting guest blogging strategy boils down to providing genuine, helpful, and relevant content to educate readers ” not low-quality content that serves only as a container for links to your website.

So, as long as your content is of high quality, guest blogging is an excellent way to boost the ranking of your website. According to Google, if other people link back to your blog on their own websites, the content on your blog must be relevant and interesting. When people comment, share, like, or link to your blog, it rises in Google's PageRank, which means it's more likely to appear first when someone searches for a related topic.

However, because Google PageRank is only an algorithm, it cannot distinguish between dynamic content and spam! So, while stuffing your guest blog posts with links and keywords will get you higher in the rankings, it won't get you any new, relevant traffic, and it won't establish you as an authority in your field.

What Is the Definition of High-Quality Guest Blogging?

The key to writing a high-quality guest blog is to consider it a service to your audience rather than an advertisement!

Guest blogs, like any other type of inbound content, should be intended to educate your reader rather than to promote your own product or service. If the topic is relevant to your product or service, there's no reason not to include it in your blog. But there's a big difference between selling yourself and providing your readers with useful, actionable information.

Instead, write guest blogs to establish yourself as an authority figure in your field, introduce yourself to a new audience, and build genuine relationships with other bloggers or businesses.

Here are some additional quick tips to help you improve your guest blogging strategy:

1. Create a concise author bio. Although some companies allow you to include links to your website in the main body of your blog, many do not or change the links over time. As a result, your bio is likely to be the only place in your guest post where you will include a permanent link back to your website.

2. Include at least one relevant internal link within your guest post to one of the company's previous blog posts. They'll appreciate your research, and this small gesture will help increase their own authority and traffic.

3. End each post with a call to action encouraging readers to leave comments. Remember that the more people who comment on and share your blog, the higher your post will rank in an SEO search.

4. Share your guest blog post on your social media channels. This is a thoughtful gesture that will drive more traffic back to your guest blogger and their company. Sharing your content should be second nature by now, and it's a nice way to say "thank you" for publishing your guest post.

5. The team behind the classic gaming site Solitaired takes guest post promotion to a new level. When they publish high-quality solitaire or game-related content on other websites, they actively market and drive traffic to those articles. It benefits their publishing partner and increases the strength of their backlinks.

6. Use Google Analytics to monitor the amount of traffic generated by your guest post. This will give you a better idea of what your readers want to hear about and what works for your company.

Following these guidelines will assist you in avoiding the creation or acceptance of spammy content, allowing you to reap the true benefits of guest blogging. Follow our recommended steps to boost your SEO rankings, increase the credibility of your brand, and reach new audiences in your industry. Only associate your business blog and posts with well-known marketers.