Guest blogging can be an extremely effective way to grow your audience, build relationships with influencers in your industry, and get backlinks to your website. But it does require strategy and effort to do it successfully.
Google is the largest search engine in the world and it processes over 8.5 billion searches per day.
This means that Google processes over 26.28 billion searches per month and 9.5 trillion searches per year and that’s a lot of searches.
So, in order to get the most traffic from Google, you’ll need to have higher authority over your site. That will increase the ranking of your site on Google.
Therefore, one of the best ways to increase your site authority is to get high-quality backlinks, and you can do that using guest blogging.
In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about guest blogging, including:
- What is guest blogging and how does it work?
- The many benefits of guest posting
- Finding the best guest posting opportunities
- Guest blogging best practices
- Common mistakes to avoid
Let’s start by understanding what guest blogging is all about.
What is Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging also referred to as guest posting, it simply means you are writing a blog post for another site or blog.
For example, If you have a marketing blog, and you consider writing guest posts for popular marketing websites in your niche. You find websites and pitch your ideas or follow their “write for us” guidelines as a guest blogger.
Guest bloggers is typically aim to earn backlinks by providing top-notch content for free. Writing for reputable websites can help get valuable backlinks to your site, increasing your search engine rankings and authority.
Now that you know what guest blogging is let’s look at why it can be so advantageous for your website and brand.
The Powerful Benefits of Guest Blogging
There are many reasons guest posting can be beneficial:
Getting published on popular websites related to your niche is a great way to get more visibility and drive interested readers back to your own site. Quality backlinks also boost your search engine rankings which brings in more visitors.
👥 Build Relationships
Guest posting allows you to connect and build relationships with influencers and sites in your industry. These relationships can lead to future collaborations, joint ventures, link exchanges and more.
⭐️ Establish Credibility
Having your content published on authority sites demonstrates your expertise on a topic to a new audience. This helps build trust and credibility as an authority in your niche.
📈 Reach New Audiences
Guest posting expands your reach by exposing your brand to new and relevant audiences you may not be able to access on your own site. This grows your brand’s visibility and awareness.
🔎 Improve SEO
Backlinks from guest posts on authoritative, high-quality sites are one of the best ways to improve your overall search engine optimization and rankings.
🖊️ Showcase Your Skills
Guest blogging displays your research, writing, and subject matter skills to new audiences. This is especially helpful for freelance writers looking to grow their portfolio.
🔊 Increase Brand Awareness
Getting your name and brand in front of new audiences leads to greater brand recognition and awareness. Readers see you as an authority.
Clearly, guest blogging comes with many benefits, from increased traffic to building brand authority. But first, you need to find the right websites and publications to pitch guest articles to.
Finding Guest Posting Opportunities
Finding quality websites and blogs that are a good fit for guest posts is crucial to having success with your outreach. Here are some tips to find guest posting opportunities:
Use Google Search Operators
Google search operators allow you to filter search results to find specific types of pages. Here are some useful operators for finding guest posting sites:
- “guest post” + your keywords – Finds pages mentioning “guest post” opportunities around your niche keywords.
- “write for us” + your topic – Locate blogs that want writers to “write for us” on your topic.
- inurl:blog “submit guest post” – Finds blogs where the url contains “submit guest post”.
- inurl:contribute “submit a guest post”
- intitle:”submit a guest post”
- inurl:write-for-us intitle
Finding Quality Guest Posting Opportunities
When looking for websites to write guest posts for, you want to find sites that are a good fit for your niche and audience. Here are some tips:
🔎 Check Competitor’s Backlinks
One of the best ways to find guest posting opportunities is to check where your competitors are getting backlinks from.
Use a backlink analysis tool like SEMrush to see what sites your competitors have guest posted on. Then make a list of the same sites that are relevant to pitch your own guest articles.
📃 Look For Guest Post List Posts
Many blogs create list posts of sites accepting guest posts like “Top 100 Guest Posting Sites” or “Best Guest Posting Sites.”
Search for these on Google and comb through them to identify the high-quality websites that closely relate to your niche. Vet them thoroughly before reaching out.
Now that you know how to research and find potential guest posting opportunities, let’s discuss how to write compelling guest posts.
Crafting Engaging and Valuable Guest Posts
When writing for another site, you want to create content that engages readers and adds value. Here are some tips:
📌 Create Captivating Headlines
Spend time crafting attention-grabbing headlines that speak to what the reader will learn and gain from your post.
✍️ Provide Useful Content
Don’t just write fluff to get a link. Provide informative, useful content their readers will appreciate. Research thoroughly and give actionable advice.
🔎 Optimize for SEO
Do keyword research to optimize your post for topics and long-tail keywords your audience searches for. Naturally include the focus keyword.
🖼️ Insert Relevant Visuals
Use relevant images, graphics, and videos to break up text and boost engagement. But ensure they enhance the content.
🔗 Link to Helpful Resources
Add value by linking out to high-quality resources related to your guest post topic for readers seeking more.
📢 Promote Your Guest Post
Once published, promote your guest post on your own channels. This helps drive traffic.
By providing genuine value through your guest posts, you’re more likely to gain a new audience and get published again.
Now let’s look at some essential practices to ensure guest blogging success.
Guest Posting Best Practices
Follow these essential best practices to ensure guest posting success:
🏆 Stick to Reputable Sites
Only write for respected blogs and sites with good domain authority and traffic. This gives you valuable backlinks. Vet sites thoroughly.
👥 Ensure a Niche Fit
Choose sites that closely align with your niche, brand, and target audience. This way your content will strongly resonate.
💎 Provide Genuine Value
Ensure your posts provide true value to readers through useful insights, actionable tips, or fresh angles on a topic.
📜 Follow All Guidelines
Carefully follow a site’s editorial guidelines for guest posts. Give them what they want in terms of links, content, etc.
🔎 Optimize with Keywords
Research keywords and optimize each guest post for topics people are searching for. This boosts visibility.
📷 Include Relevant Visuals
Use images, graphics, and videos strategically to make your posts more engaging and higher-ranking.
📢 Promote Your Guest Post
Once published, leverage your own channels to promote your guest post – social media, email, etc.
👥 Focus on Relationships
Guest posting gives you a chance to network and build relationships with influencers in your space.
By sticking to these best practices as a guest blogger, you’ll build a stellar reputation and land more opportunities!
Next let’s look at some common mistakes to avoid as a guest contributor.
Guest Posting Mistakes to Avoid
Here are some key guest posting mistakes that could lead to rejections:
- Submitting low-quality content – Take time to thoroughly research and put effort into your posts.
- Publishing duplicate content – Your content needs to be completely original and created just for that site.
- Linking out excessively – Don’t over optimize with links. Follow their editorial guidelines.
- Ignoring SEO best practices – Be sure to do keyword research and on-page optimization.
- Having a spammy author bio – Provide a short, relevant bio that gives readers context about you.
- Using over-promotional language – The focus should be on providing value, not promoting yourself.
- Not promoting your post – Don’t miss the chance to also promote your guest post on your own channels.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you will have much greater success getting published and benefiting from guest blogging.
Now let’s look at some frequently asked questions about this strategy.
FAQs
What are the main benefits of guest posting?
The main benefits of guest blogging include increased website traffic, backlinks and improved search engine optimization, building relationships with other bloggers, and expanding your brand awareness to new audiences.
How do you find the best websites to write guest posts for?
Some tips for finding quality websites for guest posts include using Google search operators, checking competitor’s backlinks, and looking for guest post lists. Ensure sites relate closely to your niche.
Should you do keyword research for guest posts?
Absolutely, you should always do keyword research to optimize your guest posts for topics and long-tail keywords that your target audience is searching for. This helps increase visibility.
How much time does it take to write a quality guest post?
It takes most experienced bloggers 2-4 hours to research, write, and edit a well-written and optimized guest post. But the payoff for this time investment can be immense.
How many links should you include in a guest post?
Most blogs limit you to 1-2 strategically placed links. Be sure to follow their editorial guidelines closely. The focus should be on providing value, not getting links.
Hopefully this comprehensive guide gives you all the tips, strategies, and best practices you need to be successful with guest posting. Used correctly, it can be a game changer for growing your website and brand.
