Want to know what is guest blogging and its benefits? Looking for an expert guide on guest posting? You’re in the right place.
Google is the BIGGEST search engine in the world which is handling over 3.5 billion searches per day.
And… we ALL want to get more traffic from Google.
After all, traffic from Google is high quality and FREE.
However, simply wanting more traffic from Google is not enough. You need to take actionable steps to improve your website’s ranking in Google’s search results.
One of the best ways to increase your traffic from Google is to use guest blogging.
In this post, you’ll discover;
- What is guest posting along with guest blogging benefits
- Proven ways to write powerful guest blog posts
- How to find guest blogging opportunities and much more
So are you ready? Let’s jump into the details.
What is Guest Blogging: A Practical Guide for Beginners
What is guest blogging?
Guest blogging (also known as “guest posting”) is the process of writing content for someone else’s blog or website.
In simple terms, a guest post means, you’re writing a blog post for a guest website.
In most cases, guest posts are written and published for free, and the guest post author gets backlinks in return.
Usually, a guest blogger (someone who writes a guest post for a website or blog) picks a topic and chooses a website to publish his guest post.
Here’s an example of a guest post (which was published by me on the Semrush blog).
For example, if you have a blog about lifestyle, you might want to write a guest post on popular lifestyle websites. If you want to write guest posts, make sure to pick high-quality blogs that are relevant to your niche.
Guest posts are the BEST way to build links, grow your reputation online and drive traffic to your website. If you’re interested in writing guest posts, make sure to find a list of websites that accept guests and check for their guidelines for guest post submission.
What are the benefits of guest blogging?
Let’s find out all the advantages that come with guest posting.
- Guest posting helps you build relationships with other bloggers in your niche
- It can help you generate more traffic to your blog
- Improves your search engine rankings
- Can help you with sales or conversions if you strategically link to your high-conversion blog posts
- Gives you a chance to showcase your writing skills (this can be so helpful for freelance writers to build a portfolio)
- Guest blogging helps you get exposure to a new audience
- Provides an opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise with others
- Guest posting can help build your credibility online
- And the list goes on
How to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities? 3 Simple Ways
One of the common questions we get all the time is “How can I find guest blogging opportunities that are a good fit for me?”.
You can refer to this free guest posting sites list if you want to quickly make a list of high-quality blogs that accept guest posts. It contains a list of over 350 guest posting sites.
That being said, here are some of the quick hacks to finding guest blogging opportunities in any niche.
1. Use Google search operators
Google search operators are special characters that can be added to a search query to narrow down the results on Google.
The best part? You can use Google search operators to find guest posting opportunities. If you’re curious, here’s a quick list of search operators you can use to find websites that accept guest posts.
- “guest post + your niche”
- “write for us”
- “submit a guest post”
- inurl:blog “submit a guest post”
- inurl:contribute “submit a guest post”
- intitle:”submit a guest post”
- inurl:write-for-us intitle
2. Spy on your competitor’s backlinks
The best way to come up with a list of websites to build links for your site is to find your competitor’s backlinks.
There are a number of ways to find your competitor’s backlinks. The easiest way is to use a tool like Semrush. Click this link to try Semrush tool free for 30 days worth $119.95.
Just enter your competitor’s website URL and Semrush will show you its backlinks along with the source websites.
Have a look at the Backlinko.com backlink profile;
See that? Semrush is showing us over 250,000 backlinks along with their sources.
So you can start making a list of all the websites that are relevant to your niche and pitch guest posts if they’re already publishing.
3. Check for curated list posts
One of the simplest ways to find sites that accept guest posts is to check for curated guest post list posts.
Simply, enter a keyword term like “guest posting sites” and Google will show you a curated list of all the sites that have covered guest blogging sites list.
Have a look;
See that? Visit each one of those websites, go through all the websites and carefully choose the websites that are relevant to your blog’s topic or niche.
3 Powerful Tips for Writing Amazing Guest Articles
As mentioned earlier, guest blogging can be an effective way to connect with other bloggers in your industry and share your knowledge with a wider audience.
So how to write guest articles that add value to the blogging community and open the floodgates to more blog traffic?
Here are 3 PROVEN tips for creating an amazing guest post.
1. Create high-quality content
First things first, write a guest post that is well-written and informative.
No blog owner wants to read and publish a mediocre guest post, so make sure your guest content is informative and engaging.
Do A LOT of research. Make sure you know who your audience is and what they’re looking for. Read some of the popular posts published on the blog you want to guest blog.
Find and analyze the writing tone used on the blogs you want to publish. Follow a similar writing approach and use similar formatting to appeal to their blog audience.
The KEY here is to write for your target blog’s audience. Know what they want and write accordingly.
2. Make it SEO-friendly
The majority of guest bloggers ignore SEO while writing guest posts. They don’t do keyword research at all and often ignore optimizing their guest posts for specific keywords.
Don’t make that mistake. Always perform keyword research once your topic gets approved and find several long-tail keywords around that topic.
You can use tools like Semrush, Ubersuggest, etc to find traffic-generating keywords for any topic.
Try Semrush Free for 30 days (worth $119.95)
That being said, here are some of the quick tips to make your guest articles search-friendly.
- The first step is to conduct keyword research and pick a target keyword or phrase that you want to rank for.
- Once you have your keyword, try to use it in the title of your guest article as well as a few times throughout the content.
- Use enough appealing images and screenshots. Images can help you break long-form content which ultimately helps with better user engagement.
- Even if you’re writing a guest post for someone else’s website, make sure to add internal links to their relevant blog posts. Interlinks are powerful!
3. Namedrop other bloggers
Prolific guest bloggers often namedrop other bloggers in their guest posts. Name dropping is when you mention other bloggers’ work or their names by linking to their websites.
This is a clever idea as you can email every blogger whom you’ve linked to. You can also use the relationship to pitch new guest post requests.
It will help your brand grow and be useful to build strong relationships with other notable bloggers in your industry.
Be sure to check the guest posting guidelines as few website owners don’t allow you to link to random people’s websites. No matter who you namedrop from your guest posts, link to their BEST content that’s relevant to the topic you cover.
7 Best Practices for a Guest Blogger to Follow
Hands down, guest posting is the best way to build relationships with other bloggers and build backlinks to your site.
But there are SEVEN best practices to keep in mind if you want to become an established guest blogger in your niche.
- Firstly, make sure to pick guest posting sites that are HIGHLY relevant to your niche and have a similar focus to your own blog. That way, your guest posts will appeal only to your target audience.
- ALWAYS take the time to write a well-crafted and informative guest post that will add value to the blog you’re guest posting on.
- Make it a habit of doing keyword research for your guest posts and optimizing them for relevant keywords. If your guest posts get first-page rankings, you’ll also get benefits in terms of visibility and more traffic to your site.
- Be sure to promote your guest posts wherever necessary including your website, email list, social media channels, etc.
- Know your goals as a guest blogger. What exactly do you want from guest posting? Do you want more traffic and links or to grow your online reputation? Depending on your goals, you can pick a strategy that suits your needs.
- Before you start your guest blogging journey, make a list of guest posting sites. Have at least 20 to 30 sites that accept guest posts. Make sure they’re all relevant to the topic you cover on your blog.
- Last but not least: create a compelling author bio. Add links to your website or important pages to get some link juice. Keep it short but engaging so other people may show interest in visiting your blog.
Browse More Blogging Tutorials:
Guest Blogging Strategy
But if you’re going to use guest posting as a strategy, you have to do it right. In the rest of this guide, we’ll look at the steps you need to follow for effective guest blogging. Here’s a table of contents for easy navigation:
1. Know Your Goals
Like every other marketing strategy, an effective guest blogging strategy starts with knowing your goals. After all, you have to know where you’re headed if you ever expect to get there.
The typical goals for a guest blogging strategy align with the benefits described earlier. They include:
- Driving traffic to a specific landing page (or to your site in general) to get more leads and sales
- Building awareness of your brand, products, and services
- Improving SEO by attracting inbound links
- Positioning yourself as an expert so you can be cited more often and get speaking engagements
- Increasing email subscriber numbers or your social media audience
It’s essential to have a goal in mind so you can frame your bio appropriately and ensure the resource people see when they arrive delivers what you promise. It’s the best way to build trust with the new audience you’re attracting.
2. Find Sites to Contribute To
Before you write a guest blog post, you’ll have to find a site that accepts guest authors and is actively looking for content. Beyond that, you’ll need to ensure that posting on the site will help you meet your goals.
How to Find a Site That Accepts Guest Posts
There are lots of ways to find sites that are happy to accept guest posts.
For example, you can use Google to find sites that accept guest posts on the topics you want to write about. Some sample search queries include:
- [topic keyword phrase] + “write for us”
- [topic keyword phrase] + “guest article”
- [topic keyword phrase] + “become a contributor”
You can also use similar queries on Twitter. Just type “guest post” or “guest article” into the search box, and you’ll see a list of tweets showing guest posts.
Whether you’re using Google, Twitter or another search source, make a note of the sites that are publishing the posts. You’ll need those later when it’s time to see if the opportunity is right for you.
You can also find guest posting opportunities by checking out where your competitors are guest posting. Since most people share their guest posts to enhance their reputation, you can find this out by following your competitors on social media or subscribing to their email newsletter.
Another way to find this information is to see where their inbound links are coming from. To do this, login to SEMRush, and go to Domain Analytics » Backlinks.
3. Form a Connection with the Site Owner
Before you approach site owners to suggest a guest post (known as “pitching”), you’ll need to form a connection with them.
Don’t be fooled by all these guest post pitch templates you see online; for most site owners cold pitches won’t work unless the content is stellar.
In fact, many site owners are so tired of irrelevant pitches and poor quality content that they’ll only take guest content from people they already know, like and trust. Here’s how you can become one of those people.
First, get to know their site and the type of content they publish by following them on Twitter, where many people share their content, or by subscribing to their site in Feedly, so you get updated whenever there’s something new.
Read the content consistently for a few weeks, or longer, so you understand what matters to them and their audience. If they list their top-performing or featured content on their site, check that out, too. For example, anyone visiting WPBeginner can easily see what kind of content is most popular by looking at the sidebar:
Connect with site owners on social media, so you can tag them when you share their site content. Share anything you really love and include a comment so it’s not just a plain link.
Comment on their blogs, sign up for their email marketing newsletter and respond to their emails.
The point is to form a genuine relationship with the site owner. Don’t fake it; they’ll figure it out and then you won’t achieve your goals.
4. Choose a Winning Topic
Once you have a good understanding of your target site, and what matters to the site owner, it’s time to find a topic to pitch.
You should already know what’s popular on the site. Now, think about how you can add value by:
- Responding to what’s on the site
- Providing additional information on a popular topic
- Writing something new on a topic that’s likely to be popular with the audience
5. Make Your Pitch
For your guest blogging strategy to succeed, it’s important to avoid generic guest posting pitches. If you’ve done your homework as we suggested earlier, you’ll be able to craft a winning pitch that’s personal to each site owner with very little effort.
The first rule is to keep the pitch short and to the point. Site owners, especially those with authoritative sites, get a LOT of pitches, so don’t waste their time.
Second, use their name – most site owners won’t read pitches from people who can’t be bothered to research this basic contact detail.
Third, include the post title. In fact, some successful pitches use this in the email subject line and as a secondary heading within the body of the email.
The information you got from Buzzsumo when choosing a topic also gives you a snapshot of popular headlines. Use this as a starting point for coming up with your own, and nail the right headline with this list of headline tools. If the person you’re pitching loves your title, you’re halfway to a successful pitch.
Next, describe the post briefly. Say what it will cover in a couple of sentences or a few bullet points.
Say how this piece of content will help their readers. Since by now you’re familiar with their existing content, this will be easy to do.
Finally, show why you’re the right person to write the post. Note, this isn’t a resume; just hit a couple of high points.
Remember, this is not a guest blogging template. Craft your own unique pitch for the site you want to reach, using your own natural tone and language.
6. Write Great Content
If your pitch is accepted, the next thing to do is write your guest post. Especially if it’s the first time you’re writing for a site, you want to make it better than your best.
Craft a Stellar Headline
Start by taking a look at the headline in your pitch again. Even if the site owner loved it, it won’t hurt to come up with some alternatives. Some of the best headlines:
- Include the benefit for the reader
- Use action words
- Tap into emotion
7. Work That Bio
The bio is the payoff for the hard work you’ve invested in your guest blogging strategy. That’s because it’s where you get to link back to your own site and resources. Options commonly offered include:
- A single link to your home page
- A link to any page/resource on your site
- A link to your site plus a social media link
- A couple of web and social media links
There are even a few site owners who put no restrictions on links in the bio, though that’s not very common. In most cases, you’ll be able to link to a URL of your choice plus a social link.
8. Be Responsive
We’re going to keep this next guest blogging strategy tip short and sweet: respond to comments on and mentions of your post.
Why? Not just because it’s good manners, though that’s a good reason. But because being responsive is how you make connections with your new audience, which can help you meet some of your strategic goals.
Blog owners will also be happy if you’re responsive, making it more likely they’ll be receptive to new pitches, or will suggest ways you can contribute further. This moves you even closer to achieving your goals for your guest blogging strategy.
If the blog owner allows it, subscribe to comments on your guest post, so you’ll get an email alert when anyone comments. You can also track mentions and shares of the post via a Google alert.
9. Promote Your Content
Content promotion is a key part of your guest blogging strategy so more people read your content and follow it back to your site. The site owner will be happy to benefit from increased traffic, too.
You can promote guest blogging content via the same channels you use to promote your own content. For example, you can let subscribers know about it in your email marketing newsletter and share guest posts on social media. Encourage your subscribers and followers to visit, comment and share. Some will be happy to oblige.
If you’re promoting content via Buffer, add those posts to your queue. And you can also run a drip marketing campaign by adding your guest post to Missinglettr if you’ve got the right plan.
10. Write More Guest Posts
While one guest post will help you achieve your aims, for real success you need to write many. With a good guest blogging strategy, more is more, as long as you can maintain the quality of your guest articles.
The more posts you write, the more online presence you have, and the more people think of you as an authority. That leads to more invitations to write and participate in events, more traffic to your site, and more leads and sales.
Of course, if you’re writing a lot of guest posts, you’ll need a way to keep track of them. That’s why it makes sense to have a guest blogging calendar.
An easy way to do this is to create a new calendar in Google Calendar and add the titles and due dates of any guest blogging commitments.
If you’re writing for a few publications regularly, use color-coding to have an easy visual guide to what’s coming up for whom. You can even make a note of when posts are scheduled to be live (adding them in a different color, of course) so you can kick social media promotion into high gear.
11. Track Success
If you want to know if your guest blogging strategy is working, you’ll need to measure success. This means using some of the tools mentioned earlier in this guide.
FAQs | Guest Blogging
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about guest blogging.
What is guest blogging and why is it important?
Guest blogging is when someone creates content for another blog or website. Guest posts are usually written to promote a blog, get more traffic, or build an online reputation in their field.
Does guest blogging work?
Guest blogging works great if you want to build connections with other bloggers and get relevant links to your blog. However, it’s important to make sure that the blogs you guest post on are highly relevant to your niche.
How can guest articles help build my brand?
With the help of guest blogging, you can write for another blog and demonstrate your thoughts and ideas. Ultimately, it becomes a powerful tool for getting more visibility for your brand. In addition, every new guest post you post gives backlinks to your site.
Are there any risks associated with guest blogging?
If you’re a blog owner who wants to accept guest posts on your blog, there are some risks associated with guest blogging.
– the guest blogger may create inaccurate content
– the guest blogger could include links to malicious or spammy websites
– copied or duplicate content
What are some common mistakes people make with guest blogging?
Here are some common mistakes most guest bloggers make;
– creating mediocre content
– not proofreading their guest post before sending it for the review
– ignoring SEO such as keyword research, on-page optimization
Final Thoughts On What Is Guest Blogging
Guest posting is one of the BEST strategies to grow your blog or website. Why? Guest posting helps you build links, increase your brand awareness, and network with other bloggers.
However, it’s important to remember that guest posting should be done thoughtfully and with a focus on quality over quantity.
So what are your thoughts about guest blogging? Are you going to start writing for other websites? Have any questions? Let us know in the comments.
Originally posted 2022-10-25 21:57:01.
