Guest blogging is regularly cited as one of the best ways to build high-quality backlinks (SEO) and drive more traffic to your blog.
Would you like increased targeted traffic to your blog, better search engine rankings, and a better reputation in your niche… for free?
It might sound like a pipe dream (especially if you've only recently started blogging), but it isn't. You can accomplish all of these feats amazingly quickly, and without paying a dime, with guest blogging. Let's talk about how to post guests.
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| A blog post for SEO |
What is the guest blog?
Guest blogging, also called guest posting, involves writing an article for someone else's blog with the goal of developing your brand, gaining visibility with your target audience, generating traffic, and creating natural backlinks for your own blog.
While there are a few exceptions, a guest post will normally be unique content that you will need to write - content that you haven't already posted on your blog or elsewhere - and you will almost always write for a blog with a larger audience than yours (which is one of the main advantages of guest blogging).
You also don't have to pay to be a guest blogger. If you're asked to pay, it's a sponsored post, not a guest post. In fact, some blogs will even pay you for guest blogging on their site.
So what's the catch when it comes to guest blogging? Well, there isn't - and everyone is still benefiting from it.
How to get a guest blog post
Today, more than 70 million blog posts are published each month. It is becoming increasingly competitive to reach (and retain) a large blogging audience.
So guest blogging is a win for the host blog posting your guest post because they get free content that they don't have to write themselves or pay a writer to compile it.
You get your name, words, and links to your own blog highlighted to thousands of readers, if not more. We'll talk more about including links in your guest blog posts later in this guide, as they are extremely valuable in building your blog's SEO authority.
Readers of the blog you just commented on also gain, because they can read great content that likely presents a new perspective from what they're used to.
Guest blogging is a win-win-win situation where everyone is better off.
Of all the ways to drive traffic to your blog and retain an audience over time, guest blogging is by far the best ROI you can make.
Now, let's dive into my Ultimate Guide to Guest Posting and explain how to get a guest blog post (for SEO and traffic) this year.
The prerequisites for your guest blog
Some potential guest bloggers worry that they need a ton of blogging experience or a huge following on their own - before anyone even plans to publish their posts
If you want to start guest blogging today and see your work posted on someone else's blog, there are just two critical prerequisites:
- You must be able to write well. Be honest with yourself here: if you are not very proficient in English, or have a lot of difficulty with spelling and grammar, you may not yet be where you are ready to go. get started in the guest blogging. If you want to continue, it's worth finding a friend who can help you with a bit of editing, or you can even consider paying a professional editor to help you polish your work before submitting a guest post.
- You need to choose your blog host wisely. This means choosing a realistic blog or post that is already accepting guest posts. And I know it might sound obvious, but aiming for the biggest blog or post in your niche with your very first try won't let you down and set bad expectations until you first jump into guest blogging. With this step-by-step approach, you can also gain valuable experience before pitching your dream blog.
You don't need a huge personal brand to be successful in guest blogging
When I first started blogging about four years and started posting my work on other blogs (of much higher authority), I didn't have a personal brand or reputation yet.
What I did have, however, was the ability to write a blog post that could tell a compelling story, engage readers, and also serve to help my host blog's content goals. Having the growing writing skills that you are constantly working to improve - and the willingness to persevere in your outreach efforts - will go a long way in the success of your guest blogging campaigns.
In addition to this fundamental writing ability, I started by launching startups that I had worked with in my day-to-day work or companies that at least know my employer's brand
I tapped the most beneficial tool available to me (working for a globally recognized start-up) to navigate my way into guest blogging opportunities at other similar companies.
You might not be in the same position I was when I first started blogging, but challenge yourself to use the tools you have, to your advantage.
How to find the perfect blogs to post guest posts on
If you google "blogs that accept guest posts" you will find plenty of listings.
Spoiler: This isn't the best way to start blogging as a guest.
After all, you don't need 150 random blogs that accept guest posts ... you just need a high-quality blog to get started, and you can progress from there.
the blog is about. These are great blogs to present because you are already very familiar with them instead, think of blogs you've read before that cover the same, or similar, topic that your own r style and the types of content they post and we can recommend this excellent blog where you can submit your article to be published for free and most importantly quickly.
When you rate a blog for offering acceptance for a guest post, you want a site that:
- You already have some sort of connection with. You might have already commented on the blog, chatted with the blogger on Twitter, or even have a blog name similar to. Starting with some sort of simple connection can make it easier to review your pitch.
- Is bigger than yours, but not ridiculously huge. Aim for a blog that is about five to ten times the size of your own. If you have 100 email subscribers, aim for a blog with ~ 1,000 subscribers. If you're targeting blogs that are over a thousand times or more the size of yours, that's a little too ambitious when you're new to guest blogging.
- Is on the topic for you. While you can gain some benefits of writing for a cat blog when your blog is all about gadgets, there won't be a lot of audience crossovers, so you shouldn't expect to see a lot of gains. this time investment.
- Has a writing style somewhat similar to yours. It's fine to tweak your style a bit to suit the blog you're posting to, but if you're normally very 'out' with a lot of colorless jokes and the blog you're writing for is more conservative, you will either find that (a) they reject your post because your style doesn't suit you or (b) you change your style to suit them - and readers who click on your blog fall with a fumes adjustment. Both situations lead to a less than desirable result.
- You are proud to be associated. Avoid guest blogging on sites that have been heavily criticized in your niche (unless you want to show them your support), and steer clear of blogs that don't align with your personal moral or ethical values. If you are a staunch liberal, for example, it doesn't make much sense to write a blog post that is strongly in favor of a conservative ideology. The content will not be authentic and you will probably regret the decision in the future anyway. Also, consider your fit from a design standpoint: if the blog you plan to guest post on looks old and outdated with its blog layout, but you're taking a bold and fresh perspective with your ideas,
- Suggest a link to follow. This is usually the case but read the guest blogging guidelines carefully to make sure that your bio link (or in-post links) will be "do-follow" rather than "no follow" (as a no-follow link will do nothing. to help your blog SEO efforts). If there is nothing stated in the guidelines, check out an old blog post, scroll to the biography, right-click on it and select "Inspect" (in Google Chrome) to see the HTML code of this hypertext snippet. If you see the word “no follow” in the HTML description of the link, it is a no-follow link. If it doesn't explicitly say the word "no follow" then you're good to go.
Find great guest blogging ideas
Many new guest bloggers come up with a ton of smart ideas first and then only look for good blogs that those ideas might be suitable for.
In my experience, this is not the best way to handle guest blogging.
Instead, you want to come up with ideas that are perfect for every target blog you're going to reach… not just ideas that are half-good for a hundred different blogs. Think about tailor-made, not standard.
To come up with a guest blog idea that will work perfectly for your potential site, you will need to:
- Read lots of recent articles on your target blog. If you're not a regular reader (or if you used to read the blog but haven't recently), you really need to update yourself with the type of content they've posted recently. If your target blog often writes about the costs of blogging and web hosting-related topics, you can feature them on a guest post that covers a more specialized topic like the best cheap web hosting plans, offering a review of the best monthly hosting plan options. in the market, or by exploring the free hosting plans out there - all of which could add up to a bigger chunk than they already have on the best web hosting plans for their readers.
- Take notes on these messages. What topics did they discuss? What is the approximate duration of the messages? Do their messages tend to be high-level and strategic, or focused on specific tactics? Are the articles intended for beginners or for people with a lot of experience? All of this can help you refine your ideas appropriately.
- Look at the categories covered by the blog, if they are listed in their navigation. You might want to watch out for categories that haven't had a lot (or no) posts recently. These could be good targets for content that fills a "gap" on the blog. Keep in mind, however, that a lack of recent posts in a particular category could indicate that the blog has changed direction.
- Think of a list of ideas. Don't just come up with one or two blog post ideas… aim for at least five. Some of them might not be great: it doesn't matter. You want to keep going until you have an idea that you think would be a perfect fit for this blog.
- Perfect your titles. Make sure you take care to learn how to write a headline for your guest post in a style and tone that your target site will resonate with. Otherwise, they're likely to decline your submission (because your guest post doesn't seem like the right choice), or substantially rewrite it before posting.