What Is Guest Blogging?
We’ve all heard about blogging, but what is guest blogging?
It is a helpful marketing tactic where you write and publish content for other websites. However, before the site owner publishes your articles, they’ll highlight your publication as a “contributor” or “guest writer.”
You get compensation for your publications depending on your efforts. However, that’s not a sure thing. A few posts earn you non-monetary benefits. For instance, you can add a backlink to your social handles or official business website.
One may wonder, what’s the purpose of writing content for other websites while having your own? While guest posting benefits will answer that question, we’ll reveal some exciting figures to demonstrate its importance.
Studies unfold that roughly 60% of companies write 1-5 guest posts monthly. Further, Buffer is living proof of how guest posting can contribute to the business.
Leo Widrich, the co-founder of Bufferapp, mentions that their guest blogging strategy earned them over 100,000 customers in as few as 9 months.
Guest Blogging Benefits for Your Business
Guest blogging has a lot in store for your business that you may not achieve solely by posting on your website. Sure, SEO-optimized content drives traffic to your site, but you can increase the traffic and build more authority through guest posting.
A few advantages guest blogging offers to your business include the following.
Boost Brand Awareness
If your official site lacks traffic, you need to work to build brand awareness. Of course, a credible brand, popular among customers, will have more traffic.
You could be nailing your SEO and writing quality content, but it’ll be useless if hardly anyone visits your site, to begin with.
Guest blogging offers an opportunity to share valuable content to a highly authoritative website. This site already has traffic; you do not need to work to drive the audience to it.
What you do need to do, however, is adhere to the SEO markers and write engaging content. The viewers will start seeing your business as a credible one after interacting with your valuable posts.
Improve SEO
Guest blogging allows you to boost your SEO and rank on SERPs. So, while your quality content may benefit the other website, you’ll also direct traffic to your website. Wondering how?
Guest blogging allows you to add backlinks. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that backlinks are the lifeline of SEO. A visitor reading a blog on the host site might click on a backlink, redirecting to your website.
The result? More traffic on your site and a higher chance to rank on SERPs.
Increase Website Traffic
Guest blogging works, but only if you write compelling and valuable content. The online audience is tired of seeing low-quality posts offering no value. They seek informational content to increase their knowledge and resolve their pain points.
As such, the audience will see you as a credible brand if you add to their knowledge by posting relevant and valuable content.
Make sure you back up your claims and write engaging content. Besides, adding links to your website is also crucial to redirect the audience.
You’ll see massive visitor growth after considering guest blogging for marketing purposes.
Reach Relevant Audience
One of the significant benefits of guest blogging is you’re exposed to the relevant target audience.
Say you run a pet store. You’ll collaborate with top websites offering pet-related services and writing relevant blogs.
So, other websites have your ideal audience; you only need to contribute to their site to capture their attention.
Your target audience will automatically reach your website and choose your services.
Guest Blogging Best Practices to Follow
Becoming successful with guest blogging is not an overnight process. It takes time, effort, and patience to draft a winning strategy and boost website traffic.
We’ve curated a list of a few helpful guest post tips from pros.
Do Market Research and Pick Reputable Websites
To begin with, you need to research your target audience. You’ll need to do this if your business is in the early operational phase.
Remember, you have to target specific people, not everyone when writing blogs. Therefore, you need to do market research to gain valuable insights about your business. This will cut down risks and increase opportunities for boosting sales.
The better you know your customers, the better content you’ll create. Consequently, you’ll attract a relevant audience to your site.
Once you understand your ideal audience, you must choose reputable websites for guest posting.
We recommend selecting at least 5 top websites operating in your niche. However, make sure their domain rating is 40% or more. Besides, their spam score must be less than 3%.
You can also check out top websites that allow guest posting to make the right choice.
Brainstorm Topics While Keeping Your Business Goals In Mind
Before you start writing, try creating a listing of powerful topics for guest blogging. You need to prove to the host site you’ll offer them value. Of course, guest posting will benefit your business, but you need to show them it’ll be advantageous to theirs too.
For this reason, you must brainstorm some intriguing topics before proceeding. For instance, if you offer marketing services and run a related blog, you may want to write about broad topics like:
- Mobile marketing
- Social media
- Digital advertising
- SEO
You can always narrow your research to more specific topics. For instance, “Best social media channels for an effective marketing campaign” will do for a broad topic like social media.
Note that you always have a choice to play around with headings. We all know that headings like how-to’s, guides, and exciting facts draw more attention than bland topics.
Apart from thinking about the best ideas, do not forget to keep your business goals in mind. Many guest bloggers fail because they focus more on the host website's goals and forget about theirs.
While we do not recommend undermining the importance of a positive contribution to another website, choose topics that serve your ultimate business goals.
Set achievable goals and see how your guest posts are serving your business through analytics.
Do Not Forget to Read the Guest Blogging Guidelines of the Selected Website
Because each website has varying rules for guest posts, you must read the guest blogging guidelines of the chosen sites. Typical requirements may include the following.
- Including images in the content
- A specific word count
- Adding links to highly credible sites
- Attaching links to your website
You can always visit the writing guidelines of guest posts on the about page. However, if you fail to find relevant information, consider contacting the website owner. You can call them on the given number or send an email asking for guest post guidelines.
Write Compelling Content
It all comes down to this!
Writing engaging content is the secret sauce to becoming a successful guest blogger. As a guest on a website, you must impress two parties: the owner and the audience.
First, your content should be compelling and SEO-optimized - meeting deadlines may be another requirement. Second, it must offer value to the visitors - here’s your chance to make the best first impression.
We recommend keeping your content simple yet intriguing. Avoid including complex vocabulary as it distracts the reader. Besides, consider investing in a reliable tool like Grammarly.
This helpful tool highlights grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, and typos to improve your content. Because these mistakes can be a turn-off for the visitors - and the website owner - editing and proofreading is a must to create quality content.
Lastly, you can check your content on Yoast before publishing. It highlights passive voice and a readability score. This will help you determine how well you’ve crafted a piece and how likely it is to create engagement.
Go the Route of Outsourcing
While guest blogging offers immense benefits for your business, drafting a suitable plan and writing value-driven blog posts is a hard row to hoe.
You need to go the extra mile to search for your target audience, choose websites, and write compelling content. Yet still, your success isn’t guaranteed.
Therefore, leaving the job to professionals can be your best bet. Guest blogging service providers ensure to maximize your business traffic through compelling guest posts.
Whether you run a small business or large, you’ll benefit from hiring experienced guest blogging companies. It’ll save you time and money you’ll invest in building an in-house team and planning the posts.
Things to Consider When Choosing Guest Blogging Service Providers
Guest posting can boost your search engine ranking, increase brand awareness, and drive more traffic, but only if you opt for the right company.
It’s not surprising to come across numerous guest posting service providers. The key is to find a reliable company to outpace your competitors and keep pace with the evolving ecommerce world.
Experience
How many businesses have a company served in the past? Experience speaks volumes about the credibility of a company. The more clients an agency has, the better people trust them with their services.
A look into their history will give you an idea about their experience. Make sure you do your homework before picking a firm for guest blogging.
Understanding
If a company focuses more on making promises and less on understanding how your business operates, it’s a red flag.
A credible guest blogging company will go above and beyond to learn about your business. They cannot write content for your target audience without knowing your unique goals.
The right company will always show interest in your brand and understand your wants and needs to offer the best they can.
Writing Skills
A company may be excellent in implementing effective SEO practices, but if they lack excellent writing skills, we’re afraid it won’t work for your business.
The writers within a company must have a command of the English language and great written expression.
You can always check their previous work to see how they write content. However, note that blogs are written differently for each business. Make sure you convey your precise needs to achieve desired results.
For instance, if you run a fashion store, you’d prefer a striking, funky tone. Someone with a pet store may want a more heartfelt tone. Likewise, medical services may require a straightforward written expression.
Ethics
Does the company follow ethical practices when writing content for you? Make sure you aren’t choosing an agency that uses black SEO techniques to drive engagement. Besides, they must adhere to the website terms and policies when writing guest posts.
You can always learn about a company's practices by skimming through customer reviews.
Prices
Different agencies charge differently. A few may offer packages for 1, 5, 15, or more guest posts. Always compare the pricing strategies of top companies and choose a budget-friendly service provider. We do not recommend hiring highly-priced companies or cheap ones.
Mistakes to Avoid
A single marketing strategy is not enough to earn credibility in today’s world. Guest blogging offers a way to complement your existing marketing practices and upgrade your business. However, you must avoid a few mistakes to make the most out of them.
- Avoid doing guest blogging yourself. Guest posts aren’t limited to writing, but various factors count, from hitting proper SEO markers to finding reputable websites for guest blogging. Outsourcing the process to reliable firms saves time and ensures success.
- Do not forget to check a company’s social media handles. They are a reflection of an agency’s claims. You can read customer reviews and check the ratings to determine if they offer the value they boast.
Hire the Top Guest Blogging Service Providers With Xpeer
It’s great to have an active business website with published content. But if you feel you aren’t getting the attention you deserve, guest blogging is a route to consider.
Xpeer supports your business efforts by connecting you to trustworthy guest blogging service providers. A skilled team of a reputable company will take your business to the next level through quality guest posts.