When it comes to guest blogging, everyone seems to have an opinion.
Is it good or bad? Is it necessary or outdated? Well, one thing is sure, guest posts are definitely talked about.
However, how many of us can actually answer the question: “what are guest posts?”.
Too often, guest blogging gets a bad reputation because it is associated with a quick way to gain backlinks, but, in fact, investing in guest articles is a good method to increase your website’s expertise.
Developing a successful content marketing strategy might also mean switching things up once in a while, and what better way to do that than through guest posts?
Curious to find out more about guest post blogging? This article will offer you a much needed perspective on the topic!
What Are Guest Posts?
Guest blogging or guest posting means publishing an article on someone else’s website.
Google continuously reinforces its main priority: providing users with trustworthy and insightful content. From the 2011 Panda Update that prioritized user experience and quality to accentuating the importance of search intent and E-A-T in the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
Like our article on the importance of E-A-T emphasized, for your content to be trustworthy, your website, the content’s creator, and the content all need to be authoritative. Besides, when it comes to Your Money or Your Life (YML) websites, a website’s or content creator’s reputation is judged by experts in the field.
After all, for a page to be considered high quality by Google raters, it needs to have a “beneficial purpose” that it also achieves. Especially for YML websites, investing in guest articles is essential if you want to actually achieve your purpose. Think about it, a health post
written by a doctor will surely seem more trustworthy than one written by a freshly graduated medical student.
However, guest blogging can be beneficial even for websites that are not YML and that don’t require such a high level of expertise. In truth, they are a great way to connect with other thought leaders in your niche and to expose your content to a different audience if guest bloggers are sharing their work on your website.
Besides, repetitive content is one of a content marketer’s worst nightmares. So, a good way to keep your audience engaged and attentive is by switching things up from time to time.
Guest Post Blogging and SEO
Guest blogging might get a bad rep when it’s not done properly.
However, like all things SEO, it only works if you focus on quality rather than quantity. In fact, why would you even waste time doing guest post blogging for websites that aren’t popular, or relevant to your niche?
Having said that, if you are writing for other high-authority websites that are considered thought leaders in your domain, and avoid spammy links, the chances are in your favor.
However, don’t forget that there’s more to guest articles than gaining links. Guest blogging, if done right, is all about producing well-written expert pieces through which you provide other websites in your niche with relevant content.
After all, as Matt Cutts, Google’s former head of the web spam team, highlighted, a reason for guest blogging’s bad reputation is its growth in terms of spam and abuse.
In the end, the key to doing guest post blogging and SEO is to not solely focus on SEO when creating guest articles. Here are some practices you should avoid when producing guest posts:
- Don’t view guest blogging as a link building strategy
- Don’t post the same article on multiple websites. As Google stated, you should avoid duplicate content at all costs
- Don’t boast about your company and your services
- Don’t send emails to multiple random brands offering to write guest articles on their websites
- Don’t mention your brand or your services throughout the article
- Don’t add links to your website unless they are relevant to the article
Your Guest Blogging Strategy
So, now that you know the “red flags” of guest post blogging, it’s time to find out how to do guest blogging right.
One thing we can tell you for sure? If you are doing guest blogging for more than SEO, you are probably on the right path.
1. Do Your Research
You will need to start researching guest blogging opportunities. Or, more specifically, to discern between the guest articles openings and choose the brands that fit your criteria.
Not sure what you should be looking for when making your choice? Here are some ideas:
- The brand and the website’s content relevance to your niche
- The website’s authority and if the content is informative and high-quality
- The audience engages with the content
Once you’ve decided, you can start researching the brand. We are all ready to jump into action and start writing, but without thorough research, the result is likely to be of poor quality.
For example, if you want to write a high-quality, insightful blog post for another website, you should first analyze the website’s writing tone and style. You should also pay particular attention to writing guidelines, as they encompass what the brand is asking for.
You can discover this by searching for:
- Brand + submit guest posts/articles
- Brand+ guest post guidelines
- Brand+ receives guest posts/articles
Similarly, you should do keyword research to find out the keywords that the brand is ranking for, as well as how the brand’s competitors are ranking.
So, you aren’t only researching the brand, you are also researching how the brand is situated in the industry.
2. Reach Out to Brands
The biggest mistake when it comes to reaching out to brands? Template emails.
It doesn’t get more impersonal than this. Think about it, you should be using your comprehensive research to your advantage. While it is crucial to explain who you are as well as your expertise, you should also include some information about the blog you want to write a guest article for.
What did you like about the blog? What made you want to get involved, and what do you think could be improved?
However, if you explain their gasps, don’t forget to say how you could improve them, therefore highlighting the benefits that your guest articles could provide them with.
3. Deliver Valuable Content
If you are a thought leader in your niche, and you’ve done your research, the writing process should be pretty easy. After all, it is crucial to stick to the website’s guidelines and style and remember that you are writing a guest article, not a post for your own website.
That being said, the article’s format should be in line with the website’s posts. It would also help to include internal links to relevant articles on their website.
Don’t forget to offer details like image formats, infographics, or meta descriptions the same attention you would if you were writing an article for your own website. For more information about SEO, check out our article on creating content that ranks.
That being said, your utmost priority should be delivering a valuable and insightful guest post so quotes from other experts, informative content that contains testimonials or social proof (statistics, videos, descriptive screenshots, etc.), or even a concise and compelling guest bio will help with establishing yourself as an authoritative and trustworthy guest blogger.
Ready to Switch Things Up? Try Guest Blogging!
If done right, guest blogging can expand your audience reach and reinforce your authority in your industry. Having said that, it’s all about how you do guest blogging and why you do it. If you’re in it just because you want to earn backlinks, then your methods aren’t likely to be successful.
Do you want to consolidate your authority in the field and build your personal brand? Are you eager to increase brand awareness? Then, guest blogging is the right fit for you!
Ready to start creating guest articles, but not sure where to start? CadenceSEO may be the answer you have been searching for.
Contact us today for more information!
