Earn More Traffic with Guest Blogging: 6 Step Guide to Success

[JDawg]

If done correctly, guest blogging can effectively increase website traffic, build quality backlinks, and improve organic keyword rankings.

I work as an SEO for a Digital Marketing Agency, and guest blogging is my primary form of off-page link building.

The concept of guest blogging gets thrown around here on the forum quite a bit as a marketing strategy for a website or business, so I thought I'd share with you my step-by-step process on guest blogging.

What You Need To Get Started?

1) Computer & internet connection
2) Website or business to link to - Guest blogging is most effective if you can send readers to your website or business!
3) The ability to product content - Guest blogging can be time consuming, because you actually need to write new content, or find someone to write it for you. If you have the time/ability to write competently, then you can produce the content on your own. If not, you can hire someone to write the articles for you. www.iwriter.com is a great resource if you are looking to pay for articles (Although it can be hit or miss on quality)

Step #1 - Determine Your Audience

In order to be most effective, you want to make sure that you are writing to an audience that relates best to your business.

As an example, throughout this guide, I will pretend to own a garden supplies e-commerce business.

So what's my target audience? Gardening Blogs.


Step #2 - Find Blogging Partners

The goal here is to find popular and high-authority blogs that are related to your business - in my case, a blog that focuses on gardening.

You are best off initially searching for blogs that want people to contribute and write guest blogs for them.

I use the following search phrase to pull up relevant blogs that are seeking guest bloggers: (Substitute first keyword for your target audience)

You now have hundreds of relevant blogs that you could potentially write for. The next step is to filter through those options and decide which one(s) would be a good fit for your business.

Step #3 - Select a Blog

I initially create a spreadsheet and jot down notes about each potential blog partner. When looking at each of these blogs, I consider the following:

Blog Guidelines

These blogs generally have specific guidelines that need to be followed in order to write for them. Some examples might be:

• Word count - Usually a minimum of around 400-500 words per article.
• New Content - Usually blogs want you to write original content, but this can vary.
• Sample of Previous Work - A few blogs may require you to provide a sample article.
• 1 Post vs. Multiple - Some blogs are looking for a one-time guest blogger, while others want a long-term blogger.
• Application - A few of the bigger blogs may ask you to apply to become a guest blogger, but this isn't usually the case.
• Content Subjects - Most blogs will list the subjects that they want content written on. For example, one of the gardening blogs required the following:

This particular blog wanted the following topics covered in the guest blogs.

It is important to make sure that you can meet the criteria and guidelines provided by blog,


Blog Authority

Your next step in selecting a blog partner should be determining the authority of a blog. I look at this from two different angles:

1) Amount of traffic, page rank, and number of backlinks

- You want to find an authoritative blog that has a solid amount of backlinks and is visited often, as your post will receive more traffic and your backlink will be of more value.

I use a simple chrome browser tool bar application to determine these numbers.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/quick-seo-pagerank-backli/mimhmidgldhoghjoehfigallmmndjkef

2) Engagement and social shares on an average blog post

Simply look at a few of the articles on the blog and see how many times the post has been shared on social media or commented on. This will give you a good idea of the engagement on the blog, and if it is worth posting your content on.

Backlinks?

Make sure that the blog allows you to link back to your website, as this is how you will get traffic and authority to your website or business.

Most blogs allow you to link back to your website once, but a few don't want any links on their posts - avoid these, as it's not worth your time!

The backlink could be either in the form of an in-article "anchor text", or in a brief bio or description of yourself/your business. Either form of backlink is beneficial.

Once you have considered the above and selected a blog partner, it's time to write your article.

Step #4 - Write Your Article

Now that you have selected a blog to partner with, it's time to write your article. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Adhere to blog guidelines - make sure that your article matches up with the criteria that the blog provides (length of article, topic, etc)
• Provide good & helpful content - Don't write a sales pitch for your product. Spam articles won't be posted by the blog, so focus on information that would be beneficial for the blog's readers. If they enjoy the post, there's a much higher chance that they will check out the author of the article.
• Incorporate a backlink - If the blog allows, include a backlink in the article text or in your bio/description.
• You are representing your brand/business - Write content at a level that you would feel comfortable having it associated with your business. In other words, would you post it on your own website/blog?

Step #5 - Submit Article

Generally, there is a form or e-mail address to submit your article.


Step #6 - Check Back/Follow Up

Once the article has been submitted, check back to make sure that it was approved and submitted. If so, take note of the engagement, and answer any questions if asked on the blog post.

If the article hasn't been posted, follow up with the blog and find out why.


Repeat Process

Ultimately, the more guest blogs you write, the more traffic you will send to your website, and the more authority you will build with Google.

Set goals for yourself. Write 1 guest blog per week. Or 1 guest blog per month. Whatever you can handle, but know that each blog post creates more exposure for your website or business.


Thanks for reading - I hope this is beneficial to you all! Let me know if you have any questions about guest blogging, or if you have any thoughts or ideas to share!

 

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