What Is Guest Blogging

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Blogging is an important technique for bringing the correct people to your website, as any experienced inbound marketer knows. If you've been blogging for any length of time, you may have considered guest blogging as well. And if you've been on the fence about it, we're here to tell you that you should go for it.

Why Guest Blog?

The reasons you should guest blog are the same reasons you should submit to

Thought Catalog,
Alltop, and
HuffPost

It'll open your writing up to an audience that you can't reach on your own,
It gives you a good idea about what you should write about (yes, we know you're an expert in your own field)
and it creates a way to make a living at writing.

In other words, guest blogging isn't just an alternative to submitting to publications in your own niche. It's a viable career, too.

Guest blogging is a great way to grow your audience and to connect with influencers in your industry. Not only that, but guest blogging gives you valuable marketing data. As guest bloggers, you can often learn a lot about what works for your visitors by seeing what attracts them to your site in the first place.

There are several benefits of guest blogging:

First of all, you can write about anything, as long as it's a relevant topic. Maybe you want to write about your eCommerce site. Then, you can do that. Or you can do a themed series about specific topics in your niche. This gives your visitors a lot of information about you and your site, making them more likely to come back and subscribe. As you grow in your blogging fame, you can grow your audience.
Guest blogging is a great way to get in front of new audiences and generate an inbound link. In fact, according to Search Engine Journal, the number one reason to guest blog is to obtain links. If you're a solopreneur or small business, it might seem like the blog is already enough. But with guest blogging, you can supplement the blog with more in-depth content while injecting your site with new visitors and higher-quality backlinks.
Guest blogging allows you to spread your message more broadly. Since you're a part of a larger network, you're reaching out to a wider group of people. But at the same time, you're adding content that's valuable to those on your guest list.
Guest blogging allows you to experiment with different content formats, which means you can continually find new ways to offer your readers a unique perspective. There are many different types of guest blogging that you can do, each with its own benefits.

Purpose Of Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is useful for many reasons, including the following:

It may lead to a paid post (or extra exposure if you have more than one blog, such as in tandem).
The writer will likely be sharing your blog with their existing audience as well, making it very likely that you'll be reaching your target audience.
Many other people may then see the post and decide to use it as a starting point for their own posts, increasing your reach further
Speaker and Mentor Events. If you're a speaker or mentor at a specific conference, you can generate leads through speaker groups, speaking groups, and/or audience building. The speakers you meet there can also be contacted, and those connections can generate leads for guest blogging.

By guest blogging, we mean:

Guest posting – Writing an article for someone else's website – for free
Guest blogging is a great strategy for gathering high-quality backlinks that can help raise your online profile and help you generate traffic for your website.

While we have focused mostly on content marketing, guest blogging has great benefits for any industry.

This means that a new or up-and-coming blogger has agreed to blog for you and provide you with a link back to their website. In exchange, they get a couple of times per month to display their skills so that people can see what they're capable of. Guest blogging is an excellent tool for finding new writers.

Think of it as a potential bridge between you and the masses, and all you need to do is provide an audience to receive their skills. It's kind of like teaching a child how to fish.

So what exactly do you ask a guest blogger to do? You can use a standard guest blogging post template that has a specific focus. Here is an example. You'll want to make sure that the post is written in a natural and conversational tone. Don't try to be “editorial” in your guest posting.

There are reasons why a marketer should consider guest blogging:

Increasing the volume of links and traffic to a website. If you've been doing a reasonable job of building links, a few guest blog posts can do wonders for your ranking.
Bringing quality writers to your site. Why would a marketer want to link to a poorly written article? If you have guest bloggers, they can improve your website's quality by contributing relevant content to your industry and readers.

Advantages Of Guest Blogging

Guest blogging gives you access to a totally new audience of potential clients, and oftentimes, this exposure alone will lead to more traffic to your site.
Guest blogging on authority blogs is like networking with someone already in your industry.

This kind of exposure is important because it can really help push your authority and brand recognition and give you a great opportunity to build your brand online.

And who knows? With enough exposure, you might even be able to get in front of the CEO and pitch your company. This is where some of the advantages of guest blogging come in. It also allows you to build relationships with other content writers.

There are several advantages to guest blogging, but most importantly, it's a great way to increase your SEO. The more quality sites link to you, the higher your ranking in search engines such as Google and Bing. What makes guest blogging so good is that it's straightforward to do, and there are even tools that make it easier for you.

Firstly, you can either publish directly to websites on an ongoing basis, or you can hand-pick the best blogs to feature on your blog. This is to ensure your work receives the exposure you hope for.
Second, it's much easier to build rapport with the blogger as you communicate with them face-to-face. You are likely to establish a real bond, which can only help in your guest blogging relationship.
Third, you can also earn free services from the blog owner.

Blogging is considered an SEO practice, meaning that guest blogging allows you to boost your rankings. You'll create a massive amount of social traffic, which will make your website stand out from the crowd, even if your content has no relation to the niche you're guest blogging for.

You will also gain exposure from the website you're blogging on, like guest posting on other blogs allows you to network with other business owners who may be interested in what you have to offer.

A great example of this is Aaron Skonnard, one of the most popular guys around when it comes to blogging and email marketing. Aaron is the Founder and CEO of Affinity, an online community for businesses who want to have more success in their market.

Getting Started With Guest Blogging

First and foremost, you have to decide whether or not you want to guest blog and the amount of work you are willing to put into it. It all depends on your idea of success. But let's say that you're willing to put in a little bit of time. You want to produce quality that your readers will like, and you also want to learn more about the new platforms you will be writing for.

So what should you do first? Establish your profile on your preferred guest blogging platform. You don't have to find your perfect platform and go all-in on it right away. But you should definitely spend some time before getting some reviews and feedback from the other members of your network.

Guest blogging is quite simply the practice of guest posting on other websites to generate free traffic and generate links to your website. Several websites have big-name writers who post regularly. Bloggers are the ones who write about specific topics, and they connect with these sites regularly.

They are essentially free marketing. That's not just because we're your awesome (and loyal) hosts at LivingSocial. That's because guest blogging is an important way for you to engage with audiences you'd otherwise have no chance to. For example, if you've written articles that have some degree of popularity, you may end up getting some featured posts on your own website or blog.

That will get you more visitors, which means more opportunities to influence them and get them to spread your content, too. Once you have a little bit of expertise under your belt and feel like you can host other people's content, you can go all out. Include guest posts on your site, link to the content you're hosting, and make guest posts accessible.

Guest blogging is a process, so you must establish a clear editorial calendar before you begin. Here's what you need to know:

Assign specific dates for each blog post. Most blogs require a certain number of posts to be published per week. Some blogs demand a certain number of posts per day. Others require a set number of days in advance for them to accept your posts.
Write at least one draft. Once you start, you'll want to edit your first few posts until you can nail down a format that works for you.
Most bloggers like to split blog posts into:
- An introduction,
- A post focused on a single topic,
- A post with links to related content, and
- A Q&A with other bloggers.

Write the best post you can. The second you've got your posts scheduled, then you can focus on the content.

Benefits Of Guest Blogging To Host

Once you've invested the time and resources to put together a killer website, you should be focusing all your efforts on inbound marketing. And guest blogging is one of the best ways to do that. You can link back to the blogger whenever possible, in turn increasing your own visibility on the site and ultimately driving more traffic to your site.

The blogger will also help to improve your SEO and may even share your content on social media. Most importantly, the blogger will probably consider you a solid affiliate for their products, meaning you can get free traffic and inbound leads in return. You can also find many of these bloggers in Google Plus, Facebook groups, and the popular Inbound.org forum.

Don't delay! Guest blogging is one of the best ways to expand your reach by posting guest posts on other websites. According to a blog post by Jobvite, 92% of people go to a site loaded with guest blogging content left, citing that the content on the site was relevant, useful, and timely.

That's not all. Your guest post content will be seen by many potential clients, thus increasing your overall revenue. The post will appear higher in search engines, making it more visible and engaging to readers.

Inbound marketing experts focus on content, but guest blogging is all about reaching an audience you might not otherwise have access to. And although many people don't know the benefits of guest blogging, most inbound marketing agencies have seen it as one of the most effective techniques in their strategies.

Why Guest Blog? It's a pretty simple strategy—access to large, highly targeted lists. Guest blogs are an effective way to reach an audience that you otherwise wouldn't have access to. Why do you think almost every website out there has an “Ask a Question” section? It's an opportunity to connect with the people who read your blog on a personal level.

Guest blogging brings many benefits that cannot be found in the other blogging techniques we've covered. Guest blogging may not result in huge amounts of traffic. Still, if you've read our article on using guest blogging in your B2B marketing, you're well aware that bloggers will contribute their blog's traffic to your website – and this can be considerable. We've seen sites that experienced traffic increases of 300% just from guest blogging.

Guest blogs rank well in search engines. A guest blog post from a respected site can significantly increase the amount of traffic that your site receives. Not only that, but if the post is well-written, it will get many backlinks from other sites. This can help increase your overall rankings.

The Benefits To The Guest Blogger

Not only is guest blogging a great tool to get in front of a wide audience, but it can also be an opportunity for a company to promote a person. The blogger's name will be in front of thousands of people every day, plus they may also get upvoted, and links from good sites will stick to their site forever.

Guest blogging is a great way to get in front of a broad audience and show off your writing. But you're also giving exposure to a person, which is even more impressive! Don't create blogs that revolve around a single company or product or only focus on one industry.

The goal is to be of help to a diverse audience. Many readers will not be familiar with the intricacies of your industry, but many will be familiar with and drawn to your industry.

When it comes to guest blogging, you'll have a great opportunity to:

Meet new potential clients,
Spread your blog through other sites,
Increase brand awareness, and
Elevate your Google ranking.

It is best to stay at your current position while you are guest blogging, as it will be easy for you to maintain a high-quality content flow. The most important step you can take when you are guest blogging is to make sure you set your guest blog up with a secured hosting service.

It's not just about the security of your blog. It's about the security of the other websites that you are going to publish on. The benefits are endless:

You can be creative, adding value to the site you're guest blogging on.
You can make your post more interesting and target it towards the right audience.
You can also have a video attached that's going to send the message even further.
Moreover, you will not have to come up with your own topics and content for the post. Just let the community writers offer their topics and write on them.

Impact Of Guest Blogging On SEO

Guest blogging has a huge impact on SEO. The reason for this is that it brings new, relevant traffic to your website. When a Google user finds you through a guest post, chances are, they will stay on your website longer and look at the web pages differently than when they see a natural search result.

For example, when a person searches for ideas to organize your wardrobe, they're not interested in outfit ideas. These people are more likely to click a link that offers tips and tricks to organize your wardrobe. And when they do that, they will likely then click on a site that offers more outfit ideas or has a coupon code to buy something. Having them follow that link is an indirect way of increasing your overall traffic. And that's where guest blogging really shines.

Guest blogging does not simply involve writing an article. It's a strategy in growing your network with different people, with your primary goal being to make your website stronger and helping to bring you more traffic and leads.

So, what makes guest blogging important to SEO? An inbound marketing strategy should be a creative and experimental one. It shouldn't be a copy-paste-and-do-your-best-while-you're-there kind of strategy. Rather, it should be an integrated, carefully thought-out strategy.

What Do High-Quality Guest Blogs Look Like?

No matter how good a writer you are, you cannot write or sell anything if no one reads what you write. Guest blogging is a popular technique that many high-quality marketers and salespeople use. It allows you to get in front of potential clients and customers and get your name and blog posts out to many more potential readers. But is it possible? A guest post is an article written by a guest author for another site on a relevant topic. They usually don't charge anything for the article, and that's why it's known as free blogging.

Importance Of Guest Blogging To Your Business

The blogosphere is an ever-growing area of influence that will help spread your message. If you are not blogging, then you're missing out on all the benefits of a good blog: You're putting your business out there to an audience that may not be a customer. You are exposing your website to potential buyers.

You are enhancing your company's reputation as a marketer. You are creating potential partnerships with other businesses. And as you can see, each of these benefits adds up to a large payoff for your business. Guess what? We can prove it to you. All you have to do is sign up on Hubspot and sign up for their free sample blog post. You'll get a chance to download the post (for free!) before you get started.

Conclusion

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your site that we're just going to list some of the main techniques that have been successful for us. But, as you can probably tell, many of these techniques overlap with one another. Now that you know what a guest blogger is, you should know that a guest blogger doesn't have to be a professional writer.

Sometimes, all you need is some extra free time, and some website links that you need. You'll need to research the site and learn its code. Just like blogging, guest blogging is a strategy you can adopt to reach your goals. By leveraging the right channels, you can grow your audience faster and build relationships that can help your website in the long run.

I trust you enjoyed this article about What Is Guest Blogging. Would you please stay tuned for more articles to come? Take care!

JeannetteZ

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Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? I would love to hear from you. Please leave me your questions, experiences, remarks, and/or suggestions about What Is Guest Blogging in the comments below. You can also contact me by email at Jeannette@WorkFromAnywhereInTheWorld.com.