Guest Posting helps your brand and you get exposure digitally. By following an effective Guest Posting strategy, you can help grow your online credibility. Further, guest blogging is also a key way to increase revenues for yourself.
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What is Guest Posting?
In 2019, social media marketing has become a key tool for brands and individuals to get exposure. However, guest posting or guest blogging is also a method through which online exposure can be maximized.
In the last few years, guest posting has become the most beneficial content marketing strategy in the world. Guest posting is not dead, by any measure or imagination. Quality guest posting is still very much relevant and thriving.
It is a digital marketing strategy in which-
- Written content is published on someone else’s site.
- As a brand owner or agency you provide a link in your article/content that leads readers to your site.
- There is an attempt to mention yourself in the author bio section and create a digital reputation.
- You try to create informative, useful and original long format content.
- The host site gets the content you create; you get the redirected traffic to your site.
For most brands and individuals, guest posting has not become as mainstream as social media marketing. However, people and brands who are smart, use guest posting to reach a wider audience base. It also helps in climbing the SERPs, and become an industry authority voice.
Guest Posting is not an easy strategy. It requires planning, dedication, and discipline. Unlike social, where results are almost immediate (pumping in advertising money), guest posting takes at least six months. According to Neil Patel, you will need to create consistent content for six months to see results.
If you have the expertise and the resources, you can do guest posting yourself. However, if you do not know your way around, agencies, which offer guest posting services can be explored. There are many premium digital agencies, which offer white hat guest posting services.
Benefits of Guest Posting:
People and brands who are new to guest posting ask me one direct question upfront-
Why should I create content that will help someone else’s site?
This question is innocent, given the many benefits guest blogging can bring for your brand and you.
One of the major benefits of Guest Posting is it being a ‘White Hat Strategy’. What is a white hat strategy you ask?
A white hat strategy is one where Google states the digital strategy is natural, organic and free of direct monetary manipulations.
For Google, it is a great approach when you have to climb your Search Engine Rankings Page (SERPs). Guest Posting does not invite the wrath of Google penalties as well. You stand to benefit from Google not penalizing your site by lowering metrics, or worse, deindexing your site.
Let us now list some of the major benefits of Guest Blogging.
- Guest posting helps drive traffic to your home website.
- You can see an increase in the metrics and health of your website.
- Instrumental in reaching out to a new audience base for your product or service.
- Establishes digital credibility for you and your brand.
- Google validates effective guest posting and rewards accordingly.
- It is a completely 100% White Hat Strategy (no penalties).
- Guest Blogging helps increase direct and indirect revenues for your brand.
- It helps build digital relationships and fosters a digital eco-system.
- Helps in white hat link building and SEO optimization for your site.
10 Steps for Successful Guest Posting- The List
While many people know about the benefits of guest posting, almost all are unaware of how to go about it. Without further ado, let us get straight to the list.
1. Set your Guest Blogging Agenda:
You can approach this from two vantage points. Either as a means to do link building; or, either as a means to build communities and audiences. If you are a novice, pick one or the other. For people who have been in the industry for years, they might do both effectively, at the same time.
However, if you starting out, doing both simultaneously might derail your efforts. It is a good idea to identify what your target is and proceed accordingly. I suggest going for option 2 and establishing your credibility.
This is a longer approach, but one that will be most meaningful for you. Option 2 helps establish the foundation of a proper content marketing strategy.
2. Create a List of 20 Authority Blogs who accept Guest Posting:
Every industry has a list of fifty odd definitive content sites. These sites are authority voices having thousands of visitors every month. They have high metric scores (High DA, DR, SERPs), and have established themselves over a period.
The first step is following the articles on such sites. How they write, what is the pattern, the style, word count, etc? As most of these sites are community sites, check for the writers. They are people who have been there and done that.
Once you have been following them for three-odd months, you will get an idea about how their style and substance.
3. Start Approaching Authority Sites:
After three months, you need to start approaching authority sites for guest posting opportunities. This involves commenting on their articles in a meaningful way and conversing on social media (Twitter takes the lead).
For example, if you want to publish an article on digital marketing, SEMRUSH’s blog will be on your list. However, SEMRUSH has strict guidelines guest posting. Almost all the good sites have strict content moderation teams.
You need to follow the guidelines and start pitching your ideas. If you have been going through the content for some time, you might come across some content loophole. Creating an article around that loophole is a great start.
4. Create Original, Informative, Quality and Long Format Content:
If you think a 500-word article can help you get a guest post on MOZ, I am sorry to break your daydream. Websites, which accept guest posts, have strict guidelines. To fulfill them you will need to create riveting content that is-
- 100% original and non-plagiarised.
- Highly informative and useful for the website’s readers.
- Properly researched and referenced.
- Content is enriched with research screenshots, images, and even videos.
- Has external links that add value to the article.
- Does not expressly promote your website’s service.
- Content is of such high quality that it can rank on Google.
You do not need to create one article every day. You need to create one 2500+ word article that is proper every week. This is neither easy nor difficult. It is highly doable.
5. Hire an Agency which offers Quality Guest Posting Services:
Given the many engagements, you can have, appointing a guest posting service agency might be a good choice. Many of the top agencies who offer guest blogging already have relationships with the industry authority sites.
Since they are in the business and are familiar, it will be easier for you to accelerate the process. Some of the best guest blogging agencies also offer content writing services by experts. These experts are familiar with the language, the guidelines, and the requirements.
A guest posting service agency, which follows white hat strategies can be a great digital marketing partner.
6. Try and be part of a Community:
Once you start engaging with like-minded people, you will slowly become a part of a digital community. This community will grow organically and in a natural way. Invites to great forums and closed mailing groups will follow.
The key is to engage with the community as much as possible. By commenting on articles, on social media and pitching ideas, you will see people slowly starting to respond.
However, once you have been accepted, stick with the same organic approach to growth. This will help grow your reputation and increase your credibility online.
7. Show Gratitude and be a better Human Being:
Once your article has been published by the host site, a follow up thank you mail should be in order. You should graciously thank the content editor and other people who had been helpful.
Sharing the article on your own social media pages is a great idea. Do not forget to tag the person and the content site in your post. This will demonstrate your fortitude and manners to the entire digital community.
Next time, it will be the same people, who will refer you to other authority sites. People go out of their way to help someone in this industry. This part is also related to the last community building point.
8. Track your Guest Posting Calendar:
Doing guest posting in a smart, strategic way is the best way to get maximum results. You should be prepared for rejections. Not every article you submit might find its way to a page. In such instances, you need to prepare well for eventualities.
Create a guest posting content calendar in MS Excel. It should contain-
- The host website name and URL
- The contact person’s name and email id
- Your topic title and other details of the article
- Date of submission
- Live URL of your article (if you are successful)
- Status (Submitted, Under-Review, Rejected, Published)
This excel will help you keep track of your guest blogging activities over a period. One crucial thing that you should always filter is- back-up sites.
If your content is rejected by one site, you can always pitch the same to another site. This means creating a new section on the MS Excel and entitling it as ‘back-up’.
9. Use Social Media Aggressively:
If you are creating wonderful guest posts but not publicizing the same on social, you are missing out. It is essential that you use social media as an amplification tool. You cannot just have a good reputation on blogs and forums.
You need to back it up with meaningful posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook at the very least. This is not only about sharing content on social it is also about-
- Speaking on the latest news in the world of digital marketing
- Taking note on topical and trending topics
- Tagging people and brands and engaging with them on social
- Sharing research and making videos
Social media is a very powerful tool, and it should be used strategically by guest bloggers. A digital ecosystem is an interlinked eco-system. You cannot ignore social media presence and reputation building in 2019.
10. Have Patience:
Right at the very outset, I had stated that guest posting takes time and patience. This is not only true of guest posting but almost all white hat SEO strategies. Changes should not be expected overnight. It never happens.
However, if you stick with the above steps for 6 months, you will start seeing a positive change. Think of guest posting as setting the foundation of a new house. For people who are remotely aware of basic construction, creating the foundation takes the maximum time.
A guest posting strategy with a great foundation will set your content marketing strategy. The rewards you and your brand will reap after one year of guest posting will be incomparable. Give it time, patience, discipline, and some investment. I promise you that your guest posting strategy will thrive in six months
The Final Word: Conclusion
Some of the top digital marketers swear by effective guest posting for some reasons. Google likes quality guest posting more than any other digital marketing strategy.
In the last few years, brands have woken up to social media and harnessing its full power. Guest posting has still not reached that level, barring some industry experts.
I feel that now is the right time for brands, big and small to establish their credentials online. By being true to the ethics of guest posting, many significant rewards can be accrued by brands and individuals.
If you want to know more about guest posting or guest posting services, please feel free to reach out. You can submit your query in the comments section or email me: [email protected]
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