Guest blogging is one of the latest and greatest ways of driving traffic to your website. Not only that, it can also help to build your personal brand and boost your search engine rankings. Here are a couple of ways for you to get the most out of guest blogging.
Build rapport first
Instead of contacting high traffic blogs out of the blue, try leaving comments that add value to the discussion, and that doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with everything that’s being said. You can also converse on Twitter and reference their name on your blog. Most bloggers have alerts setup to monitor what being said about them so you’re a lot more likely to succeed if you take the time to build a little rapport first.
When an email from you turns up in their inbox asking for a guest post opportunity, it’s more likely to get noticed because the blogger already knows something about you! When you decide you’re ready to make a proposal – keep it short, polite and professional.
Use a title / headline that entices the reader to read!
Just because you have secured a guest blog on a high traffic blog, that does not necessarily mean you will get a tonne of traffic from it. Your post title still needs to stand out and grab the reader’s attention. Follow on the catchy title with a post of substance, be it funny, interesting, educational or simply just an opinion.
Ensure your Author bio draws visitors to your blog
Instead of just saying who you are, you should mention what your blog is about and state a good reason for visiting it. If you can summarise this in one, snappy sentence, even better.
Respond to your comments
Your guest post will receive comments, take some time out to respond to them, so the blog owner can see that you are participating in the development of the conversation. As an added bonus, this will help to drive even more traffic to your website.
Backlinks and Guest Blogging
Since Google’s recent Panda/Farmer update, the importance of article marketing has declined and the value of guest blogging as an SEO strategy has increased. Links from guest posts are ideal because they reside on trusted sites, they are surrounded by quality content, and they are relevant to your niche. But don’t push your luck by including too many backlinks in the post!
