Guest posting is a great way of getting inbound links on a website or blog. This is a great way for any blog owner to prove that they have the authority to guest post about a topic or issue. This kind of posting has been used to increase visibility, building communities and fostering the exchange of ideas.
Guest Posting has received a bad reputation as many people turned to black hat methods to try and unfairly hook in traffic to their sites. There was so much decay that most sites only turned guest posting off.
However, when it is done ethically, guest posting is still a viable networking tool. The best methods will instantly get you focused traffic that will convert easily.
Guest posting and SEO
Google raised a warning and said that guest posts would no longer be a viable SEO tactic. This was completely blown out of context by most. Google only said that spammy links on low-quality websites would not change the rank of a website.
Guest posting on high-quality sites and writing quality content will still improve your rankings on the search engines. Links placed on social media sites are ranking well with Google. When you write well to get quality links, they will be shared on social media, and this should significantly improve your ranking.
It is important that every blogger and webmaster know how to leverage guest posting to get good links and ethically improve rankings.
Four tactics to be used in today’s guest posting world
There are four ways in which you can guest post and get high-quality links and traffic to your site:
1Write quality and unique content
Some high-quality blogs and websites will syndicate your content if only it is completely original. Take the time to think about how you will craft your content, what you will be addressing, and the long-term goal of the content.
The content that you post should be of great value to the readers of the blog, to get quality traffic. Original content will resonate well with the audience and the search engines too. Your ranking will improve on the search engines, and you will have shown that you are an excellent writer, who will command the audiences’ attention even in the future.
2Post on relevant, high-quality websites
You should carefully consider where you guest post. The best sites are those that are experts in your niche and have high-quality content and links. You should not fear to pitch to formidable guest posting sites like Mashable, Entrepreneur, Marketing Profs and Social Mouths.
These all provide people with the opportunity to guest post and take them through a rigorous vetting process to ensure that all content is of a high calibre. These websites have attained a lot of respectability from their readers, and they will make sure that only quality content is placed on their sites.
A great blogger should carefully go through the pitching process on the high-quality sites and blogs. They have certain requirements, and you should obey them to a fault. Other sites will not require you to follow any guidelines, but you should create a great pitch to get a chance to guest post for them.
3Create valuable links in the guest post
This is sometimes an enigma to many untested bloggers. You should have reference and resource links in the content if you would like to expound on something that your readers need to understand better. You should never haphazardly place links in the content that offer no value to the reader.
All links back to your blog or website must be done naturally. You can write about a particular topic, and if it is covered extensively on your blog, you could link back to that particular page. A guest post should have no more than three to five links within the content.
Another place where a link can be placed is in the author bio. You should create one that will show your expertise to your audience, before sending them to your blog or website. When done properly, linking on guest posts will improve your traffic.
4Create long-term, meaningful relationships with your audience
When you are a guest blogger, you should not just create a post, submit it and then let the magic happen on its own. When people comment on your post, make sure that you reply to their comments. Many times guest bloggers do not follow this up, and their audience stops reading their posts.
Be a participating member of the community by reading and commenting on other posts too. Other guest bloggers like yourself will respond well and so will your audience. Make sure that you contribute meaningfully even when you are commenting on a post. Comments such as “LOL” will not make you seem authoritative.
To increase visibility, you should consider posting regularly on blogs that are relevant to your niche. You should consider going to forums where you can meet other bloggers and exchange ideas on guest posting. You could easily establish yourself as a formidable blogger on such sites which will earn you respect within the community.
In Conclusion
Guest posting is a great way of getting traffic to your website or blog. However, it should be done ethically to be of any value to your site. Always consider guest posting for high-quality blogs and websites, and avoid the low-quality spammy sites. Interact with readers and other bloggers through commenting and replying to such comments in real time.
Do not fear the warning by google. Go ahead and guest post on these great sites and see your traffic increase.
