Clicking the Post button on your first blog brings a host of feelings. Many are positive because it symbolizes the first step of your journey. You know that if you keep working, you’ll get where you want to go. You’re excited and feeling confident, and within the following weeks, you may click that Post button several more times.
If you’re passionate about blogging, then you already know that it’s an already crowded place. The web seems to have millions of blogs already up and running, with more information than readers can consume. Knowing this, you have a choice to make. Will your blog rise above the rest and get noticed or will it be one of those that never really connects with readers?
This reality may dawn on you after a couple of posts and may bring feelings of despair and the temptation to quit. But like every other venture, to succeed in blogging, you need the right tips and tools. For example, have you considered that the best way to build a successful blog may be writing content for other people’s blogs?
Welcome to Guest Blogging
Are you wondering why you would consider writing for other people when you need to create content for your readers of your own blog?
Well, sometimes to get where you want to be, you need to use a few stepping stones to help you along the way. When it comes to blogging, there are already big players who have established a name for themselves in the blogging field. By taking advantage of these blogs correctly, your blog may start benefiting. This is where guest blogging may be useful.
Basically, guest blogging is a practice where you create content and submit to other people’s blogs. This may help your own blog in three ways:
1. It Will Drive Traffic to Your Site
If you write quality content as a guest blogger and the readers love it, there is a good chance that they will click the backlinks on your guest post to look at your posts on your own blog.
2. You Will Gain Experience
Writing for already established sites will encourage you to bring your best skills forward. The more you read and write great content, the better and more confident you’ll become.
3. You Will Establish Yourself as an Authority in a Particular Niche
If popular bloggers allow you to contribute to their sites, it tells their readers that you know what you’re doing and that they should consider checking out your site because of your expertise.
Where Is the Best Place to Start Guest Blogging?
For guest posting to work, you need a strategy. You can’t just email any site out of the blue and offer your services. Just like you had a plan in place for your blog, you should also have a plan for your guest posts.
The best place to seek guest blogging opportunities is an area that is relevant to what you cover in your blog. It may be in the same niche or industry or a topic related to your blog. For instance, if your website is about mental health and drug or alcohol addiction, you may offer to write a guest post on a blog site for dual diagnosis centers. That way, you can backlink to your site and readers interested in this kind of rehab may be likely to read more of your content. Choosing your host sites wisely may increase your exposure and traffic.
How to Prepare to Be an Effective Guest Blogger
It is impossible to excel in the guest blogging arena if you go in blindly. Remember, this is as important as the posts on your blog. As such, you should give it your absolute best. If you can, be even more cautious with guest blog sites than you would with your own blog. To help you prepare, here are a few tips:
- Study Your Potential Host’s Content
Guest blogging is not about you or your blog, it’s about your host. Your mission is to get yourself and your blog out there, but only by putting your host site first will you achieve this. After finding a site that looks like a good opportunity, check out its posts and ask yourself a few questions about the site:
– What is its style?
– What is its word count?
– What is its approach; formal or casual?
– Which topics does it cover?
These, among other questions, will help give you an idea of what a blog is all about and which kinds of posts it publishes.
- Identify How the Host Site’s Content Relates to Yours
When you sit down to type out that blog post, you want to make it as natural as possible without sounding like all you’re doing is trying to create opportunities to create backlinks to your own site. If you can find various ways how a host site’s content relates to yours, it’s a sign that you should go for it.
- Know the Audience
That’s the main reason you’re there in the first place, right? You hope to tap into this already established blog’s audience in the hopes of attracting some backlinks to your site. While you’re combing through the host site’s content, do the same with the reactions from its readers.
Let’s say your prospective host site has a post about natural muscle boosters on its site and there’s a buzz about the post in the comment section. When you get your guest post chance, you may want to write something relating to the same topic. Choosing buzzworthy topics may help you capture the audience without trying too hard.
It’s also important to determine if the blog post has such an audience. The more traffic a host blog has, the more promising it is for yours. If there’s barely any activity on a host site, there may be fewer audience members to engage with your own blog site. The more active the audience, the better.
All this will work toward improving your blogging, so don’t be afraid to put your time and effort into these tactics. A little work with guest sites may produce positive results for your own.
Author: The Digital Marketing Guru
The Digital Marketing Guru is a full-service digital marketing agency. We’ve been providing a wide range of services to clients of all industries since 2010. Our digital marketing services include consulting and management options for a variety of online marketing tactics including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) ads, copywriting conversion rate optimization (CRO), and more. We also offer expert web design and development services for both eCommerce and B2B companies. Don’t just partner with any digital marketing agency; work with a company you can trust.