(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Guest-Blogging.jpg alt: Guest Blogging Introduction)
**Do you want to improve the search engine rankings of your site, increase your brand’s visibility and get more enquiries?**
An online marketing tactic that has exploded in popularity over the last 18 months can help you achieve all of these – guest blogging.
A guest blog post is where you write a high quality article that is then placed on another person’s or company’s website. These sites are often blogs, as they are always on the search for more good quality content.
This results in a win-win situation.
The website gets to have a great new article published without them having to spend time creating it. You benefit by gaining exposure to their audience, building a relationship with the site owner and you will get a valuable link back to your site that can help in SEO (search engine optimisation).
**Getting started – research**
The first step to success with guest blogging, is finding sites that are likely to take your content.
Start by researching sites that are within your niche, and then broaden it out to sites that are in your sector. For example, if you sell exhibition stands it would be great to have your content hosted on another exhibition website.
But you may find this niche quite narrow, so you should also research the sector of ‘marketing’.
You can get started with your research on Google using some of these queries:
– *keyword “guest blogging”*
– *keyword “submit an article”*
– *keyword “write for us”*
– *“become a guest writer”*
– *“become a contributor”*
– *“guest post guidelines”*
You can also find guest opportunities on services such as (link: http://myblogguest.com/forum/index.php text: MyBlogGuest.com) and (link: http://www.bloggerlinkup.com/ text: BloggerLinkUp.com).
**Outreach**
The next stage is to take the list of websites that you have researched and contact them. This is typically done by email, although some websites accept submissions through a contact form.
This is a crucial step of the process and can be the part that ‘makes or breaks’ the success of your campaign. A well crafted outreach email should include the following elements:
– Personalisation – addressing the blog owner by name is much more professional
– Understanding – demonstrate that you’ve read through the posts on their blog, and can provide them with content that fits their audience
– Content – include one or more content ideas that you think would work well on their site
– Links – include links to other content that you have written and had published online to demonstrate the quality of your writing
As with any marketing, there are going to be people that do not reply to you or dismiss you with a curt response. Don’t get disheartened by this as there are always plenty more opportunities.
**Creating the content**
Once a website has accepted your pitch, the process of creating the content can begin.
Concentrate on producing the best quality that you possibly can – as if you were writing for your own website. This may mean you need to research addition facts or come at a subject from a unique angle.
Use your imagination and produce something unique. This will give you the best chance of having your work accepted. Another tip for increasing the likelihood of a blog publishing your work is if you can include one or more unique images.
Promote
Once you have had your content published, the game is not over. Promote it using your followers on Facebook and Twitter. You should even consider linking to it from another guest blog article, building up its authority as a reputable source.. If you get published on an industry leading website, you may even wish to create a press release about it.
Building a process
Guest blogging as part of an online marketing strategy can yield great results, but there needs to be an efficient process in place.
Having the right people in place, with a robust system to keep track of progress, is essential. We have spent time ensuring that we have professional copywriters and dedicated marketers on this task. Guest blogging is one of our daily marketing tasks – why not try it?