When I was new to blogging I tricked myself into believing that just putting out good quality content is more than enough to see astonishing results. Results like ranking higher on high search volume keywords, boasting higher domain authority, building my tribe via subscribers and more.
But soon the “Hope Bubble” burst into a million pieces and I was left with the realization that just putting out good content isn’t enough to see the results that all the other bloggers are seeing, there’s more to this than meets the eye.
What was I missing? BACKLINKS
There is no better way to build backlinks than guest blogging. Period.
But why should I even build backlinks?
Umm.. because it helps get your links indexed faster, promote your web page for the anchor text you are trying to promote for and in turn get you higher rankings and high traffic.
Backlinks aren’t the only reason why you should do guest blogging there are tons of reasons to do guest blogging.
In this article, you will learn all the reasons as to why you need to do guest blogging, sit tight, grab some snacks because you are up for a bumpy ride.
Spoiler alert!! By the end of this article, you will be convinced why you need to do guest blogging.
Benefits Of Guest Posting
1. Get Quality Traffic
2. Building Authorship
3. Increase your Domain Authority
4. Earning Content Writing Gigs
5. Building a rich Backlink Profile
6. An easy way to build subscribers
7. Make Money with Guest Blogging
8. Grow your social media following
9. Build your brand awareness
10. Get important feedback from the community
When you guest post on a blog within your niche then you know that you have targeted the correct audience, visitors aren’t being tricked into clicking your backlink there. The anchor text link that contains a link to your site is indicative of what the users will find if they are to click that link.
So, let’s say, for example, you have guest posted an article titled “Advanced Link Building Strategies” in that article you have added a link back to your website on anchor text “link baiting” the keyword link baiting may seem ambiguous to the ones that are new to link building or SEO per se.
The anchor text will make them feel curious as a result they will click the anchor text link and come across your website to read your content.
The reason why it’s quality traffic is simply that for an SEO article you attracted a visitor who is already into SEO and to make sure that you contributed guest blog to an SEO Blog/ Digital Marketing Blog. Getting visitors to your blog from the internet is really easy there are tons of places you can borrow, an easy example can be WhatsApp.
But if they are not your target audience then they will bounce back soon which reduces dwell time on your page which basically deranks your web page.
Guest Blogging is critical to building authorship on multiple websites, think of it like syndicating your website content across several websites thereby increasing your global footprint.
Owing to the quality of content that you provide, the website owners will be more than willing to give you your identity on their website, they will introduce you to their audience, right below your guest blog you will have your author bio with your headshot.
If you maintain good relations with these publishers, then they will let you publish multiple guest blogs on their website. The way it helps you build authorship is by making your presence ubiquitous across multiple websites.
Your blog readers are coming to you because of the niche you are in which means that they are interested in that niche.
It is very likely that they visit other blogs within that niche, they visit your competitor’s blogs.
If you are guest blogging on your competitor’s blog then that helps your blog readers identify you there which helps you build credibility among your blog readers, plus the blog readers of the website where you are guest blogging. It’s a two-way street that only benefits you one way or another.
It’s no secret anymore that building links help you increase domain authority, it’s all over the place. Domain Authority is like a number that your website earns which suggests the authoritativeness of your website. The higher the number, the more authoritative your site is going to be in the SERPs.
You don’t have to take my word, just Google a short-tail keyword with higher search volume and see for yourself which domains are claiming higher organic search results positions. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
I bet it was high domain authority websites.
Full transparency: It depends from niche to niche, there are micro-niches where blogs with low domain authority also stand a chance to rank higher for even short-tail keywords.
If you begin building links using Guest Blogging on websites whose domain authority is higher than you, then that naturally puts you in a position to increase your website’s domain authority.
Nobody has cracked down on how Moz’s algorithm works on transferring domain authority to your website, but it works something like transferring an ounce of domain authority every time you guest blog on a site having more domain authority than your own.
There are many other factors that influence domain authority and link building is one of them.
Guest Blogging isn’t merely meant for SEOs & Link Builders. Guest Blogging is one of the greatest tools in the arsenal of elite content writers that helps them build credibility, in many ways you can say that it’s a personal branding tool.
Aspiring Content Writers, as well as established content writers, can contribute guest blogs to contributor sites like Entrepreneur, HuffPost, ThriveGlobal, Forbes, BuzzFeed and more.
Gaining exposure to huge publications like these helps gain immense exposure, these publications receive traffic in millions every single month, where they get tons of direct visits these publications also have millions of people on their email list, just imagine the potential eyeballs you are going to attract.
Content Writing is not just a chore, it’s a craft that makes sure that readers read till the end, what would readers do if they are amazed at the quality of writing? One they will share the content, two they will take a look at the author’s bio to see who is behind this work.
People who are going to look you up can be your potential clients. A friend of mine Charu Mitra Dubey has built a career out of this.
There are tons of ways of building a backlink profile, but the one that stands out is Guest Blogging.
The easier methods of building links include tactics like Blog directories, Social Bookmarking, Classified Ad Submission and more.
But these are low hanging fruits essentially, anyone can compile a backlink profile by building links at such sites, why should Google grant you higher rankings for building links at such places, thousands of other blogs are also following the same tactic.
Only 10 website qualify to appear on the first page of Google search results, do you have any idea how many websites are battling to appear on the first page of Google? Lots!
And of those 10 who appear on the first page, only 1 qualifies to claim the featured snippet opportunity, just 1.
Just copy the link of the one ranking in the featured snippet and run through Ubersuggest’s backlinks tool on the exact URL to find where they built links, as a result, you will the links from guest blogging/ contributor sites more than submission/ forum sites.
If you are in the industry of Digital Marketing then you already know how important it is to have an email list.
It helps with a ton of things, promoting your blog, promoting your YouTube videos, getting traffic; and the best part is that you do all of this for free.
The best way to build an email list for a website is by adding a pop-up subscription that should trigger as the visitor lands on the website or upon his exit intent.
With Guest Blogging you can drive qualified referral traffic; it depends on the website where you are guest blogging.
If it is a high traffic guest blogging site then chances are that you will drive enormous referral traffic that qualified to be your target audience, which means if they come to your website and like your content then they would most likely become your subscribers.
You should have an Email Subscription pop up on exit intent to get them right when they are leaving.
Alternatively, you should have a page in the main navigation bar titled Newsletter/ Subscribe so that if by mistake your referral visitors miss the pop-up you can still get them with the subscribe page.
You can assist brands & businesses in the digital with their link building campaigns. If you are a published author at high authority websites where they want to build links, then you can leverage this opportunity to publish a guest post for them at this website and earn money for 2 things.
→ Creating written content
→ Publishing that content on the authority website
To expedite this process you will need to increasingly grow your personal network by guest blogging on a couple of high authority websites, guest blog there on a consistent basis. Become a published author at more and more authority websites.
Recommended Read: The ‘Complete-Nobody’ Guide to Guest Posting Fame and Fortune (By the Guy Who Built a Career Out of It)
Guest Blogging is not just about links and SEO. There’s more to take from this reservoir.
You can actually grow your social media following with guest blogging. With good quality content, you can earn the audience’s trust and compel them to follow you on social.
Becoming a published author at the authority website, some websites would even grant you permission to add your social media links. Higher authority sites like Search Engine Journal, HubSpot and dozens more.
With the help of these social media links, you can increasingly keep growing your social media tribe.
The article you have contributed to the website may rank higher which means you will keep growing your social media following on a flight mode.
Do you have a business that you want to grow in the digital or perhaps you have a SaaS product for which you want to secure high adoption?
Guest Blogging is the way to go for generating brand awareness. Deliver your brand’s presence and convey it’s Call-To-Action on multiple authority websites with guest blogging.
Your target customers are scattered across all these websites. Build your brand awareness by tapping into the network of these websites with guest blogging. Content Marketing is your weapon here, don’t go with the same form of content on every website, the same old promotional marketing message; it’s like squandering the potential.
Instead, dig deep into the reservoir of content marketing, brainstorm guest blogging ideas, see what all angles you can carve out deliver your brand’s USP in a subtle way.
And sometimes it’s okay to not promote yourself, sometimes you can just talk about the industry you serve, be a conversation or humorous in your tonality.
Larry Kim does this best where he is trying to promote his Saas product “Mobile Monkey” he is guest blogging almost on a daily basis, he can be found across multiple authority websites like Entrepreneur, Forbes, Search Engine Journal.
Increasingly he can also be found across multiple Medium Publications where he can be found promoting Unicorn Marketing strategy, Unicorn is the face of Mobile Monkey.
The admirable thing about Larry Kim’s guest blogging strategy is that the tonality of his guest blogs are quite conversational and humorous in nature that makes his presence and his brand’s presence know.
Getting feedback is critical to your growth as a blogger or content writer. Getting feedback from your blog readers isn’t enough, with your blog you are getting feedback mostly from your blog readers.
But with Guest Blogging, you are actively getting feedback from the blog readers of the website you have guest posted at, you are getting right in front of the eyeballs of that website’s loyal audience.
This diversifies the variety of feedback you will receive, it helps you get a better understanding of your audience, you can better understand the pain points they are facing and address the same. Getting feedback from the community really helps you grow as a better blogger and a better content writer.
Feedback be it positive or negative; negative feedback is even better; you should seek constructive criticism and rectify the errors you are making.
Conclusion
Guest Blogging is without a shadow of a doubt a crucial aspect that will you grow your blog or even your business website. There are mixed opinions out there, some say that guest blogging isn’t necessary while others say it’s dead; some say it’s super important.
It depends from niche to niche, for a micro-niche that isn’t competitive, maybe you will not need guest blogging just putting great quality pillar content and tons of topic clusters might do the trick.
Whereas for competitive niches, great content isn’t all that it takes to grow, you should be willing to go beyond that. Guest Blogging is the way to go with it.
Happy Guest Blogging!
Further Reading
Kunjal Chawhan founder of Decode Digital Market, a Digital Marketer by profession, and a Digital Marketing Niche Blogger by passion, here to share my knowledge
Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further post thank you once again.
Thanks Maria,
I am glad that this blog added some value to you, keep coming back for more awesome content planned ahead 🙂