How to Write the Ultimate Guest Blog Post

Most businesses are focused on their website's blog and branded social media accounts when it comes to content marketing. They forget to reach out through other strategic avenues. Guest blogging is a key area that many marketers and entrepreneurs neglect.

Why would you write a guest post on your blog?

Guest blogging is essentially the practice of creating content under your name and publishing that content on another's blog. This is a great way to grow your brand. These are the reasons:

Increased exposure. Increased exposure. While posting on your blog is limited to those you already interact with, guest blogging exposes you and your content to thousands or hundreds of people on new platforms. This is great for your personal brand as well as your business.

Referral traffic. Only a fraction of people who read your blog post will see your name and/or backlink. Referring traffic to your website will bring you more customers. You can nurture them and invite them into your brand's community.

Link Juice. Guest blogging is a powerful way to build backlinks that Google and other search engines can use in their ranking algorithms as trust signals and authority. This is what we refer to as "link juice".

Although there are many ancillary benefits to guest blogging, these are the most obvious. It's worthwhile if your guest blogging results only in increased exposure, referral traffic and an explosion of link juice.

Partner with guest bloggers to find opportunities and get your foot into the door. These relationships can create secondary audiences for your brand.

Three Tips to Maximize Your Value

It is best to just get in there and try it. Begin to look for opportunities and find guest bloggers partners. These relationships will eventually lead to regular posts on these websites and a secondary audience. Here are some practical and specific tips to help you get started:

Do not promote, but add value.

When you start guest blogging, it's easy for your priorities to drift. It's easy to get too excited about the chance to reach new audiences and drive traffic back to your site. You forget to do what you need to do.

Promotion is fine - we'll talk about it in the next point. But promotion that doesn't add value to the reader's life is not worth the effort. It is important to place value before all else. Only then can you market your brand. Your content will be valuable to readers. They'll begin to trust you, like and respect you. They will be motivated to read more.

Make a plan in place

The previous point is still valid, but you must also have a plan for how you will leverage every guest blogging opportunity. Many people make the error of merely including a link to their homepage. This is not a good idea. Consider using a CTA within your post or in your byline.

You can generate more traffic by directing readers to a landing page, or asking them to download a PDF. The goal is not a single click on your website. To keep them coming back, you want to indoctrinate your brand.

Make the most of your growing credibility

It will be difficult to get your first guest blogging gig. You can use each guest post to connect with more authority partners over time. By saying "I've been featured by ABC and XYZ websites," instantly has more credibility than if pitching a blogger.

Give Guest Blogging a Try

Guest blogging is always evolving. It's constantly changing, but one thing remains constant. It is still a valuable marketing investment. You might consider creating a strategy that allows you to write one guest post per week. This will provide you with 50+ backlinks and exposure points in a matter of 12 months. This is how you get traction, friends!