Link building is one of the most useful approaches to get more visibility to your blog, improve its rating, and attract visitors your site. All SEO experts agree that it is generally helpful, but the links building strategies might be different, and not all of them are bringing equally positive results.
If you are trying to build links that point back to your blog or website one of the most powerful ways you can do that is by offering to write content on other blogs. This is a little different than landing a freelance writing job because your offer is to help bloggers by writing content on their blog for free. While this might not sound like a very good deal for you in terms of the return on invested time, in fact, it really is.
Paying for links is risky. Google has a good sniffer for spotting paid or sponsored links. Doing link exchanges, especially blogroll exchanges, has proved to have very limited value. Ordering sponsored posts is very risky as well because you then might put your site on Google’s radar of potentially “blacklisted sites”.
Writing guest posts is a safe and very natural way to score powerful backlinks to your blog or website. Consider this too. When you publish content on other blogs, you are in complete control of the link building process. You are in complete control of how you want to word your content and shape and mold your links pointing back to your site. In other words, writing guest posts on other blogs gives you the ability to take a blank piece of digital paper and turn it into anything you want.
Guest posting on other blogs has other benefits as well. For one, you’ll find that you have an endless supply of blogs where you can publish your content on. Most bloggers struggle for material. Just like a journalist or a columnist, often bloggers struggle from writers block and totally enjoy it when someone offers to provide them with killer content.
Another benefit is the fact that not only can you build links by writing the content, you can also take a chance to use the post for indirect “selling” yourself and your content to readers of the blog you are publishing on. This gives you an amazing opportunity to increase the number of regular reader who read your own blog or website.
The only disadvantage is the amount of time you need to invest into writing content. One thing about that though is I believe that you always get back when you put in. Meaning, if you invest the time into writing quality content on other blogs, your return will be great as well.
Common mistakes with guest posts
- Writing the guest post before you pitch the owner. Please send him/her several prospective post ideas, with bullet-pointed sub-points, and let owner suggest the best one for the audience.
- Not doing your research. Read carefully author’s post and note the format of the blog, you are addressing your post. Your publication should match the spirit, structure, and format of the site, otherwise it might be rejected by the owner.
- Submitting link-baits. Avoid submitting the posts that due to the time-limited actuality will be forgotten by the next day. High-traffic sites, for the most part, want great articles that will stand the test of time.
- Using someone else’s content. One of the stupidest things you can do when submitting a post to someone else’s blog is to use someone else’s content. You do need a positive publicity, and not a negative one. Be professional and responsible, whatever you do and respect the host.
- Using already published content. Don’t submit a post that you’ve already posted on your blog (or that you intend to publish on your blog in the future). As you know, having the same content in multiple places on the web doesn’t look good for search engines, and the blog owner might be very strict about that. Write and submit something unique. If you do intend to post something in multiple places make sure you get the approval of the blogger first.
- Submitting self promotional content. The main reason that you as a guest poster are likely to engage in guest posting is to get exposure to a wider audience. That’s pretty well understood by everyone – however sometimes posts go too far and become more about the guest poster than anything else. If you’re going to use links back to your own blog inside the post (as opposed to just a byline) then make sure they’re completely relevant to the post itself and useful to readers. If you’re too self-promotional you’re less likely to have your post accepted and if it is you could end up hurting your reputation with those who read the post.
- Making the blog post all about your opinion. Nobody cares about you. Use research, charts, and expert quotes to back up your argument, and create an interesting thesis.
- Underestimating how long it takes to write a good post. On your blog, you might have great posts, average posts, or weak posts. You are the owner. But, when you propose your writing to the fellow blogger take your time to make a great irresistible content. You want attract the readers attention, so make it perfect by all means.
If you are interesting in submitting guest publication to this blog, you are welcome to drop a link in the comments to this post.
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