If you have been a blogger for a long time, you know what a guest blog is but if you have never blogged before or are just beginning, you will have a ton of questions.
When I first started my blog back in 2014, guest blogging wasn’t on my radar. It wasn’t something that I ever truly thought of doing because honestly, I didn’t even know what it was. I had started my blog to share my story and that is what I did.
I did begin to guest blog though shortly after starting. I had local businesses ask me to write for them and I loved doing it. Even at the time of doing those posts, I didn’t realize the benefits that it had for my blog. Today we are going to break down what guest blogging is with some FAQ and hopefully, you will walk away with knowing what guest blogging is and how it will benefit you.
WHAT IS GUEST BLOGGING?
Guest blogging is when you offer to write content for another blogger that is in a similar niche as your own. You can use the same niche or you can use a shoulder niche to write for. This is a great way for bloggers to increase traffic to their site, reach new readers, and to help grow links back to their website.
Guest blogging is different than freelance blogging. As a guest blogger, your name, website, and bio will be attached to the blog post that you write and submit. This way the readers of the site it is featured to know how to find you and how to read more from you.
WHY IS GUEST BLOGGING SO IMPORTANT?
Blogging in this way will help not only yourself as a blogger but also the blogger that is featuring you. You will also share the link for the blog post on the other site to your followers and readers and attract new readers to that site as well. It is a win-win for any collaboration.
Like I mentioned above, this will help to increase traffic to your site as well as the site of the blogger who is featuring you. It will help you to reach new readers and will also help to increase links back to your website.
The other benefit of guest blogging is that you will start to be seen as an expert in your niche. This will help to build authority and trust within your readers even more.
IS GUEST BLOGGING GOOD FOR SEO?
Yes, it is beneficial to help build up your SEO. Especially when you are featured on sites that have a higher domain authority than you do. This tells Google and other search engines that you are a trustworthy site. Building links back to your site is a great way to build trust with any search engine.
HOW DO I WRITE A GUEST BLOG POST?
Sometimes this can be difficult but being a part of blogging groups can help. Some niches are harder to find places to be a guest blogger but this is where the importance of your shoulder niches comes in.
You will write a guest blog post in the same way that you write your own guest posts except that you will add your bio. You want to have your bio at the end of the blog post so that the readers will know where to find you.
Plus with some sites, there will be specific rules that you will have to follow. When you contact someone to do a guest post for them ensure that you know exactly what they are looking for. Some sites don’t allow self-promotion so ensure that none of the links that link back to you are doing that. Just be sure that you and the site you are going to write for, know exactly what each other want. This will help with any confusion that may arise.
Remember that for a guest blog post to work in benefit to both of you, you want to make sure that you are both promoting the post. This means you each need to share the link to your social media accounts to get the best results.
WHAT DO I LINK BACK TO MY SITE?
This is a fantastic question and will completely depend on the nature of your guest blog post. Like I said in the paragraphs above, some sites do not allow self-promotion so you need to make sure that you are not linking back to any of your products.
The best thing that you can link back to is other blog posts that will help the reader of the current post. So for example, I am currently writing a guest blog post for a website that works with small businesses so my blog post will be all about blogging as a small business owner. I will be linking back to one of my blog posts that talk about real-life truths from women entrepreneurs.
This will help to build a deeper connection with the new readers of the blog. I will make them feel less alone as an entrepreneur and remind them that they are never alone. You will want to link back to 1 or 2 blog posts that are relevant to what you are talking about so that those reading the guest post will get to read even more of your blog posts.
HOW DO I FIND A BLOG TO GUEST WRITE FOR?
Like I said earlier, it can be a bit challenging but there are ways that you can do it. You can type in your niche in Google or any search engine and type accepting guest blog posts after it. So for me, I would type in Blogging bloggers accepting guest blog posts. Also remember to use your shoulder niches here too and type those in. See what pops up. Click on the websites. Most websites will have a page dedicated to accepting guest bloggers with all of the stipulations laid out and what it is that they are looking for.
You can also reach out. Do you have any favourite bloggers that you follow and read? Send them a personal message. See if they are interested in having a guest blogger. You can even write out a list of ideas for them and see if they like any of them. It will be disappointing if they say no but it isn’t the end of the world. Now that they have your name and know you are interested, they may reach out at a later date.
Post in business groups on Facebook that you are looking to write some guest blog posts. This is really all about getting yourself out there and letting people know that you are interested in writing for someone. You do NOT have to say yes to everyone. You can pick and choose who you want to write for.
SHOULD I ACCEPT GUEST BLOGGERS ON MY BLOG?
I say YES!!! This will help you with not having to create all the content of your site on your own. This is also a fun way to meet other bloggers. Before you start to accept guest bloggers on your site, remember to have your post stipulations written out. This will help keep you and your guest blogger from getting confused.
I hope that this post helped and has inspired you to want to guest post even more. I am always welcoming guest bloggers on my site (either one) and I am always willing to be a guest blogger on yours. So don’t hesitate to reach out. I don’t have a current page dedicated to guest blogging but I will be creating one soon.
If you have guest blogged for anyone, I would love to see it. Feel free to leave the link below and I will check it out.
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