Has guest blogging grown long in the tooth? Is it time to put this traffic-building concept out to greener pastures? Actually, no. Guest blogging can still be an awesome way to incite more sticky visitors to your website. The secret, which an alarming number of guest bloggers still haven’t figured out, is how to do it right. Here are our premium tips for creating the kind of guest blog guaranteed to make readers scream for joy and reach for their credit card - or at least be more inclined to click on your link.
Pick the Right Goal
Before you lay a single finger to the keyboard to create a guest blog you need to know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t just think in terms of traffic. It’s of no benefit if you get a flood of clicks and they all bounce off within a few seconds, never to return. You want subscribers to your e-mail list and nothing less. The only way to turn a mildly-interested visitor into a raving fan is to be able to build a relationship with them over multiple communications.
Your Target Blog Reeks
The whole point in guest blogging is to leverage the power of a super-popular, cool-as-hell blog’s readership into something you can benefit from. Don’t make the mistake of agreeing to blog for a website with nothing to offer. Bad website design? Check. Readership completely unrelated to your niche? Check. Ten total visits monthly? Check. Are you getting the idea? It’s in your best interest to seriously prescreen the blogs for which you choose to write. To spend your time crafting a work of art post that will be widely met with the sound of crickets is lunacy. Here’s an idea - don’t do it. Your time would be better spent doing almost anything else.
What About Backlinks?
One of the original purposes of guest blogging was to acquire quality backlinks, which is still a valid reason. The discussion of appropriate backlink characteristics is a topic big enough for its own article. Keep in mind that a single backlink of good quality is more valuable than thousands of low quality, spammy links. In fact, ever since panda, spammy links have been punished by Google’s search algorithm. Handle links with care.
Your Post is Off Topic
The trick to successful guest blogging is to write a post that is of intense interest to the host blog’s readers AND tightly connected to your own topic. This should be obvious, but don’t pitch a post on the feeding habits of the flying saltwater squirrel to a marketing blog. First of all, you probably won’t get a positive response. If you do, you should wonder what the heck is wrong with them? The bottom line: If you don’t engage readers with your post, there is little point in writing it in the first place.
On a related note, I love this article on What a Kickass Traffic-Generating Headline Is Made Of.
Killer Call to Action
The truth is most people love to procrastinate. The average call-to-action inspires them to do exactly nothing. If that’s what you want, just throw in a CTA at the end that you wrote off the top of your head while wondering what your next snack would be. If your CTA doesn’t get people to take action immediately, you’re wasting your time. See how many opportunities you have to waste time with this guest blogging gig? And, no, it’s not enough to throw in a link in your author bio at the end of the article. Start whetting the reader’s appetite in the final paragraphs. Get them so revved up about something they absolutely must have and is only found on your website that they have no chance to become distracted by the next shiny object that flits across the screen. Make them click!
These suggestions about how to do guest blogging the right way are certainly not the final words on the subject, but ignore them at your own risk. Guest blogging can be very, VERY productive, or it can be the equivalent of staring into space and picking your nose. Let’s get out there and make it the former.