Content marketing is a key factor if you want to grow your website, online business, and brand. With engaging content, you can inform about products and services and share relevant articles. A static is either to invite guest bloggers to create content or to become a guest blogger yourself.
But what is guest blogging, and how can it benefit you? And how to become a guest blogger?
What is guest blogging?
Guest blogging is a form of collaboration where you invite someone or get invited to write a blog post that will be published on the host website. The writer usually works in the same industry as the business and is an expert on the subjects relevant to the company.
It is a great way to work with others in the same industry for sales collaborations or making use of strategies like affiliate marketing.
What are the benefits of the host?
When you have Guest bloggers that write for your company’s website, it can help you increase your brand awareness. The more relevant and interesting content you have, the more people can identify themselves with your brand. So people rather choose your offer than one of your competitors.
Guest bloggers introduce you to fresh content that brings different points of view and styles. When you seek experts in your field, it helps widen the knowledge of your readers and create authority in your industry to become a leading brand.
You can also boost your SEO and rankings with guest blogging by including good keywords and links so potential customers can find your website.
What are the benefits for the guest blogger?
As a guest blogger, you get the chance to share your ideas and product with a wider audience.
You can build relationships with companies and bloggers, which can lead to more opportunities. When you write content for a bigger organization, you can extend your reach. Especially if the readers like your content, they follow your link to your own website you share in the article and bio details where people can find more about you.
A large readership helps you to grow your own audience. And readers may share your content on social media which can benefit you even more.
It is possible to get paid for your writing efforts. Some even make a good living by simply writing guest blogs. The more guest blog you write, the better known you get, and the more opportunities will follow.
How to become a guest blogger?
When you like to write and consider yourself well-informed in your field, you can get started with guest blogging.
1. Understand your goals
Think about what you want to archive with guest blogging. Do you want to earn money with it? Or do you want to grow your audience and generate leads? If you know your goals, it will help you plan better.
To earn money with your guest post, you can promote your own product, an affiliate product, or write a sponsored review. Of course, you can also write articles for compensation. Maybe by signing up for a freelancer platform where you share expertise and portfolio to get hired to write guest posts. Or a free website like Medium where you can get paid to write articles.
2. Find opportunities
To start guest blogging, you need to search for companies and sites that you think would both benefit you and them. It could be a business that sells products or services you know about a lot of related products to your own offers. Or maybe the organization is in an industry/niche you are experienced in.
Most websites owners that need guest bloggers inform about this fact on their site. So just search in Google either for a specific site + “submit guest post” or specific industries like ai marketing + “submit guest post.”
You can also search for great authors who already share relevant and quality guest posts. Just search for their name + “guest post by” For the Google search, use quotation marks, so Google knows you look for the exact keyword.
You can also join specific groups on platforms like Facebook and Linkedin and search on social media if sites need guest blogs.
Another idea is to select your key competitors and check their backlink profiles on a platform like SEMRush. When your competition publishes a guest post on a good website, they might also publish articles from you.
Make sure the company/site you are interested in is in the same niche, has a similar target audience, and high level of engagement.
3. Research the content of the website
Look and analyze for what audience they write for and what type of content they publish. Compare guest posts with articles by the owner and find out if the blog has a high level of engagement. If not, it is better to avoid sites that don’t have high authority and can’t bring traffic to your website.
Also, explore the authors’ bio to see what type of people they are working with, like freelances, bloggers, or business owners.
4. Write a guest post pitch
If you have discovered some websites and companies, you need to approach them. Send your existing portfolio to show examples of your work. Provide topic ideas that are relevant, and you want to write about also, look that these articles don’t already exist on their website.
Find out if they have submission guidelines and a specific page for guest blogging where they provide important details. Try to avoid any compliances during a partnership and make a quality article to satisfy the host.
5. Creating the guest post
Do your research and write relevant, interesting, and engaging content. Make sure to read through your articles and use a grammar checker like Grammarly, so your articles are high quality. Also, find relevant pictures and graphics you can integrate into your post. If possible, try to link some of your content that is relevant to the article.
Ask the site owner what keyword you should use and if you need to create SEO Title and Description.
6. Include an author’s biography
It not only helps to establish yourself and build trust as an author, you can also include links to your own website and social media profiles. Describe yourself and provide information about your background and experience.
7. Share the blog post
Your post should be engaging, so others share it on social media. You can also post your article on your social media profile to let your audience know you wrote an article on another site.
8. Monitor your results
It is always important how the content is performing. Has it been shared? How many readers viewed the article. Also, look for your own result. Did your website traffic grow, and did you get any leads? Use a tool like SEMRush and Google Analytics to see the shares and traffic of your article.
This way, you know what you can improve and if the chosen company you guest blog is the right one to maybe create more content for.
How to find guest bloggers?
If you need a guest blogger for your own website, there are some ways to find good authors and experts. Similar to the above-mentioned (2. Find Opportunites), you can also use Google and look for authors and contact them through the provided links.
It is also possible to research your competitor’s backlinks again with a tool like SEMRush and find the author who writes for them.
Another way is to find a freelancer on a platform like Fiverr, Iwriter, and so on. Look for a portfolio of content that fit your company in terms of writing style, audience, and industry/niche.
