This guest post is by Aman Basanti of ageofmarketing.com.
If you have been in the blogging game for any number of months, you already know about the power of guest blogging in generating traffic and exposure to your blog. Yet there are new bloggers out there who hear about the power of guest posting, but still do not understand why it is so effective.
Image copyright Franz Pfluegl - Fotolia.com
As one reader commented on my recent piece on guest posting, “You people are always advocating guest posting. But I am not convinced about guest posting. Can you help me in this case? Why should we submit our best work to someone else?”
It is a valid question and as there are always new people entering the world of blogging, one that is worth answering for the blogging community at large.
Accordingly, here are three reasons why you should submit some of your best posts as guest posts.
1. It increases the chance of your guest post being accepted
Here is what a lot of new bloggers don’t know. A-list blogs get a lot of guest post submissions every week. On average, an a-list blog like ProBlogger might get around 30 guest post submissions. In comparison, most blogs only post five or ten posts a week, which means 20 posts get rejected.
If you are sending in your weak posts, chances are your post will get rejected. By sending in your top posts, you increase your chances of getting published on an A-list blog.
2. You’ll get quality “do follow” backlinks
Guest posting on A-list blogs gets you high quality backlinks that help you improve your rankings in the search engines.
Now, you might say, “But I’m getting backlinks through the comments section. Why would I go to all that effort of writing and submitting guest posts when I can easily get those backlinks through the comments section?”
The answer is that links in the comments sections of the major blogs are “no-follow,” which means that they count for a lot less (some say not at all) than the “do follow” links that you get in your by line or author box alongside a guest post.
Also, links higher up on the page carry more SEO benefit. As SEOMoz wrote in a post on SEO, “We find that links higher up in the HTML code of a page seem to pass more ranking ability/value than those lower down.” As most guest posts include a back link at the start and at the end of the post, it further magnifies the power of the backlinks.
Combine these two factors and it is easy to see that the backlinks from guest posting are far more valuable than those in the comments section.
3. Attract high-converting traffic
Traffic from guest posts is some of the highest converting traffic you can get. Here are the subscriber opt-in rates for my free ebook page:
- Google Adwords (Banner ads on the content network): 5% opt-in rate (I know I have some work to do on this, but still)
- StumbleUpon: 0.5% opt-in rate
- Guest posting: 40% opt-in rate.
Traffic from guest posting is, hands down, the highest converting traffic you can get. Also, on a big site, the chance of your post going viral is high. It is simple maths. More readers equal more people sharing the post. The more people sharing your post the higher the chance it will be seen by an influencer, further increasing its chances of going viral.
My post on The Warren Buffett Method for Building a Successful Blog, for example, went viral because it was posted on ProBlogger. That post earned me 50 subscribers, showed that I was a good writer, and put me on the map of other bloggers in my niche.
In other words, I got a lot more value from posting it on ProBlogger than I would have had I posted it on my own blog.
Conclusion
Unless you already have a popular blog, there is no reason why you should not submit your best posts as guest posts on major sites. More traffic, better search engine rankings, and brand exposure are some of the key benefits.
Plus, it gives you a bit of kick to get so many comments on a piece you wrote, which can motivate you to keep blogging so that one day you too will get that many comments on your own blog.
Aman Basanti writes about the psychology of buying and teaches you how you can use the principles of consumer psychology to boost your sales. Visit www.Ageofmarketing.com/free-ebook to get his new e-book – Marketing to the Pre-Historic Mind: How the Hot New Science of Behavioural Economics Can Help You Boost Your Sales – for FREE.
I think this is a really important part of guest posting. Guest posting is almost become the new article marketing, with everybody talking about how you need to guest post to get the link juice to your site, but really it should be about much more than that. You guest post is the first impression anyone has your site and what you write. Like with all first impressions important to put your best foot forward. It is far better to really impress somebody with a guest post and make that first impression strong rather than simply having another repetitive piece of content.
I agree with your post, but also guest posting gives you exposure to how people react to your writing, as well as your “voice”.
Keep up the good work, bro.
Hi Aman,
First of all, thanks for writing this piece.
I think, this is one of the important parts in blog growth.
I thank Problogger for publishing guest posts regularly. It’s a WIN WIN situation.
Avadhut
Valid argument. I’m just bummed copyblogger isnt accepting guest posts right now! Or, at any rate, not mine.
Hello Aman,
Funny, I saw this post, I don’t even remember where, I shared it in a Facebook group about blogging. 2 of my friends there came and commented. One of them said: “Philippe, you haven’t commented?” Duh! I was too much in a hurry to share it.
I was invited as a guest blogger a few weeks ago, and I remember I did take the time to write as good a post as possible. I also remember I promoted that blog post like crazy.
Thanks for making me realize the importance of being a guest blogger. I sort of knew it is a great opportunity, but I didn’t quite understand why.
Philippe
Aman,
Thanks for your great tips.Guest posting is really great way to build links and get real traffic.
~Mir Imran Elahi
You shared really great tips Aman …
Agree with your words in point #2 that links higher up in HTML code pass more value
This is very interesting Aman. It is very true that syndicating will revert traffic back to your blog and that is why it is important to submit articles to other platforms.
I can certainly see the argument that having a top site publish your guest post is very much like getting a great endorsement from a heavy influencer. I’m new to blogging and excited about finding my voice and style and their can be a real validation for you and potential readers that an established and skilled writer has found quality in your writing.
Good points,Great tips,Highly educative post.
Aman,
Great points here. I’ve never done guest blogging before, but I have read about it. In the near future, I will make it a point to get this done. I also like your idea about providing your best information. This makes sense. No ones wants junkie posts on their blog. So give them your best and stand above the crowd.
Thanks for sharing.
Chuck
All points are valid and more and more bloggers are realising the importance of guest-posting. I think once I manage to create enough posts on my blog, I will try guest-posting on popular blogs too.
I totally relate to the fact that you have to do stuff like this. The better posts that you provide others, the more likely you are going to get the traffic and attention that you want.
Agree totally, Aman.
Though, a while back I questioned the benefits of guest posting, these days I see it as one of the best ways to get a blog(website) noticed.
To not put the best(or at least the higher quality) posts as the guest posts, would probably be counterproductive. If the quallity of the guest posts were poor(Or worse) this could be quite bad for both the guest poster, and the owner of the Blog(site) the post was submitted to.
I have not started guest posting as of yet. Though once my knowledge and writing skills improve considerably, I will dive into it with gusto.
I’ve done a number of guest posts for popular blogs (mainly on leadership) and agree that it’s a fantastic way of getting your name out to a wide audience. Of course the difficulty if you’re not relatively established is getting the popular blog to accept a guest entry from you. Sometimes it can be a chicken and egg situation whereby a popular blog won’t accept you if you’re not a big name, but writing guest articles is a great way of becoming a big name.
Guest blogging has been a useful tool to get a bit of authority but coming from a writing background and having a website you would want to monitor the contents of the post itself to see whether it digresses from the overall suitablity to your website.
I agree with you actually. Guest post should be the best entry that ever writter. Brilliant ideas and writing do not always come everyday. Save it for the best, ie the best blog that can be shared with.
Adi, you just hit the button on the head. That’s the “catch 22” so many deal with and is a not so easy fact to overcome, but it can be done. Just takes a little more patience, perseverance and determination. All in all, this is a great post, filled with loads of useful information, so thanks!
Thank you for more specific help. Perhaps I need to guest post on other poet’s sites. Many writers write about the process and this brings authors, I’m reaching to find the rare poetry reader.Banding together makes sense. Thank you
In most cases you don’t know if a post that your write will be awesome or just ok. You should invest your time in writing the articles even if they are for guest posts or for your own blog. If you pay good attention they will both be good, but the idea behind will make them awesome, and this is something you don’t know before you publish it.
100% agree with your point Aman. To publish great informative posts on high ranked resources – it is the key to success. In addition to high quality backlinks, you will get relevant traffic that leads to conversion.
Thanks Aman, I really enjoyed reading your post. It was clear, concise, and very useful to me! I didn’t realize the power of guest posts for creating a stronger following, and better traffic. It’s now much higher on my priority list!
Great one that tells the sweet taste of guest posting. I’ve never guest post anywhere. But I’m hoping to do. So this post also added some valuable info for me. Thanks for it. Getting traffic is one of the big hopes of a blogger. So after designing the blog professionally It’s time to guest post on Blogs Like Problogger, CopyBlogger, Johnchow etc.
Thanks!
Shyam
Hi! I found out that guest posting seems to drive the most traffic,I have tried reddit and stumbleupon with no success.
Great article!
This is really awesome tips for me because i am going to start guest blog for backlinks. And for me its really useful article. Thanks.
Great post! I’m now more then ever determine to master guest posts.