Anyone knee deep in the SEO or content marketing world already knows all about what guest blogging is and how it can help a website prosper. For those of you that haven't heard one of 2013's hottest buzzwords, guest blogging is the method of contributing content on other websites that relate to your industry. Why would you write content for website's other than your own? To build lasting relationships within your community, expand your brand awareness and gain a high-quality link to your site, which in return assists with boosting SEO.
I write a weekly blog post called "This Week In Internet Marketing," where I happily provide backlinks to my favourite online marketing news sources. While I'm cruising through my feed.ly stream for trending/newsworthy topics of the week, I frequently see articles written by Amanada DiSilvestro from HigherVisibility.
She contributes guest blog posts to a few of my go-to news resources such as:
Not just anyone can get on these type of quality sites. It takes a combination of quality writing, coming up with thought provoking ideas and the ability to initiate a meaningful relationship. This is why I decided to ask Amanda for some insight on how to be the best guest blogger!
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Interview with Ann Smarty Owner of @Myblogguest
Interview with Yehoshua Coren @AnalyticsNinja
Below you'll find a short Q&A that will help you have a better understand of what to be aware of when guest blogging:
Q. How do you choose the blogs you want to contribute to?
I look for a few factors when choosing a blog--I make sure that the blog is current and updated (I like to see that they are regularly publishing fresh content), and PR does play a factor for me. I understand that PR is "dying" in a sense and truthfully that number doesn't matter, but at first glance I like to take a look to see what the PR is and if it is lower than a PR 3, but the site is still well-made and managed, I write it down and come back to it a little bit later.
Q. How do you approach editors you don’t have a relationship with?
The best case scenario is when the blog has a "guest post" tab with guidelines that tell you exactly how to contact the editor. In this case I just follow the directions! If not and there is an email address, I typically send out an email that explains who I am, that I'm looking to guest blog, and a list of places where I've guest blogged in the past. I also like to have an article ready to go to attach to the email that I think would work for their audience, but let the editor know that I'm happy to write something else and discuss other ideas if that's best.
Q. Do you have any strategies for coming up with constant unique content (that you can share)?
For me, this is the hardest part about blogging and I struggle with it all the time. What I do is I have a list going where I write down ideas that come to me as I'm researching/writing another article. Sometimes I'll read something and I won't understand it, so I'll write it down and then come back to it later to see if it's something I can write a blog about.
Q. Do you have any advice for people that have their content rejected from editors?
That's always tough, but I think it's important to not get angry and then just move on from that editor. See if the editor would be open to you writing something else. I've found that even though my first articles sometimes gets rejected, the editor is willing to try another one. If not, don't sweat it--it happens!
Q. What’s your advice for dealing with tough editors?
All you can do when an editor is really tough is listen to him/her and make the changes they want to your article. Of course, you have to want to make these changes and if not, I wouldn't argue with him/her but rather just respectfully take your article somewhere else. Another piece of advice: Put all of your effort into what that editor is saying and don't drag on the process. In the past I've tried to save these situations until last and found that was a bad idea
Q. Do have any views on Matt Cutts’ towards blogging?
I always listen to what Matt Cutts says even if it's not directly related to blogging. He offers a lot of good tips about how to keep a website successful, and as a blogger you're a part of that process even if it isn't your own site. Pay attention to what he's noticing to be a problem and then figure out how you can make sure you're not adding to that problem for a website.
Q. What are some guest-blogging faux pas that we should all avoid?
Let's say that you sent an article to a blog and it's been 3 weeks and you haven't heard anything back. In the past I would see these cases and assume I'm being ignored, so I'd send the article somewhere else. In 90% of cases this is no problem, but every once and a while you might send the article to one blogger and then miraculously that first blog publishes your article, and then you look terrible to both blogs. Always always send an email to that first blog and say you have to send the article somewhere else, even if it's been months since you've heard from them.
There you have it! Now go... go be the best guest blogger you can be. If you have any other questions you'd like to ask please post them in the comments below.
If you’re interested in reading more SEO expert industry interviews from TechWyse, please visit SEO Expert Interviews by TechWyse Internet Marketing.
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Thank you Vanessa! I am a pro blogger and often give opportunities to writers to guest blog on my blog magazine. I say that, but I have never been totally knowledgeable about guest blogging as I have never contributed to other blogs. But thank you for sharing! xx
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Hello…
Thank you for this valuable post , never knew that there are these many points which have to be kept in mind while doing guest blogger. I have started taking guest blogging much seriously now after reading this post. Now I can surely be the best guest blogger.
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Jeff, I’m glad Amanda’s advice helped you out!
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This is a very detailed article indeed!
But with Google catching on and realizing that guest blogging is often done for the sole purpose of SEO and with so many blogs carrying low quality posts, I wonder whether it will be the victim of one of the next updates.
Only time will tell, I suppose!
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Nicely written. I will be sure to share this with all bloggers and writers that I know.
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Thanks Daniel! 🙂