Quality content is crucial to search engine optimisation, if you’ve been reading this SEO blog for any time, you will know that I have tried to reinforce this point at every possible opportunity. One area I haven’t covered in as much detail is how guest blogging specifically can be used to improve the impact of a search engine optimisation campaign. If you can guest blog for influential people within an industry, and provide them with great content that is going to be of value to their site visitors, then there is a great chance that they will start linking to your website.
Where do I guest blog?
Influential people within an industry will often have very busy calendars, meaning they might not have the time to update the content on their website as regularly as they should, or they can’t invest enough time to really produce a quality piece of work. This means that they are often very welcome to people offering to write guest blog posts for them, as long as they are able to display they are capable of writing engaging, original articles or blogs.
To locate these influential people, your best bet is to use either Google, or Twitter to find the most visible blogs or bloggers that are relevant to the industry your business is in. A quick glance at the blog on their website should reveal whether or not they allow guest bloggers to post, and if they do, shoot a friendly, non-salesy email their way asking if you can write for them. Never send an automated email that is completely void of personality, because this will only result with your appeal being turned away by the site owner.
What should my guest blogs be about?
Again, use Google to try and establish what other bloggers are writing about, and focus use that as a basis for your guest blog. However, more importantly, always utilise your own individual expertise within an industry to find the best blog topic, don’t always rely on others. It’s also important not just to produce platitudes of what other bloggers have already said, or simply to rewrite their content. If you want to write a valuable guest blog, it needs to display your expertise, and present a story from a point of view that has not yet been covered in the industry yet, or at least, hasn’t been covered in detail.
Other advice I would give is to read the guest blogs that are already on the site, and look for common themes in the tone, and the subject of the writing. Also, perhaps your guest post could be a response to something that has already been written, this is particularly effective if you can write a response to an already popular blog post. Obviously, before you submit your guest post, make sure that you have proofread it carefully and cut out any sloppy grammatical or spelling mistakes that could detract from the quality of the blog post.
I always think it’s best to prepare the article before you email the influencer you are approaching about the guest post. This way they can make a quick informed decision about whether or not to allow your post to go live, and they won’t feel like you are wasting their time.
Author
Austin K is an outreach expert and influencer relationship manager at Megri Blogger Outreach Agency who promotor brands, business and website owners through outreach, partnerships, and networking with bloggers, Influencers and Vlogger. He writes on topics on retail,money, travel, wellness, education and business.
