As you had learned in my previous SEO guide link building is an essential method to increase your website traffic.
And increasing website traffic is the goal for every blogger striving to grow their audience.
A wonderful method for link building is guest posting.
Be ready to learn everything you need to know on how to use guest posting for link building:
Table of Contents
How to use Guest Posting for Link Building
In case that you thought this page would be dead: How dare you ?! DEFINITELY NOT. I admit it has been a while since my last post.
Why?
Well, I was on vacations for 3 weeks!!! And I really wanted to relax during this time so I left my laptop at home.
But now after 3 weeks of pure relaxation, I am back with new insightful SEO content for you.
Be ready for fresh and regular posts on how to build a successful online business!
Let us dive into today’s exciting topic being link building through guest posting:
Importance of Off-Page SEO
In general, you can take several modifications on your website so that search engines such as Google and Bing rank you higher in their search results. We call this SEO (search engine optimization)
At its core, SEO consists of two key components being on- and off-page SEO.
While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing elements within your website, such as content and meta tags, off-page SEO involves actions taken outside of your website to improve its search engine rankings.
As you’ll learn in a minute, guest posting is highly relevant to off-page SEO. So let us take a closer look at the concept of off-page SEO:
The principle of off-page SEO builds on so-called backlinks, also known as inbound links.
I’m pretty sure that you have already heard of inbound links. These are links directing to your website from external sources.
Backlinks serve as a vote of confidence from other websites, indicating to search engines that your content is valuable and worthy of reference.
Benefits of Backlinking
Why is it worth to put effort into building backlinks?
Let us break down the key benefits of building inbound links to your website:
- Website Authority
Google likes backlinks. That’s a fact.
Why?
Search engines consider backlinks as one of the primary factors when determining the authority and relevance of a website for particular search queries.
So once your page has a good number of quality backlinks, search engines will start ranking your website higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Enhanced Visibility
Building backlinks comes close to spreading your footprints all around the internet.
Each backlink acts as a pathway for users to discover your content, leading to potentially higher traffic and engagement.
- Credibility
When reputable and authoritative websites link to your content, it signals to search engines and users alike that your website is trustworthy and credible.
This can have a positive impact on expanding your audience. This is because people who trust you will most likely follow you in the long term.
What is Guest Posting?
The concept of guest posting is pretty simple. Imagine you are a guest speaker at someone else’s party and leaving your business card behind. That’s pretty much the whole concept behind it.
In more precise words: Guest posting refers to writing blog posts or articles for other websites in your niche. Instead of being paid for that, you usually get the opportunity to link back to your own website.
This way you can build links back to your own page.
Why is Guest Posting so Powerful?
Guest posting is a proven off-page SEO technique to increase your website traffic.
Let me tell you why:
Guest posting allows you to earn quality backlinks from authoritative websites.
And as we just learned before, building backlinks leads to your page being ranked higher in search results and increases your visibility across the web.
Here is a more precise breakdown why guest posting is so powerful:
- Backlink Acquisition
The primary benefit of guest posting is the opportunity to earn quality backlinks from reputable websites.
These inbound links significantly boost your website’s authority and search engine rankings. Sounds good, right?
- Increased Exposure
Also, guest posting exposes your brand, content, and expertise to a new audience.
By convincing the audience of your host website of yourself, you can attract more visitors to your own site.
- Networking Opportunities
Guest Posting also offers you another unique opportunity:
Building relationships with other bloggers, influencers, and industry experts.
These connections can lead to collaboration opportunities, further expanding your reach.
How to Use Guest Posting for Link Building
Now that you hopefully know why guest posting is such a powerful tool, you surely want to know how it is done properly.
Let’s breakdown the whole process on how to use guest posting for link building:
1. Finding Guest Post Opportunities
You want to choose websites that fit the following criteria:
- relevant to your niche
- decent page views and active readers
- social media presence ( so the owner promotes your content)
Finding opportunities fitting these points can be challenging.
BUT! There are great little strategies to find what you are looking for.
What strategies exactly?
Well, here you go!
1. Google
Of course Google has to be in the list of the best ways to find guest post opportunities. For me, Google is always a great choice for everything.
So open up Google and search for something similar to these keywords:
- “guest post”
- “submit guest post”
- “guest post by”
- “guest post guidelines”
- “write for us”
The keywords ideally lead you to websites that accept guest posts.
2. Competitor Backlinks
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Regardless what niche or industry your website deals with, there will be always at least a handful of competitors.
In my niche (online business, financial independence) for example are a ton of people I have to compete with.
That won’t be different in your case.
So what can you do?
Detect your competitors and try to analyze their backlinks. Chances are high that they have at least one blog post directing back to their website.
Yes, I know… Backlink analysis sounds like something very time consuming.
But it isn’t!
There are great tools out there tailored exactly for this task.
A great tool in this context is Open Site Explorer.
With this tool you just need a couple of minutes to detect every single backlink of your competitor including every guest posts they have ever written.
You now know where you can submit guest posts.
So in terms of finding guest posts opportunities you really don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Trying to be unique and better than all of your competitors becomes relevant, when ultimately writing your guest posts!
2. The Right Preparation
We don’t want to directly jump from finding a guest post opportunity to writing your guest post.
Why?
Well, preparation is at least as important as your final post content.
Let’s have a look at what you have to do beforehand:
1. Research Your Target Website:
That’s maybe something you also thought of when preparing a guest post.
Analyzing the content of your target website is infinitely important, as it determines, whether or not your post is going to be successful.
In this initial analysis it is key to define your audience and to find out their preferences as well.
Look for:
- target audience: To what kind of people does the target website speak to?(young, old, beginners, advanced, businesses,…)
- language and style: Is there any specific language or style used? (humorous and informal or neutral and formal)
- type of content: Is there any preferred content type visible? (tutorials, articles, interviews, graphics, lists, …)
Once you detect a few of these things, you can try to implement those in your guest post later on.
This way, you ensure that the majority of your “guest post audience” resonate with your post. And that’s what you ultimately want!
Be aware that these key elements don’t differ too much from your personal writing style, so that you don’t have to pretend to be someone you are simply not. New people who might decide to follow your blog after they read your guest post, might be disappointed then.
So being yourself and sticking to your style is equally important. Choose your target website accordingly.
2. Checking other Guest Post’s Performances
Before putting effort into filling your post with valuable content, it is advisable, to look how good other guest posts did so far.
Why is this step so important?
Let me answer this question with another question.
What if the audience only tunes in for the blog owner?
You will barely feel any benefits from your guest post!
That’s why it is worth to look at other guest posts. Do they have similar comments, interactions and social sharing compared to blog owner content? Try to find this out, before crafting a guest post for your target website.
3. Personalize Your Email
After having checked all of the points we have just spoked about, it is now time to get in touch with the website owner.
The best advice I can give you on this is: AVOID being basic!
Please, don’t start your email with “Dear madam/sir” or “to the website owner of”.
With a bit more effort, I’m sure you will find the website owner’s name on his/her website.
Use this name to start your email. It will signal the owner that you have dealt with the website more thoroughly.
Also, isn’s it just so much nicer to address you with your name instead of “Dear Sir…”?
In your email you want to convince the website owner of yourself.
Start by introducing yourself as a blogger/business owner. To do this suitably, look at other guest blogger’s bio on your target website.
This way you get an idea of what type of bloggers the website owner may prefer.
Fill the rest of your email with evidences why you are a great and valuable blogger.
Be sure to link to your own blog and other guest posts you have written so far.
Advice Choose posts that have performed the best ;).
End your email with some nice words and make sure to provide your contact information.
3. Crafting an Effective Guest Post
Writing an effective guest post pretty much comes down to one key element: insightful and valuable content.
Why?
Guest posting is not just about slapping links back to your blog.
Don’t get me wrong: guest posts are great to build these backlinks (that’s today’s topic), but it is also effective in convincing your target website’s audience from your content.
With your guest post you basically fight for a new audience to follow your blog.
This is why you should use all of your tools and expertise to craft a helpful and valuable guest post.
Speaking of effectiveness, you should know what works best on your target website by now.
Remember your preparation? You should now use your knowledge about style, language and target audience to craft a great guest post.
In your post, make sure to include both external and internal links to further content. As you learned in this SEO guide, those links are important for a good performing post.
At the end of your guest post, include a call to action. Something like “Isn’t it a controversial topic let me know your thoughts down below”.
The more interactions your post generates, the better.
Very important: You should never try to advertise yourself in your guest post. It is not about you, but rather about the audience’s needs. Keep that in mind.
Where you have enough time to talk about yourself and your business, is in your author bio.
4. Writing an Awesome Author Bio
In your author bio you now have the space to express why you are great and worth to be followed.
1. Step: Give your audience a brief introduction to yourself, your experiences and your motivation behind your blog or business. Same thing here: Try to be yourself!
2. Step: Include a backlink to your website (here you can finally earn your backlinks)
3. Step: Link to your social profiles if you want to grow your audience there.
4. Step (optional): Create a landing page you direct the audience to. This can be a page that describes your website ideally or a product/ service page.
5. Tracking Results
After having written and published your guest post, you of course want to see some results.
With guest posts you ultimately aim at increasing your website traffic.
To measure this, the most proven and popular tool is Google Analytics.
In case that you are not familiar with Google Analytics: Google Analytics is the go-to platform for checking your website data including traffic, sessions and user relevant information.
Final Advice
It can be challenging to write time consuming guest posts and maintaining your own website content fresh.
Therefore, it is my advice to reverse the whole idea of guest posting.
How?
Send an invitation to the website’s owner you have written the guest post on, and ask for a guest post on your page.
This way it is easier to keep your readers satisfied with new regular content.
The Takeaway
At the end of each of my posts I provide a short takeaway. Just to make sure you remember the things you learned today! 🙂
Writing posts or articles for other websites – these are guest posts.
Guest Posting is a powerful tool to increase your website traffic.
Guest posting gives you the opportunity to showcase your expertise to a new audience as well as gaining quality backlinks.
Getting in touch with other bloggers in niche, also helps in building relationships.
Finding a guest post opportunity is the first step.
Use Google and search for keywords related to guest posting. Also, analyze your competitors to find proven guest post opportunities.
Prepare your guest post by analyzing your target website. Try to convince the website owner with a personal email outlining why your guest post should be accepted.
When crafting your guest post be as valuable and insightful as possible.
Make sure to include a link back to your website in your author bio.
Direct the audience either to a product/ service page or a page that explains your website/ business ideally.
Use Google Analytics to check your traffic growth. After a while you should clearly see any improvements.
Final Thoughts
I think we agree on that: guest posting is a valuable tool for boosting your website’s SEO and getting more traffic.
By writing helpful articles for other websites and including links back to your own site, you can improve your search engine rankings and reach a wider audience.
Remember to focus on quality, relevance, and building relationships with other bloggers. Your ultimate goal is to help your audience. Write your content accordingly.
Now get out there and write your first guest post. I’m sure you will see traffic improvements any time soon!
