Guest blogging. Heard of it? We bet you have. We also bet you’ve heard that “guest blogging is dead,” “guest blogging doesn’t work,” or “guest blogging is a waste of time.” Well, it’s not, it does, and it most certainly isn’t. 

Over the years, guest blogging has been used for different reasons and with varying degrees of success. From employing guest blogging to build sneaky links that fool Google to making a quick buck on the side, guest blogging is often misunderstood, yet it has been on many bloggers’ ‘to think about’ lists for some time. 

But guest blogging is back, and people are starting to take notice. Guest blogging can be a powerful tactic for growing your blog, boosting brand awareness, enhancing domain authority, and tapping into new markets – if done right. And for that, you need a guest blogging strategy. 

Most bloggers never get around to guest blogging. Why? Because they don’t know where to start. Many content creators have thought about offering to write posts for other bloggers to publish, and almost every blog owner out there has received an email from a prospective guest blogger offering to write content for their blogs. 

Instead of putting off making contact or sending that email to the junk folder, stop and consider this useful content strategy for a moment. In this article, we unpack guest blogging and check out what it can do for bloggers. We’ll explore the benefits of guest blogging, what they can deliver for your own blog ambitions, and look at how and why you should be doing guest blog posts.  

Guest blogging goes two ways. You can accept guest posts to be published on your blog, or you can write posts that will be published (with credit) on someone else’s blog. Many bloggers choose to do both, but if you want to increase your digital online blog or website footprint, it may be a good idea to start writing guest posts for other bloggers first.

Guest blogging roles and players

Guest bloggers looking to write guest blog posts for another website usually collaborate with others within their own industries or with people who operate in similar fields of expertise.

The goal of guest blogging is to benefit both the guest blogger and the website hosting it, with each party enjoying the value that guest posts bring. Guest bloggers have many reasons for wanting to contribute to other blogs and websites, while bloggers who host guest blogs can enjoy significant benefits of guest blogging for doing so. 

Writing guest posts for other websites

Many businesses and companies use guest bloggers for publishing content they may not be able to create themselves or to elevate their online presence. Other websites and entities need the expertise and opinions of industry experts to add credibility and value to what they’re offering. 

This is one of the reasons guest blogging is so valuable. It’s a flexible tactic that allows you to pick and choose where you’re looking to guest blog and maximize your return for doing so by ensuring your posts are reaching the right people. 

Writing guest blogs for other bloggers

While it may seem strange to be providing other bloggers with content that will likely benefit them, there are many reasons why you would want to do so. As long as the other blog isn’t directly competing with your website or blog, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. 

Guest blogging for someone else’s blog involves reaching out to the blog owner and offering to write content to be posted on their site. You will usually need to demonstrate that your content will provide value to them and ensure that all credit, terms & conditions, and guidelines are agreed upon beforehand. 

The main reason many websites choose to collaborate with guest bloggers is to drive traffic, increase their brand exposure and boost their own blog SEO with more content. But the same goes for the guest blogger. There are more benefits of guest blogging that enrich your site than you’d think.

Let’s look at how developing a guest blogging strategy positively affects your blog, benefiting your efforts and resulting in an uptick in traffic.

Increased brand exposure and reputation over a wider market

With your name on more posts published beyond your blog, you’re likely to gain better online recognition. Whether via links posted to social media, your guest blog posts published on other websites, or by getting people to share your content with others, the more they see your name, the increased likelihood of them remembering you. And more exposure means more traffic. 

More social proof that you’re a topical authority

By allowing you to post your content on their website, others are already indicating that they recognize and respect your thoughts and opinions enough to publish them on their websites. This proves to the online community that you have some heightened degree of understanding around the topic – boosting that all-important topical authority. 

Opportunities to develop mutually beneficial relationships with other bloggers

While this may seem like a marginal benefit, in fact, it’s a powerful one. By engaging with and collaborating with other bloggers and website owners, you’re growing your network, building important connections, and establishing your presence within the online community.

Gain experience and confidence around sub-topics you wouldn’t normally blog about

Guest posting allows you to write and publish content you may normally not be comfortable posting on your own blog or website. Whether because it is targeted at other niches out of your comfort zone or you’re concerned it doesn’t align with your brand, guest posting allows you to flex your creative muscles and test new waters.

And here’s the biggest benefit of them all:

You can include backlinks in your guest blog posts that redirect traffic back to your site

This can be a risky tactic. But, if done correctly, in line with the best practices and guidelines as listed by Google, you can strategically place backlinks that take readers back to your blog or website. 

Building a quality backlink profile is one of the most potent advantages you can have on the SEO front and is essential to ranking well on SERPs.

The process of building an effective guest blogging strategy can be separated into four phases:

• Planning – where you examine if you’ve got the time and capacity to guest blog
• Research – which involves doing some exploring around your guest blogging stakeholders
• Outreach – while connecting with potential guest blog hosts, and 
• Writing – along with submitting and promoting your guest blogging efforts. 

Here, we’ve outlined these phases and included the steps and actions you’ll need to take before diving in and getting your guest blogging activities up and running.

During this phase, you’ll need to look at yourself and whether you can actually take on the demands of guest blogging.

Next, you’ll need to do a little research on the guest blogging landscape. Take your goals and objectives and use them as target points when investigating the guest blogging opportunities and topics with the most potential. 

Once you’ve identified the right target audiences, blog topics, and potential guest blogging host partners, it’s time to pull the trigger and make contact with them. But before you do, you’ll need to do your homework and prepare to wow them. 

On to the main event – the act of guest blogging. Once you’re in and ready to start writing, get to work crafting original, compelling content that will keep the host coming back for more. 

Ask the host if you can include a guest blogger bio with your name, either at the top of the post or at the end. This bio is an important guest blogging strategy component and will tell readers who you are and should contain a direct link to your own blog or website and your About Me page.