Is Guest Posting the Most Logical Approach?

78February 26, 2013 by

Getting your site or blog noticed when you first start can be an mind boggling task.  In fact, this is the number one reason why people start blogging and simply quit.  Why?  Because, they are getting no traffic and feel they are expending all their effort on writing and getting no satisfaction from it.  This would be similar to writing in a journal and asking your journal to answer you back.  It’s probably not going to happen. If you get it to happen let me know!Is guest blogging the best approach

Way back quite sometime ago, I remember wanting to be successful online really bad.

Tried everything from Paul and Angela’s backlinks (no longer effective), forum marketing, article marketing, video marketing, blog commenting, press releases, etc.

Nothing seemed to be nearly as powerful as guest posting. Why? Because, I didn’t get a lot of engagement with some of those tactics.

On top of that, a lot of those strategies are very time consuming.  However, I am not stating that you shouldn’t mix up your strategies because they can be effective as well.  I found out something about myself though.  I really liked guest posting because I never knew who I was going to meet and so often people would ask me to post on their blogs after they saw another guest post that wrote.

How awesome is that?

It’s About Authority Not Quantity For Guest Posting

But, here is the thing – you need to guest post on authority sites in your niche. I remember back in the day I really knew nothing about blogging.  Then one day I met Ms. Ileane and pitched an idea for a guest post through MyBlogGuest.  I remember this clearly because it was my first time I ever used the system and after sending what seemed like millions of emails, someone actually said to me, “Why don’t you check out the popular guest blogging service called MyBlogGuest if you are trying to find guest blogging opportunities.”  I did and that’s honestly how I discovered the benefits of guest posting and landed my first guest post on Basic Blog Tips.

A lot of persistence combined with mindlessly working until something clicked.  I remember at the time I had no clue Ms. Ileane ran a very successful blog. I was strictly SEO at the time.  But, I noticed something big.  I got a ton of traffic from my guest post on her blog.  Still not knowing that she was a very successful WordPress blogger and had a great following and implemented tons of social media and networked her blog exceptionally well; it overwhelmed me.

Now let’s fast forward to the present day. I’m no longer just an SEO (madman, well that is debatable), but social media expert (somewhat), blogger, and full time affiliate marketer.  It’s really crazy how stuff worked out!  But, who cares about me right?

Guest Posting Tips – Here Are Some Effective Tactics

  • Go to Fiverr.com and find someone that has a SEOmoz account (I have one so I just use mine, but unless you want to pay $100 a month the 5 dollar trick works).  You can have them run a backlink report on authority sites in your niche.  To find out who is an authority check the Alexa Rank and take note of how many comments they get on each of their post.  Make sure you sort the list by domain authority and contact everyone that is relevant in your niche.  It might take a couple days to get a response, but it will happen.  Also, don’t use Fiverr for backlink building – they are junk!
  • Once you have done your first guest posting post ask for referrals.  This is a great way to get more authority sites in which you can post on.  I can’t count how many times I have done this and it’s true the better you network online the easier life online is.  Keep a Excel spreadsheet of your contacts for these guest post and don’t be scared to send an email once in awhile to see if they have any referrals.  Over time you will be surprised on how many contacts you have.
  • I take it one step further once I make a guest post.  When I see all the comments as long as they leave a quality comment I will stop by their blog and leave a quality comment.  Not a comment that is like wow I really liked this post or something (we all know when we see that they probably didn’t read the post and just want a backlink).  If their blog is relevant to mine and I like it I usually approach them with a guest post idea or better yet ask them what they want you to write about.  It’s all about adding value to their site, not yourself!
  • Now back to MyBlogGuest.com, post a thread on the forums for people to write on your blog. I know it sounds weird on why I am doing this.  But, have ideas of stuff you want to cover and ask them to write an article on that.  Once, they do and you go over it and put your own special touch to it then ask them for referrals, and since you helped them they are more willing to help you with your guest posting.  It works great and I love this tactic.
  • Some newer tactics that people might have heard of is using Triberr.com. They are a goldmine for finding guest posting opportunities. True, they are a blogging syndication site, but they do have a section called bonfires. These are simply a fancy word for people that gather around to network with other likeminded bloggers. What you’re going to look for is the section called “looking for guest authors”. Over the past months I have came into contact with various people that I would have never been able to reach via email.
  • Another site I am loving right now is BlogEngage. Not only do they syndicate your content automatically, but its like a mini network where you can do a blog search and send personal messages to people. What I do is approach people via personal message and ask for a guest posting opportunity. Just like Triberr.com this is more personal that filling out content forms in hopes of getting a guest posting on authority sites.
  • BizSugar is another site; just like the two above they are a great place to syndicate your content. However, I have found that if you actively participate on their website you can really make some strong connections which would be very hard to obtain without their website. It’s all about making relationships with people in order to provide them with quality content, in which you’ll receive an awesome link to your website.

[box type="info"]Once you land a great guest posting spot, you need to promote your post. Here’s a video from Ms. Ileane to show you the best way to Promote Your Guest Post on Comment Luv Blogs![/box]

Really, the possibilities are endless and if you work hard at it you will see excellent results and no longer stress over a blog or website that isn’t ever getting noticed.   Lastly, make sure you are writing awesome content for their blog.  Don’t send them some rehashed article on how to do article marketing or something lame like that.  Make it interesting and use your own voice.

What all tips and tricks can you add to getting good quality guest post? Also, what do you find the most effective ways to get started with guest posting?

About 

This guest post was written by Garen Arnold who runs Dead Dog Design Inc. He has over 4 years of internet marketing experience and runs a special guest posting service that caters to finding good sites to guest post on. Lot's of other companies have tried this and I pride myself on building strong backlinks to my client's site.

78 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  1. Hi Garen,
    Good to see you here with solid content bro

    I totally agree with one point you made – It’s not about quantity of guest posts but quality. Your articles on 5 high authority sites are worth more than 10 on some starters’ blogs.

    Yes, BasicBlogTips is really a site to guest post on. I remember my two posts here have fetched a lot of traffic to my blog.

    Thanks too for mentioning triberr. I’m just still getting into this tool. I’m looking into the guest posting aspect of it as you explained.

    Thanks for the value

    • Hey Enstine,

      Yeah at first Triberr seemed pretty confusing to me. However, I found it easier to use. Look on YouTube there are some great videos that show you all the features of Triberr. I am considering doing a paid account do you happen to have one? If so do you find it worth it?

      • I’ve agree that Triberr can bring good amount of traffic. Make sure when you make new Tribe you need to invite new members as much as possible.

  2. Good post and you make a very strong point: “..you need to guest post on authority sites in your niche.” Guest posting on non-authority sites will probably just generate a few backlinks and very little traffic. Fiverr is a great place, but there’s also lots of junk there. But it should be possible to find a few sellers who can provide you with valuable backlinks. Sometimes it can be helpful to buy a bunch of backlinks to your 2. tier.

    • Hey Rick,

      I do agree that Fiverr.com has a lot of junk. However, this is just a theory but I believe the crummy links to tier 2 are losing their effectiveness. Usually, just post on good blogs and they have a lot of social media which I feel is best vs going out and buying a ton of links to tier 2.

  3. Guest posting is a great technique when starting a new project. In this manner, we can make a name for ourselves by guest posting on popular blogs in our niche. I we focus on providing quality content, search engines will really love it.

  4. i agree with you thatIn fact, this is the number one reason why people start blogging and simply quit.BasicBlogTips is really a site to guest post on. so thank a lot for share your article.

  6. At this point, I have been doing nothing but guest posting and then social. I agree that it is really tough to make some of the old article marketing, directory submission, etc work. It can, but I found it much more time efficient to guest post on high quality, related blogs as you suggested.

  7. Good post Garen,

    The most important consideration for building a backlink should be TRAFFIC.

    This is what I learned from starting out trying to build tons of backlinks.

    In my opinion it’s better to build up referral traffic first then worry about SEO type stuff later.

    • Hey Darnell,

      I agree focus on building referral traffic and mix up anchors more than ever now. Makes no sense to just focus on SEO now as Google rolls out changes that axe complete whitehat sites.

  8. I know this is cliche, but I have to quote specially after reading this ” It is not about the quantity, it is all about the quality”
    Doing link building, SEO, SMO etc have nothing wrong with them, but when you engage the audience through writing in a place were it is appreciated, it is pure magic and guest blogging is surely a way of doing this.
    This is just Pitch perfect post!!!
    Thanks for share like always…

    • Hey Rashmi,

      Thanks for the compliments. It is like magic if you guest post on various authority sites. In time it will build a lot of natural backlinks to your website or blog :)

      • Hi Garen,
        Yeah, rather than using black hat techniques and filler content on website or blog, commenting is a great way to not just get the “link juice”, but also socialize with fellow bloggers.

  9. Ya it is the right and most preferable way to get visitors and at the same time legal backlink that can be useful to increase our pagerank. Video demonstration is understandable.

  10. Great post,

    guest blogging is really a good opportunity to promote your own blog and rise authorship. Methods you are describing are really good, but in my opinion building relations on BizSugar is quite hard. On Triberr and BlogEngage it’s much easier.

    Best Regards
    Mark

    • Hey Mark,

      I have to disagree saying it harder to connect with people on BizSugar. I have just picked up the phone a number of times and called people. :)

  11. Guest posting is sure shot approach to get good amount of backlinks, but sometimes people just overdo it which never helps anyone,so it’s better to get links frm only high quality blogs.

  12. Good content. I believe that Google is trying to tell people to earn links instead of creating them. This way natural link building and guest posting has a future. Generally; posting on sites not full of automatically created junk will increase ranking. Online magazines, journals and blogs with high page rank with manual review are the future.

  13. Guest posting started to be really hot topic these days to discuss. Guest posting has huge benefits to offer, and “seo experts” are not lagging behind to exploit it. Many speculations are audible that the next Google attack will be towards the blogs having guest posts. Don’t know, whether it will be the blogs offering or the blogs receiving links through guest posts.

    So, its better to focus on few but high quality guest posting. Hope this will save us from future algo updates!

    • Only time can tell, but I believe low value sites that just offer guest post would be hit if that was the case. Google is not against guest posting but some people take it to such an extreme. Like Ileane’s blog has a lot of guest post, but isn’t a link farm :)

  14. Really guest blogging is very helpful for webmaster and guest author both. For such kinds of activity webmasters get content and traffic and at the same time guest author also get traffic and backlink from that website where he posted his content. Great article!
    Thanks Garen Arnold:)

  15. Posting 10 posts on same blog can bring more traffic than posting on 10 different blogs.
    Authority of the blog also matters.
    Once you`ve done posting your 1st post analyse how the blog is bring traffic and leads.
    Then try with second one….
    Continue to post if you see good response.

    ~@Khajamoin1

  16. Good tips on how to go about doing guest posting. But don’t get me wrong, I am hearing conflicting things about guest posting. Problogger has stopped taking guest posts and there is a rumour about penalty for guest posting. But then, snake oils and rumours are common place in the SEO world.

    • That’s interesting that Darren has stop taking guest post. Possibly, he got tired of people trying to submit junk in order to get a backlink from his site.

  17. Guest blogging is not liked by some bloggers as they think its only for getting traffic on their site etc. Instead of guess blog prefer ezine… What do you say?

    • Lots of people have mixed feelings about it, but I would say don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are tons of tactics you can use.

  18. Another Awesome Post From Basicblg tips.I Know The Power Of Guest Posting and It Really helps too and At This Time This Post is Really Helpful and Informative.

  19. Guest Blogging can really go a long way. it is one of the best ways of getting traffic to ones blog and also give ones blog authority. What an informative post. Thanks

  20. guest post is a powerful weapon in blogging and it needs special care while writing.
    Just now I started to write guest posts on other blogs of same niche.
    Sure, while doing guest blogging will consider your three simple points to perform well. Thanks for writing the needful post!
    this Post is really very helpful

  21. Some good info there, nice to see a solid article like that and not another rehashed recycled article like many others seem to be nowadays.

    I do love Fiverr and have found some great gigs there!

  22. Really very Unique Way to Promote Posts. I try using Bizsugar. I loved your ideas about MyBlogGuest.com. I did not know about it. By the way I read an article recently on ProBlogger.net that Google is Going to Penalize the Blogs which offer Guest Blogs and they have stopped accepting Guest Posts too. What will be the Condition if this really Happens?

  23. i was accepting guest posts, but not anymore. its not just about google, the problem is finding quality guest authors who wanted to help me to publish best article in my blog. many forget the win win situation in guest blogging.

    Robin.

  24. You can also use some more or less advanced Google queries to find interesting guest post opportunities. Some examples:

    Keyword + intitle:“write for us”
    inpostauthor:”guest blog” + keyword

  25. Garen,

    Well written, this one is example for great guest post and getting fellow bloggers/marketers trust. Providing information rich content always bring quality readers who like and share it to make viral.

    Thanks :)

  26. Guest blogging is very effective for both webmaster and also for guest author. For guest blogging we can increase our visitors and guest authors can get links back to his blog also some unique traffic. Thanks for this excellent resource!

  27. Hi Garen,

    Good to see you here with an awesome post. Guest posting has lot of benefits, you will get traffic, backlinks to your own blog. Most important thing is that you can build strong relationship with authority bloggers.

    I’ve not started yet guest posting but soon I’ll start.

    Thanks for great post!

  28. Guest posting has done wonders when it comes to bringing me traffic. It has also helped me get a few writing jobs . Another thing is a lot of people “vouch” for me because they’ve read my articles on different blogs, which is pretty cool in my opinion.

    Posting on other blogs is never a bad thing imo.

    • Same here. Got jobs just from guest posting :). It’s about the quality. If I wrote a post on Illeane’s blog that was crap do you think she would allow me to write on her blog again?

  29. I want to purchase CL from your affiliate link but i have a few questions before I purchase. What does Unlimited License mean, does it mean I can use CL on multiple blogs? I have quite a few blogs. Is it a one time purchase or do I have to pay to upgrade to latest version, if so how much and how often? When I install CL on my blog, what will happen to comments that are already on my blog, will it disappear? Do they offer an affiliate program that clients can access

  30. I already tried Triberr and Blogengage and they are indeed great. There are many good blogs in the web thus there is a big chance for bloggers to guest post. Thanks for the tips for effective guest blogging, I will definitely use them.

  31. Very good Post! You really have a strong points. Providing information rich content always bring quality readers who like and share it to make viral. Guest posting has done wonders when it comes to bringing traffic. Guest posting started to be really hot topic these days to discuss. Thank you for all of this information. Hoping to see more blogs about this.

  32. This is quite a classy series. Wonderfully mounted and produced (you have a very effective way with web videos), and filled with solid, useful content. In short, thanks! I’m looking forward to the next couple of videos.

  33. I tried a lot of time for guest posting but i found it just wasting of time. You will be wonder to know that i sent mail hundreds of webmasters for guest posting but got response from only 15 to 20 and when i sent them my content for posting some webmasters posted my content with their own links rather than mine. After that worse experience i decided that it is just wasting of time and content.

    • Hey Jean,

      I hear you; I do guest post for people all the time and it really kind of annoys me when I write an awesome post and I wait a week or so and then they write me back saying it was to self promotional :(. Usually, I just ask them what they want me to write about.

      • That’s why i don’t like to waster my energy and time on guest posting as you shared that you got message after a week that you are doing self promotion. Your question is very important that “what they want me to write about”. Everyone needs back-links that is the reason people use their energy on guest posting.

  34. First of all thanks for the great article, There is some some good tips and advice there!
    I personally love reading blog articles all the way, I find it very beneficial beach I learn a great deal from it, which I did with yours :)
    Also I can then then give my full honest comment or opinion on what I’ve read.

  35. Good points here Garen. Guest posting is one of the most effective way to get noticed in the world of blogging. Doesn’t require too much time either, but a high-quality content.

  36. Hey Garen,
    Nice post with great information and I am totally agree with you that guest blogging is the best way to drive more traffic on our blog and its also a best way to form links with nice blogs. I think all the newbies gots some help after reading this post. Thanks for sharing this post.

    • ya Sudipto I think same of you.Guest blogging is the best way to drive more traffic on our blog and its also a best way to form links with nice blogs. This is raelly a nice stratogy for getting both traffic as well as links.thanks for sharing these.

  37. Hi Garen Arnold, Thanks for this post and i am totally agree with you that guest post is one of the most attractive and working method for any type of website popularity even its related to search engine or direct website traffic. Also this is the most legit way to introduce your business on the internet rather than trying other ways like forum posting etc..

  38. nice post! and it’s so true that one should not use fiver for any SEO backlink building because of the links you get from fiverr are just junk. Beside Blog Engage and Blog Guest It, I also recommend “Guest Blog It” which have free and paid membership as well.

  39. Guest posting is nice approach for getting new visitors to our blog and getting attention from many bloggers from the world.

  40. Garen, your tips – especially the one about using Fiverr instead of signing up for a full SEOmoz account, were brilliant! Didn’t even think Fiverr had stuff like that on offer.

    Have not written any guest posts as yet but keen to give it a go after this article :) Thanks

  41. I agree yes guest posting is the best logical approach for search engine optimization and also for referral traffic. after 2013 Google panda update i think guest posting is the best method for SEO.

  42. The fact of the matter is that if you write your own article or rather content on other peoples website you automatically leverage traffic that goes to that particular site. This is especially so if you guest write content on a site that’s on the same niche.

  43. I love guest posting.

    I absolutely think guest posting is the best promotion you can do for your blog, hands down!

    I would only guest post for the heck of it!

  44. Guest posting is the lifeblood of the healthy blogging scene.
    I work in the hair and beauty sector and it’s been a great way to get our productsm and our message out there to new groups of readers we could never have engaged with in a more effective way…

  45. Very nicely explained. But why these days some pro bloggers are opting out of guest posting from their blog? I guess Google has some problem with it.

  47. Guest blogging is a good way to be everywhere online and reaching out more people– bloggers and blog readers alike. A lot of bloggers also appreciate those who guest blog on their site so it really creates a good relationship between bloggers aside from increasing much traffic to your site. Also, knowing what others think of you through guest blogging is also an opportunity to grow by learning from others.

  48. As someone who is plucking up the courage to dive into writing guest posts (I have been accepting them on my blog for years) this post has come along at just the right time! As someone who hasn’t tried writing guest posts I can tell you that it is a frightening thought as I keep wondering if my writing will be good enough.

    I was already aware of MyBlogGuest but I really like the tip about paying someone on Fiverr $5 to run a backlink report, I’m cheap so that jumped right out at me! :P

  49. This video is a powerful one. I never knew comment love could be utilize to the extent of sharing your youtube feeds. It’s really cool. I am going to give the technique a try whenever i make a guest post.

  50. Most of my traffic is from tumblr clickthru images so there really isn’t that much targetted traffic. However, kinda like what you said where guest blogging in your niche will bring in targetted traffic. But before you guest blog, you own blog should be presentable (every link works, it looks good, easy to use and especially has great content). You don’t want to promote your blog which people wont want to visit do you?

  51. Some great tips here Garen… loved the Fiverr one actually – almost signed up for an SEOmoz account myself until I saw what the cost is. Given that I’d only be doing a few searches each month the Fiverr option sounds much more cost-effective! Thanks

  52. Guest posting is an effective approach in getting not only backlinks for your blog or website, but it is also a good way of communicating and building relationship with your target audience.

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