Introduction
Let us get something straight out of the way- Guest Posting or Guest Blogging is not easy. No matter how much anyone gives you a to-do-list or lists best practices, it is difficult to succeed. It is nearly impossible to succeed if your website is new with low metrics.
Most digital experts will tell you to compile a list, write a fabulous email, pitch an article, and see your content be published. However, these so-called digital marketing experts cannot be farther away from the truth.
No blogger or publisher worth his grain in salt is going to give you an audience if you do not have high metric scores and tons of traffic. Everyone knows how successful guest posting can be from an ROI perspective. However, not everyone knows that almost 90% of people who try for guest posting fail miserably.
In this article, we look at some of the best ways of attracting more traffic from guest posting.
Guest Posting: Meaning and Definition
Guest Posting is a digital marketing strategy which involves creating content and asking a blogger/publisher to publish your content on their website. This helps in attracting the blogger’s traffic to your website.
This also helps in SEO, if you are able to convince the blogger to give you a do-follow link. However, the chances of this happening, especially from a reputed blog is nearly impossible. In such an instance, you need to be innovative and think out-of-the-box to make gains from Guest Posting.
Guest Posting or Guest Blogging is one of the best Inbound Marketing strategies in 2019. It also helps brands in many ways-
- It helps attract new website visitors
- Guest Posting helps in building backlinks
- It is a good model for Lead Generation and Sales Conversions
- Guest Blogging helps in establishing credibility and builds identity.
Top Way to generate more Website Traffic from Guest Posting
- Guest Posting Services-
If you want to do guest posting manually, you can be looking at a period of over a year to see any result. In the same time, you need to get your site metrics up, inundate your website and blog with credible content and do social media aggressively. It would be safe to say that you will not be able to manage.
In such a situation taking help from experts who know the lay of the land, seems like a good idea. Some of the top digital marketing agencies offer excellent guest posting service. They work towards building relationships with bloggers and publishers. If you are starting out, it is best that you see their method of functioning and employ their services.
- Establish Contact with the Publisher on Social Media-
More than their own websites, publishers are much more active on their social media handles. They routinely share their content with their audiences. A good approach can be engaging with their posts intelligently.
This will make the blogger aware of your presence and help you even strike a conversation. However, you need to be smart and intelligent. Even though this is a good strategy, it is a time consuming one.
- Build your Credibility-
If you want good publishers to take you seriously, you really need to build your digital presence. This means that your website and your personal profile should be active and successful. Success is measured on social in terms of the number of followers you have and the engagement you are getting.
As soon as you start, it is a wise idea to get cracking on social media and other paid platforms. This will help you build a portfolio of sorts. It is this groundwork, which will help you build a foundation for your guest posting needs and requirements. By building strong digital presence, you will become noticeable to the big and established authority bloggers and publishers.
- Create Quality Content at all times-
If there is something that great publishers love more than money, it is a well-researched, original, long format article of 3000+ words. The article needs to be embellished with images, videos, and infographics.
Once you are able to create content of such a standard, it will be very difficult for quality publishers to turn you down. They are also looking for great content all the time. Good content on their site helps them attract more visitors and increases their SEO scores. Investing in quality content is key to having a successful guest posting strategy.
- Add-On Services from Bloggers and Publishers-
If you or your digital agency is able to negotiate well with publishers, publishing your content is not the only service that you can get. Almost all the best publishers maintain active social media pages of their websites. You can request the publisher to share your article on their social media handles.
In addition, you can also negotiate with the publisher to add your article in their Newsletter for the month, or the fortnight (whatever there frequency is). Many publishers also maintain email databases of their visitors. If you or your agency are good at negotiating, you can request for sharing your article with their email database.
- Paid Guest Posting
Let us all be adults and address the elephant in the room. Yes, most publishers ask for an upfront amount of money when you request for a guest post. Everyone knows about this, and everyone does this. However, what differentiates or takes the money angle out of the picture is the quality of the content.
If you are creating original, informative and credible content, and even paying to get it placed, you will not stand to be penalised by Google. This is because you can always vouch for the content to be of a certain standard. In other words, excellent content has the potential of turning a supposedly black hat strategy into a white hat one.
Read also >> Content Marketing: Everything You Need To Know
Conclusion
Guest Posting is one of the best ways to attract visitors to your site. However, it is also one of the most difficult strategies to excel. If you feel that doing things manually can be too taxing, you can always take help from agencies, which offer guest posting. Once you are able to familiarise yourself with the processes and practices, you can leave the agency and go solo.
If you wish to contribute to the article in any way, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.
