Lets put the bitter facts first so as you chew or go further down, things become sweeter. If you think you are in business for over 3 months and have still not managed to bag 250 visitors to your blog on a daily basis, it is time you should consider guest blogging. Simply put, you should write for other sites than spending time on your own, with the ultimate aim of getting visitors to your site.

Suppose you start with a new blog about a new idea and start writing on it. Soon you have over 100 posts all full of awesome content. Now what? You also managed to get some likes and visitors with your referrals and social media friends. But then again, now what next? Is that it? All your friends and referrals may have liked or have cared to visit your page once as a mark of encouragement but then again, they do are not actually into the topic you are writing about. And wait, they do not even have to. Even if they do, the number of people actually visiting your blog will not go up and in fact, will gradually dip.

So, here is the catch. You will ultimately be left putting all those efforts for no one but yourself and your core group of friends who just in solidarity will always care to like your posts without even digging into it. This is not business but merely a hobby that you are pursuing for non-monetary gains. But, if that is not what you intended to do then you should consider guest blogging.

What is Guest Blogging?

The Internet is huge and growing by the day. Its an ocean of websites that are trying to bag their share of sunshine from the audience and be known. Alas, 90% of startups fail and meet with a tragic end due to lack of vision, funding, business model and a clear strategy. So, the need for guest blogging becomes even more pronounced for a startup blog to become known. You cannot just continue to write for your own indefinitely. Before going further, let us try and define it.

Guest blogging is a business strategy used by bloggers to increase traffic to their own blogs and websites. As a guest blogger, you write blogs for other blogs that operate in your niche as guests. The guest blogging trend has gone up over the years and has emerged as the most sought-after strategy for marketers to get more traffic. 

How to do Guest Posting?

Like every game, this also has a rule book which not only makes the game easier but also beneficial. Here are some of the most notable rules or tips that will guide you through and help you get the maximum benefits of guest blogging.

Have a Clear Aim

You should have a clear vision of why are you opting for guest blogging. Determining the goal will help you identify the right blogs on which to blog for posting. Guest bloggers often come with prominently three goals- brand positioning of their own blogs in the niche, getting the right traffic and definitely building backlinks to their website. It is possible and okay to aim for all three and even more, but if in case you are betting at only first two then you will have to look for large blogs that have an established audience while if you are aiming at the third option, then you may look for blogs that have a strong root domain authority. 

Look for Best Guest Blogging Sites

Once you have earmarked your primary goal, you should now be actively looking at various opportunities that are present in the market. Remember, to limit yourself only to your own niche as only then you will get the right audience. A good blog option will have a sound and engaged following and also a reasonable social media presence. Once you know the criteria, now you should be all set to conduct the much-needed searches on Google, social searches, in order to find the best platform to blog for. You may also look for the bloggers who are highly active in your niche and check out where they have done guest blogs. Alternatively, you may even take up an analysis of the backlinks by your competitors. This will help you know on which sites they have done guest blogging. 

Pitching it Right

This is one major step forward. There are a few considerations that have to be kept in mind while you contact the blogs for guest blogging. First and foremost, the content of the blog is supreme and has to be screened minutely. This will also tell you the audience they are looking like businesses, intellectuals, individuals, startups, etc. Next, you should also see the profiles of other guest bloggers on the site to have an idea what is the general preference of the blog owner when he or she picks a guest blogger. You may be able to find this information from the bios of the guest blogger on the blog itself.

Another vital consideration is that what are blog posts generally perform better than the rest. Before you actually make your pitch you can actually start commenting on their best performing and latest guest posts. Again this gives the much-needed recognition from the blog owner, usually considered as a giant leap forward. Finally, the pitch should adhere to the basic guidelines of the guest posting and make your pitches more personalized by including the name of the blog owner in the post. You may also include the name of your own blog in the pitch as most blog owners only allow those guest bloggers who themselves own a blog.

The benefits of guest blogging are obvious but it is not an easy entry into the world. You will have to try multiple options in order to break into the realm. Relationships building, making yourself known to the blog owner is of primary importance. Once you gain entry, another vital consideration is the blog topic. Remember it is not about you or your passion when you do a guest blog, It is all about the preferences and audience of the blog owner for whom you will make the guest post. The bottom line is, delete yourself from the equation as it will let you get to a more focussed topic. The idea of the topic will not lie in the popular keywords of the niche but instead in the most popular posts on the blog, or the most-read posts. This will lead you to the pain point which you should be addressing in your guest post.

Lastly, it is important to seek and engage with comments on your blogs to ensure people are reading and caring to leave a word. Even in terms of metrics, it is a vital stat that Google algorithm takes into account before ranking your pages. Remember most comments are ways to express appreciation and strike a relationship and hence you should be able to maintain the tone of the comment, in your reply. Guest blogging is a great way forward for introducing yourself to a new audience in your niche to spread your reach. It takes depthful and streamlined research to write a guest blog to ensure the audience finds value in it and takes time to reach your own blog for more such insights.

All these points outlined above will help you give shape to a great guest post. Try yours now and do share your experiences.