What is guest blogging? Beginners guide

If you’re just beginning to explore the world of digital marketing, you’ll find that guest blogging is often recommended as a key strategy.

Unfortunately, guest posting is sometimes exploited and misused today. When the primary motivation becomes acquiring backlinks, this often results in a preference for quantity over quality.

This, in turn, can lead to a loss of trust by hosting websites due to concerns over low-quality content.

What is guest blogging?

Guest blogging, also known as guest posting, is a content marketing and SEO strategy where an individual writes and publishes a blog post on a third-party website or blog.

The main purposes of guest blogging include link building, driving traffic, growing the audience, and increasing a brand’s exposure and authority in the digital world.

In practicing a link-building strategy, guest bloggers may link back to their own blogs either within the post or in the byline or author biography.

As referred to by Ahrefs, according to Aira’s State of Link Building report, guest blogging is the third most popular link-building strategy. According to the report, 47% of surveyed SEO professionals favor it as their primary method.

Benefits of guest blogging

Guest blogging benefits both the hosting blog and the guest blogger.

Benefits of guest posting for the guest blogger

When you guest post on another website, it helps you connect with a broader audience. Depending on the post type (informational, promotional, etc.), you can attract new prospects, build brand awareness, and gain new followers and customers.

Google values E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). By publishing a guest post that is within your niche, you can build credibility and authority. Furthermore, if the hosting site is reputable, it can establish you as an expert in your field.

A reputable hosting site can enhance your own website’s search engine ranking by providing a backlink. According to experts at Outreach Monks, approximately 65% of backlinks are obtained through guest posts.

Benefits of guest posting for the host blog

The primary motive for a hosting blog is often to obtain fresh content, which can engage their audience and offer new perspectives.

Guest blogging helps hosting websites with increased traffic. Guest bloggers often share and promote the guest post with their own audience, driving new visitors to the host blog.

Additionally, engaging in guest blogging can build  further collaborations.

Depending on the agreement between the two parties, the host blog may receive additional benefits such as future collaboration opportunities, ongoing marketing partnerships, and further link exchanges.

How to practice guest blogging?

Guest blogging can be challenging and requires dedicated time and resources. However, the benefits are substantial and include:

• Evergreen traffic

• Backlinks

• A wider audience

• Enhanced brand awareness

• Building authority

Here are the usual steps to start guest blogging:

Step 1. Finding guest blogging opportunities

This is the initial and often the most challenging step in starting guest blogging.

Finding guest blogging opportunities involves identifying websites that are open to hosting guest posts. However, that’s not all; the hosting websites you find should be relevant to your niche. Their domain rating should be reasonably high (ideally equal to or higher than yours), and most importantly, the site should have significant traffic.

You should also gather contact details for outreach, such as a form, the email address of the editorial team, or a general contact for the website.

Once you’ve identified websites that host guest posts, take a closer look at those sites. You should familiarize yourself with their existing blog posts to see if there’s an opportunity for you to write a guest post that would interest their audience.

It’s also important to demonstrate your expertise and qualifications for writing on the topics you propose.

After developing a few topic ideas, reach out to the hosting website to pitch your concepts.

The exhausting part:

• Dedicate time to crafting your email to capture their attention.

• Be prepared to follow up as needed.

• Ensure your email doesn’t end up in their spam folder.

Here’s a tool to assess the likelihood of your email being marked as spam, and an extension to check whether your email has been marked as spam or opened.

How to write an effective outreach email for guest blogging?

Your email subject should be attention-grabbing and include content that the receiver can’t resist.

Begin by introducing yourself briefly. Then, clearly state the benefits they will receive from your guest post. This could include offering fresh content, filling a gap in their blog, and other marketing advantages, such as providing backlinks, featuring the post in your newsletter, or sharing it on social media.

After listing these benefits, present your topic ideas and inquire about their guidelines (if they’re not publicly available). You can also mention that you are familiar with their guest post guidelines.

Remember, they receive tons of similar emails. So, keep your email concise and to the point.

Step 3. Content creation

Upon receiving a positive response, decide on a deadline and communicate this with the hosting blog. Also, make sure to adhere to the host blog’s content guidelines, which may include rules about length, tone, topic, and formatting of the post.

This step is generally more straightforward. Focus on creating high-quality and informative content that provides value to the host blog’s audience, following their guidelines. These may include:

• Preferred format for receiving the guest post (e.g., Google Doc, Word Doc)

• The number of allowed backlinks

• Image creation responsibilities and branding alignment

• Quality checks

• Keyword research and density requirements

• Avoiding links to competitors

It’s also common to include a brief author bio, and sometimes a link back to your own website.

Once you’ve completed the post, attach visuals (if applicable) and ensure the file, especially if it’s a Google Doc, is accessible. Then, you can send it to the host blog.

Step 4: Publication & Promotion

In this step, your main task is simply waiting for the email notification that says, “Your article is live!”

Once your guest post is published, make sure to check the inserted links to confirm if they are ‘do follow’ or ‘no follow’. Also, verify that all the content is original and as agreed upon.

Next, fulfill any promises you made in your outreach email. This might include sharing the post on your social media platforms or including it in your newsletter.

Step 5: Post-publication monitoring

An often overlooked aspect of guest blogging is continually checking if your content remains unaltered and if your links are still active.

You can use paid tools like Ahrefs to monitor and track any lost backlinks. Regular monitoring ensures that you maintain the benefits of your guest blogging efforts over time.