Guest posting is a core component of content marketing in 2020.
It’s a simple idea that has countless benefits, including building brand authority, reaching new audiences, and earning backlinks that boost your pages’ search engine results.
While most marketers are able to land the occasional guest post for their company, it’s rare that they hit all the right marks and make the most of the opportunity.
Today, let’s examine the art and science of guest posting, and give you 6 components that you must include to ensure a strong return on investment for you and your partnering sites.
1. Post in the Right Niche
As we’ve recently gathered from SEO research
You probably have a clear idea of your brand’s niche, but it’s worth thinking outside the box to determine any crossover potential with other industries.
For example, a plant-based recipe website may share common ground with a home gardening blog, or a weightlifting website could benefit from a guest post about athleisure gear for the gym.
In other words, don’t get boxed into your niche and miss out on large, diverse audiences across the web. Get creative and see how you can connect the dots between your niche and adjacent industries, then brainstorm ways to pitch your idea to a range of different sites.
Do some keyword research to see where a crossover may exist between markets and don’t hesitate to reach beyond the comfort zone. There may be an audience waiting to hear about your product in some unexpected places on the web.
2. Post on the Right Site
After mapping out sites in your niche and a few Venn diagrams with other potential markets, it’s time to do some networking and create partnerships with websites that will be mutually beneficial through guest posting.
It’s tempting to shoot for the stars at first and try to land a guest post with a major media aggregator or news site, but this isn’t a realistic expectation out of the gate.
Instead, you should start small and connect with bloggers that have a dedicated audience, even if it’s not the biggest. Guest posting on a blog with a loyal following is often better than swinging for the fences with a massive industry leader.
When reaching out to possible guest websites, be sure to have a clear and concise value proposition right off the bat. Avoid fluff and get to the point, since bloggers receive hundreds of offers a day.
Describe your product, your goals, and how their site can benefit from posting one of your articles. Include past examples of successful partnerships to paint a picture, and you’ll see many good opportunities come into play.
Be accomodating, be courteous, and keep sending those emails!
3. Pick the Right Topic and Format
Once you’ve secured a solid guest post opportunity, it’s time to brainstorm topics and determine the format of your article.
Browse the content library of your partner’s website to identify any gaps, then offer them a list of diverse potential topics that they can pick from. Explain why each topic has value and give them a chance to voice their opinions as well.
The best topics will include high-ranking keywords without a lot of competition and will allow you to forge new paths in the search engine results. Many affordable SEO tools exist to help you map out a topic matrix that will benefit both you and your partners.
According to Convince and Convert, audience intelligence tools are a worthy addition to your lineup of digital resources.
As far as formats go, there’s nothing wrong with a classic listicle or “best-of” structure. These are highly clickable and people love to share the pages with friends and colleagues.
If you’re feeling bold, suggest a more in-depth “how-to” guide that provides valuable instructions to the audience about a specific task related to your niche. Evergreen content is still the best in the business and will bring in clicks for years to come.
4. Focus on Delivering Value
When crafting a guest post, one thing matters more than all the rest: value. Unless your post is informative, entertaining, memorable, and meaningful, it will likely be forgotten and cast aside into the trash bins of browser history.
If you need sources, it’s hard to compete with original research. Include findings from your own business’ data if possible, and organize numbers into easy-to-read charts and tables to make it crawlable for Google.
Remember to take an authoritative stance on your topic and position yourself as a thought leader with all the answers. This will reflect well on your guest and encourage readers to seek more guidance from your brand in the future.
5. Use Visuals and Videos
It’s no secret that visual content draws eyes and keeps readers on the page. There’s a reason why articles with images get 94% more views than text-only articles, according to OptinMonster.
If you have original infographics, that’s great, but stock imagery is fine as long as it vibes with the tone of the article. The same idea applies to embedded video content.
Just be sure to actively collaborate with the partner website when making creative design decisions like photos and videos. They have a clear vision for their site and you don’t want to throw it off. After all, you’re the guest!
6. Don’t Be Overly Promotional
Calls to action are expected in a guest post, and the links to your site will indicate to the audience that your business is involved in some way. However, you want to avoid urgent, promotional language that distracts from the value of the post.
A pushy, salesy tone may be appropriate for quick-hit ads and or a social media post, but the point of guest posting is to build authority and credibility for the guest’s site and your brand.
You’re playing the long game here, so don’t push for sales in a blog post, especially when working with big important sites where your reputation is key.
Nearly 80 percent of editors say that guest content tends to be too promotional, so aim to be in that preferred 20 percent of bloggers that know where to draw the line.
With that said, feel free to promote your guest post on social media, letting your audience know that fresh content is hot off the presses. As New Breed Marketing points out, this also serves as a nice “thank you” to your guest blogger or partnered website, and everyone wins.
Conclusion
Anyone can write a decent guest post on a random website and earn easy backlinks, but the true power of guest posting lies in crafting quality content on authoritative websites that people want to read, share and return to multiple times.
Do your best to navigate the guest post landscape and you’ll learn the ropes over time, or connect with an agency that can accelerate your progress and amplify results.
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