Hello again, avid readers. It’s been quite some time since we’ve talked about guest blog posting tips and I’m back with more. Read on and let me know your thoughts.
Secret #16: Think of others’ needs first when guest blogging
Don’t let others make-do with your leftovers; always give out only your best work. This means anything and everything from offering only your best posts to promoting other blogs as if they were your own. Also strive to be helpful as possible. Showing your gratitude and having the right attitude is just as important as the technical aspects when it comes to communicating with other bloggers, so always give before you receive.
Secret #17: Be persistent in guest blog posting
Building a solid guest blog post portfolio is going to take a lot of work, considerable amounts of time, and plenty of persistence. You will also need to grow a thick skin, and don’t take it personally if you are asked to change something or if your work is rejected. You should also be prepared to provide more work if asked. On the plus side, you can take comfort in the fact that all your hard work will pay off in terms of results.
Secret #18: No response isn’t necessarily a bad thing
I have had several occasions when I emailed someone and never got a response. Don’t be discouraged if you experience this scenario yourself, and don’t think that it means a “no” either. There could be many reasons for not getting a response. One approach that I found works more often than not is to give it some time, build up better credentials, and then try emailing that person again.
Secret #19: Follow all rules, policies, and guidelines posted
There is a reason for all the rules, policies, and guidelines set up for that blog you want to submit to. Take the time to fully read, understand, and abide by all those rules. As simple or silly as some of them might be, you will have to play by the rules if you want your post to get published.
Secret #20: Guest blog posts should use keywords in a relevant and unobtrusive manner
There was a time when pages of certain sites included a paragraph at the bottom filled with several keywords. Now known as “keyword stuffing”, this technique for attracting traffic has since been looked upon with disfavor by the online community. However, this does not mean that keywords are no longer important. While keyword stuffing may have fallen out of favor, it is still important to include the proper percentage of relevant keywords in your text. When someone searches for a specific term on Google, the number of times that particular keyword appears on your page is still a weighty factor.
Secret #21: Authorship is just important as the guest blog post
When Google first became the top search engine and everyone was focused on site performance, PageRank became the number one priority for every marketer. While page ranking was–and still is–the input metric that affects ranking the most, Google personnel have explicitly and repeatedly stated that sites are ranked on hundreds of different metrics other than PageRank. Many site owners have therefore stopped caring so much about PR ranking. That being said, PageRank is still a relevant factor, and it shouldn’t be neglected even as you focus on other equally important factors.
Secret #22: Check up on your competition to see where they are guest blog posting
This is one method that I have used when brainstorming or targeting sites that accept guest blog posts. This is a great way to get a feel for what’s out there and what works and what doesn’t. This could be accomplished several different ways, but my favorite tools for this purpose are Alexax.com reputation links. This list helpfully details all the links that your competitor site currently has set up.
Secret #23: You must have a solid foundation before attempting to guest blog post
SEO can be considered a form of marketing, and as such, most of your efforts will be made after the site is completed. That being said, there are steps that you should take even before your site goes live. For example, you should make sure you have a good layout, logical navigation, and all the important details such as META tags, titles, and so on. All these are part of SEO and should be done while you are building the site. Also remember that search engines can find your site as soon as it goes live, so you will want your SEO ready for when Google first crawls it.
Secret #24: All guest blog posts are beneficial
Some people who buy bulk links or use automated methods to spam blog posts seem to think that Google will not be able to detect such “black hat” techniques. While it is true that Google and other search engines may not discover these shady tactics right away, there is a bigger risk involved. Sites in which your links have been placed will eventually be found and removed from the index. In some cases, the actual algorithm may even be modified in order to make those backlinks irrelevant. When this happens, your ranking may plummet drastically.