Image Courtesy
The world of blogging has changed a lot since the early days of the internet. It seems that nowadays, everyone has a blog. With the blogging arena being so saturated, bloggers have to do a little bit more than share their insights and expertise online to be seen and earn a living from it, or at the very least to create an additional stream of income from it. In addition to having an awesome blog, bloggers are expected to have phenomenal social media content, stellar photos, attend conferences and more. One of these additional pieces to a successful blog is guest posting.
The What and Why of Guest Posting
Guest posting is the practice of writing posts for other blogs that are credited to you and your site, or allowing someone else to create a post for your site that is credited back to them and their site. The basic idea behind the practice is to get increased visibility for your site and brand. Once upon a time, it was a free for all. Most bloggers weren’t picky about who they let guest post or who they pitched about guest posting. But as time marched on, bloggers began to see themselves as a brand and SEO and algorithms evolved into behemoths that can decide the fate of a site. Bloggers now needed the best guest posting service to help maintain the integrity of their site marketing. Bloggers started charging people to guest post. They began to thoroughly vet guest posters, ensuring that guests were aligned with their brand and not linking to sketchy sites that could harm their SEO rankings.
What’s New with Guest Posting
One of the biggest changes happening with guest posting is building an actual rapport with online communities. Engagement is a core part of successful guest posting. Content on all platforms needs to be engaged in an organic way. There has to be a sense of community. Another difference is the development of tracking tools. New and improved marketing tools have the ability to discern which guest posts are likely to bring more traffic. This allows bloggers to create a content management plan that will be more successful than guessing what it is that people are going to engage the most with.
How to Guest Post Successfully
When it comes to guest posting successfully, there aren’t any shortcuts. Link building is an important part of this industry and having the right tools at your disposal is invaluable. The best suggestion is to know what your audience wants to see. That means incorporating the right keywords and authority links that will get your post a high ranking. Google authorship is another way to get better guest posing opportunities. And remember that relationships and community are important. If you interact with other bloggers, message boards and social media posts in a meaningful way, you will be building a rapport that will get you one step closer to great guest posting opportunities.
Whether you’re new to blogging or have been on the scene for a while, blogging is a very nuanced industry. It’s constantly changing and evolving, so blackhat tricks that were once acceptable are being penalized and the rules keep changing with the times. Guest posing is in no way in danger of being outlawed, but it’s sure to keep evolving.
