Guest Blogging Still Works

by | Oct 16, 2012 | Guest Post

Recently, Matt Cutts answered a question sent to him about the future effectiveness of guest blogging. That question is certainly not a new one, as a lot of SEO professionals use guest blogging as an effective link building tool, and have long wondered about how long it will remain effective. What is the most poignant part of this debate is that while there is a link building strategy behind guest blogging, it is also a very legitimate resource. What is important to remember is how to remain effective as a guest blogger to make sure that your efforts aren't made irrelevant. To do this, guest bloggers really need to follow the rules that have been around the entire time of guest blogging. You have to avoid spinning articles, writing low value and low word articles, and remember to put effort into your posts. If you do all these things, your guest posting efforts will not go to waste.

No Article Spinning

This, again, is nothing new. Spinning articles (slightly rewording an article to get it reaccepted) has never been an acceptable way of guest blogging and getting links. Not only are you hurting your link building campaign, but you are also hurting the sites that you post on. This not only will get your links unnoticed by Google, but you are also running the risk of of getting your links penalized. Furthermore, if you spin articles, places will not want you to post on their site. This will kill your guest posting quicker than anything else; not having a site to write for.

Avoid Low Word Count Articles

This is another tactic that will hurt your guest posting very quickly. Google sees really short articles as simply link bait, and does not give your link credits.The fact is there are article "farms" out there that spin out these articles to simply put links out there. If you want to differentiate yourself from these writers, then you have to make sure that your articles are substantial. There are certain topics that are?inherently short in nature, and in that case you have to make sure you exhaust the topic. Most blogs have word limits anyways, but even if they don't, or have low word limitations, make sure you go above and beyond the limits.

High Quality

This also seems like a no-brainer, but you have to make sure that you put full effort into your articles. This means that if it takes some time and rewrites, make sure you are putting out the best quality you can. With the newer Google updates, the crawlers have gotten better about picking up on content. Part of this is in an effort to make sure that your content is relevant to any links in the body. It is also a way to try and qualify what is in your article. This has made it even more important to make sure you churn out the best content you can, and to get all the benefits from your writing.So in short, guest blogging is not dead, but it has become a lot tougher to pull off. In a way, this is a good thing for us quality guest writers. With all the other stuff out of the way, our content comes to shine, and credit is given where it is deserved. There will always be benefits for guest blogging if you put in your time and effort. With crackdowns like this though, it's good to know that what we see online has become more legitimate.BIll Thomas is an SEO blogger and content creator for?Aspire Direct. He enjoys writing, and always emphasizes the importance of quality content.

How to Ensure You Get a Lot of Traffic from Your Guest Posts

by | Oct 10, 2011 | Guest Post

As someone who has been guest blogging on other blogs for 2 years now, I have observed a lot of cool things about my guest posts on other blogs and the results they deliver. One of those things is how erratic traffic from guest posts can be. For example, I once wrote a guest post for a big blog in my field which sent me around 50 visitors in one month. I wrote another guest post for the same blog and that other guest post sent me over 400 visitors in one month. As a result, I have done a lot of experiments to see which kind of guest post bring about visitors and which kind of guest post doesn?t. In this article I will be giving you a few tips to help you ensure you are always getting a lot of traffic from your guest posts on other blogs.Always Deliver Your Best ContentThe first step you should take when it comes to guest blogging, so as to get a lot of results, is to always deliver your best content. It can sometimes be very tough to submit your guest post to be published on another blog, but on the long run you will see that it is a smart decision from your part.Make sure you spend enough time crafting the perfect guest post, looking for the right title, editing your guest post and formatting it to ensure your message is properly passed across. When people see the kind of effort you went through to contribute value to their lives, they will be very happy to visit your blog so that they can learn from you.Think about the Long RunWhile getting a lot of traffic from your guest post the day it is published is cool, thinking about the long term is very important. Whenever you submit a guest post to another blog make sure you look for ways to ensure you enjoy the benefit of that guest post for years to come. For example, you can easily use SEO anchor texts to link back to your blog in the author bio of your guest posts. That way, aside from your guest post sending you a few visitors when it is published, it will also contribute to an increase in your search engine rankings, and as a result lead to more traffic for you on the long run.Engage with the Readers of the Blog You Submit Your Guest Post toWhile this sounds ridiculous, I have actually noticed it to contribute significantly to the amount of traffic I get from a guest post. One thing about engaging with commenters and readers of your guest post on another blog is that they come to see you as someone who is personal, and who really cares about them, and as a result they will be very happy to learn from you and tell their friends about you.Also make sure you spread the word about your guest posts and tell your friends about it. That way, they will also comment on the post and lead to an increase in social proof making people to see you as someone whose writing is able to attract comments. Onibalusi Bamidele is a 17 year old writer and guest blogger. He teaches people how to write on his blog, YoungPrePro. He also has a page dedicated to teaching people about guest blogging.