There are different constituents of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) that make up the core of the digital marketing process, and one such constituent is link building. It is the process of gaining links from other websites to your own, especially from high-authority ones that help to improve the popularity of the page and its usefulness in front of search engines, eventually resulting in improved ranking.
Guest Blogging for Link-Building
There are many techniques for building links, and almost all of them depend on content promotion, for which guest blogging also plays an important part. It is defined as the process of contributing a post to another blog so that relationships, exposure, authority, and links can be created. It renders a firm opportunity to secure a link back from another website apart from gaining new readers and visibility as well. While many marketers follow guest blogging for the link-building process, many are still not aware or not utilising effectual and key steps.
Here, we explore few important steps to use guest blogging as an effective link building strategy:
1. Research Guest Post Blogging Opportunities:
Begin by conducting research to recognise the potential blogs you could be writing for. Select few most preferable keywords that you either don’t rank for or rank well for and conduct a search for them. Check out the results. Do you see any blogs in there, or do those websites you come across have a blog on them? Find few blogs that revolve around your topic. If you can’t find enough blogs then start searching for other keywords and look for other sites. Once you’ve found a handful or so, you’ll have enough to get started.
2. Write Innovative Headlines or Ideas For Blog Posts:
When you find something catchy or interesting, you are compelled to click on that and visit. Similarly, try to create innovative and attention-seeking headlines for your blog that will not only make it easy for the host blog to accept that blog for posting but will also attract a large base of readers, enhancing your popularity.
3. Reach Out To Blog Administrators:
Contact the administrator or use the “contact us” page to follow each of the blogs that you’re interested in writing for. Introduce yourself, and tell them that you’d love to write a guest blog post for their site in return for an inbound link. As you reach out to authors, make a spreadsheet documentation of each blog you’ve reached out to as well as the status of that outreach (e.g. reached out, ready for an article, sent article, etc.). It will help you to track who needs posts on a priority basis, who don’t accept guest posts, etc. Do not forget that most of the blog authors get guest blogging pitches frequently. They’re used to seeing this kind of request, even if you aren’t used to making it yourself. Make a compelling application and understand their blog posting requirements and conditions as well.
4. Write Articles in a Prompt Manner:
Start writing as soon as possible after the replies start coming. Majority of the blog owners prefer the post in a Word document or other simple text format. Incorporate the links to anchor text using the keywords you want to rank for in search engines.
5. Use Analytics to Track:
Do not forget to have analytics package for your website to track your visits, leads, and SEO advantages from your guest blogging. Ensure that you’re sharing your guest posts on your own social networks and track your website’s activity as your guest posts get published.
It is evident that approaching the guest blogging activity in a proper and careful manner will help you gain link building value for your overall SEO campaign.
