Guest Blogging: 2 Smart Things You Should Do Before Running Your Next Campaign

Norbert
Norbert is an internet marketing blogger and freelance writer. He helps businesses and individuals reach their goals using his smart writing skills. Catch him at Blogging-Insights.com where he writes about blogging techniques, content marketing and online marketing tips.
Norbert
Norbert
You can get your own content published on this site as long as you have CommentLuv installed on your site.

Doing so means you get exposure to thousands and thousands of other CommentLuv users and your posts get sent out to the massive subscriber list.

Google loves this site and indexes it multiple times per day and posts always get lots of comments so you can be sure of some excellent exposure.

See the Write For Us page for more details

btw.. you can get this author box here

image: http://freedigitalphotos.net

Are you planning on running a guest blogging campaign, or are you already doing it but would like to refine and do it in a much smarter way?

We all agree that guest blogging is among the smartest blog promotion strategies around. The truth is, however, it only yields results if it’s properly planned and implemented with specific goals in mind.

Here, are 2 tips that will hopefully get you started on the right foot.

#1. Plan and Set Specific Goals

I know you’re tied of hearing the word goals every time it comes to online businesses. Every blogger, marketer or online entrepreneur, be it newbie or veteran is always stressing the need to have goals, goals, goals and goals again!

One thing I’ve come to learn, however, is that goals are vital to any online marketing strategy. Guest blogging is no different. It’s a blog marketing strategy that is so powerful especially if you’re running a professional blog. But only successful if you plan and set specific goals.

Don’t  jump on the guest blogging bandwagon blindly.

What are your goals?

There’re various reasons to guest blog. I find the ones below compelling.

  • To reach out to a new audience/market segment. You might be in the process of growing your blog’s audience. Maybe you want to reach out to new prospects or potential clients/customers.
  • Maybe you just want to increase you blog’s traffic
  • For SEO purposes – backlinks, with all those Google animals in mind.
  • To grow your authority – you have to show people you’re an expert, else, no one will pay attention.

Now, you don’t have to fulfill all the reasons for guest blogging. This is where setting specific goals comes in.

If your purpose is to build backlinks, then focus on finding guest blogging opportunities that will yield relevant high quality backlinks for you. If you’re looking to leverage on traffic, then concentrate on guest blogging opportunities that will earn you the desired traffic.

Similarly, if you’re looking for new prospects, don’t just guest blog on any blog because it’s popular. Choose a host blog whose traffic  matches your buying segment. Those should be people that are potential leads, customers or clients, etc.

The key here is coming up with clear targets and then focusing on guest blogging opportunities that will

drive you towards realizing those targets.

#2. Evaluate the Guest Blogging Opportunities

You need to clearly evaluate guest blogging opportunities and find out if they align with your guest blogging goals.

Will those opportunities help you achieve your targets?

How you evaluate a guest blogging opportunity depends on what you’re targeting to achieve. Let’s look at two major reasons for guest blogging and how to evaluate guest blog opportunities with them in mind.

Evaluate guest blogging opportunities for SEO benefits.

Am I the only one that thinks Google might soon launch an update to address low-quality guest posting?

Now, I’m not one to judge, but as smart seo content marketers, there’re specific factors you need to have in mind when evaluating guest blogging opportunities, especially if seo and backlinks is your main focus.

Spammy links from poorly executed guest blogging campaigns could be a thorn in the eye for your blog or website in the near future. James Gate has a comprehensive guide over at seomoz for evaluating guest blogging opportunities if you haven’t come across it already.

He emphasizes the relevance and quality of the host site and touches on very important points like:

  • Signs of integrity on the publisher site
  • Signs of life on the publisher site
  • Signs of a blogger or editorial staff
  • Linking protocols
  • Amount of content vs ads
  • Thin, low quality content
  • Link metrics, diversity, etc.

Evaluate guest blogging opportunities for qualified traffic

This seems straight forward but most folks get it wrong. Was your goal from above, just to gain random traffic or was it to gain qualified traffic.

Qualified traffic is good for business. You can generate leads or get them to buy or perform desired actions. Random traffic won’t achieve that.

You should not just take on a guest blogging opportunity because a certain blog/website receives many visitors. Take your time and study which kind of audience that blog has. Will they really be interested in what you offer on your own blog? If not, then no matter how many thousands they’re, they’ll just come and leave as fast as they arrived.

A similar rule applies when guest blogging for exposure or to grow in authority. It doesn’t matter. You should only focus on blogs with an audience that is interested in your expertise and what you offer. 

Speak Your Mind

*

CommentLuv badge