Top Benefits of Guest Blogging

Guest blogging (also known as guest posting) is the act of writing a blog intended for publication on someone else’s website. It might seem counterintuitive to hire a guest blogger to publish something on a third-party website, rather than your own company’s site. However, guest blogging can be an impactful marketing strategy that elevates your brand recognition and drives traffic to your own website. Plus, it’s not difficult to do. All you’ll need is a talented freelance writer to generate the blog. Then, identify an appropriate third-party site and reach out to see if they are interested in publishing it. Note that sometimes, website owners will charge a fee to publish a guest blog. However, the benefits are definitely worth the investment.

Guest blogs can generate more traffic for your website.

One of the most obvious perks of guest blogging is that it helps drive more traffic to your own website. A guest blog will attract the attention of the visitors to the third-party site. These visitors will then have the opportunity to click on links in your guest blog that direct them to relevant pages on your own website.

So why, exactly, would another website want to publish a guest blog that would take visitors away from that site and to your own company’s site? Frankly, it’s because the two websites aren’t in direct competition with each other. When you’re looking for websites on which to publish a guest blog, you should never look for competing companies. Instead, try to find a website that’s in your general niche, but isn’t a competitor.

For example, let’s say your company specializes in manufacturing furniture for nurseries. You wouldn’t reach out to another baby furniture company to inquire about guest blogging opportunities. Instead, you could reach out to mom bloggers because those websites attract your own target demographic, but aren’t direct competitors.

Guest blogs provide your website with more backlinks.

Another way that guest blogging can drive more traffic to your own website is by improving its search engine optimization (SEO). SEO refers to all of the techniques that position a webpage higher in search engine results page (SERP) rankings. The higher on a SERP your website appears, the more traffic it will get. Backlinks improve your website’s rankings because they make your site look more authoritative and credible. And each time you post a guest blog, you’ll get a backlink to your own website.

However, it’s important to make sure that you’re guest blogging on websites that are authoritative and credible. If you get backlinks from disreputable, low-ranking websites, it can actually hurt your own Google rankings. Instead, you’ll want to look for websites with a strong following and solid traffic. One way to do this is to check the website’s social media stats. Visit their Twitter and Facebook pages and see how many followers each has.

Guest blogging can build your brand visibility.

Have you ever wondered why some companies air TV commercials that don’t seem to push any particular product or service? The reason is brand visibility. The more customers are familiar with a brand, the more likely it is that they will turn to that brand the next time they need products or services in that particular niche. It’s the same reason why major brands buy the naming rights to sports stadiums.

And this brings us to yet another benefit of guest blogging: It enhances the visibility of your brand. Let’s say your guest blog is viewed by 10,000 third-party website visitors. Perhaps only 500 of them click on the link to check out your own website. And of those, perhaps only 50 will make a purchase or book an appointment. However, the full 10,000 viewers are still more aware of your brand than they were before. The next time they need what you’re selling, they will be more likely to remember your company’s name and head over to your website.

Guest blogs make a website look more credible.

At some point, another company may contact you to inquire about placing a guest blog on your own website. This has benefits for both parties involved, and so you should almost always agree. First, let’s break down the benefits of agreeing to this arrangement, and then we’ll talk about the situations in which you should decline the request. When multiple people or companies post to your own website, it makes you look more credible. Web visitors are simply more likely to view a website as authoritative, established, and credible if it reflects the work of multiple authors. In addition, you’ll get a new backlink. If Acme Corp. posts a guest blog on your own website, it’s quite likely that Acme Corp. will also post a brief blurb on their own website that links back to the guest blog. That’s your backlink, and it will boost your website’s SERP rankings.

However, there are circumstances in which it may be best to decline a request to post a guest blog. First, if Acme Corp. does not look like a well-established, reputable company with a well-designed website, then linking to it may harm your own SERP rankings. It may also tarnish your website’s reputation in the eyes of your visitors.

Second, you should always decline guest blogging requests from companies that are in direct competition with you. It simply doesn’t make sense to send your visitors to Acme Corp. if they sell the same products as your own company.

And finally, you need to make sure that any guest blog you agree to publish is well-written and offers value for your own viewers. In some cases, you might decide to agree to the request, but with the stipulation that you have your own trusted freelance writer produce the blog post. This allows you to control the quality of the content on your website. Of course, the third-party website should be responsible for paying the freelancer’s fee.

Looking for a fantastic guest blogger who gets results? Search the Writers Marketplace on Writers Work and connect with qualified freelance writers with affordable rates. Or, you can post a job ad directly on our job board for free!