Guest blogging is what article marketing should be but isn’t. But honestly this post isn’t about article marketing. Instead, what I wanted to do with the post is to tell you the 3 things that guest blogging has done for me. It has 1) helped expand my web site’s reach 2) introduced me to a very vibrant community of relevant bloggers 3) given me feedback on my posts.
Let’s take a look at each point and see if this is something that makes sense for you to pursue.
Expanding Your Web Site’s Reach
If you look at the Alexa chart below you can see the growth that my site has made in terms of reach over the last month. Prior to my guest posts being published Build a Better Mouse Trap’s daily reach was already beginning to pick up by the fact that I was publishing more posts than I was during my studies at Full Sail. However, the trajectory of my website’s Alexa growth went up in a dramatic fashion after my first few guest posts were published. And by the way, if you aren’t familiar with Alexa’s daily reach metric it’s a metric that measures the percentage of a given website’s global traffic.
Given the degree of global connectedness that we see in today’s economic environment this metric carries a bit of weight. For example, if you are based in the US or Canada and you publish an affiliate product web site, then having a large percentage of your traffic come from India, the UK, or the Philippines expands your market that much more because visitors from anyone of these countries would fall within your buyer pool.
Introduce You to Relevant Blogger Community
There was a time when I would have told you that having conversations online with other bloggers is good, but not as good as having conversations with potential customers. However, experience has taught me that each serves their unique purpose in the life of your blog, web site, or business. Blogging actually falls within the boundaries of online pr and as such it performs in a manner that is similar to online pr in that one of the things that it does it helps to generate awareness within your target audience. What better way to generate awareness than to actively engage other bloggers who blog about similar topics? Just think about that one for a moment. I can’t think of much that would trump this. And this is exactly what you get when you guest blog on other blogs.
Blog Feedback
Feedback is one of those things that we, as bloggers, don’t always place a premium on. But we should concern ourselves with reader feedback. Sometimes the feedback that other bloggers give you may be just what you need to you’re your own blog to the next level.
And when you expand your reach by getting your thoughts and ideas in front of other bloggers you will inevitably reap a good bit of feedback. Regardless of whether the feedback is positive or negative all feedback is helpful. The purpose that it should serve is to help you to determine which aspect of your blogging works and which parts don’t. And generally speaking since guest blogs put you in front of new audiences (who share the same interests) guest blogging should result in feedback that you otherwise might not have received.
Words of Advice
It is definitely worth noting that when you guest blog you should:
- Always put your best foot forward. This means you should always present your blog hosts with only your best material. A great barometer or measuring stick to determine whether you should post your guest piece on someone else’s blog is, “would I publish this piece on my blog?”
- Build a relationship before you guest blog for them. The reason for this is you have a better chance of being accepted as a guest blogger for them. And this will also allow you to learn their preferences too. You can meet and connect with potential blog hosts on through MyBlogGuest.com. Another thing that you will want to do after beginning a relationship with your blog host is to familiarize yourself with their guest post guidelines and always abide by them. This should ensure that you keep the relationship on good terms.
- Respond to comments on your guest posts as soon as possible. After all, since you wrote the piece you’d probably be the best suited to play host to your article’s comments.
- Guest post on site’s that share themes that are similar to yours. And it doesn’t matter whether the blog is big or small, because again a big part of blogging is simply building relationships.
So,
If you haven’t already begun guest blogging I’d strongly encourage to get on the ball and get started.