Have you been wondering if you really need to write that guest post? The short answer is yes, but let me explain 3 reasons why writing guest posts is good for your blog.
What is a guest post?
A guest post is an original blog post that you write on someone else’s blog.
Experienced bloggers write guest posts or publish a guest post on their blog.
If you are a blogger and have not yet written a guest post for a fellow blogger’s blog, you are missing out on some significant opportunities.
Writing guest posts is a great way to increase organic traffic to your blog.
Why should you be writing that guest post?
Writing Guest Posts Increases Your Blog’s Audience
When you publish a guest post on another established blog, you can reach a larger audience.
You are now getting your post in front of the guest posting audience.
When you write relevant, original content that engages a new audience, these readers will be attracted to your blog.
Follow the guidelines set out by the blog you wish to publish your work. Submit only original content, and make sure that the post you are submitting will not be published on other websites.
The blog post host and you will also share your post across multiple social media platforms.
This will also increase traffic to your blog.
Think of it as co-hosting a party.
The blog you are writing for will invite all their friends.
You will bring entertainment and food.
By the end of the night, you have made many new friends.
These new friends are now checking out your blog and increasing your organic traffic.
But, increasing your blog’s audience isn’t the only reason writing guest posts is good for your blog.
Guest Posting Also Builds Your Blogging Network
While increasing your audience is essential, building a solid blogging network is also critical.
Blogging can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.
You build relationships with other bloggers by reaching out for guest posting opportunities.
Having blogging friends is great.
Like having friends at any other job, having blogging friends provides opportunities to share ideas and learn from fellow bloggers. Fellow bloggers understand the struggle and triumphs of blogging.
Also, it is convenient to have someone who will let you know when your website isn’t working, or your posts aren’t posting to social media sites correctly.
Your blogging friends will also alert you to blog posts that might be of interest to you or courses or general information that you might find helpful.
You create a great support system when you build a robust blogging network.
Guest Posting Creates SEO Authority By Building Backlinks
Guest posting is essential for creating backlinks to your blog.
Building backlinks may be the most important reason why writing guest posts is good for your blog.
By creating backlinks, you establish authority in your blogging niche.
Backlinks also show search engines that you are reliable and that other blogs or websites find your content valuable.
By showing search engines that you have authority and that your content is valuable through creating backlinks, you can increase organic traffic to your blog.
For example, let’s compare Lisa’s blog to my blog.
Because Lisa has a well-established blog with a strong emphasis on SEO, she generated 100,000 organic visits in 2021.
This means that 100,000 people found Lisa’s website simply by searching on a search engine.
You can see how organic traffic wins out over social media.
This statistic is significant when you consider that visits to Lisa’s site through social links only generated 3000 visits.
But everyone is on social media!
And that may be, but when you see numbers like this, you can’t ignore the importance of a good SEO strategy and question whether SEO or social media is better for traffic.
In comparison, my blog had 16 organic visits and 44 social link referrals.
My traffic stats in comparison.
I only set up my Google Analytics in October 2021, which gives us less than three months of data on a relatively new blog.
Another interesting thing I discovered when looking at my Google Analytics stats was that organic traffic was more engaged and spent more time on my blog than the traffic from the social links.
Clearly, people purposely looking for your content are more engaged and interested in your content than the ones mindlessly scrolling social media.
My SEO strategy needs some work and time to see the organic traffic numbers that Lisa experiences.
Until now, guest posting has not been a focused strategy for me.
Besides writing guest posts to create backlinks to your blog, what are some other simple SEO strategies you should be implementing?
Simple SEO Strategies For Blog Posts
There are a few simple SEO strategies that you should be using for every blog post you write. Whether for your blog or a guest post.
These strategies will boost your SEO ranking and increase your organic traffic.
#1 Effective Keyword Research
Effective keyword research gives you valuable insight into the keywords your audience is searching online. Using these keywords in the title and headings of your post and throughout the post itself ensures that your blog post will show up and rank well in search engines.
Be sure to use the right keywords in writing guest posts.
Be sure to use thorough keyword research when writing guest posts and avoid these common mistakes.
There are many tools and blog posts that cover keyword research.
#2 Internal Links
Internal links help users and search engines navigate your website. They do this by linking the pages of a website together. The more links to a specific page, the more important it appears to search engines, giving that page a higher SEO ranking.
Therefore, internal linking is an essential component of your SEO strategy.
#3 Blog Commenting
There seems to be conflicting information on whether blog commenting directly impacts SEO rankings. While I can not prove this theory one way or another, there are a few reasons why I think you should make it a regular part of your blogging routine.
First of all, commenting on blog posts opens a dialog with others. This dialog is critical for building that excellent blogging network that makes up your support system.
When you actively engage with people through conversation, they are more likely to return to your blog.
Networking is an important part of blogging and writing guest posts.
Blog comments can contain a wealth of information. I often spend more time in the comment section than the post itself.
Lastly, since there is no clear answer as to whether blog commenting affects SEO and it is a relatively simple, fun task, why take chances?
Make sure you take the time to respond to comments on the guest posts you write.
#4 SEO Plugins
If SEO gives you a headache, use a WordPress plugin or another SEO tool of your choice to make it less stressful for you.
Lisa and I both use Yoast. I find it quick and easy to use, as well I know I am not missing any critical SEO components. At least with my on-page optimization.
Yoast will even tell you if you have too much of a good thing. Such as overusing your keyword.
By implementing these four simple yet effective SEO strategies for all blog posts, you should be well on your way to increasing organic traffic visits to your blog.
Conclusion To Guest Posting
While SEO may not be your favorite part of building a successful blog, I hope this post illustrates the importance of needing an effective SEO strategy to attract organic traffic to your blog.
Your SEO strategy doesn’t have to be complicated, and writing guest posts is a good strategy for building necessary backlinks.
By following these few simple suggestions, you will be well on your way to establishing a solid SEO ranking and watching that organic traffic climb.
What are you doing for your blog’s SEO strategy today? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.
