Guest Blogging is a bit of a hot topic at the moment, and we have had a couple of clients asking about it as a marketing tool, so I thought it would be worth a post.
First of all, what is guest blogging?
Put simply it is the practice of getting websites other than your own to accept articles written by you to include in their blog.
What’s the point from a marketing perspective
It gives you a wider audience for your message. Anyone who reads marketing matters regularly will know that we advocate that you build yourself up as “An expert in your field”. That way if and when people need help in your field, they are likely to come knocking on your door. It also allows you to reach a wider audience than simply those who visit your website or subscribe to your email. Furthermore, if done well it will generate high quality links back to your site driving traffic.
How not to undertake a guest blogging campaign.
All sounds great, but the reason it is a hot topic is that as with everything in web marketing, it has been corrupted by people trying to manipulate the Google rankings in the name of SEO, and thus a “Guest Blogging” industry has built up with companies offering to place guest posts on your behalf onto a wide and varied range of websites with the view that this will generate loads of links back to your site from within “rich” content, and thus will help your Google rankings. If this is your Strategy, THINK AGAIN. As you will see form this video interview with Google’s head of anti spam Matt Cutts, they take a very dim view of this practice, and thus will penalise your website for using it! [youtube]OGieiNe6RL4[/youtube]
Guest blogging best practice
This said, if you follow the advice set out in the video, it can be a great tool:
- Only write guest articles for websites which are highly relevant to the subject you are writing about, where you are seen as an expert in your specialist field
- Don’t fill your posts with keyword rich links.
- The primary objective of a guest post should not be to boost SEO. but rather to inform the readers.
- Any SEO benefit gained from the post should be viewed as a secondary. Ironically, if you take this approach, it is likely that it will deliver real benefit in this area.
- Always make sure you are well credited as the author of the post, and include a link back to your own website. Remember you are writing as an expert, so people will want to know who you are.
If you follow this best practice rules, Guest Blogging can be a valuable part of a joined-up marketing programme.
