The 7 Reasons Every Blogger Should Be Guest Posting
FYI: One year after this post was published, we decided to launch the community of guest bloggers for people interested in guest blogging. So please go ahead and join: MyBlogGuest
(photo by insunlight)
New Audience: Guest posting will open up your blog to a new audience that may not have previously read your work. As long as you write something that catches their interest, they will curiously click through to your blog to see what else you have to offer.
More RSS Subscribers: Once they click through to your blog, if visitors find information that is either informative, entertaining and/or useful, they will most likely subscribe to your RSS feed to see what you are going to publish in the future. Keep in mind that in order to draw visitors (and potential RSS subscribers) to your blog, you need to write an amazing guest post that piques their interest.
Win-Win Situation: When it comes to guest blogging, both bloggers benefit from this arrangement. The guest blogger gets to expose their content to a new audience, while the other blogger gets a great free piece of exclusive content to publish.
Networking: Since a good guest blogger should be replying to reader comments, this is a great opportunity to start conversations with new readers. Not only can you establish new relationships through comments, but other people’s thoughts can also be a great tool for thinking of new topics for your future posts.
Fresh Perspective: If you are normally a solo blogger, then having a guest blogger is a great way to add a fresh perspective to your blog. This works even better if the guest blogger has a slightly different area of expertise that they can share with your readers.
(photo by morphyne)
Different Social Networks and Reach: Each of the bloggers may utilize different social networks, and have varying amounts of reach on each one. For example, my main social networks are on Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook and Blog Catalogue. Although I don’t have the strongest presence on Digg, I can work with a guest blogger that does (but doesn’t necessarily have a strong StumbleUpon profile). Since we will both be trying to promote each guest post through our various social networks, our combined efforts will give our content a farther reach.
This combined effort creates what I like to call “Social Media Synergy”. If you want to see “Social Media Synergy” in action, just check your analytics program a day or two after guest posting, and I know that you will be happy with the increase in traffic that you see.
Link Building: Although this last one is pretty obvious, it’s definitely a nice benefit of guest posting. Like my bio below, you can include some information about yourself (along with a link or two back to your blog and website), and this will provide you with a quality backlink to help your SEO efforts.
If you know of other benefits of guest posting, please let Ann and I know by leaving a comment!
This is a guest post by Gerald Weber. Gerald is the President and Founder of Search Engine Marketing Group, which is a leading search engine marketing and web development firm in Houston, TX. Gerald also maintains an Houston SEO blog.
*I would like to give a special thanks to Ann for not only introducing me to the concept of guest blogging, but for also being kind enough to allow me to write a post for her wonderful blog!
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42 Responses to “The 7 Reasons Every Blogger Should Be Guest Posting”
As a previous guest blogger on SEOSmarty, I can safely say that its an excellent way to reach new audiences. Although I was known in the Seomoz circle of people, I wasnt to the general SEo crowd, when the post went hot and got picked up by others, more and more people interacted with me over time!
http://www.twitter.com/rishil
By rishil on Dec 11, 2008
@Rishil, yeah, we’ve had some great time then!
By Ann Smarty on Dec 11, 2008
@Rishil,
Thanks Rishil I’ll be sure to check out your articles. I’m following you on Twitter now.
By Gerald Weber on Dec 11, 2008
I also think that guest blogging helps increase your authority. Think about it–if other bloggers are willing to let you contribute a post to their blog, it sends readers the message that you’re respected in the industry and you have something of value to add.
By Eric Brantner on Dec 11, 2008
@Eric,
Excellent point and well said. I completely agree with you.
By Gerald Weber on Dec 11, 2008
Gerald: you are so right on. Writing new guest posts is one of my top priorities. For me, one of the other benefits is that I’m a professional writer, so I can write guest posts pretty quickly. Conversely, doing basic PR requires a lot of energy for me. SO guest posting is actually an easier, more fun, and more rewarding way for me to spread the word about my site. PLUS I love connecting with other bloggers.
By Alisa Bowman on Dec 11, 2008
@Alisa,
The FUN! is actually one of the best things about guest posting. I’m sure being a professional writer is certainly a bonus for you as well.
By Gerald Weber on Dec 11, 2008
How do you go about getting invited to guest post? Do you just straight out offer?
Thanks for the informative article!
By Tracy on Dec 12, 2008
Nice post and I certainly agree. But under what criteria a blogger has to accept guest blogging?
By Raghavan on Dec 12, 2008
Guest Posting is welcome on Bloghology Social Network. The only exclusive network for Bloggers and companies related to the Blogosphere. Connect, share, post with other Bloggers and Merchants globally
By Vasileios Pasparas on Dec 12, 2008
Hi Ann – I’ve thought a lot about guest posting. There are lots of blogs I’d like to guest post on. It’s getting the time to do it that’s the problem.
By Cath Lawson on Dec 12, 2008
@Tracy,
Pretty much just ask yes.
@Raghavan,
There really are no hard and fast rules. There is no situation that a blogger MUST accept a guest post. It’s just a matter of networking really.
By Gerald Weber on Dec 12, 2008
These are great points on the value of guest posting
A definite must do for all bloggers 
By WebSuccessDiva Blog Marketing on Dec 12, 2008
@WebSuccessDiva Blog Marketing
Thanks for commenting. I have been reading your blog lately as well. You have a lot of great stuff there. I’ll see you around.
By Gerald Weber on Dec 22, 2008
Guest blogging is quickly replacing article marketing as my preferred method for building links. The downside is that not every niche has a plethora of blogs with bloggers open to guest blogging submissions. It does seem to be great for writing, internet marketing, and blogs about blogging though.
By Lindsay on Dec 23, 2008
The only thing that concerns me about this is – links. Google has made us so nervous that ….
Otherwise – yeah – guest blogging is a great way to reach out to new audience besides building authority and getting some well earned traffic.
By John on Jan 9, 2009
You are very true with your statement
By Jag on Jan 30, 2009
Ya it,s true. Your points like New Audience, networkin and Social media are very important for every blogger.
By seo expert on Feb 16, 2009
Guest posting on other blogs is a great way to reach a new market. Make sure you use anchor text when linking to your website.
By seo consultant on Feb 16, 2009
This makes perfect sense. So how does one provide a guest post? Would I target blogs that I am interested in writing for – similar to approaching a magazine with an article idea? Or do I have to wait for an invitation from bloggers to provide a guest post?
By Louise Desmarais on Mar 15, 2009
I think one of the most overlooked advantages of guest posting is the opportunity to improve your writing by getting fresh feedback. Your regular blog readers are used to your writing style and obviously are happy with it. When you expose your work to a new audience, you get the opinions of people who may have never seen your previous work, so they can give you an unbiased review of your writing.
By Online Income on Mar 15, 2009
Thank you for some good statements about the reasons and I can agree to these. I am fairly new in this business and have been taken by surprise how fast you get connected to networks filled with solid information.
By OLE on May 11, 2009
Let me just add, though, that when you start guest posting, be sure your post is reflective of your personality, your public views or your life. Make sure what you are saying is something you would say on your blog, if you are guest posting for the main purpose of promoting your blog. These posts come up in searches. You can learn an awful lot about a person by their guest commenting. For example, you probably don’t want your political views to be first in line when someone google’s you unless your blog is about politics and/or you are already outspoken about your political views.
By Christi Glaser on Jun 26, 2009
I couldn’t agree more! Thank You for pointing out seven wonderful reasons why everyone should leave a comment on a blog. Like you mentioned its always a “Win-Win” Strategy.
By Eddna on Jul 6, 2009
Great advice, I’d love to do some more guest blogging soon – especially on sites focused on executive audiences.
By David Dalka on Jul 9, 2009
Great reasons there!
Actually, I think it is more of a Win-win-win solution – You win, the owner of the blog wins, and his readers win!
By Gloson on Aug 26, 2009
Really love the point guest blogging brings you new perspective of your blog. Writing in the same niche day by day in most cases will soon bore and burn out me. That’s when I should read post on other different niche blogs and do some guest blogging.
By Phaoloo on Sep 9, 2009
Thanks, I really agree, understood… great points of view and I learn about blogging, cause I’m new.
Lia
By lia henriques on Sep 9, 2009