6 Ways Guest Posting Can Help Your Business Grow

If you’re a regular reader of Internet marketing blogs, you’ll find that the blogs feature guest writers from time to time. A guest writer is usually an expert on a certain topic and often provides a fresh perspective and voice for your favorite blog.

Ever wonder why these experts are not just sharing their knowledge on their own blogs?

They are guest posting.

What Is Guest Posting?

The term is self-explanatory. “Guest posting” is when a guest writer publishes an article on someone else’s blog. Over the last few years, this practice of guest posting has grown in popularity—not just on Internet marketing blogs but on blogs in general. It’s an excellent strategy that has truly gained momentum.

Why Should You Guest Post?

Apart from having someone else’s blog audience reading your blog posts, what is the point of putting so much work into an article that is not even on your own site? You see, guest posting is not just about building an "I scratch your back, you scratch mine” relationship; it is a powerful tactic that enables you to build a real network online and helps your business grow. Here's what guest posting can give you:

1. Relationships

The #1 reason to start spending time on guest posts is to build relationships. Every blog (even yours) needs quality content, and sometimes the tap runs dry. This is where you can step in as a guest blogger and provide fresh content for another blog.

By guest blogging, you’re building a relationship with a blogger, and who doesn’t want fellow bloggers as friends? This will help you expand your sphere of Internet influence. If your blogger friend is influential, imagine all the good things that will come your way!

2. Links

Guest posting is an age-old link-building tactic. When you write a guest post, be sure to put in a link to your site in the author bio so readers know where to find you should they be interested in more awesome content. This backlink is great for SEO, because what search engine doesn’t love a good, non-spammy, real link?

Guest post often enough (on reputable sites) and the value of your blog is sure to move up in the rankings.

3. New Traffic

The link is not just useful for search engines, but also for pointing new readers your way. If readers like your content, they are sure to click through to find out more about you.

This is why it is important to put in a lot of work into a guest post—sometimes even more than what you would put into a post for your own blog. Your guest post is painting a picture of your expertise in a new environment and you want that first impression to be great! If you manage to hook the new readers, a lot of traffic could come your way.

As an example: Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO was featured as a guest poster on SEOmoz. He demonstrates the exposure he received here, with graphs and everything. The post is a couple of years old but still very relevant.

4. A Better Reputation as an Expert

Your own blog readers already know you’re an expert, so how about we expand the horizons a little bit? Guest posting is an excellent opportunity to establish thought leadership within a brand-new community. What better way to let others know you’re a subject-matter expert than by writing about it where you’ll be seen?

5. Social Media Popularity

Popularity in blog circles is closely tied with social media success these days. If the readers of your guest post like what you have to say, they’re likely to follow you on social media to keep up with you and what you have to say about your niche. This is an excellent way to build a relevant and engaged social media community.

6. An Increase in Revenue

Ultimately, the new visitors will turn into loyal readers. These loyal readers will evolve into customers, so guest posting is going to be an excellent contributor towards your increase in revenue as well.

Guest Posting on Your Site

Does opening up your site to guest posts have any benefits for you? Definitely! By inviting an expert author to contribute content, you’re providing your blog audience with an entirely fresh take on the topic. This is always refreshing for any audience.

You will probably also get some new traffic out of the deal. The guest writer’s existing audience will probably stop by to check out his or her content on your blog, and in doing so your blog will be exposed to a new community as well. 

Word of Caution

Before you go, just a quick word of caution. Guest posting, like several other SEO strategies, has developed into a much-abused practice. In fact, a recent update from Google’s spam team addresses this very issue. Watch below:

Guest posting IS a good idea, but Google is not slow to catch up when shady practices start to creep in. Whether you’re the guest poster or the host for the poster, be sure to do things the right way or prepare to be in trouble with Google. 

So tell us ... have you tried guest posting? Has it worked for you or do you think it’s a waste of time? We would love to hear your thoughts.