Guest blogging has become one of the top strategies in online marketing, due to the number of benefits reaped by the guest poster.
For one, they are given the opportunity to tap on the network of a more diverse audience. Increasing their online visibility, especially if they have successfully posted an article on an authority site, takes them a step towards establishing their reputation as an expert in their niche. Building relationships with readers and experts is also another advantage, as well as getting that all-important link juice.
But with search engines constantly updating their algorithm, it has become imperative for contributors to up the ante of the articles they send out to the World Wide Web. In fact, Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team, said that the search engine giant favors high-quality articles more than those uploaded only for the sake of getting links.
With that said, the art of guest blogging becomes a tricky process. If you want to produce high-quality content, take a look at the factors you must consider for the next guest post you wish to submit to another website:
All guest posts begin with a highly-relevant topic. To achieve that, you have to do the following:
First impressions are critical. In writing, this takes the form of your title, the first read item in your article.
For readers who have never read any of your articles before, Google results will be their first exposure to you. In this case, your title is the main highlight of search results. Conversely, even for loyal readers who have subscribed to you via RSS, the title is the first thing they will see. In both cases, the strength of the title will influence whether or not they click on the links and grant you those critical hits.
You must always regard your title as an advertisement for your blog. A good title serves as a hook, drawing upon your reader’s curiosity or desire for self-improvement, or ideally both. If you want your guest post to attract new readers, capturing this interest is key.
Content is the meat and potatoes of any post. It is essential that the things you write is relevant, contemporary, engaging, and most importantly, original.
This means that the secret to making good, effective articles is by shaking things up a bit, presenting seemingly established ideas in a new light, and making your readers think.
For instance, using a list structure is an efficient method that works for both the writer and the reader—the former will be able to organize his or her thoughts well when writing, while the latter can easily scan the article and have a good grasp of its content.
Online readers have short attention spans. This leads to their reading behavior being primarily based on scanning, and, as above, there are ways to address this.
The length of the article depends largely on the type of article you’re writing. While there is no universal rule when it comes to length, a good rule of thumb is to follow the standards of the host site you’re going to submit your article to.
Short articles have the advantage of being read easily, while long articles can cover a comprehensive topic. However, keep in mind that search engines nowadays often consider overly short articles as sub-par, interpreting it as being uploaded for the sake of the links.
Lengthy articles are well and good, especially if the topic calls for it. Always remember the key point, however: stop when it’s time to stop. Provide a comprehensive article appropriate for your topic. Length for its own sake is rarely a good idea.
Maintaining readability is the single most important aspect of writing. A significant portion of this stems from following the rules of grammar and syntax. Even if your content is original, most of its impact will be lost if it isn’t well-written.
Remember that link building and site traffic are secondary goals in guest posting. The most tangible benefits of writing a guest post is exposure to another community, cultivating a relationship with more people, and establishing your expertise in your niche. Readers, after all, are the lifeblood of a website. Connecting with these people by creating engaging, thought-provoking articles will engender goodwill and further relations in the future.
Author Bio
Vincent Sevilla is a professional graphic designer and marketing consultant for Affilorama, an affiliate marketing portal which offers affiliate marketing tools and free affiliate marketing lessons.