5 Tips for Optimizing Your Guest Blogging Strategy

Guest blogging can be an effective way to increase your brand’s visibility and give your credibility a nice boost in the process. Plus, it’s an inbound marketing strategy with the potential to drive more traffic back to your site, help you secure relevant and top-quality backlinks, and generate a bunch of viable leads. Keep reading to discover five of the best ways to up your guest blogging game, brought to you by the marketing professionals from Saba SEO, a premier SEO company San Diego businesses rely on for expert advice when they want to optimize their online visibility and boost revenue.

1. Build Relationships with Influencers First

Influencers are so named because they manage blogs that are popular within a particular industry or niche, so it should come as no surprise that it’s not always easy to catch their attention. Increase your odds of getting on an influencer’s radar before you submit blog posts by:

• Commenting on existing posts
• Sharing the influencer’s posts with others in your social circle
• Introducing yourself on the influencer’s social media platforms

If you do build a relationship with an influencer ahead of time, you’ll be in a better position to make a pitch. Influencers are also more likely to show some love to guest bloggers if they’ve already seen some active engagement on their part.

2. Be Mindful of Your Target Sites

Some businesses assume guest blogging just isn’t working for them. Oftentimes, the reason for lackluster results is because the wrong sites are being targeted. Avoid this misstep by zeroing in on sites already being visited by a target audience that will likely be interested in your topics.

3. Prepare a Great Pitch

Don’t be surprised if an effortless pitch falls flat. Increase your odds of making your pitches winners by:

• Finding out the host’s name and double-checking the spelling
• Including links to your existing blog posts
• Making sure your pitched topics are relevant to the site
• Checking your spelling and grammar
• Adhering to any listed writers’ guidelines

4. Offer Publish-Ready Customized Posts

Before you submit a post, do your homework and use free tools like BuzzSumo to find out what your target site’s top-performing posts are, then model your submission after those posts. Go a step further and check out their existing posts to see if there are any content gaps (e.g., topics they haven’t fully addressed or related topics they may have overlooked). Also, use a backlink profiler so you can discover your target site’s favorite external link sources and incorporate some of them into your posts.

5. Throw in Some Extra Resources

Further increase your odds of standing out from the crowd by offering a complimentary resource along with your post submission. For instance, if your post is about installing new kitchen cabinets with supplies available from your target site, you might include a “before you get started” checklist of what’s needed to perform this task. Some other possible options include:

• Lists of related resources to encourage readers to get more info on your topic
• PDF versions of your posts
• Case studies, reports, white papers, or other forms of more in-depth content your blog post readers can explore if they wish to do so

One way to track guest blogging results is to compare your Google Analytics data from just before you get started to the data from a month or so afterward. Further filter your reports to see if you’re getting an uptick in engagement in the form of traffic, leads, and conversions related to the places where you regularly guest blog. Then you’ll have a good idea of whether you’re on the right track with your guest blogging efforts.

Guest blogging is a great content marketing strategy that can establish your industry authority and generate high-quality leads. If you need help creating high-quality content or developing your overall online marketing strategy, call on the experienced professionals from Saba SEO. For expert advice on SEO, social media, and Internet marketing, San Diego businesses rely on our expertise to boost online visibility and increase revenue. Give us a call today at 858-277-1717.