The whole idea of back links was created by the major search engines as a way for them to judge the authority of a website and how relevant it was to searches being made. They spawned an industry but sadly some of those who took up the cudgel found it a way to make quick money by spamming and therefore manipulating the search engine results rather than optimising for them. It is with this idea of manipulation that Google is so keen to get rid of. Anyone responding to an advert for 5000 back links for $100 now needs their bumps feeling and have a total rethink of their SEO strategy.
Guest blogging encourages the two best aspects of back linking, relevance and edited authority. The relevance aspect is key as the link coming from a guest blog post will be from a highly relevant article, itself posted on a highly relevant website or blog. The edited authority is an implied advantage as before any guest blog post is published, it should be read and accepted by the website owner. It tells Google that it has been authorised by a real person and that they have deemed it fit for publishing.
With all that in mind, what is the best way to start the gets blogging process? First, practice writing articles and posts. There is little point in you submitting your articles time and time again if they keep being rejected.
Make sure you research your subject area properly and produce something that is of use to any person reading it. If you are writing an article on “Ferraris” make sure that you have the right information, facts and figures. Once of the major reasons for blogging and guest blogging is to show the world that you know what you are talking about. You want to be seen as an authority on the subject and you can’t do that by using out of date information or purely anecdotal evidence.
Write for people and not for search engines as it is the people who will read it. There is a real danger of some authors writing for the SEO benefits alone. By doing this, all that will happen is your article will be stilted and badly written. The modern search engine algorithms will pick up on this, even if the blog editor or website owner doesn’t.
Make sure that the article you write is unique. If you don’t know it yet, Google hates duplicated content and you will be penalised for it. Also, any blog editor or website owner should run your article through Copy Scape to check if it is unique or not. With unique content in mind, please do not be drawn into the idea of article spinning, to turn your one article into hundred, all with slight variations. Despite the assurances of the article spinning sites, a spun post does not read well and may cause it to be rejected. Also, by guest blogging you are entering into a relationship of implied trust with the blog or website owner. You will be promising them that your content is unique and not spun. If you try and pull the wool over their eyes at the start and are found out then that will be the end of it. Remember, blogging is about being a part of a community and within that community people talk. Spammers soon get a bad reputation and that news will get around.
Some blogs invite guest blogging and some stay silent on the matter. If there is a blog that you would like to write a guest article for then make contact and start some communication. Popular blogs and websites will be inundated with requests from other bloggers so mark yourself out from the crowd. Ask them if they would like you to write a guest blog and on what subject. Discuss topics, headlines and content. Find out how they like it done and respect their wishes. Ask them about back links, if they allow them, where they would a like them placed and how many. Sending in articles with dozens of back links to your website is not attractive and basically tells the blog or website owner that you are not looking to lend them any value but just take the back links from them.
Remember that when writing a guest blog post you are writing an article, not an advert. Do not make your guest blog post promotional and litter it with reasons why the reader should buy goods or services from your website. It needs to be impartial, informative and have some real worth to the blog or website owner who is going to publish it.
Mutual promotion is a great thing and it only benefits everyone. A vital part of blogging in general is it’s interaction with social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc. Every time you post an article on your blog or website you should be sharing to with your friends and followers. Guest blogging is no different and you should be promoting your guest post through your normal media channels. This helps your article get seen and also the blog or website owner who has been kind enough to publish your post.
You are probably thinking that this all sounds like a lot or hard work; and it is. The reason why guest blogging is such an important source of back links for SEO is that it is a practice that cannot be automated and takes time to achieve. Once you get into the mindset that getting the back link is secondary to writing the article then it becomes second nature to write and get published. The technique of writing unique, compelling and informative articles has become key to online success. All that is required now is practice.