What is Guest Blogging?

In the last several years, few things in the online and inbound marketing world have changed more than guest blogging. In fact, things have become so confusing today, that if you ask 10 people “what is guest blogging?” you’re likely to hear 10 different answers. In fact, if you ask some of the same people “what is guest blogging?” 10 times, you still might get 10 different answers.

Fortunately, unravelling the mystery that is guest blogging doesn’t require Sherlock Holmes (the historical or the modern version). It’s actually pretty straightforward stuff. Here’s what you need to know:

What is Guest Blogging?

As the term suggests, guest blogging is when an expert leaves the familiar confines of their own website, blog, social media platform, or wherever they hold virtual court and share their wisdom, and publish a post on another blog.

(By the way, before we continue: we want to keep this as simple as possible, but it’s important to note that guest blogging doesn’t always happen on blogs. People guest post on each other’s websites, forums, communities, and so on. But it’s all referred to as “guest blogging”.)

3 Key Guest Blogging Requirements

Now, the reason that guest blogging has triggered so much confusion over the last few years – and why so many aspiring guest bloggers have failed to reap meaningful rewards for their efforts – is because, to put it bluntly: most people aren’t doing it right. That is, they aren’t aware that just as with any other kind of content, there’s a right way to guest blog, and there’s a wrong way.

Since we’re an optimistic bunch here at Leap Clixx, we’ll steer towards to right way, and highlight 3 key guest blogging requirements:

1. The content has to be relevant

Experts can blog about the ins and outs of something that falls within their wheelhouse on their own website. But when they head over to someone else’s virtual real estate, they need to make sure that their content is going to be accepted as relevant. This requires adjusting both the message and the tone, and frankly, it sometimes means elevating the overall standard of writing (and maybe even hiring a ghostwriter or, at least, an editor). Simply put: guest bloggers can’t assume that their content is going to be relevant and accepted elsewhere, just because it’s relevant and accepted on their own turf.

2. The choice publishing website has to be strategic

About five years ago when guest blogging was on fire, people were publishing content seemingly everywhere. Little (if any) thought was given to whether it actually made strategic sense to do so. As long as a third party was willing to publish it, guest bloggers churned out content. So for example, you had articles by family lawyers on “best practices for preparing qualified domestic relations orders” posted on websites targeting racing car enthusiasts. And you had “do’s and don’ts for holiday eating” on websites about consumer finance loans.

The moral to this cautionary tale is this: guest blogging should always be strategic, and there should be a clear, logical connection between who the guest blogger is, what he or she is writing about, and where the content is being published.

With this being said, it’s fine to go outside of traditional target markets. In fact, that’s one of the glories of guest blogging: reaching folks that would otherwise be tough or expensive to reach. So yes, family lawyers can publish stuff on websites targeting racing enthusiasts, and dieticians can reach into the world of consumer finance loans – but only if it makes strategic sense to do so, and the message is adjusted accordingly.

3. Earning a Click is OK – Setting Backlinks is NOT

As you might expect, no exploration of “what is guest blogging?” would be complete without a journey into SEO country. Here’s the scoop:

Several years ago, a major incentive for guest blogging – and for many guest bloggers, their only motivation – was to set backlinks. The content was a means to an end, and that end was to have a link pointing back to their website to boost SEO results.

But, as Google software engineer Matt Cutts famously revealed back in 2014, guest blogging for SEO is dead – because, after seeing so much awful content clogging the interwebs, Google turned off the backlink taps. As you can imagine, websites that had built their SEO foundation on guest blog backlinks were unceremoniously dumped from page 1 for a slew of important keywords. Google can be kind of terrifying that way.

However, as pointed out by Forbes, Cutts and his supporters weren’t saying that guest blogging as a method was extinct. Rather, they were confirming that it was no longer a viable SEO tactic (and frankly, never should have been in the first place!). Guest blogging is indeed alive and well, and experts that do it the right way continue to reap plenty of business rewards, while they pick up new fans and followers along the way. And yes, they can certainly put a link or two to their website – not to generate SEO, but because it helps readers learn more or get in touch if they choose to do so.

Learn More

At Leap Clixx, we craft (i.e. ghostwrite) guest blog content for our customers, and then have them published on suitable, strategic websites that help generate added visibility, brand awareness, and traffic from both traditional and non-traditional target markets. To learn more, contact us today. Your consultation with us is free.

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