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Optimizing your presence online requires some business savvy, some flair, and some variety. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it all alone.
Some of this variety can come from guest posting, and it makes good business sense to add this tool to your online kit.
But how to go about it? To understand how, we’ll look at what guest posting is (for those of you who are new to this or want a refresher), and why you should employ it. From there, we’ll take a look at the DIY route and compare it to some guest posting services that are available.
What is Guest posting?
Guest posting is, very simply put, writing and posting on another website, blog, or online presence other than your own. In return for this, you’ll hopefully receive a link back to your online presence and enhance the traffic to your website.
Why should I guest post at all?
If you’re interested in SEO to generate traffic, then guest posting, either as DIY or guest posting services, should be added to your mix of SEO service tools.
Some have cited guest posting as being in decline with regards to SEO, but this needs tempering. It is true that guest posting can be open to abuse, but not true that it is ‘dead.’ It is a matter, like most things in life, of moderation and being targeted with your content and with which sites you wish to work.
According to Digital Agency Network (DAN), other benefits will accrue, such as relationship building. By networking with other sites and adding premium content for them, you’re doing a service to them and building their reputation. They will shout out to you, adding to your street cred., and their audience will listen.
This comes to my next point: guest posting is also useful for increasing your own audience. Merely by guest posting elsewhere, you’re leveraging another person’s entire audience base, some of which will hop over and check you out! Of course, this is providing you have provided quality content, which is your next challenge.
How to guest post
So you’ve weighed up whether or not to add guest posting to your list of best SEO service tools and decided the benefits are worth the time.
How do you go about it? Well, you’ll need to find reliable sites, partners to work with, and then, of course, get invited to contribute to them. You can either go about this work yourself (the DIY route), or you can employ guest posting services.
Let’s look at both of these options in more detail.
DIY – The case for
First, we’ll look at some arguments for the DIY option:
Control of content – If you want to write your own material in your own voice, then writing your own content is the most robust case for the DIY option.
Who you work with – Having no middle-man means you decide with whom you wish to work. No one knows who you want to write for like you do. Use that knowledge to grow your site’s traffic.
Direct communication – Direct communication with other sites means a direct relationship. Rapport building is essential to creating ongoing business.
Here’s an interesting page for DIY if this route is of interest to you.
DIY – The case against
Juggling time – There are only twenty-four hours in a day, how much time do you want to take away from writing your content from your site to generate traffic to your website? The return has to outweigh the cost of your time, so unless you have a clear and disciplined plan, this will be hard.
Time wasting/rejection – Similar to the above point, you’ll have to put in the time to pursue other sites to promote your guest posting services, which will lead you down a few dead ends and no’s before you get a yes.
Lack of expertise – You may not have the knowledge or developed skillset to get your foot in the door for guest posting content in the first place.
Doors closed – Some high traffic and desirable sites may just not be interested in your approach.
Limited growth and reach – You can’t write everywhere at once, as you’re only one person.
Services – The case for
Now we’ll look at guest posting services:
Best SEO Service and Expertise – Not only do the right sites contain the knowledge in guest posting, but they will also provide the best SEO services.
Established relationships – A reputable guest posting service will have some established links to some sites that may otherwise have not been approachable to just you.
Saved time – Making use of a guest posting service will free up your time to continue writing that premium content for your site. When traffic comes to you from those other sites, you’ll be ready and waiting.
Services – The case against
Indirect contact – There’s potential in interpersonal relationships, and having a service means you’ll miss this potentially valuable source of communication.
Loss of control – In freeing your time, you are effectively also ceding control of your quality checking. This could be costly to your reputation if you choose the wrong service provider.
Shoddy work/unreliable businesses – You may choose a shonky operator who produces spam content or is just bad at what they do. Not all business is created equal, so do your homework.
Shot Called!
We hope you have more insight into the process of guest posting. The world online can be somewhat hard to navigate, but hopefully, you have more information to make an informed decision.
Weigh up your choices, use an old-fashioned pen and pencil on a piece of paper to make a pros and cons list. Your high-tech business deserves your consideration!
Remember, whether you choose to take the DIY route or the guest post service else (Hurryworld.com) route, do your homework, be informed. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from experts, but equally, don’t be scared to take control and do what you do best.
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This content is sponsored by Uday Tank.
Photo: Shutterstock