Guest posting on other high quality blogs in your niche is still one of the best SEO strategies for small businesses in 2019. While guest blogging and content marketing in general can take some time and effort, it's a cost-free way to earn exceptional backlinks, referral traffic, brand awareness, and new business relationships.
Some marketers think that guest posting is dead. Their perception is guided by the fact that Google already started cracking down on websites that blatantly guest post on a large scale for links. Sure, Google has cracked down on some websites or Private Blog Networks (PBN) and former Google Spam director Matt Cutts infamously said that "guest blogging is done" way back in 2014. Guest what, guest blogging still works great in 2019. When done right, guest blogging is still an incredibly effective method of acquiring backlinks with high Domain Authority / Domain Rating (DA / DR) on Moz and Ahrefs respectively for improved SEO.
Yes every year Google does ad more ranking factors and tweak the impact of each factor in their PageRank calculation, but links have been and always will be a very strong factor. You can't stress the importance of high-quality backlinks enough when trying to optimize your content for Google searches. It should be a cornerstone of your blogger outreach strategy.
Below is a simple breakdown of a basic procedure to follow when looking for quality guest posting opportunities in your company's niche. First, use relevant search operators.
The following examples offer a good starting point for guest blog posting opportunities.
- Your keyword intitle:”write for us”
- Your keyword inurl:/guest-post/
- Your keyword intitle:”write for me”
- Your keyword “become a contributor”
- Your keyword intitle:”contribute to”
- Your keyword “guest post guidelines”
Once you have compiled a list of websites you consider a good match for your brand in terms of audience and metrics, it is time to reach out to the website owners. Use WHOIS or Contact Us pages to find the website or blog owner contact information and build a quick spreadsheet. When contacting these blog owners and webmasters, always have in mind that providing valuable content for their audience is the most important goal to meet. Promoting your company should come second if you want a real a chance of getting published. Although you should customize your outreach emails as much as possible, here’s an effective sample email you can use for guest blogging or outreach:
Subject: I enjoyed your recent article and I would like to collaborate
Hello [INSERT NAME],
I recently found your post title [BLOG POST TITLE] and loved how [CUSTOM POST MESSAGE]. I am a writer myself and would relish an opportunity to write a small piece for your site. Do you accept outside contributors to your blog?
I have 3 blog post ideas that I think would be great for your audience:
- UNIQUE IDEA 1
- UNIQUE IDEA 2
- UNIQUE IDEA 3
I would love to create an outline for your review. Looking forward to hearing what you think.
Here are some of the articles I have published recently:
- EXAMPLE URL 1
- EXAMPLE URL 2
- EXAMPLE URL 3
Regards,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR COMPANY / WEBSITE / SOCIAL MEDIA USERNAME]
For optimal results, always follow up on your initial backlink building outreach email; a maximum of three total emails is enough, with each sent a few days or a week apart. Make sure you are professional and sincere in your messages and avoid sounding pushy or desperate.
Most importantly, use an assertive language and an attention-grabbing subject line for higher email open rates.
Include a clear opt-out option as well to avoid potentially spamming anyone and getting into hot water with ICANN or GDPR. If you reach out to a dozen people each week, you should be approved to contribute to several high authority blogs each time.
Consistently keep this strategy up for months or years and you can see how the valuable backlinks will add up and make a major difference in the SERPs. Start writing and submitting your guest posts today to increase your online earnings!
Learn more about SEO and linkbuilding in our Blogger Outreach Guide.
