How to Leverage Guest Blogging and Partnerships

How to Leverage Guest Blogging and Partnerships

Growing a new blog with zero traffic can be daunting with very little budget. Asides from email marketing, running paid advertising, or engaging social media communities, there is a method that is rarely being explored.

Guest blogging is yet another effective method to drive traffic to your blog. Leveraging guest blogging is another huge traffic generator if done right.

Leveraging guest blogging and partnerships can help expand your reach, increase brand visibility, and drive traffic to your website.

Key Highlights

🎯 Guest blogging is an effective content marketing strategy that rewards with visibility of your website and better domain rating.

🎯 Guest blogging thrives on relationships and offering quality content.

🎯 You must master the article of pitching correctly and build a robust portfolio of high-quality content that is publish-worthy.

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What is Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging happens when you are invited to publish content (usually in the form of an article) on another website based on your expert knowledge of a subject in a similar field or industry. This can be vice-versa.

Here are steps to effectively leverage guest blogging and partnerships:

1. Identify relevant websites and blogs

Research websites and blogs in your industry or niche that have a substantial audience and align with your target market. Look for platforms that accept guest contributions and have a good reputation for publishing high-quality content.

In actual sense, making a list of the websites with strong domain ratings and traffic is a tedious task, let alone mailing each of them one by one and waiting endlessly for their response.

There are third-party agencies that can help you source for these websites all over the web. Some of these agencies already have these sites onboarding to their platform making it easy to vet them according to your preference.

The overall goal is to acquire strong backlinks pointing to your website or blog. For example, Links management and  Rebrandly are notable ones. The benefit is that your website will leverage referral traffic as long are your links remain on their website.

2. Familiarize yourself with the guidelines

Before pitching your guest blog post, carefully review the guidelines and requirements provided by the target websites.

Each platform may have specific guidelines regarding topics, word count, formatting, and submission process. Adhering to these guidelines increases your chances of acceptance.

You should find these guidelines on their guest post page or write for us page, most times on the footer of the website.

Some websites accept payment before featuring your content.  But be careful that you’re not getting links from link farms (a cluster of spammy websites connected by backlinking with each other).

Acquiring links from link farm is very easy but sites with them usually have a site traffic life cycle which ends up creating more toxic problems or penalties from Google in the future. Search engines and webmasters prohibit link farming in any form.  

Look for sites that are legit with a history of producing valuable traffic. You will also need to check the backlink types, the website’s spam score, backlink profile, traffic health, and other metrics.

SemRush and Ahrefs are valuable tools you can use to verify these metrics.

3. Develop unique and valuable content ideas

It’s often tempting to offer less than expected when guest blogging since all your efforts will be hosted on another site that is not yours. 

Some websites, depending on their guidelines offer do-follow or no-follow links with or without crediting the author. This should not bother you. The goal is to acquire those quality links at the end. So, valuable content attracts quality guest blogging opportunities.  

Brainstorming content ideas that will resonate with the target website’s audience is key. Choose topics that showcase your expertise, address common pain points, or offer actionable insights. Ensure your content is unique, well-researched, and provides value to the readers.

4. Craft a compelling pitch

When reaching out to websites for guest blogging opportunities, personalize your pitch and highlight the value you can provide to their audience.

Explain why your content is relevant and unique, and how it will benefit their readers. Customize each pitch based on the website and its target audience. Your pitch must not be lengthy, make it brief and straight to the point.

When drafting your pitch ensure links to your sample articles are clickable, referring back to your portfolio, either on your drive or website.

See an example below of a brief but targeted pitch from Steel Croissant.

5. Create high-quality content

Once your guest post is accepted, create the content based on the guidelines provided by the hosting website.

Write in a style that matches their tone and voice while showcasing your expertise. Use subheadings, bullet points, and visuals to enhance readability and engagement.

6. Include an author bio and backlinks

In your guest post, include an author bio section that introduces you and your business.

Within the bio, include links to your website, blog, or relevant landing pages. These backlinks help drive traffic to your site and improve your search engine visibility.

Reach out to the webmaster to request do-follow links, this signals to Google that another website points back to you which strengthens your website’s authority and improves your overall ranking on the SERPs.

7. Promote your guest post

Once the guest post is published, promote it on your own website and social media channels. Share it with your email subscribers and encourage your network to read and share the post.

This not only drives traffic to the hosting website but also enhances your credibility and authority within your industry.

8. Collaborate with complementary businesses

Seek partnerships with businesses that have a similar target audience but offer complementary products or services.

For example, if you run a fitness blog, you could partner with a nutritionist to create joint content or collaborate on a webinar. This allows you to tap into each other’s networks and reach a wider audience.

9. Cross-promote each other’s content

Collaborate with your partners to cross-promote each other’s content, such as blog posts, videos, or social media posts.

Share links to each other’s content with your respective audiences, helping to drive traffic and introduce new audiences to your brand.

10. Nurture relationships

Building strong relationships is crucial for guest blogging and partnerships. Maintain open communication, provide value to your partners, and seek mutually beneficial opportunities.

Long-term relationships can lead to additional guest blogging opportunities, joint ventures, and collaborative marketing campaigns.

Final Thoughts

Remember, when guest blogging and partnering with other businesses, focus on providing value to the audience and establishing yourself as a trusted authority in your field.

Consistently deliver high-quality content, nurture relationships, and track the impact of your efforts to refine your guest blogging and partnership strategies over time.