Guest blogging is all the rage right now with blogging ‘gurus’ telling you all about the great traffic benefits of guest blogging on other people’s sites. And you would do well to listen; they get good traffic if you post on really good blogs. The writer gets exposure and lots of major backlinks, as well as a new audience that is likely to visit his site to read more!
But there’s one important thing guest bloggers don’t do, and that’s create a great, lasting relationship with the owners of the blogs they’ve posted on. For many novice bloggers, guest posting is where they write as many posts for as many blogs as they can and do the cyber equivalent of a ‘car shoot’. Posts and articles are reaching all corners of the blogosphere.
This is great for traffic if the blogs have a large readership and their posts are of high quality. But then what? Do you do it only once? Of course, no. It would be nice if you could write great guest posts regularly for a number of different sites.
But for that to happen, you need to establish a relationship with the site. The site owners/publishers may not give you another guest post space if you simply head off into the sunset, holding several of your readers under your arms without saying a word.
Networking is a must, keeping in touch with editors or site owners regularly or even doing post exchanges would be a fantastic way to build that all important relationship. Even commenting on their posts with helpful tips might encourage you to make another guest post.
Having a network of great blogs that you can contribute to regularly is a much better way to drive traffic to your own blog. Imagine writing to many blogs and then not doing anything again, you will get some visitors to your posts, but then your name and post disappear in the archives.
However, if there were a few sites you wrote for consistently, your name will be recognizable, and if readers of your old posts like what you wrote, they are more likely to read your new post and visit your site again. The same is recommended if she has a Facebook fan page. Interacting regularly with other Pages builds a friendship that will help you ‘go places’.
As for blogs, yours and theirs, the benefit of having a network of great writers is that you will find people who can add content to your site without you having to do a lot of the work. That is, as long as the articles and posts are in keeping with the style and feel of your site.
Many opportunities can arise from having a network of writers, editors, and site owners. One of your new friends may recommend writing for other blogs they have a relationship with, giving you even more exposure. A referral is great for business, it’s great for your reputation, and that alone can open doors.
Staying in touch these days isn’t hard to do, so don’t use the excuse ‘I’m too busy’ or even ‘it’s not worth it’ Trust me, it’s worth it. Most bloggers these days use social media to increase traffic and build relationships with their readers and customers. You can also keep in touch with your new blogging partners by posting comments, questions, or answers on their Facebook or Twitter pages. Bloggers use these platforms to let their readers know when they’ve posted new content, responding with comments or information gets your name in front of new people, which again is good for traffic and getting seen.
After all, why have a blog if you don’t want people to know you’re there? And they won’t know it’s there if it isn’t shown to them. Writing your posts is important, but getting them, your name and the name of your blog in front of as many people as you can is the name of the game. To help win the game, I recommend you start networking, plus it’s much cheaper and more effective than Google AdWords.
