Did you know that guest Posting can actually hurt your blog’s SEO if it’s not done the right way?

Like most things involved in promoting your blog, there’s a wrong way to use guest posting and a right way to do guest posting – and a lot of it has to do with what blogs you publish your guest posts on.

Before you waste your next guest post – Consider these points.

The Wrong Way to Do Guest Blogging

Guest blogging has a long and colorful history with Google. When guest blogging first came on the marketing scene, it was a relatively unknown tactic. Then, webmasters realized they could get a lot of backlinks by guest posting. Soon, this tactic started becoming abused. Webmasters would pay $2 for poorly written articles to be published on brand new blogs. This expanded to the point where Google started taking action against those who abused the system.

Google started punishing Low Quality blogs, as well as the webmasters who used them for SEO. Then Google penalized MyBlogGuest.com, the largest guest blog exchange platform at the time.

So, does that mean guest blogging is a bad strategy? That Google doesn’t like guest bloggers? Absolutely not. Google doesn’t like low quality guest posts. Guest writers who write high quality content for high quality websites can still do very well. As proof, one just has to look at Huffington Post. Its website is written by virtually 100% guest posters – and it’s one of the highest trafficked websites in the world.

As, as a rule of thumb, Avoid Writing for low quality sites. Avoid writing for brand new blogs. Avoid writing for sites with spammy links. Avoid buying space on blogs. Avoid PR0 blogs. Of course, there are exceptions. Use your best judgment of a site’s quality. If a site is high quality, even if it seems to have a PR 0, go for it. Just make sure you’re writing for sites that you personally want to be associated with.

The Right Way to Do Guest Posting

So how do you get blog owners to agree to let you write for them?

Start by having a high quality website yourself. Invest some time (and money) into design. Have at least 5-10 content-packed articles on your site. When a site owner comes to check you out, they should like what you’re doing.

Once your site is setup, reach out to bloggers in your space. Personalize your messages. Let them know how you found them, why you like them and why you think you two could be a good match. It often helps if you can suggest 3-5 topics for them to choose from.

It’s generally most effective to reach out to tier 2 or tier 3 bloggers. Tier 1 bloggers are often so busy they can’t respond. But tier 2 or tier 3 bloggers are much more receptive and would generally be grateful for the free content.

Guest posting can be a fantastic way to get big exposure quickly – all without spending a dime. Just make sure you’re being published on quality sites!

Have You Tried Guest Posting? Did it work well for your blog?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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