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In the classic guest blogging arrangement, a popular blog will invite you to contribute a “guest post” or two. In some cases, it’s because the blogger is going on vacation and needs someone to take over for a few days. In other cases, it’s because the blogger is looking for a specific insight or view that he or she thinks will be valuable for the blog’s audience. But don’t worry about the reason – if you’ve been invited to contribute a guest blog, always accept. Here are four reasons why.
Reason #1: Guest blogging exposes your brand to a new audience
Most likely, your company dedicates at least 80 percent of its combined marketing resources to going after a certain target demographic. What guest blogging does is open up new opportunities to go after that missing 20 percent in a very efficient way.
Take the example of a foodie blogger who runs a blog targeted primarily to people who enjoy healthy, organic foods. That might be just the audience that an up-and-coming food brand needs and wants, but hasn’t been able to attract yet. Writing a guest blog post about, say, the nutritional qualities of the company’s food products, could be a great way to get in front of a new audience and change the way these products are viewed in the marketplace.
Reason #2: Guest blogging gives you extra social media momentum
Although no money typically changes hands as the result of a guest blogging arrangement, what you can gain is a bit of social media momentum. Think about it – once your guest post has been accepted and published, the blogger will then look to promote it as widely as possible. That often means mentions on Facebook, Twitter and perhaps even Instagram or Snapchat.
Reason #3: Guest blogging turns you into a social media influencer
This is the “halo effect” at work. In short, if you’ve been invited to contribute to a well-respected blog, you and your company will be viewed in a more favorable way. For example, if a blog focuses on travel and leisure, and you’ve been invited to contribute a review of a new travel destination, that automatically makes you into a thought leader whose opinions matter. And, if you happen to work for a boutique hotel, that might even translate into new bookings for your business along the way.
Reason #4: Guest blogging drives high-quality traffic and referrals
Part of guest blogging is adding all the little links that will have people clicking back to your home website. (However, you don’t want to be too promotional!) And, as part of most guest blogging arrangements, you’ll also have the option to add a brief bio at the end, complete with your Twitter handle or website URL. You’d be surprised at how many clicks those links get.
And, of course, there’s yet one more way to leverage guest blogging for your business. If your business is just launching a new corporate blog, you can flip the script by inviting bloggers to contribute to YOUR blog. This means you’ll now have social media influencers helping to build your blog by getting their built-in audiences to check out your work and your products.
So, as you can see, guest blogging is usually a win-win proposition for everyone involved, as long as the guest blog post itself delivers high-quality content and not just a lot of promotional material.
