What guest posting could do for your business
Diane Hall
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Blogging may seem like it’s had its heyday, but given how populated the internet is in 2021, and how long-form content is becoming the darling of search engines with every update, you should think about picking it back up.
Regular articles on your site not only show you’re proactive, reactive and still in business, they allow you to cement your expertise, demonstrate your knowledge and connect with potential leads.
However, as we well know, here at ITK Magazine, writing decent content regularly takes time from an already-busy week, and whilst we fully recommend you carve that time out, there’s a quick fix: guest posts.
Accepting guest posts on your site is a no-brainer. If you don’t have the time to always keep your audience engaged, posting an article written by someone else on your blog fills the gap and gives you something new to say, even if it’s someone else’s voice saying it. Of course, you should ensure that what your guest writes about is something your audience will want to read…there’s no point them talking about different ways to marinade meat if your followers are vegans, for example.
It’s courtesy to allow your guest poster to add a link to their website (a backlink) and a short bio at the bottom of their piece, as a credit to them and a thank you for the time they’ve spent writing content for you—for free.
Lovely jubbly, eh? Now, let’s look at that in reverse and how backlinks can help you promote your business.
Backlinks to your site
Google and other search engines love it when you appear on other people’s sites, placing a higher importance on your content in rankings, which is why it’s a good idea to be a guest poster yourself. Search engines look at guest posts as you demonstrating your credibility and sharing your bona fide expertise…you’re also less likely to be a scammer or a dodgy outfit if someone trusts you to post content on their site.
Backlinked content tends to be given preferential treatment on search engines and can raise your rankings in results. This is a generalisation, however; backlinks seem to work better for businesses who are on the way up to pole position than those already there. For these businesses at the top of page one, backlinks must be approached with care, as too many could be seen as spam. That’s a simplification, though—there’s much more to this subject. For most small business, backlinks to your site from someone else’s is a definite positive.
A shortcut to new blood
Small businesses need all the help they can get to widen their reach and expand their database of potential customers. Writing a post on another business’s site gives you access to their audience in one fell swoop. If you provide content that their followers wish to see, you could gain a boatload of new enquiries and warm leads from just one article.
It aids collaboration
You typically need to make a connection with a site’s owner to ask whether you can add content to their site, which could turn into a great relationship that’s ripe for collaboration.
I’ve still got good connections with people I wrote content for more than a decade ago, despite never meeting them in person—business owners who wouldn’t hesitate to recommend me to others, all from a guest post.
Social media
Typically, the third party whose site you’re posting on will share a link to your article across their social media…after all, they want to get eyes on your content and their site just as much as you do. This may result in some new followers for you also, and greater visibility than if you hadn’t written the article. However, and I will emphasis this yet again, the content must be damn good and offer real value to the people who will be reading it.
Choose a headline that has impact. This will usually show in the article preview, and it’s the headline that will help people decide whether to click through and read your words…or not.
Double whammy
When you write an article on your site, it’s usually just down to you to promote it and ensure it’s seen by your target readers. If you post an article on someone else’s site, you’ll both put your back into spreading the word, which should increase the reach of your content exponentially. It’s a win/win situation.
In summary…
It’s impractical and unlikely that you’d be writing a guest post every day, but that’s fine, as you still need to build credibility and visibility on your own site with your content. A guest post is something you should aim to do every month or so…but do your research. Approach sites that have a natural affinity with yours, and whose audience will benefit from what you’d like to say. It requires a little research in the beginning but, given the shortcut a guest post opportunity on a third party’s website represents, it’s worth the effort.
And on that note, the team behind ITK Magazine fully welcome guest post pitches and enquiries. Allow your business to take advantage of our social media reach and established audience and write for us. Whether you’d like to submit a one-off article or pen a regular ‘column’, the benefits above could all be yours.
Interested? Drop the team a message at info@itkmagazine.co.uk.
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