By Jenny Romanchuk

If I were looking for the best way to divide a room full of marketers, I’d bring up the topic of guest blogging and link building.

Without a doubt, I’d start a heated debate. Some will argue that digital PR is the best way to earn backlinks. Others will call purposeful link building a waste of time. But in the end, every marketer out there will agree there’s no way to rank in SERPs without quality backlinks — and guest blogging.

However, I must warn you that only a well-crafted guest blogging strategy will effectively fuel your site’s growth. Here’s how you can create one.

Table of Contents

• What is guest blogging?
• How to Become a Successful Guest Blogger
• Guest Blogging SEO
• Top Tools for Guest Blogging

What is guest blogging?

Guest blogging is a content marketing tactic that involves writing and publishing articles on other websites to secure a backlink. Nearly 65% of link builders call guest blogging the most popular tactic.

These articles include your byline and, oftentimes, are highlighted by the editor of that website (or publication) as being written by a “guest author” or a “contributor”.

Depending on the publication, you might pay compensation to publish your guest post. However, that’s not always the case. Some high-quality publications on notable resources are free of charge, and you will get a link back to your personal website or social media accounts for the sake of quality content.

In rare cases, guest bloggers may receive a monetary reward for their efforts. (Although, I’ve only heard of that happening twice.)

But guest blogging isn’t solely about link building.

Benefits of Guest Blogging

Here are some of the biggest benefits people get from guest blogging:

• Build a profile as an industry expert/thought leader.
• Grow your personal brand.

• Grow an audience (social followers, subscribers, etc.)

• Improve SEO performance.

• Build authoritative backlinks.

• Build relationships and drive new partnerships (e.g., co-marketing partnerships, job offers).

• Drive referral traffic.
• Improve a company’s brand awareness.
• Get more leads, users, and even customers.

Actually, you receive most of these with a single guest post if you’re strategic about media outlets and the topic of your article.

How to Become a Successful Guest Blogger

First, let’s define success. I measured it by the number of guest posts published per month per person, the domain rating (DR) of a site, and the amount spent on guest posts.

I was proud to have my small team publish 168 articles with $0 spend on SEJ, SEW, WordStream, SingleGrain, MOZ, OrbitMedia, and other notable blogs. The total number of guest posts exceeded 200+ in one year.

I also measured the number of leads, referral traffic, and shares to understand how guest posts impact business growth, too.

Benchmarks show …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron