The power of guest blogging can be massive for building brand awareness and generating traffic. However, it’s important you know how to effectively find guest blogging opportunities so you achieve your bottom line. I suggest to everyone starting a blog to focus on building a brand because it’ll help you achieve much more going down the line. One of the best ways to build your brand and generate traffic is through guest blogging opportunities. Through guest blogging, you’re not only finding a relevant flow of traffic, but you can also build authority links back to your blog. If you look at the most successful internet marketing blogs (JohnChow.com, ZacJohnson.com, QuickSprout.com, and ShoeMoney.com), you can see they’ve used their personal brand to push the limits. Whenever you hear these names, you know right away you’ll find quality content, the best tools, and a credible blogger.
If you just started to blog and would like to focus on awareness, then utilize these strategies to build your brand through guest blogging.
Research Topic
One of the best ways to build your brand is to write exclusive content on topics trending. However, the trick is to put a twist on the content, making sure you’re the first to implement a clear solution. The best type of content online always provides a complete solution and/or is the first of its kind. If you look back over several years in almost every niche, the ones who have built a name for themselves are pioneers in the industry. Everyone remembers people who have paved the way for others, making their lives easier. This is why case studies showing a step-by-step process on how to effectively solve a problem create a buzz quickly. They even go viral on social networks because people love problem solving content that is easy to follow.
Before writing content for guest blogs, it’s important to research a topic popular with your audience. This will increase the chance readers will engage through social shares or a call-to-action placed in the content. Later, we’ll discuss how it’s important to add a call-to-action within your content to attractive a bigger following.
Track Your Guest Blogging
I’m surprised by how many people think all guest posting opportunities are the same and I’m here to tell you, they’re not. Different blogs will provide different value to your bottom line so it’s important to keep an eye on those opportunities that give you the highest ROI. For example, some blogs have been around for years, gaining more authority than others. These same blogs have more social followers, relevant traffic, and engagement so it’s important to focus on these when building your brand. The process doesn’t have to be hard, but you’ll have to do some research.
First, start by doing some research online, finding the best blogs in your niche. You can skim forums, do a quick search in Google, or simply know from experience. Once you’ve published your guest post on these blogs, track traffic flow through Google Analytics, looking for an increase in traffic. The more people you can direct through your post to your blog, the higher chances of building brand awareness.
Clear Call-To-Action
Blog owners have different rules applying to call-to-actions placed within content submitted for guest publishing. Many bloggers will allow a maximum of two links within the author bio and some will even allow you to place relevant links pointing to external content in the body. If you want to build your brand quickly, then I suggest utilizing call-to-actions pointing to a page on your personal blog where you capture the visitors’ email address. It’s often said email subscribers is the best way to drive traffic back to your blog and increase brand awareness through follow-up messages. Once you have someone join your newsletter, you can market to them several times, promoting products, content, and building loyalty. However, you have to be careful how you utilize this strategy. For example,
- Make sure guest blogs accept call-to-actions within the content submitted. I suggest reading the writing guidelines before submitting your content.
- When adding a link, make sure it points to relevant content on your blog.
- Trade email addresses for something of value. You know why they have come to your website so offer an eBook, resource guide, coupon, etc. This will depend on your niche and purpose.
In the end, guest blogging with a clear call to action can be important when building your brand.
Social Followers Matter
Whenever I’m searching for guest blogging opportunities, I’ll view social profiles to check followers. If you get published on a blog, there is a high likelihood your content will be shared on their social platforms. If a blogger has 50,000 followers, this can be huge for generating traffic and brand awareness. Even through authority blogs tend to have an enormous following, it still helps to know their relevance. I’ll skim through the followers, reading their bio to find out more about them so I can tweak my content to fit their preference. This will increase the chances of getting my content “retweeted”, which is great to generate traffic and build my brand.