How to reach out for guest posts to increase your SEO authority

When you're already working hard to grow your blog, the notion of spending time writing posts for another website may seem counterproductive. And yet, in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, guest posting remains a trusted technique for marketers and bloggers.

Gregory Ciotti used guest blogging to acquire over 36,000 new email subscribers, while Brian Harris used a guest post to kickstart a business that now earns him more than $15,000 each month.

So, why is guest posting so effective? And, more to the point, how do you unlock the real power of guest blogging?

In this article (which is a guest post!), we will discover the secrets of successful guest blogging so you can learn how to grow your brand or business with a guest post strategy.

5 Key Benefits of Guest Posting

First things first: why should you bother writing an article for someone else's blog?

You may think that it's best to focus on creating content for your own website rather than wasting time growing someone else's blog, but you can make a much more significant impact by posting on established blogs and see some tremendous benefits:

Here are five huge benefits of embracing this powerful content marketing strategy.

1) Build Relationships in Your Niche

Guest posting will help you build relationships with other relevant bloggers from your niche, which is particularly useful if you're new to the scene. While some bloggers may refuse, there will be others who will gladly accept your posts as they are, without any additional requirements. Why? Because that means they get free content for their blogs, and if they're a one-person site, that is extremely helpful for them. Single Grain has a guest post submission button right on their blog:

Reaching out to inquire about guest posting gives you a unique opportunity to make new connections in your online world. Of course, not all these contacts will prove to be positive. However, by taking a proactive and professional approach to pitching fellow bloggers and brands in your niche, you will start to get your name (and talent for writing) out there, building credibility for you.

2) Boost Rankings and Brand Awareness

Guest posting will help your blog rank better in search engines. In king of blogging Neil Patel's article, he cites many examples of Why Guest Blogging Is The Best Inbound Marketing Strategy, including Jon Cooper, who “embraced guest blogging and reaped significant rewards as a result. For example, a single guest post of his that was published on Moz generated nearly 400 visitors”:

To this end, you need to find relevant bloggers in your niche who will include links to your own blog within the articles you publish on their websites, because the more relevant backlinks you have, the better your blog will rank on search engines. This shouldn't be too difficult, since most websites allow at least one link to your site within the body copy and another link in your author bio.

As you guest post on more sites, you’ll expand your reach to connect with hundreds or thousands of potential new followers. This reach and your overall visibility will increase as your guest posts get shared on social media.

Dive Deeper: The 7 Most Important Ranking Factors

3) Improve Your Writing Skills

Guest posting is an excellent way to help you refine your writing skills. Maybe you think you are the best writer in your niche – you own a personal blog, you have a few followers, and your faithful readers leave positive comments. But over time, you will get into a routine and possibly settle for less in terms of quality of writing and value of delivered information. It's a natural process that occurs when you don't have any real challenges.

On the other hand, when you offer your services as a guest author, you need to deliver content that is both valuable and extremely well written to get past the gates of a professional editor. You will be forced to pay attention to every little detail, including the research, content and grammar, thus improving your writing.

It's simple: The more you write, the better you become at it. By writing for a range of blogs and diverse topics, you will continuously challenge yourself, so you will have to adapt and learn to write in different styles.

As any good writer knows, punctuation saves lives: 😉