Guest blogging is an effective way to build links and get traffic to your site.  For bloggers, it’s an easy and sensible way to promote your site.

While guest blogging is useful for link building, using it just for links is very narrow-minded.  There are many more benefits…

You can become a better, more successful guest blogger with these tips for guest blogging.

1) Know Your Audience

Some bloggers will write a post and then match it with a blog.  While this isn’t a terrible thing to do, you have to be careful when using a guest post without a planned host.

Before you submit a guest post anywhere, check out a few of the recent posts and what the readers have to say about them.  Posts with more comments and Tweets than others are usually a good indicator of what visitors like.  You can also email the blogger directly and ask them about their readers.  They’d probably be happy to give you some quick facts about their audience and share some blogging tips.

Once you get a feel for the type of content they like, that should give you a clear idea for the topic of your post.  However, if you have already written a post you should keep researching blogs until you find the right fit for your post.  When you find the right blog, spend a few minutes to customize it for the audience and you’ll be good to go.

2) Use an In-Content Link

When it comes to backlinks, in-content links are perhaps the best.  Links within content can be extremely relevant and since they are within a part of the content only editable by the webmaster, they are usually a sign of a trusted link.

Many guest bloggers add 1-3 links in their author profile box and that’s it.  Those aren’t the best links you can get from guest blogging.

You should use your keyword or a related term as your anchor text and put the link directly into the post.  Make sure the link is natural and if not, you’ll have to find something else to link to.

You should also know that the earlier the link appears in the content the better.  The first link in an article is usually given more weight in the eyes of Google

3) Build a List

Since you have put a link with your keyword into your post, you know have your author profile section to link however you want.  The SEO part is handled, so now it’s time to focus on getting traffic.

In 2-3 sentences, tell people who you are and why you do it.  Include a plain link to your homepage like this Start Blog Now or this www.startblognow.com.  Now for the fun part…

Visitors who read your post need a link to be delivered to your site.  Your goal is to create a link that gets as many readers as possible to click on it.  To do this, you should use a call-to-action and include an action word in the anchor text.  Words/phrases like “click here”, “download”, and “visit” help entice clicks.

To take things even further, link to a squeeze page with a free download.  People will be more likely to click your link because you have something of value to offer, and you’ll simultaneously build an email list.

Instead of just getting visitors from your post, you’re getting email subscribers.  In other words, building a real asset.  If you really want to take things to the next level you can use Optimize Press to create a custom squeeze page for your readers.

4) Respond to Comments

Always, always, always respond to comments on your post.

Ignoring your post after publication makes it look like you really don’t care about the community or the blog you wrote for – yikes.  You don’t have to reply to every comment, but make sure to answer all questions and chat with a few commenters.

Interacting with readers in the comments is also a great way to get more subscribers.  Once someone has had a personal interaction with you online, they will trust you much more and remember you.

5) Promote the Post

Right after a guest post is published you should always take the time to do some promotion.  With just a few minutes of work you can help get your post more traffic.

A few easy ways to promote a guest post are:

• Sharing it on social networks
• Using JustRetweet
• Submitting social bookmarks
• Emailing your subscribers

Your host blogger will appreciate the assistance and you’ll get more subscribers through the additional traffic.

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