One the most common SEO strategies employed in building up a website’s ranking is through the use of article marketing. This is mainly done by submitting articles to hundreds of websites with embedded links pointing back to the author’s website. Links are like tiny votes that search engines credit to your website. This was generally considered as a simple way of improving a website’s reputation by making it appear as an authority in its niche.
This has long been practiced by many as an easy method of link building. In fact, a great number of softwares have been developed specifically to perform this task. It has made it possible to turn a single article into hundreds of unique articles and even goes the extra mile by automatically sending them to article submission sites.
Having done some article marketing in the past, I too had my share of “spinners.” I could say that they were highly effective in producing “unique” content but I couldn’t say the same as far as the quality of content they produce. And I believe that no decent blogger or website owner would place this on their website.
It seems that some of the search engines have wised up to this method and have changed some of the rules regarding its effects on how websites are ranked. Even some of the major article submissions have been affected by this new algorithm that they have disabled outside links on articles posted in their sites.
Guest Posting
For those who have tried their hands at guest posting, this is certainly a difficult nut to crack. There really is no secret formula in being a successful guest author. Blog sites by nature have a very personal touch and almost all of them are moderated by a single person. Quality will always be an issue here. Unlike article submission sites which post tens of articles a day, blog owners are keen on maintaining quality over quantity.
Simple tips on how to be a successful guest author
Some of us tend to see guest posting as a means to an end and often find ourselves guilty of submitting articles which are of little value to us or readers. The only way to get your guest article posted is by simply putting your best feet forward. If there is any consolation just having the thought that you did your best can be satisfying enough.
It is important to remember that you are trying to improve your visibility and credibility by showcasing your work. If the blog post ever gets approved there is also that little chance that any readers would be visiting your website. Your guest post should be an accurate gauge of your skills and second rate posts are a reflection of a second rate writer.
Use Images
Photos and images are a powerful tool of conveying a message and is a good way of injecting little life giving it that little edge over other submissions. I know that a lot of us use images on our own websites and incorporating this on our submissions shows that we care about the overall quality of our submissions.
Some of the guest author blogs that I have had the experience of submitting for gave me limited access to their WordPress site where I could submit my article for approval. This gives you a wonderful opportunity to showcase your post and let the owner have an easy way of evaluating your blog post.
SEO Work
We all know how SEO helps in keeping our websites on top of the food chain. Some of us may think that this is a task that should lie solely on the shoulders of the blog owner. Getting your blog post on top of search engines does not only help the website but also plays dividends for you too. If you’re planning to use guest posting as a way of driving juice into your website then treat it as a long term investment.
Working within the Format
Take a little time to study the blog site and try to submit your articles following the same format. If the blogs uses bullets points or any similar structures, design your articles using these as well. One of the best ways that could get your blog posts approved is by making it as easy as possible for the owner to use your post. If you’re asked to submit an article, mark it with HTML tags in order for the blog owner to simply post them.
Internal Links
One strategy that good guest authors use is linking to other posts within the website. This shows that you’ve been visiting the website and also helps the owner with internal linking. It also reduces the bounce rate for the blog site by giving readers the chance to visit other blog posts.
Do you guest post on blogs what has been your experience ?
This is a guest post by Michael Scottsdale, you can check out the guidelines to guest post here.
Image Credit: Livewell For Less
19 comments
Guest posting allows you to get a good quality link versus just getting those junks links that do you no good. I’m writing 200 guest post a year.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Yes, I too am a firm believer in guest posting as compared to building links through article submissions. Used to do a lot of article submissions in the past. I think even Google has wised up to this and has changed the rules in terms of how much juice is passed from these article submission sites. Overall, I believe guest posting is the future of article marketing. Thanks for dropping by 🙂
Thanks for this tips. What I am actually doing right now most of the time is article submissions, then maybe I will change it, put more time on guest postings.
I agree with you on this too. There are bloggers that cannot keep up with required number of posts that they need for their blogs. Specially if their blogs are about technology or if the blogs are newsy by nature. These bloggers would very much welcome all the help that they can get. Obviously, it would be easier to offer a guest post to someone who needs your help. Just make sure to make your article is relevant and is of top-notch quality.
Guest blogging has become giant right now. It is one of the best ways to attract new readers and to gain credibility in your niche. The SEO benefit is something that many do look for as you’ve said.
I am all for guest posting, I ‘ve stopped marketing my blog any other way..
You all are welcome to drop your guest post at my blog/website.
Yes, Guest posting is the best way to submit articles, but many of the website not approved fast. it’s take too much time. so, my point of view article submission is the best & fast way to submit articles & it will also cached fast in google.
It does take time for guest posts to be approved, we must understand that most blog sites are maintained by one person and sifting through tens of article submissions everyday could be very difficult. I hope some of the more informed people could shed light on the Panda update, how this has affected how article submissions sites and the juice generated from it.
Guest posting has become a really important factor as Google has devalued several article directories which once used to get good amount of backlinks.
Invitee blogging and site-building is becoming large at this time. It really is one of the best ways to attract fresh visitors and also to obtain reliability within your market.
Guest blogging is a great way to not only get links, but make a name for yourself. And just like on your own site or blog, quality is the key to success. If you can’t write well and can not provide interesting content, you should consider doing something else.
Very true guest posting is the better alternative of article marketing. even I never liked article marketing. Doing guest postings gives mutual benefit to both the author and site owner.
michael which is best directory submission or guest posting. i have my blog and i want seo they said that guest posting is best…
Nice sharing, guest posting is really useful for SEO. Thanks a lot for telling us some tips to enhance our posts.
Guest posting is certainly different from article submission. Locating a blog which allows guest posting could be difficult but not impossible. It would be a good idea to stick with high quality blog sites like ZK’s blog for example. Use niche + “guest post” or niche + “submit article” as your search term.
Guest blog posting is the right way to pass value to content. If you publish one article on many directories; it might attract three to four links, but it can weak your content value. If article published in one place, and you then promote it individually on the Internet, it would be more beneficial.
guest posting is a best way to getting more backlinks for our website.
Michael,
Thanks for the great article, I’ll be following several of the tips in the near future. I agree with you that article spinners typically don’t offer high quality results – the content may be “original” but it’s certainly not high quality. There are, however, a few professional writers that are able to produce large quantities of high quality, 75% original articles using a combination of article spinning software and good ‘ol American know-how.