Moving Beyond Guest Blogging
The Internet abounds with sites numbering 40-45 billion according to Google, and 5-10 billion according to Bing1, and all of this is filled with content. It is no wonder that blogs and bloggers have become so picky at choosing what content to post on their website and what guest posts to publish; they are practically flooded with offers of free content. As a result, guest blogging has become less of a practical link building strategy and it is time to move beyond it for high quality backlinks.
When talking about “beyond guest blogging,” this does not mean abandoning the practice entirely. On the contrary, it has numerous advantages, such as building friendly relationships with other bloggers, getting one’s name known, etc. “Beyond” should be interpreted as on a new, higher level to distinguish our content from a competitor’s.
The first option is to supplement existing content with other media, like drawings, music, video, animation, dynamic content, etc. Individual bloggers have different skills and they should make good use of them. For example, Blend Tec could have gone with simple statistics about their blenders, but they chose to make them more interesting via a video series2. Similarly, freelance designers and cartoonists can offer comics for existing posts or professionally edited videos to go with the current blog content.
Blogs are run by niche specialists or enthusiasts, and these often require help in other areas such as HTML, site design and implementation, server and data maintenance, and others, and they will be grateful to receive it. Website designers may be able to reshape the blog and improve its performance in exchange for getting an honorary mention. Alternatively, every blog would love to have a good contents system for its archives, both of which can be easily provided by specialists.
Conducting niche-related workshops and events both on- and offline will be of interest to the blog audience. You could organize a webinar, a Q and A session on a hot topic, and live chat rooms to share your knowledge, research data and personal opinion. Alternatively, organizing local events such as practical workshops, talks, networking meetings and discussions can also produce good results. This way, you will not only receive a backlink from the blog but also promote your business onsite with promotional items, professional organization and helpful information.
For e-commerce websites, having a promotional discount for the blog’s audience is mutually beneficial. Your business will get increased exposure to a highly relevant target group, where you can win recurring customers, and your website will improve its standing and traffic, leading to even more sales. Taking all of this into account, the discounted items will actually pay for themselves because you will not have to spend a lot on marketing, SEO, or PPC to reach these customers. A more powerful approach is to offer the blog readers an exclusive promotional code for free samples. This will help users review and spread the word about the product or service faster than conventional marketing techniques.
Finally, instead of offering free content, try to turn the tables around by organizing a contest relevant to the topic. For example, a small child’s room decoration contest at a mommy blog, with fantastic rewards. Alternatively, promise the blog master that his site will also receive coverage depending on the number of contestants from it. Furthermore, try to organize thorough coverage of the completion or the awards ceremony so that users visit your website and look around. If you strategically position your important content, products and services to take advantage of the influx of traffic, this strategy could prove to be more useful than simply receiving a backlink.
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