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Guest blogging can help you get organic traffic to your website from different blogs. If done correctly, it also does wonders in increasing your site’s page ranking for targeted keywords.
While these are the two much-touted benefits of guest blogging, not all marketers end up reaping them. You see, guest blogging is like a double-edged sword. When done right, it can help you cut through your competition and soar above them to achieve the ultimate SEO glory—ranking above them for high-volume keywords.
However, when done wrong, guest blogging campaigns can not only be completely ineffective but can actually hurt your ranking. This is exactly why big guest posting campaigns employ a team of SEO experts, content managers, and outreach specialists.
To give yourself a fighting chance you need to know the fundamentals. Even more important, you need to understand the mistakes that can render your guest blogging efforts ineffective. Avoid the following five mistakes to give yourself that edge.
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Not Targeting Niche Blogs
Let’s start with the most common mistake, which is not reaching out to niche blogs.
Let’s say you have a website that sells automobile parts. In that case, approaching a parenting blog to publish your post is a waste of time and effort. Additionally, there are plenty of blogs that allow a long list of topics. While these blogs do receive a fair bit of traffic overall, no particular topic gets the traffic it needs to justify your guest posting there.
A much better approach is to target small niche sites that cater to audiences who are interested in a specific topic. Guest posting on these sites will ensure real people read your post. In turn, these people will be more motivated to take action.
Bottom line: Target relevant audiences by guest posting on niche blogs.
Writing Content That Does Not Serve a Purpose
No matter where you get your blog posted, it will never deliver the desired mileage if your content is boring. This is why it’s a good idea to read a few recent posts (preferably popular ones) that were published on the blog where you want your guest post to land. This will help you understand the blog’s audience better. Moreover, it will prepare you to create content that they might find interesting.
It’s also important to solve a problem. Generic ranting about topics no one wants to read about will get you nowhere.
Bottom line: Write a post that is useful and interesting to the blog’s audience.
Not Linking to the Right Page
We have all clicked on interesting anchor links only to be directed to a page that’s completely irrelevant. When that happens we feel betrayed by the promise of the alluring anchor text and we leave the website immediately.
This traffic behavior negatively affects the bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing one page). This in turn affects your website’s ranking. The key is to create an honest yet interesting anchor text that leads traffic to your site. It also goes without saying that the link should direct traffic to a relevant page on your website.
Bottom line: Create honest anchor links that direct to relevant pages.
Not Supplementing Your Guest Posts with Social Media Shares
In an effort to direct organic traffic to your site, it’s essential to share the recently published post on social media platforms. Most blog owners are more than willing to do so if you give them high-quality content. What’s more, you should also share the post on your website’s social media channels.
Bottom line: Both you and the blog owner need to share the recently published post.
Not Having a Solid Outreach Template for Contacting Blog Owners
For blog owners to agree on publishing your guest post, you need to approach them effectively. Therefore, create an outreach template that’s direct and short.
Don’t forget to mention the topic of your post and the fact that you intend to share the post after its publication. Moreover, be sure to request that the blog owner also agree to share it. Additionally, make sure the topic you suggest for the post matches the blog’s niche.
Convey all of that in three to four lines at most. This is mainly because most blog owners get dozens of spam mails every day. Therefore, you need your outreach mail to be as direct as possible. Put in the effort to create an outreach template that’s direct, appealing, and short.
Bottom line: Create an outreach template that hits the point fast.
Avoid These Mistakes for Successful Guest Blogging
Avoid these common guest blogging mistakes to give teeth to your campaign. While guest posting is a pretty common practice, not everyone follows these basic rules. This automatically gives you a significant edge over your competitors.
