One major advantage provided through guest blogging is that you are able to increase your search engine authority and domain name recognition. This blog is a great example of that.
Without even needing to invest my time doing any special SEO techniques or focusing on buying links from other sources, I've achieved the results I wanted. My blog currently has a Google page rank of 4, and it receives over 4,000 visitors every month. Some of my posts even have a page 1 ranking that I've achieved simply by using well-planned keywords.
My experience demonstrates the value of guest blogging as a way to build authoritative back-links that drive traffic to your blog and improve your search engine results.
How to Increase Your Online Influence
Do you know what your level of online influence is? When I speak about Influence, I'm not referring to expertise or authority. I'm talking about actual influence, which is able to be either positive or negative. It has everything to do with how many people you're able to impact.
Guest blogging on other people's blogs that are more well-known than yours is an awesome way to influence the lives of others, and to create a lasting memory of you for them. You might wonder if it's even possible for you to have such an influence on other people from your blog. The truth is that you'll reach more people by attracting the readers of other blogs to your own.
Guest Blogging Develops Your Visibility
How long it will take you to increase your visibility and become highly respected within your niche can vary. There are some people that claim that it will take years. The fact is that it only took me about 8 months because I used the power of guest blogging.
Guest blogging makes it possible to associate yourself with some of the most popular bloggers in your niche, and when people begin to notice your name on all the blogs they frequent, they'll automatically give you the same level of respect that they already have for the bloggers they love.
Increase Your Portfolio and Online Credibility
There is really only one reliable way to know if someone is worth having your attention, and if they can do what they claim to be able to do... their credibility. You have to demonstrate your reliability and credibility to visitors to your blog. One great way of doing that is by guest blogging on other blogs. You're portfolio of writing will be available on a wider scale, and when you do it regularly you'll establish a reputation of reliability in the minds of your readers.
Develop Your Writing Skills
When I first started blogging, I'd write lengthy articles to submit as guest posts for a variety of blogs. These treatises would be guided by my inspiration, and I'd experience a lift in my spirit as the words flowed to the screen. Of course, I felt like each article was a masterpiece!
At some point I received a reply from a blogger letting me know that he wouldn't be including my guest post on his blog. He told me that he couldn't even provide me with a critique of my work because the writing was so bad that he couldn't understand the article!
I was angry. I ignored his comments and I submitted the article to another blog, but in time I calmed down and gave what he'd said some consideration. I went back to the article and took another look at it, and identified several key problems with it that I was able to resolve by editing it. The revised article was accepted, and was posted to the blog. Here are some good tips to improve writing skills.
The lesson learned? Always proofread my posts!
It doesn't matter what your skill level is as a writer, or how inspirational you think that your work is, you can't avoid proofreading. If others can't understand what you've written, you're never going to be able to attract more traffic to your blog. Your goal needs to be to continually strive to improve and build upon your writing skills.
Grow a Healthy Subscriber Base
Driving traffic to your blog should not be your only goal. Guest blogging has enabled me to increase the number of new subscribers that I attract on a daily basis, to more than I used to gain in a month!
Some of my guest posts have resulted in acquiring over 200 new subscribers in a single day. When I first started blogging, I was lucky to get that many in a month. I seldom write a guest post that results in less than 50 new subscribers now.
Guest Blogging Increases the Reach of Your Social Media Profile
Not everyone cares about driving traffic to their blog or acquiring new subscribers. Possibly the most important thing to you is that you build a strong Twitter or Facebook fan base. Guest blogging can get that done for you. I've heard of people acquiring as many as 200 new followers by linking to their Twitter feed in a guest post. Talk about increasing the reach of your social media profile!
What's the Next Step?
If you loved this post and think that it could benefit others that you know, feel free to share it on your favorite social media sites. I'm also available for guest blogging consultation, or as a professional guest blogger should you desire to jump start your campaign. Contact me directly for the details.
Guest blogging works. I've used it to effectively promote my domain name and to increase my search engine visibility, and you can too! Give it a try, and watch as new visitors to your blog start to flow in!