Guide to Link Building: Guest Posting and Link Building

Did you miss chapters 1, 2 and 3?

• Read chapter 1 now and get an introduction to link building and SEO.
• Read chapter 2 now and learn how content marketing and link building work together.
• Read chapter 3 now and learn white hat vs. black hat link building and SEO.
• You are on chapter 4
• Read chapter 5 and learn about bad links SEO, get rid of them fast (here is how)
• Read chapter 6 now and learn email outreach and link building for SEO
• Read chapter 7 now and learn going viral with backlinks.
• Read chapter 8 now and hear 23 experts provide their link building strategies.
• Read chapter 9 and get a weekly guide to building backlinks.
• Read chapter 10 and learn 70 backlinking resources you need to know. 

Guest posting is still an important link building tool. The catch is, you have to stick to guest posting that’s 100 percent high quality, white hat, and awesome to make it work for your link building effort.

Think about it more for the branding than the links.

Here’s how to do it.

Prospecting for great guest blogging opportunities

Your first step is to research and create a list of sites you can submit guest posts to.

(If you are looking for some basic business sites, check out this list I already created for you).

It makes the most sense to start with sites that openly accept guest posts and then, once you’re more established, work on tougher goal sites for more exclusive guest blogging opportunities.

SERP tool

The Link Research Tools SERP tool can serve as a shortcut for finding sites that accept guest posts and discerning which are the highest quality options. The tool uses metric filters to make this assessment; here’s how it works.

First, enter the domain you’d like to build links for.

Next, enter up to 20 keyword queries that are the best fit for the site.

Remember to include at least a couple that relate to guest posting, like “write for us” or “guest blog.” After that choose the metric information you want in target sites and generate your report.

The SERP Research Tool Helps You Find Link Placements

As you browse your results, consider filtering out websites you’re already linked to so you can find new root domains. Then, get rid of websites that have less favorable metrics according to the report. This should leave you with only high-quality sites with good trust indices. This gives you a list of sites you can check for guest post requirements.

Google and keywords

Don’t forget your most basic tool: a simple Google search. Generate more sites for your list with relevant search strings like “keyword” + “write for us”, “keyword” + “guest post”, “keyword” + intitle:guest post guidelines, and “keyword” + “this post was written by”

Social media

No matter what site you are on, you can do a simple on that social media site.

Twitter might be the best, everyone shares their guest posts there. So simply search for guest post.

Research your potential targets

You’ve generated your list of possible guest posting sites, and now it’s time to do enough research to hone that list down. Your goal is to make sure that by the time you’re done every site on the list is a high quality alternative for your site that can maximize your traffic and SEO return. Here’s how to do that.

Blog comments

Blog comments are a good way to see how much referral traffic a site might have. It is also a great way to build a relationship with the people behind a website.

Leave comments and build relationships overtime.

FollowerWonk

Find out how much Twitter reach a blog has using FollowerWonk. This tool assesses influence by analyzing followers; the more influential followers a person has, the higher “Social Authority” FollowerWonk attributes to them.

Find Guest Post Opportunities from FollowerWonk

At http://followerwonk.com/bio do not enter the Twitter username; instead, enter a few words from the user’s Twitter bio. You’ll then see their Social Authority. Aim for sites with a Social Authority of at least 20.

SimilarWeb.com

Use SimilarWeb.com to find out how much referral traffic a guest post on any given site might generate for you over both the short- and long-term. Just enter the site from your list on SimilarWeb.com and check the “Traffic Sources” results in particular. The “Direct Traffic” results show you how much traffic you’ll get right after a guest post, “Search” shows you about the site’s potential search engine traffic, and “Search Traffic” shows you the long-term outlook.

Social shares

We’ve already discussed the growing importance of social signals to search results in earlier chapters. Social signals can also make your links more valuable. Your target site’s social sharing history is a useful predictive metric, so check it out using the Blog Social Analyzer here.

First, find your target site’s RSS feed. Most sites’ feeds can be found at domain.com/feed. Then paste the site’s RSS URL into the social analyzer. It will tell you how many likes, tweets, and other social activity the most recent posts on the site got.

Research your guest posting opportunity sites

If you really want to succeed with guest posting, you need to know exactly how to reach out to each webmaster and blogger. Once you’ve honed your list so all of your targets are on point, here’s how you do that.

The basics

Right out of the gate, start doing these things:

• Spend some time finding out as much as you can about the website, the blog, and the community.
• Find the guest post guidelines and make sure you understand them.
• Review previous posts. You need to know what bases have been covered, and how they were covered. This also gives you the opportunity to comment on posts that were most interesting to you and show off your expertise and interest.
• Sign up for the newsletter, follow on social media, share or comment on especially good posts, and otherwise get involved in the community.

Watch out for red flags:

• Is the linking policy followed on the site? What about the guest posting guidelines?
• What was the last date of publication—if it’s not recent, beware.
• If the community isn’t active, this is another red flag.
• Watch for any other things that seem like a warning. For example, community activity that’s all spam, or weirdly filled with aggressive trolling.

Impactana

Impactana is a tool that helps you assess the impact of previous content using both short- and long-term engagement metrics like number of views, shares, comments, etc. These signals can help you predict how your own work in similar areas might do on a particular site. Impactana also helps you identify influencers in your industry that can further help you generate buzz. Here’s how it works.

Impactana has both an app and a content marketing toolbar. Use the app to see how specific topics perform via the buzz and impact menu. The app measures buzz based on social media likes and shares, and it measures impact based on backlinks, comments, and views. Use the toolbar (which you can get as a plugin in the Chrome Web Store) to browse your target site to see real user engagement metrics for previous posts including backlinks, clicks, comments, downloads, and views.

Linktally.com

LinkTally is great for predicting performance when you already have some potential topics in mind. First search your target site for your keyword. Next take the URLs of the top few results of that search to LinkTally at http://linktally.com/ and paste them into the field. LinkTally will show you how much social love those posts got, helping you see how posts on that particular subject do on that site.

Track the Preformance of Your Guest Post with LinkTally

Open Site Explorer

Open Site Explorer is another good tool for predicting backlink success from a guest post. This one is important because sometimes a lot of social media action is not all that closely related to lots of backlinks, so using OSE covers all the bases. Enter your target site’s URL at https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/ and click on the “Top Pages” tab to reveal which posts have the greatest page authority. This tells you which topics on that site are most successful in terms of backlinks.

Popular posts

Most blogs show on their sidebars which posts have been the most popular. This shows you which types of posts work best on that site and generate the most buzz for that community.

Making contact pre-pitch

ALWAYS make contact with the site owner first at get them to confirm your topic. Especially during your first couple posts.

You want them to know you have your sights on a collaboration and that you’re giving it a lot of time. It also makes it much harder to say no.

Create great content

It’s finally time to do it, so take the chance, don’t waste it. According to QuickSprout, case studies, detailed how-to guides, and long lists are the topics that enjoy the highest acceptance rate among guest posts. But just like any other piece of content you write, take an organized, systematic approach.

First, use Google to carefully vet your topic. Study the headlines from the first two pages of results. Use the best ones you find to get a sense of what your headline should be like. You want something unique, yet on point in terms of what people want to consume.

Next, create an outline and subheaders. This will keep you organized as you write. Make sure you break up long chunks of writing.

Before you finish your work, make sure you check off these final content backlinking points:

• Proofread over and over again. Get someone else to proofread if you need to.
• Make sure the content is too valuable to pass up.
• Link back to your website and to other valuable sources strategically and creatively wherever it is relevant in the body of your article. Use natural language to do so. If you have to butcher your writing to make your links work, don’t. Start over with a different backlink (only do this if it makes sense).
• Link internally to useful, relevant posts on the platform when it makes sense to do so.
• Don’t forget the natural backlink in your author bio.

Now your post is perfect and ready to pitch. It doesn’t even need the little “tweaks” that can make a webmaster or blogger feel reluctant to snap it up.

Pitch your work

Craft a tailored pitch for each site. This doesn’t mean starting from scratch each time, but it does mean making sure there’s something specific about each site in every pitch. Your goal here is to stand out and avoid getting deleted. Here are your guidelines:

• Make it short and sweet.
• Grab your reader in the introduction or you’ve lost them.
• Tell them how you came across the site. If you’re a follower, prove it.
• If the blogger has a strong ideal or passion you noticed in your site research, bring it up. If you share it you can say so—but only if you really share it. Don’t fake it.
• Offer feedback on a pervious post, especially if that post prompted you to join the community.
• Thank the blogger for his or her work.
• Finish your pitch by driving home why you want to contribute, why you are the right person to make it, and why your contribution will be valuable for the community.

Sample pitch

Here’s an example of a pitch:

Hello _______:

My name is _______. I have been visiting [the site] regularly as part of my work in [your niche].

I’ve always found lots of great information on your site and I recommend and share it to others frequently. I wanted to let you know, and as a fellow [topic] enthusiast I noticed that lately there haven’t been as many posts on the following topics that are right up my alley:

Topic one

Topic two

Topic three

[If you have a piece written now, attach it, saying “I’d love to contribute the attached piece on [title of post]. I think the members of your community will find it very interesting and useful.”]

Thanks again for creating such a great site, and I’ll be looking for your response.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Follow up

Remember, odds are great that you won’t hear back the first time. Follow up to jog the attention of the blogger and remind them of your awesome pitch. When you follow up, remember:

• Keep it very short; a single sentence is often enough.
• Don’t bother the blogger, just offer a gentle reminder and call their attention to your previous pitch.
• Stay optimistic and friendly.

Building relationships and links together

Link building is really all about building strong relationships. Once you’ve gotten guest posts published, your job is to nurture that relationship so that you will be first in that blogger’s mind when they have an idea, and so they’ll be receptive to your future ideas for posts. To build strong relationships as a guest poster:

• Thank the blogger for the guest posting opportunity via email.
• Offer the blogger a guest posting opportunity on your site.
• Share the guest post socially.
• Respond to feedback, comments, and questions of readers.
• Keep in touch with the blogger when it makes sense in your industry, when you see relevant posts or news events, and during celebrations and holidays.

Next, work on forging new relationships. There is more than one way to build relationships and generate guest posting opportunities as you move forward.

Working with journalists

Look for press requests from journalists that dovetail with your guest posting goals. Search based on your industry, keywords, or niche, and then ask journalists looking for input about guest posting. Many journalists will indicate that they cannot compensate guest posters but can provide posting opportunities including bios.

Providing useful feedback

Offering useful, constructive feedback to bloggers lets them know that you read their work carefully and that you know what you’re talking about. It can also lead to guest posting relationships.

Broken links

Identifying broken links in your niche provides you with golden opportunities for backlinking. Seek out content using your strongest keywords and check links in posts that you find. Use a broken link checking tool to save time. When you find a broken link, send a pitch explaining why your piece should replace the original source.

Conclusion

Guest posting is no longer a no-brainer, but that’s better for those of us who work hard to create amazing content. There are abundant guest posting opportunities out there for authoritative writers and the chance of building truly high-quality links come with them. If you are creating valuable posts that other bloggers can’t pass up, you are on your way to building high value links as a guest blogger.

• Read chapter 1 now and get an introduction to link building and SEO.
• Read chapter 2 now and learn how content marketing and link building work together.
• Read chapter 3 now and learn white hat vs. black hat link building and SEO.
• You are on chapter 4
• Read chapter 5 and learn about bad links SEO, get rid of them fast (here is how)
• Read chapter 6 now and learn email outreach and link building for SEO.
• Read chapter 7 now and learn going viral with backlinks.
• Read chapter 8 now and hear 23 experts provide their link building strategies.
• Read chapter 9 and get a weekly guide to building backlinks.
• Read chapter 10 and learn 70 backlinking resources you need to know.