{"id":903,"date":"2016-09-20T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalmarketingpro.net\/?p=903"},"modified":"2021-06-29T08:20:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T05:20:53","slug":"how-guest-posting-helped-us-get-massive-organic-traffic-to-niche-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/how-guest-posting-helped-us-get-massive-organic-traffic-to-niche-content\/","title":{"rendered":"How Guest Posting Helped Us Get Massive Organic Traffic to Niche Content"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You read the obituaries for guest posting every so often. People say guest posting is dead, guest posting isn\u2019t effective, and you should stop doing it. I can say from first-hand experience that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/how-to-approach-link-building-and-boost-your-seo\">guest posting<\/a> is \u2014 without a <em>doubt<\/em> \u2014 the most effective strategy I\u2019ve seen for growing organic traffic, especially if your content doesn\u2019t have a wide appeal.<\/p>\n<p>To sum up the strategy, the idea is to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Post content that\u2019s highly-targeted on your blog<\/li>\n<li>Build relationships with other, loosely-related blogs<\/li>\n<li>Write broadly appealing content for those blogs<\/li>\n<li>Link back to your niche content to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/how-to-rank-high-on-google\">get it ranking highly in Google<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to lie \u2026 it\u2019s a lot of work.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a ton of communication in the background you don\u2019t expect. There\u2019s work getting sent back for edits, rejections, and re-writes. But it\u2019s all worth it!<\/p>\n<p>As far as I\u2019m concerned, there\u2019s not a more consistent way to generate high-quality backlinks and referral traffic. And in this post, I\u2019m going to break down the system I use \u2014 the system you can use, too.<\/p>\n<h2>Writing high-value niche content<\/h2>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re selling a product or a service, there is an audience out there somewhere. There\u2019s a niche group of people, and they\u2019re searching for content to help them out with a problem. These people don\u2019t know that your product or service is a great fit for them, but they\u2019ll hear it about through your content \u2014 as long as it\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n<p>The first step to getting it seen, obviously, is to write it. But what do you write about? If you had an eCommerce store selling rare DVDs and video tapes to select collectors, you\u2019d probably write content reviewing the movies and discussing the themes, using terms they\u2019re likely to be searching for in Google.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not personally a member of your niche, and wouldn\u2019t necessarily be the ideal customer for the product\/service, then you need to find where your audience is hanging out (reddit is a great choice), see what they\u2019re talking about and then use a keyword tool like Ahrefs\u2019 Keywords Explorer to generate suggestions.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of nonsense out there about this, but really you just need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/article\/239565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">find the place your market is hanging out<\/a>, then use a solid keyword research process like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this<\/a> to spin off a list of related keywords to target.<\/p>\n<p>Starting with a list of keywords makes it <em>much<\/em> easier to write the content. The keyword will form the main part of the title, so after that you just need to jazz it up a bit.<\/p>\n<p>To see what you\u2019re up against, Google the target keyword. If the first page is filled with PDF files, low value content, and shows things that don\u2019t even target the keyword, you\u2019re in for an easy time to get targeted traffic back to your site. If they\u2019re not, then you\u2019ve just got more promotion work to do.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure you follow a guide like this one from Kissmetrics to make your content effective, and link the concept of the content back to your product or service. You can always go back and create a more effective call to action if and when the content starts ranking and bringing in traffic organically.<\/p>\n<h2>Building relationships with other blogs<\/h2>\n<p>Just like real life relationships, you often need several \u2018touch points\u2019 before you start getting a good response. An in-person meeting, a comment conversation, a quick chat on Twitter or some personalized email outreach does the trick. The busier the person, the more touch points (instances of communication) you\u2019ll need before you start getting recognized.<\/p>\n<p>You need to show you\u2019re giving value up front. I usually start with the lists of places I\u2019ve been published, like TechCrunch, and send over a list of titles. If it\u2019s a super-busy journalist, I\u2019ll have to lay the groundwork first: interact on Twitter, send a few follow-up emails, etc.<\/p>\n<p>The hardest part of this is realizing that everyone else is a human being exactly like you are. We\u2019re not so different. We all want to be great at our jobs, help our business succeed and provide value for our audience. When you realize that, it all starts getting a little easier.<\/p>\n<p>While it might not sound like a the most organic way of building relationships, it is best to create a list of people you want to get to know and go through it on a regular basis, contacting them. Apply sales methodology to your marketing relationships and use a CRM like Close.io to tag and sort your contacts and alert you when it\u2019s time to follow up.<\/p>\n<p>To find your initial list of people to contact, it\u2019s best to first draw on the places you already know. You probably have a list of blogs you read regularly, or publications you turn to for a few articles to read on your lunch break. If you\u2019re coming up short, search a broad keyword on a topic you have lots of ideas for in BuzzSumo, and export the list to get URLs of blogs with popular, interesting content.<\/p>\n<p>A quick monthly checklist for warming up relationships with editors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Commented on three blog posts<\/li>\n<li>Replied to two tweeted articles<\/li>\n<li>Tweeted at twice<\/li>\n<li>Sent one email<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Writing and pitching broadly appealing content<\/h2>\n<p>The trick to effective guest posting is being able to write in a way that satisfies the blog and lets you get relevant links in. The more niche the content, the more difficult it\u2019ll be, but it\u2019s definitely a learned skill and something that helps you write less spammy content when you do learn it.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it this way: if your niche content was interesting enough, you wouldn\u2019t <em>need<\/em> to guest post so hard to get backlinks to it. Some shareable content takes off on its own and grabs backlinks so effortlessly you wonder why you ever worked so much!<\/p>\n<p>For examples of broadly appealing content, check something like Alltop, the homepage of Inc, or highly rated content on Inbound.org. Is any of that about your shower cleaning service? I thought not!<\/p>\n<h3>Making the pitch<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s best to brainstorm a list of titles that are in key with the blog you\u2019re writing the pitch email to before you start writing anything. They\u2019re bound to have a favorite from the list, and that\u2019ll stop you from wasting time. If you\u2019re struggling to get a response and need a reason to follow up with something valuable, you <em>can<\/em> always write a piece up and paste it into the email so they can see you mean business.<\/p>\n<p>Emails should follow logical structure:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Greeting<\/li>\n<li>Pleasantry<\/li>\n<li>How you got their details, call back and reason for email<\/li>\n<li>Topic (reason for email)\n<ul>\n<li>Situation<\/li>\n<li>Benefits<\/li>\n<li>Call to Action \/ the \u2018ask\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Closing line<\/li>\n<li>Signature<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What this could look like in practice, is this:<\/p>\n<p><em>Hi, Dave!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Hope you\u2019re getting on alright, and the weather\u2019s a little better than it is here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I found your email address while searching around for who to contact for guest contributions at MadeUpMarketingBlog.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I was hoping I could get your opinion on a few titles I\u2019d like to write up for submission? My content has generated thousands of shares on sites like Forbes and Fast Company before, so I think your audience would really get something out of it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>[Titles]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Let me know what you think, and if you\u2019d like me to draft anything up.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Benjamin<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve gotten replies, it\u2019s time to go through their editorial process by writing and editing the content.<\/p>\n<h2>Including non-spammy links and helping to promote the posts<\/h2>\n<p>One of the main things other blogs can leverage with guest writers is their promotion network. This is because all writers are really keen to promote their own work! We run the same promotion process on posts that link back to us as we do with posts on our own site. This means posting on social bookmarking sites, sharing on social media, and linking back religiously in future posts.<\/p>\n<p>The reason why our guest posts don\u2019t come across like blatant pitches for our product is because <em>they simply are no<\/em>t. They include one or two links back to our past content and content that mentions us around the web. It\u2019s a basic SEO good practice to include outbound links in your articles that lead to high quality content, so there\u2019s not often any reason for site owners to take offence at that.<\/p>\n<p>When the post goes live on the other person\u2019s blog, make sure to watch for it and start promoting it straight away. Leave a comment to thank the blog for accepting your submission, and be generous about linking back to the post to improve the blog\u2019s domain authority, both as a way to say thank-you and as something that benefits you.<\/p>\n<h2>The results of this process<\/h2>\n<p>This process is something we\u2019ve been doing for around 4 months at this point. When we started, we\u2019d gotten 9 backlinks to our target post, and it was ranking poorly for the keywords we targeted.<\/p>\n<p>Now here\u2019s what it looks like:<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-908\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting.jpg\" alt=\"Increase traffic through guest posting, example\" width=\"975\" height=\"742\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting.jpg 975w, https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting-768x584.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting-264x200.jpg 264w, https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/traffic-increase-guest-posting-600x457.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 975px) 100vw, 975px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And what that looks like in real terms for our business, is thousands of new leads every month from one piece of niche content and 4 months of guest posting.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t let anyone tell you guest posting is dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You read the obituaries for guest posting every so often. People say guest posting is dead, guest posting isn\u2019t effective, and you should stop doing it. I can say from first-hand experience that guest posting is \u2014 without a doubt \u2014 the most effective strategy I\u2019ve seen for growing organic traffic, especially if your content [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,9,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29279,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/29279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}