Friday, 22 February 2013

Guest Blogging - Benefits and Pitfalls



Like all blogs it is a struggle to be found amongst the hundreds of websites that clutter up the internet with broken links, poor content and unoriginal material. There are literally thousands of people all over the world working full time on back links, SEO optimisation and getting their way round to being better ranked in Google. Often these sites are awash with keyword ads which can distract the reader. The advantages of guest blogging is that you can pick and choose what sites you wish to contribute too and also what content you publish on your own blog.

Guest Blogging - Promote your Blog


It can seem difficult to get started given the amount of people in this area and if you do not have a Google pagerank it can sometimes feel impossible. But remember Page rank changes and its more about readership than page rank. To drive quality traffic you want to choose something that is clear in your niche to blog for, after all people reading about cars don't want to be redirected to a baby clothes blog. Also you will find that if your aim is quality traffic that sticks with your blog then similar blogs to your own are the best place to start. After all its not a competition because internet traffic is infinite and people tend to read numerous web pages on their breaks at work or downtime at home. The best way is to stay polite professional and give it a go, don't start listing demands before you begin, the general rules of thumb are a couple of backlinks and author credit at the end. Also content usually spans between 500 to 800 words with some pictures always good to make the article more attractive. You will find a mixed bunch of people in the world of guest blogging from the amazingly helpful to the not so friendly but don't let one quiet day put you off, stick with it and you never know you might be the next top earning blogger!

Another tip for Blogger - Use Google authorship to validate your work and generate an online presence

Guest Blogging - Promote your Blog Shop



If your aim is to promote your online business this can prove slightly more difficult. The reason being that you have a website which is perhaps very content lite and more around just products. One benefit is that you will have plenty of images to use and if you know your stuff there is no reason you cannot have a great online presence. Firstly set up your own blog which features articles relating to your business and links back to products in the body of the article. Then start swapping guest posts. You will notice quickly that not directly linking back to your shop is a better approach as those who do like the look and sound of your product will direct through anyways and those that don't will simply read your blog and not check them out. It means you can ensure your shop only has good quality traffic and also is not a horrible in your face way of advertising your business. Large companies have started doing this and pay good money for content that is completely outside their product niche to help boost their image and the customer and brand awareness.

Another tip for shops - Product reviews from great blogs are a good way of promoting your business, if you find a blogger with high traffic then approach them to see if they will review your product, don't assume it will be positive though. This way of direct advertising is far better than paying a company as you get your marketing done but also the reviewer gets to enjoy your product, which will often be cheaper than paying hundreds to a large marketing company.

Good luck
- Guest blogs can be sent to this blog @ Steve@vinylpuppet.com or for other blogs I am involved with check out my Google+

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