When a celebrity launches a new product line or a singer has a new album coming up, they make appearances on different shows and events, right? That’s just to get people to know about what they have on offer. Watching a celeb talk about their new show on SNL gets you intrigued and you are more likely to watch it now than before.

That simple concept when applied to business and blogging is called guest posting. You post an informative and engaging blog on a domain that’s not yours in return for awareness and backlinks.

And guest blogging is an extremely effective digital marketing strategy. With guest posting, you can drive 3 times more leads towards conversion, increase website traffic by 80%, and see a 174% increase in brand awareness among the audience.

But not every guest post gives similar results. In fact, 79% of guest posts are too promotional as per editors. And such posts do little to improve your digital reputation and authority. They, instead, bring down your credibility in the eyes of guest posting platforms as well as the readers.

So, how do you enhance the efficiency of your guest blogging efforts?

By considering 3 important aspects in the guest posting process.

Now, you might wonder, “What is the process of guest posting?”

Stated simply, guest blogging is a 3-step process.

You find the right opportunity → You write a guest post → You get the post published and milk it.

And in this guide, we will show you how you can optimize each of these steps and get more out of your blogging efforts.

1.    Finding the right guest posting opportunities

Unless you find the most suitable opportunities, every other effort you take would be futile. Here are 4 quick tips to find guest posting opportunities that will bear the desired fruit:

a.     Select sites with high domain authority

Backlinks are Google’s way of assessing your worth. The system is akin to judging your salary based on the salaries of your friends. So if you want your domain authority to go up, you need to get backlinks (Google’s version of friendship!) from sites with higher domain authority. If a website frequently links to low DA websites, their DA is also likely to go down and so will yours if you get a backlink from them.

You can use free tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and more to check the Domain Authority of a website before submitting your guest post.

b.     Stay away from sites with too many ads

People don’t like too many ads. And when readers bounce off pages that have too many ads. This gives Google the hint that the page isn’t offering what people want to see/read. This negatively affects the page’s ranking.

If a website displays multiple ads on its blog pages, you should stay away from the site. Your guest post on such a website is unlikely to rank high or impress readers.

c.      Check the website’s organic traffic and history

Google isn’t the one to easily forget things. If a website has had a lot of backlinks from the infamous 3P (porn, pills, and poker) sites in the past, Google still might not index or rank the site well. And you don’t want to associate with a website that isn’t in Google’s good books, right?

d.     Pick industry-relevant sites

If you are selling solar panels, fashion blogs aren’t the right place for guest posting. It is not like people who consume fashion-related content cannot get solar panels. But people read fashion blogs for fashion tips and not for tips to consider while getting solar panels installed.

You need to reach your audience at the right time when they are looking for the information you have to offer. Finding niche-based and industry-relevant sites is a must.

Once you have identified a great guest posting opportunity, you need to send a pitch for that. And that, by no means, is an easy task. Guest post outreach services offered by experts are your best bet for minimum rejections and maximum positive responses.

If you want to be a DIYer, then make sure you follow all the email best practices for the best results.

2.    Writing great guest blogs

After landing a guest posting opportunity, it is time to grab your pen or set your hands on your keyboard and write a stunning guest post.

But before you begin hurling out words on the paper or the screen, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do you know who the reader is?
2. Are you writing for the reader?
3. Are you aware of the tone of your guest posting destination site? Deviating from the tone might create a negative impact on the audience.
4. Do you know what format and style guide to follow?
5. What is the intent of the reader on the destination site? Are people just looking for information or do they come with a purchase intent?
6. Are you allowed to link back to your website?
7. If yes, will the link be a do-follow link?
8. Are you supposed to submit images with the post or will the editors or the website add relevant images?
9. What kind of author bios are accepted?

Once you have answers to all these questions, begin writing a guest post that meets the requirements. Such posts are more likely to get accepted and have a higher success rate too.

3.    Milking your guest blogs to the maximum

Once you submit a guest post and it goes live on the destination site, there are 2 more things that you should do to make the most of your guest blogging efforts.

a.     Promote your guest blog

Guest posting doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything to get the blog read by people. Posting the link to the blog on your social media channels, mentioning it on your own blog, and even sending out email campaigns for the guest blog are important steps.

b.     Track the traction from your guest post

Always use a UTM code-enabled link in the anchor text for your guest post. This will help you track how many people landed on the linked page from the guest blog. Also, track metrics like page views and leads, and sales (if any) from the guest post. Upon careful analysis, you’d also be able to identify the changes in your domain and page authority because of your guest posting efforts. Tracking all this traction will help you understand what works for you and what doesn’t.

And as you know, guest posting is not a one-time activity, what you learn today can guide you towards more efficient results tomorrow.

Guest posting services – A one-stop solution to consider

Feeling overwhelmed by all the efforts that you’d have to take to increase your guest blogging efficiency?

Don’t worry, guest posting services are here to the rescue.

With guest posting packages, you can get experts to work on guest posting processes for you. From finding and curating suitable opportunities to sending pitch emails, taking follow-ups, and writing guest blogs for you, experts can also help you optimize the efforts by promoting the guest blog and tracking relevant metrics.

But remember, don’t go for bulk or cheap guest posting services. You don’t want to get branded content published on low-authority sites with a poor backlink profile. Google can be very harsh in punishing your domain for such associations.

Want to maximize your guest blogging efficiency? Get started with Uplers – your guest blogging partners, today.