Organic Link Building Tips: Guest Blogging for SEO
(Page 1 of 2 )
Link building is an important webmaster activity, particularly for young websites. While there are a lot of ideas on the Internet as to how to start getting links, one of the best sources of links is guest blogging. Keep reading to find out what it is, and how to start doing it.
Guest blogging involves visiting a certain blog and then requesting permission from the webmaster to contribute blog posts or articles. Of course, you can include a link from your post pointing to your website. Lots of blogs and websites nowadays are in need of original, useful, quality content, so one strategy is to invite outside bloggers, also called “guest bloggers,” to register with their website and contribute content.
In return, these websites allow you to link to your website, provided your website contains quality content and is directly related to the topic and content of your guest post (also keeping in mind the overall relevance to the website).
While this technique is good, not knowing the best course of action can lead to problems and wasted time -- which, in the end, might not be a productive link building strategy.
It is also important to know that “guest blogging” is different from “article submission” as a means of getting links, because:
Guest blogging showcases your expertise in a certain topic because you're contributing content you've written yourself. The article submission technique simply involves submitting content that may not be written by you (it could be written by others).
Content that is created by a guest blogger will be published on a quality content-based website, while submitted articles are accepted by article submission directories.
Links obtained via guest blogging are organic in origin; they are used in context, along with the content, and approved by the website's editors. Links obtained via article submission may only be seen in the author's short biography or in the footer section of the article.
Based on the above differences, it is clear that “guest blogging” has the edge in terms of getting quality links to a website.
This tutorial will teach beginning webmasters with expertise in their chosen topic to use the “guest blogging” technique to get links to their website. We'll take a step-by-step approach.
Step 1. Fill your website first with original and quality content
Lots of bloggers or webmasters set up their website, add just a few pieces of content (say 10 posts), and then immediately start an aggressive link building campaign, including “guest blogging.” This is not a good strategy.
Keep in mind that while you are planning to share your expertise by contributing guest posts, the owners of those websites will be checking your website as well. The best way for them to validate your expertise is to visit your website and read its content. If your website is under-developed and lacks content, your credibility as a guest blogger will be affected.
To make sure those blog owners and editors will believe in you and your expertise, you must fill your site first with original and quality content.
It is recommended that you have the best set of content, something that really shows off your knowledge and skills in your selected niche. It is also recommended that you break down your main niche into sub-categories, so that readers will know and understand the extent of your abilities.
Aim for around 30 to 50 blog posts before you start trying to use the guest blogging technique to get links to your site.
Step 2. Understand and prepare your targeted keywords
Again, it is a big mistake to proceed aggressively in getting links through the guest blogging method without thinking about and carefully planning your targeted keywords. You need to do some research into your targeted keywords. Make sure that:
Your targeted keyword is neither extremely difficult or broad (one word for example). It also should not be too easy (4 or more words).
The longer the anchor text, the more descriptive it will be, but it can distract from the readers' attention. Limit yourself to around 3 words in the anchor text, as this looks more natural.
Make sure your targeted keyword is optimized for your onsite SEO implementation. For best results, aim for keywords that are used in your title tag and and content.
Prepare at least 5 anchor text variations of the main targeted keyword. This is not only used for link building purposes, but to adjust the theme and fit that variation to the topic of your guest posts.
Link Trading 
