7-Step Plan: Successful Guest Posts on Blogs

Why are guest posts important for my online marketing?

Companies and individuals who publish frequently on the Internet enjoy well-known advantages. Three examples: They generate traffic to their own website or personal online profiles, strengthen their credibility and can sustainably distinguish themselves from the competition.

Publications on the Internet can be versatile. Corporate blogging has become the most important form in marketing law firms, tax consultancies and other professional services. Here, the advantages mentioned are evident. But there are also other platforms that can be exciting for guest contributions, such as professional journals, online newspapers, internet forums, communities, etc.

Here are three reasons why (open access) publications should also play an important role in your online marketing strategy:

1. With a publication outside your website, you gain access to a new audience. So you directly increase your reach.
2. You invest in your personal brand as an expert in your field – you'll be visibe!
3. If you link to your website in your post, it will help your page with the search engines. Such backlinks are extremely valuable for SEO.

Which publication media should I choose?

Of course, you first look for media that suit you in terms of content and target group. You have to make a decision: Do I want to publish in open access or do I look for a closed, paying community? Both have advantages. If you make your know-how available for free, then of course you need a corresponding countervalue – as mentioned: consider reach, branding and backlinks. In today's online world, these things are essential and very valuable for online marketing. They help your target group not only to find you, but also to appreciate you as the expert you are.

More visible expertise, more business! The higher quality and more appropriate the audience of your chosen medium, the more quality potential leads you will direct to your website.

How to make your guest post a hit for your virtual marketing

Step 1: Where does your target group look for solutions to their problems?

Analyse the available channels. Find the leading media in your targeted industry. Where do you reach the most people from your target group? Usually, these are also the platforms that bring you the greatest added value for your SEO.

What you can also look out for: If you see that your colleagues regularly share articles from a specific platform on LinkedIn, this could be an indication that it is worthwhile to publish on this platform as well.

Step 2: Analyse the SEO value of the platform

As mentioned: If you write a guest post, it should add value to your marketing. There is nothing sillier than making valuable know-how available to another platform and not benefiting from it yourself.

You should make sure that the platform's Domain Authority (DA) is as high as possible. In any case, the DA should be higher than the one of your website. Backlinks from pages with high authority act as valuable recommendations for Google and boost your website in the search engines. If you don't know the Domain Authority: Ask the publication you are interested in.

By the way: If you want to know what your competitors are up to, you can easily set up a Google Alert on other law firms or specific professionals. This way, you won't miss any of your competitors' online publications and can identify valuable platforms.

Step 3: Find your topic!

The content of your guest publication is of course key. Here, too, a bit of research is required. Ideally, you publish on a topic at the interface between the important questions of your target group and your expertise. This is the spot where you can offer decisive added value.

Do not forget to analyse the development of the content in the selected medium. This will give you information on how your topic has been discussed in the publication so far. Such knowledge also allows you to link to other contributions within the platform and thus help the users.

Paid journals often have problems finding authors. In contrast, there are popular open access blogs in many fields that cannot publish everything. So if you choose a very popular medium, make sure that your pitch convinces the editor: What is your article about? Why are you the right expert for this topic? Why is the topic important for the followers of the medium?

Step 4: Be clever – use your keywords!

Your post is valuable to you if your target group can find it. So you should not shy away from optimising the content with regard to the keywords that are relevant to you. Most media appreciate this greatly – if your article generates a lot of traffic, the platform will of course also benefit.

Of course, the article must remain easy to read. So you should not overdo it. An extensive keyword battle will bring you nothing except trouble with the editors and a negative impact on your SEO.

Step 5: Linking and networks

When writing your post, always consider what other content from the selected channel you can link to. This will help you score points with the platform. It also makes the authors of the other texts happy. You expand your network with exciting experts. They will be more willing to share your contribution with their audience.

Step 6: Fine-tuning with a strict hand

I recommend having texts for guest posts proofread by someone with a strict eye. This not only prevents typos. It can also help to correct mistakes in the content and to optimise the wording. The devil is in the detail: your readers will thank you for this fine-tuning!

Step 7: Push your post

This step is actually not a single step. You should cleverly use your post in communication over and over again. Link the post on your own website, share the direct link on social media (especially LinkedIn), send a message about it in a newsletter.

Even later: You should regularly go through your list of publications and always consider whether there is already published content that you can use in communication today. In this way, you can intersperse a guest post every now and then, even years after its original publication.

Do you have questions about the content or are you interested in an exchange on optimising marketing activities? We look forward to hearing from you!