Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
There are literally thousands of marketing strategies out there right now. They are plaguing the industry of Internet Marketing as we speak, and new strategies are emerging every couple of hours. Like most people, I used to jump from strategy to strategy. My goal was to promote my blog, build a readership, a fan base, and a steady flow of traffic. It’s what most people want to do when they start a blog.
For me, my blog wasn’t everything. It was just a platform I used to promote my business. However, a lot of people want to become full-time bloggers, get a readership, lots of traffic, exposure, and ultimately, money. To do that, you first need lots of super high-quality content. Once you have that, you need a killer blog theme and some basic online marketing knowledge.
You need to set up your social media profiles, Twitter accounts, Facebook fan page, and all that stuff. The key is to build a social following, which will result in tons of repeat visitors, email subscribers, and money in your pocket. Lastly, you need to promote your stuff. Your blog’s content won’t promote itself. No matter how good it may be, it won’t get traffic unless you promote it.
So what’s one of the best ways to promote your blog?
Guest blogging!
What is guest blogging? It’s exactly as the name suggests. Guest blogging is writing blog posts for other blogs as a guest. Generally, writing for blogs in your niche with the intent of gaining traffic, backlinks, and exposure.
Why guest blog?
I asked myself the same question. I have a hard enough time finding time to write my own blog posts, let alone feed someone else’s blog. Then I decided to write a guest post for a well-known blog in my niche. A week later, it was published, and I gained 500 visitors, 60 blog subscribers, and a bit of credibility.
Here’s why you should guest blog:
- 1. Exposure – The biggest benefit is getting your name and blog out there.
- 2. Backlinks – It’s a white-hat method of building high-quality backlinks.
- 3. Traffic – You can easily get 500–1000+ visitors from a guest post on a popular blog.
- 4. Subscribers & Credibility – The traffic from guest posts converts into subscribers and increases your credibility.
How to get started?
Use directories like Technorati Blog Directory and tools like Google Blog Search to find blogs in your niche that accept guest posts. Once you find the right blogs, write a compelling pitch offering a high-quality post in exchange for a backlink.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions below.
Comments
Sarah J.
This is exactly what I needed to hear! I’ve been thinking about guest blogging for a while now, but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks for the detailed guide!
John K.
I tried guest blogging a few times, but I never saw results like you mention here. Do you think it depends on the niche you’re in?
Alice M.
This is a great read. I love how you broke down the benefits of guest blogging into simple points. Time to start reaching out to other bloggers!
Michael L.
Very insightful post! I didn’t realize how important backlinks from high-ranking blogs could be. I’ll definitely be trying this method.
Linda W.
Thanks for the tips! I’ve been blogging for a while but haven’t ventured into guest blogging yet. This definitely motivated me to give it a shot.
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Great post! Do you have any advice on finding blogs in niches that aren’t as popular? I’m having trouble locating relevant blogs that accept guest posts.
Rebecca P.
I appreciate the focus on building credibility through guest blogging. I’ll start working on pitching posts to other blogs right away!
James H.
I totally agree with everything mentioned in this post! I’ve been guest blogging for a while now, and it has really helped me gain more exposure and build my blog’s credibility. Keep up the great work!
Samantha L.
This all sounds good, but I’m a bit skeptical. Is there any actual evidence to prove that guest blogging can bring in as much traffic as you’re saying? I would love to see some real examples or case studies on this.
Eric B.
Thanks for the valuable insights! I’m curious about how you choose the blogs to guest post on. Do you have any tips for finding blogs in smaller niches? Also, how many guest posts would you recommend doing in a month?
Kate S.
I appreciate the advice, but I found some parts a bit too general. Could you go more in-depth about how to approach blog owners? Not everyone responds positively to pitches, so more guidance on this would be helpful.
Oliver J.
I really liked this post, especially the part about building credibility. By the way, how have you been? We haven’t caught up in a while. Let’s grab coffee sometime soon!
Amelia R.
This post reminded me of when I first started guest blogging a few years ago. I had similar issues with not getting traffic initially, but after sticking with it, the results were amazing. Great advice here!
David C.
I’ve been using a platform called Help A Blogger, which connects bloggers with guest posting opportunities. It’s really helped me find relevant blogs to post on. You should give it a try if you’re struggling to find blogs in your niche!
Lucy T.
I’ve learned so much from this post! I didn’t realize how crucial guest blogging could be for building backlinks and traffic. I’m going to start implementing these strategies immediately. Thank you for sharing!
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Pitched four blogs in my niche over three weeks using the exact backlink-for-post pitch template implied here. Only one replied. The post that ran got maybe 40 visitors in the first two days, nothing like the 500 he mentions. Might be the niche, might be that his example blog already had an audience worth showing up in front of.
The ‘find blogs with Technorati and Google Blog Search’ step is basically a scraping job wearing a trenchcoat. Set up a simple RSS monitor on a few niche directory feeds and a spreadsheet of pitch statuses, and you cut the finding-blogs time to almost nothing. The actual writing still has to be a human though.
Does the 500 visitors and 60 subscribers figure come from one guest post, or is that cumulative across several?
I ran field development for a direct-sales company for years, so I’m biased toward structure over discovery methods. Directory-hunting for guest post opportunities, the way this describes with Technorati and Google Blog Search, is the slowest part of the process by far. What actually worked when I advised smaller blogs was building a shortlist of five target sites first and reading their last twenty posts before pitching anything, rather than searching broadly and pitching whoever shows up. The post skips that step entirely and treats finding blogs as the easy part, which in my experience it never was. A cold pitch to a stranger blog gets answered at a fraction of the rate a warm one does, and no amount of directory searching fixes that.
Renata, in plain English: don’t knock on strangers’ doors, knock on the five doors where someone might remember your name. That’s the point buried in your paragraph.
That shortlist idea of Renata’s — five sites, twenty posts each before pitching — suits a man rebuilding a routine at sixty-one far better than the scattershot approach the original post recommends. Reading a blog’s history before writing to its owner is not a shortcut at all, in truth, but it is the only method I can imagine producing a pitch worth answering, and I intend to try it before I attempt anything wider.