4 Reasons to Write Guest Articles
Posted on February 5, 2008 by
Dee Barizo 
Blogging, Internet Marketing, SEO 
31 Comments
Guest article, or guest posts (if you’re a blogger), are one of my favorite marketing tactics. Here are 4 reasons why I like guest articles so much.
SEO
Guest articles help a lot in increasing your organic search rankings. You get the best type of links (content-based). You can choose your anchor text. And you can link to specific pages that you want to rank better.
Networking
Don’t know how to start networking? Guest articles are a great way to build your business contacts. Write a really good articles and ask webmasters to publish them. Webmasters love free, quality content. You’ll make them happy and that’s a good start to a profitable business relationship.
Traffic
Guest articles are a great way to get targeted, relevant traffic. Just make sure to write for well-trafficked sites in your niche.
Branding
Improve your brand by write quality articles for different sites. The more people see you on different sites, the more you will be known in your niche.
So, if you want to build links, network, get targeted traffic, and improve branding - all at the same time, write guest articles. Kill 4 birds with one stone :)
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Hey Dee,
This is a great concept. I actually wrote a post outlining the advantages of guest blogging and how to go about the whole process. You can read it here: http://www.winningtheweb.com/guest-blogging.php
Anything you would disagree with?
Great post. Thanks for sharing it.
Have to agree..
The places where I did my guest blogging gigs have been my top referrals after google ..trafficwise..
guest blogging also gives a lot of opportunity to present your various facets other than what you are just known for, it builds credibility which in turn boosts brand value..
Absolutely. This is a particularly effective strategy if you don’t have a blog, or if you have a new blog that needs to gain readership. I was surprised how many blog owners were receptive to these kind of proposals.
To add to the discussion: On a semi related note, setting aside a few of your good articles for syndication is also a good idea - obvious - but at sites syndicated by Google News, such as americanchronicle.com, a new gem I’ve just uncovered. Surprisingly easy to submit content there.
I’d say this applies to Squidoo lenses too, as more and more SEOS are reaching there for their website marketing.
Thanks for bringing up syndication.
Hubpages.com is another site like Squidoo that I like using for links.
Well said, guest blogging is a great way to self promote your self and gain some of the blogs link juice as well as traffic. It is a win win situation.
Some great comments!
As a Career Management Professional, I encourage my clients to market themselves as Subject Matter Experts (SME).
This is the way to drive attention to your area of expertize. Write about your knowledge and distribute articles across the web.
It works!
I dont like writing posts for my own blog nevermind someone else’s, but i can see the benefits you mentioned.
Would you contact several webmasters about your article or just one?
One unique article per webmaster. Webmasters don’t like duplicate content ;)
I would email a quality article to a webmaster and ask him to respond to you whether he will publish it or not. Give him a timeframe with which to make the decision.
Webmasters can get busy so 5-7 days is probably a good timeframe. If he doesn’t publish your article within the timeframe, I would send it to another webmaster and repeat the waiting game.
It is new bloggers who are going to find guest blogging useful. Unfortunately, most of the new bloggers find it extremely hard to find topics to blog everyday. And how can they post articles on other blogs when they can’t make enough posts in their own blog?
Who said you have to blog everyday? :)
If you pick a niche you’re really passionate about, you should not have a problem writing many posts for your blog and for others’ blogs. It will take time though.
If you don’t have a lot of time, one thing you can do is write a lot of posts before even starting your blog. That way you’ll always be ahead in the posting schedule. Your blog will always look up to date and you’ll have many guest posts to promote.
Not all bloggers blog everyday. They just blog frequently. Keep adding fresh content. And on top of finding something you are passionate about I say find an area that allows you to find or create consistent fresh material. If your topic is absolutely all covered in only a few posts then I would rethink my subject/topic.
I have several blogs that I follow, including James Brausch , who posts 1 to 3 posts a day, and other bloggers who only post every couple of days. And I don’t choose a blog to follow because of how often they post, I choose them for their content.
Manual trackback to squidoo lens…Link Building Tips…. 4 Reasons to Write Guest Articles….
I guest write for several popular business blogs and can say that it is a great practice. I would add another reason for guest blogging.
I at one time had my own blog and may do it again. However, regularly posting to your blog can be tedious at times and guest writing gives me an outlet to share business ideas without having to maintain my own site.
Plus I get exposure and back links to my business sites.
I can’t deny that guest blogging offers a lot of benefits to a blogger and his blog.
I am always planning to guest blog in one of the blogs in my niche but it is either I can’t come out with a good article or they rejected my posts.
I will continue looking for a publisher but at the same time, make sure that I did not spread myself too thin.
You are correct,guest blogging is absolutely a nice concept.
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I believe this a real win-win situation, there are many times that bloggers need some good fresh information and someone needs somewhere to submit an article to.
I also believe it is a good way to build good relationships with others.
You hit the nail right on the head with this article, I love the way that you get right to the point, That is 4 terrific reasons to write guest articles. This is a great way to develop relationships with other marketers and possible turn them into vaulable customers. Great article
Pugsley
I believe that article writing is a hidden treasure that too many people leave out of their business.
This is a good articles that explains in simple language how article writing could and will boost your business. Thanks - Great Article
Pugsley
Great post - Writing articles is a great way to establish yourself in the marketplace and to get good backlinks
Guest posts are indeed a great way to network with other bloggers and I think it is a great way to increase traffic to your website. If you guest post on various blogs you will be sure to gain traffic from those sites. Great Post!
what does guest articles mean? I should not put my name on them? Or what?
I’ve written articles as a guest on sites, I’ve used Glyphius to double check my work, it’s wonderful, and it has saved my writitng.
Well in Europe or better said in Germany (where I live) guest writing is considered as dangerous because of sharing wth the concurrence. What a pity! I would like to try this, but until now I have found nobody to do it with.
In response to Tudor Ciurescu above - no you still include your name as the author but you are simply letting another blog or website publish your article instead of putting it on your own. The blogger gets a useful, original article and you get a link back to your website with all the benefits listed above in this great article.
As an aside, I notice that Smorty.com now has a gyest post exchange feature to make exchanging posts even easier…
It can be a little sad to feel like you are giving away a great article for use on someone else’s site, but hopefully traffic from that great article comes to your site. You can be exposed to readers who otherwise might never have come across any of your articles. Nice post!
I have done several guest blogging runs and it has been very beneficial for my websites and blog. The traffic I received made it all worth my time and effort.
Great post, you make some great posts, especially for marketing outside of your niche. Good idea, I’ll give that one a try.
Be sure to choose who you’re going to give the article to very carefully and also what you get from it (i.e. clean backlink etc…).