How Do You Build Great Guest Blogging Relationships?

You may be a pro in your niche, and your guest posts might be epic, but if you’re not reaching out to blog owners or building those relationships, you’re not really getting ahead – and you’re missing the point. More than a link back from a blog, a guest post lets you get to know someone in your community. It’s a way to help forge a relationship with a powerful industry ally. It’s a way in to the niche community that your site is a part of.

Try not to think of only that one paltry link you’re going to get back from a blog owner by making a guest post on his blog. Think about the long-term relationship value of getting to know that person. When you really get to know someone in your community, you can look forward to all sorts of future partnerships and plans together.

Now, you might want to get into guest blogging, for link building or relationship building purposes, but you might not know where to start. It can be a serious headache with the number of blogs out there. Let’s look at some tips to help you get started. These tips will help you look through what’s out there and find the perfect guest blogging opportunities for the content you want to blog about.

Concentrate On The Interest

When you’re trying to spot guest blog opportunities, try to find blogs that have blog posts that your target users would find compelling.

For example, if you’re a restaurant, don’t just try to spot blogs that talk about restaurant topics. Figure out the kinds of topics that restaurant owners would be interested in. When you have that list in mind and written down on paper, then start searching on Google for blogs that cover those topics.

Discover Where Your Ideal Targets Hang Out

Social groups are the areas where people who have similar interests get together. These are Facebook groups, Twitter chats, Google+ communities, and LinkedIn communities. Within these areas, you will find out the kind of content that is commented on, discussed, and shared by people in your target persona.

Network With Bloggers Through Social Media

Once you have discovered a blog that you think would be a great match for a guest post, it is the right time to get in touch. Right now, it is so simple to cut straight through all the red and talk directly with the movers and shakers This is certainly the truth in the blogging sphere.

Serve Up Original Content

When you’re attempting to have a guest post published, you should always – and only – share original content. A blogger definitely doesn’t want to offer up content that their audience has already seen. They want to post new material that won’t be considered duplicate content. Remember, Google penalizes duplicate content.

This doesn’t mean that you have to completely fashion new content. If you have a blog on your site that is popular, you can just tweak the post to give it a unique spin. When you’re pitching it to the guest blog owner, you can show them the original post’s success to validate the topic choice.

Don’t Think About Swapping

A good guest posting tactic suggested by some is to talk about a swap with a blogger. This is an ideal opportunity once there is a good relationship set up with a blogger, but talking about a swap can be a difficult way to get in with bloggers.

Don’t think about a swap. Think about what’s in the best interest of the blog owner, exclusively. Just create an awesome piece of content and offer it to a guest blog owner.

To Chapter 3: Link VS Social Popularity