First things first, what is a blog? If you already know what a blog is then skip this first paragraph and read more about guest blogging. For those who are cautious and curious about the term blog read on. It’s probably easier to think of a blog as “news”. In fact many of our clients (and we ourselves) have a blog but simply call it their “news” page. The term dates back to the twentieth century origins of the world wide web and comes from the words “web log”; Wikipedia has an excellent, and detailed, explanation of the term.
As the term suggests, means that you can invite writers to contribute to your blog and, similarly, you can be invited to write a blog for a non-competing, often complementary, organisation. There are many online and offline advantages of guest blogging, which is often referred to as “reciprocal blogging”.
Looking first at the online advantages, once you have created a website, hopefully including a blog or “news” area you should start planning your own blog topics and then begin to look outside for guest blogging opportunities. By appearing on other blogs as a “guest blogger” you will attract links to your own website, which is all good for that magic online term SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Likewise, by inviting guest bloggers to write a piece for your blog, hosted on your website, you will be attracting new visitors to your blog; choose the right guest blogger delivering relevant content and you should extend the length of time visitors spend on your website – this is all good online activity which Google and the other search engines will notice and like.
Through guest blogging you’ll also raise your offline profile and become known as an authority in your field. Working with organisations and businesses which complement what you do, like fellow “bloggers” and even networkers you know, you’ll find this can be fun as well as good practice. The more relevant the content is that you create through your blog, the more value and personality you will add to your business and brand.
As part of our commitment to our clients we like to help to facilitate guest blogging opportunities by making introductions, so if you would like to know more about guest blogging simply by email or call us on 01992 582 824.
Alternatively, if you need someone to write blogs for you – optimised for the search engines – we’d be delighted to help. Just get in touch for details.
