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7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting

7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting

This is the first post in our series on Guest Posting, with a focus on benefits other than just SEO, for a more successful and fulfilling approach to finding readers for your blog.

Guest posting is not all (or even mostly) about SEO.

My first experience of ‘guest posts’ was back in 2005 here on ProBlogger when I decided to take a month off blogging to have a holiday with Vanessa and wanted to keep posting on the blog.

I put up a post calling for people to contribute posts while I was gone – and had a great response.

Here’s my post announcing the guest posters.

This opened my eyes to the potential of hosting guest posters on my blog – but I also got feedback from many of the contributing bloggers that guest posting on ProBlogger was hugely positive for them too.

Among the benefits they saw were:

  • Spikes in traffic to their blog
  • Building their brand
  • Showing their authority

One blogger even told me that it led to them getting a dream job.

Some of these bloggers then started to offer to ‘guest post’ on other blogs and continued to see benefits.

How Guest Posting Developed

Over the next couple of years we saw numerous bloggers leverage the power of guest posting to launch their blogs: Leo Babauta from Zen Habits comes to mind, and also Chris Garrett.

Both of these guys would do bursts of guest posts on numerous blogs over a few weeks – they’d seem to be everywhere – creating high quality content, building their brand, driving traffic to their blogs, and getting their work in front of a wide audience.

It was a win-win-win situation: Leo and Chris benefited, of course, but so did the host blogs (who got great posts for free) … and so did the readers of those blogs (who got access to fresh new voices).

Around 2010, though, things started to change.

Bloggers I’d never heard of would pitch to post on my blogs.

The posts they submitted seemed to be more about inserting links than providing value or showing the author’s expertise.

People had realised that there was another benefit of guest posts: SEO/link building.

A few things happened at this point: an explosion in the amount of people doing guest posts, lower quality posts, and people just wanting a link – not caring about delivering value.

Some people even paid to have their posts/links inserted onto blogs.

This went on for several years. Everyone was doing it, but then in 2014 Google put a stop to that, and Matt Cutts (who was the head of the web spam team) caused a huge stir in the blogging world with this post: The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO.

As a result, many bloggers stopped guest posting and looked for different ways to grow their blogs.

I wonder if people threw out the baby with the bathwater. They’d become so obsessed with link building that they forgot the other many benefits of guest posting.

7 Great Reasons to Guest Post

Why guest post, then, if you’re not using it as a link building strategy?

#1: Get Your Name Known

When you guest post on a major blog in your niche, you instantly boost your authority and credibility: your writing has been featured somewhere impressive.

At the very least, guest posting on several blogs in your niche will get your name recognised. It allows you to get your work in front of a new audience … and it can also impress big-name bloggers. However, to even be considered by other blogs, your writing needs to be of high quality and value to their audiences. Earn the opportunity and earn the authority.

#2: Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Blog

Guest posting will bring in traffic: not just any traffic, but quality, targeted traffic (if you appear on a blog with a similar topic and audience to yours).

This traffic can turn into qualified leads: people who are a good fit for your products or services.

Check with the hosting blog about what you can and can’t include in your bio at the end of the post, in terms of linking to your own site.

#3: Build Your Email List

If you direct guest post readers to a sign-up incentive, you’ll quickly grow your email list … giving you a ready-made base of potential customers to promote your products to.

Some bloggers link to a “landing page” for their newsletter in their bio, and you may even want to customise this so you have different versions for the different blogs you’re guest posting for.

#4: Network with Other Bloggers in Your Niche

While commenting on blogs can be a way to build a relationship with a blogger, the best way to impress someone quickly is to send them a great guest post.

This provides real value for them (content their readers will love … that they didn’t have to write themselves!) and the power of reciprocity means they’ll be more likely to do you a favour in the future.

Bonus points if you take the time to get to know the blogger and their audience, and check if they actually accept guest posts, rather than cold pitching them.

#5: Open Doors to New Opportunities

I mentioned before that one of the first guest posters on ProBlogger landed a dream job as a result. You never know who might read a guest post (or who might be impressed by seeing your name on a major blog).

Guest posts also offer social proof: on your website, you can name the blogs you’ve written for – which could impress a new reader enough to get them to stick around. You may even want to use some of your guest posts as a writing portfolio, especially if you’re looking for freelance work.

#6: Improve Your Writing Skills

When you don’t yet have many readers on your own blog, it can feel like the tumbleweed is blowing past: no-one’s commenting, and certainly no-one’s pushing you to create your best work.

By guest posting, you give yourself more opportunities to write … the more you do so, the better your writing will become. You may also get feedback from the blogger (or blog editor) you’re writing for: this can really help you grow as a writer.

#7: Develop Your Ideas

As you put your ideas in front of different, larger audiences, you’ll get feedback. Some of this may be negative or critical, but in my experience, the vast majority of blog comments are positive.

If you get lots of positive feedback about a particular post, perhaps it contains an idea that you’ll want to develop further (maybe even as an ebook or ecourse). Or maybe you’ll get a comment that offers a different perspective – one you’d not considered before – or a way to deepen your work.

All guest posts will bring some benefit … but you may even find that one particular post is a game-changer for you.

That’s what happened to Jon Morrow when he guest posted for ProBlogger back in 2011. He wrote How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise, and Get Paid to Change the World.

This post did much, much more than just give Jon some link juice (which, of course, wasn’t his reason for writing it anyway).

It moved people and inspired them.

It showed Jon’s ability as a writer.

It sent Jon a lot of traffic.

It won Jon many new fans and deepened his engagement with his existing audience (many of whom weren’t aware at that point of his story).

It also got him 9,000 (yes, 9,000!) subscribers, as Ahmed Safwan explained here.

In case you’ve been skimming: SEO isn’t the only reason to guest post. There are a whole host of benefits to guest posting, whether you’ve just started blogging or whether you’ve been doing it for years.

In a couple of days one of our regular guest contributors, Ali Luke, will share how to find guest blogging opportunities and how to boost your chances of getting your submission accepted. I write a weekly newsletter with a wrap up of the latest ProBlogger content. Sign up so you don’t miss out on the rest of the series.

What has been the best thing you’ve experienced from guest blogging? 
About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Every blog has its own purpose and think you got them all.

  2. Flowersandyou says: 07/05/2017 at 2:01 am

    That is fantastic to know the benefit of guest posing apart from seo

  3. Tuitionlijiye.com says: 07/05/2017 at 4:20 am

    This blog surely bring those too who are not here because they don’t want seo

  4. Nav Badel Photography says: 07/05/2017 at 10:12 pm

    I’m glad to read there is more to guest blogging than SEO and Link building!

  5. Hi Darren,

    I agree with you about guest posting being a great way to build relationships. While I haven’t done a lot of guest posts, I have done a few.

    They have definitely been beneficial in introducing me to some other bloggers. These bloggers have in turn shared my work and continue to share my work.

    As bloggers, we know that it can be lonely working behind our computers. It’s hard work to share your content and keep sharing. In my opinion, it’s a lot easier when you have other people sharing your work.

    That’s what I’ve personally seen from guest posting. You start e-meeting people and people get to know you. Eventually, more and more people are sharing your content. You also do the same in return.

    It makes your job easier as a blogger. I don’t look at guest posting as link building. Instead, I choose to look at it as building relationships.

    This has definitely helped me whenever I do submit a guest post. Now I just need to get busy and do some more often.

    Thanks for sharing, have a great day :)

    Susan

  6. I fall in love with this blog, really!

  7. Menaka Bharathidasan says: 07/06/2017 at 12:27 pm

    Hi Darren!
    I used to encourage guest posting in my bog however with time it became really difficult to stop posts that were only intended to get a backlink and nothing more. The quality became less by the day and offlate some bloggers have begun asking to post launches and adverts too.

  8. Hi Darren, thanks for the post.

    I’ve been a follower for many years and you are a reference in blogging and digital marketing as you now have millions of pageviews a month and created a very solid business from your blog.

    Here is my question. What is working right now in terms of SEO since you’ve mastered it in a very unique way?

    I mean… after so many updates from Google, what do you believe are the main strategies that will work regardless updates?

    Maybe could you write a post about it?

    Thanks!

  9. We can benefit so much from guest posting, it’s one way to gain readers because you’ll reach more people and you’ll have exposure as well. These are awesome reasons to do a guest post!

  10. Guest posting allows us to connect with our target audience and network with other influential bloggers.

  11. Hello Dear,

    Thanks Sharing information for non seo related you give are tips and news for user. your article so good in that usefully all tips.

    Thank You.

  12. Thanks a lot for sharing such a valuable information about guest posting, because guest allow to connect with target audience

  13. Hi Darren,

    Is it true that a strong social media following is what most bloggers are searching for when it comes to accepting guest posters?

    From what I’ve heard, writers are more involved in the promotion process even on websites that aren’t theirs.

    Do you think that someone who doesn’t have a strong following might have an disadvantage?

  14. Hi darren,
    Thanks for this nice article. Keep up the good work.

  15. Hello Darren,

    Guest is really a best way to brand yourself as a authoritative blogger. Its helps you to connect with fellow bloggers and increase the traffic of your blog. Most of the people think that Guest blogging is dead, but the fact is that it is still effective way to get quality backlinks and visitors. Thanks for this informative post.

    Have a great Day :)
    Vishwajeet

  16. Guest Posting is a great way to build audience to the website and increasing the quality of the post on the website.

  17. Thanks for sharing this information! I personally enjoy reading guest posts when the appear on blogs that I follow. It’s a way to find and meet new “players” in my niche. It’s not hard to spot those that appear to be just looking for the chance to promote themselves without adding much value. Great post–thanks again!

  18. sayem says: 07/18/2017 at 6:11 am

    Guest Posting is one of the most valuable work for all bloggers. In this article Every Points are very important about guest posting. I most like 2nd point (Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Blog) of this article. Without Guest Posting it is not to be easy to get targeted audience. Thanks for this helpful article.

  19. Thanks for this reason and arguments Darren. Learn new things from your post. thanks

  20. Lucas Smith says: 08/16/2017 at 4:22 pm

    Indeed.

    Guest posting isn’t really just for SEO purposes. It’s a great way to socialise, exchange ideas, and learn new things. It’s more about writing as a hobby than writing for profit. Though I am not entirely rejecting the latter.

  21. Get your Name known and Networking with other bloggers – 2 main benefits of Guest posting

    Great post – Thanks!

  22. Hello Sir,

    Thanks share information for 7 non seo reason guest posting to related give useful ideas and tips of blog posting to user read any to any time blog on website.

    Thank You.

  23. Lucas Smith says: 08/23/2017 at 5:05 pm

    Guest posting is definitely a great way to share thoughts on an article you are interested in. As I have understood from this article, guest posting is more than just sharing your thoughts, it also enables you to gradually improve yourself. Not just in terms of your writing skills, but also with your interpersonal skills. Plus it feels great.

    Thanks for this post Darren!

  24. That’s hard work but when u become mor popular by people alot oportunitys comes up
    thx for this post <3

  25. Guest Posting is the best way to generate the audience to the website and increasing the quality of the post on the website. This post really helpful in guest posting.
    Thanks for sharing this post.

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