Guest blogging is simply the act of contributing to another blog which you would not normally do so, and generally those guest bloggers are rewarded not with money but a link to their website with credit given to the author. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it can really be significant when considering it from an SEO standpoint.

Guest Blogging For Others

Let’s say you have agreed to post an article on a blog that is well established and has a very high PageRank as a guest blogger. You write the article, it is posted on the site, and you receive recognition and backlinks for your blog (maybe even the ability to promote your own content on other blogs as well). If your blog is not as well known, this could be a great opportunity to spread the word. Not only that, but the search engines will be taking notice as well.

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I've been thinking a lot about blog promotion in the last couple of days and one strategy that I've always seen being under-used is guest blogging.

There's no downside to it - unless your blog is #1 in its niche, there's no reason why you shouldn't take time out from fussing over your own blog and write a killer article for another blog.

What guest blogging can do for you (and your blog):

• You get several deep links (if you link back to your own articles) back to your blog which from a high-ranking blog can pay off in the long run).
• A good article will inevitably gain your blog new readers and increase your RSS subs (so be prepared to follow up with more good articles on your own blog.
• If you're looking for consulting work / paid blogging gigs, guest blogging is an excellent way to position yourself as an authority.
• Builds a good relationship with fellow bloggers, something you're going to need if you want them to notice you and link to you.
• Reaching new audiences keeps us on our toes to keep our blogging at a high level of quality, and guest blogging itself pushes us to write better than our comfort zone would allow us to.

Ultimately it all boils down to quality writing and giving people what they want, but if you're looking for ways to improve your blog's profile guest blogging (like having an article published in an offline publication) is a reliable, effective method to apply.

Usually we hold back from guest blogging either because we're lazy (Ryan) or because we're hung up on our own egos to go anywhere else and write. In some cases the later can be a good thing in a person who is talented and motivated enough to build a #1 blog, but usually it's a case of limiting your blog promotion options and being too pig-headed to take advantage of what's on offer.

Deb, Chris and Liz are just 3 excellent examples of using guest blogging to build their own profile - and it's not a surprise that these 3 are some of the more successful bloggers that I know.

So...where are you guest blogging next?

Also read: Matt's thoughts on guest blogging.

This post was guest blogged by Matt Jones, the author of Blogging Fingers

Other than having a whole slew of pillar posts written before doing any promotion, part of my marketing strategy for my blog, was to have a number of posts prepared for guest blogging.

Brian Armstrong from Breaking Free has been using this technique to great success, except many of his guest posts are 're-hashes'/improvements of the same posts he submitted to anther blog. While this is an efficient strategy for him, it is not my style.

I like to have a completely different post for each blog I guest post on. This is why:

1. I am targeting specific blogs within the blogging niche for a reason. While the idea is to make as many bloggers aware of Blogging Fingers, many of the blogs I have chosen/asked to guest blog on have an over-lapping readership.

Imagine reading multiple guest posts on popular blogs (perhaps you have read my others), covering a wide variety of topics related blogging. It has a cumulative effect. I admit I often don't click through to the guest bloggers site, but reading a bloggers posts on several blogs within the space of a week can arose a lot of curiosity. Chirs Garret did this and secured me as a loyal reader.

2. The blog I guest blogged on is more likely to 'want me back' if I give them unique content. Even if the post was re-written so it wasn't at risk from penalisation by Google from duplicate content, a very similar post doesn't contribute anything new to the blog. Especially if at the very same time similar posts are being posted by me on other blogs. This is very important for future projects and further promotion of Blogging Fingers. I also want to make the owner of the blog feel like I gave them a good deal, not just because I'm that nice... but because you never know when a favour will be needed.

3. I enjoy writing and find it boring to re-write the same thing again and again. Naturally we can't have it both ways (easy and successful) but nevertheless it's a point to consider.

Guest blogging problems

It can be a shame to write a post only to post it on another blog. My solution is to write a post that is on a slightly different 'tack' to my usual posts and so it hopefully suits the other blog better. The blogs I target are in the same niche but I follow each one individually and each one has it's own slightly different focus.

Conclusion

Some bloggers think guest blogging is letting down the readership that comes to a blog to read an individual's opinions. However, Performancing is a group blog and so the issues surrounding guest blogging do not apply.

What are your views about guest blogging?