10 Reasons Why You Should Accept Guest Posts

What does every business in the land need in order to be successful?

I’m sure you’re all muttering the word ‘customers’ under your breath right now – and you’re absolutely right to do so.

Now take a second to consider my second question.

What does every business in the land need in order to build a customer base?

Money? A marketing department? Good PR?

While none of those answers are wrong, the answer I’m actually looking for here is ‘leads’. Every business needs viable leads that it can reach out to and convert into real customers.

But when it comes to identifying and generating real, tangible leads for your business, the jury is very much out on the most effective way to do it. For sure, different businesses in different industries will have their own tried and tested methods they turn to time and again for their lead generation activity.

But when it comes to the world of content marketing, there’s one particular tactic that more and more businesses are deploying every day to secure that loyal customer base.

I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m talking about the blog. The concept of the blog has grown significantly in its popularity over the years as business owners across the globe have cottoned on to the fact that a regular blog post gives people – or potential leads, if you will – a genuine reason to visit their website on a frequent basis when they otherwise wouldn’t.

Blogging is without question a bona fide tactic that many businesses are actively deploying to generate the leads they need to create a successful business.

But what about guest blogs? Is it wise for a business to hand over the reins of its blog to an outsider? Does it make good business sense to invite content from guest bloggers?

Here are ten benefits of inviting and accepting guest posts to your blog:

Build Brand Authority and Credibility

Provided with the right posting guidelines, a credible guest blogger will give you in return top quality content that’s both relevant and credible. Content of this calibre will enhance your brand and help to position your business as a genuine voice of authority within your respective industry.

Generate Organic Traffic to Your Website

A high quality guest blog not only gives you a great opportunity to enrich and vary your regular content by offering an alternative voice and perspective on issues related to your specialist area but, selected carefully, the right guest posters will increase the visibility of your brand amongst your key target audience and boost the number of organic visitors to your website.

Create Opportunities to Maximize Your Free Time

Scheduling in a guest blog post gives frees up a very rare block of time that would normally be spent planning and crafting your next blog post. Use this time wisely to maximize the impact of your forthcoming guest post by reviewing the content of your website homepage, for example, to make sure it’s as good as it can be in readiness for the increased traffic that will soon be coming your way. Or alternatively, review the positioning of the other social media links on your website to make sure they are clearly visible and readily accessible by visitors to your website.

Enhance Your Personal Brand

As well as boosting your company brand, a well-written guest post authored by the right individual can also pay dividends when it comes to your own personal brand. A greater number of shares across all social media platforms present a host of unique opportunities for you to engage directly with other key influencers in your specialist field as well as your target audience. Being proactive and engaging with your audience as they respond to the guest post will result in increased brand awareness while raising your own credibility in the process.

Expand Your Professional Network

As the old saying goes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. The relationships you build with individual bloggers can open the door to many other key influencers and entire community networks filled with opportunities for you to capitalise upon. To put it bluntly, one successful relationship can quickly present a number of other potential lucrative opportunities for you to embark upon in the future.

Reduce Spend on Paid Advertising and Sponsored Rankings

The time you invest in identifying and fostering positive relationships with guest bloggers will reduce (and potentially remove) any future need to pay for social media advertising or sponsored rankings – a direct return on the investment of your time.

Reach New Heights in Your Google Rankings

A skilled and experienced guest poster can have a significant and immediate impact on your SEO and SERP performance. With a carefully considered and selected guest blog, you’ll be able to stand by and watch in awe as you quickly climb upwards in the Google search engine and keyword rankings.

More Leads with Quicker Sales Conversions

A quality guest post won’t just boost the number of leads you generate – it will also increase your lead conversion rate. That means a positive impact on your bottom line in less time.

Become a More Trustworthy Brand

A guest post from an industry expert or known thought leader can help to create a unique and authentic connection between you and your customer base that’s underpinned by trust. By carefully planning the content for your guest blog in advance – such as arranging for your guest poster to answer some of those key customer questions – you are creating a chance to speak directly to your audience about the issues that matter to them most. This is a sure-fire way to build the trust and confidence of your customer base in your brand.

Create Content that Stands the Test of Time

Quality guest posters bring with them a host of skills and experiences they’ve built up over the years – not least the ability to craft authentic and meaningful content that will stand up to the test of time. Known as ‘evergreen content’ in the world of content marketing, a skilled guest poster will produce content that’ll be just as credible, relevant and authoritative ten years down the line as it is today.