When people want to guest blog and post on article sites, they usually want to talk about themselves or give themselves the best possible backlinks from the most ideal positions. The problem is that pitching a product or service probably isn't interesting to an audience. You need to be creative. Blog readers and community leaders who approve these articles want something that ads value to their readers so keep that in mind.
What you need to do is take the standpoint of a blog reader of the site or community you are writing for. When you create the article, it may not have anything to do with the topic of your site, but you will be able to include the keyword rich backlink that you are looking for. Here are some examples of creative ways to tie in a keyword rich backlink to an article that has nothing to do with your site or products. It does however give you the link you want to your site and gives the audience an article idea that may be interesting to them.
I'll use two general products that tend to be the same as every other product or service to consumers, Diet Programs and Insurance.
Diet Programs and How to Adopt a Cat from the Animal Rescue League
Adopting a cat probably doesn't have a lot to do with a diet program or pill. You can however talk about questions to ask the people adopting the cats including things about overweight cats who may need a diet program. Sure it isn't about a human diet but you get the link off the keyword phrase diet program that you were looking for.
Diet Programs and Finding a Job
Some people may say that companies tend to hire better looking people, I have no data to back this up, so you could always write an article about how to improve your ability when looking to find a job. One of the things you could talk about may be starting a new diet program. Other things you could mention could include practicing interviewing, fixing your resume, learning new skills, searching all of the job sites, etc...
Diet Programs and Learning Spanish
If you are writing an article about learning Spanish, you could always talk about using common words and some odd phrases like Diet Programs, Fast Food, Where is the bathroom and how does my hair look? Then you can link off of the keyword or put the keyword and phrase in the description and link to your site from there.
Insurance and a Kids Tea Party
You might not think that you would need insurance at a kids tea party, so why not give the kids each a role to play. One can be a princess, one can be a business owner, one can be a Real Estate or Insurance Salesperson, etc... Another option is to create tea party manners and give recommended compliments like this tea is so gorgeous that I hope you have insurance on it. You can then put in a joke about annoying brothers always breaking things.
Insurance and Teenage Dating, a Father's Perspective
This is always a fun one. You could do anything from the Father saying I hope you have a good insurance policy and reference bringing his daughter home to late. Another option are things to ask your daughter's date like do you have car insurance in order to make sure he is responsible, etc... By adding the questions in to other questions you can make them flow and look like they belong. You could even make it about joke threats from father's to suitors for his daughter and tie it in letting him know his health insurance better be up to date if his daughter is late.
Insurance and the different types of pizza cheeses
If you are writing for a cooking or food blog, why not make a joke at the end by saying something about "with this much cheese your stomach will need its own health insurance". You could talk about using saffron or other expensive ingredients and make a joke about the dish being so rich it comes with its own insurance policy, etc...
The thing with guest posting is that even though you love your products or company, audiences probably don't care. What you need to do is write an article that their audiences would like and keeps within the theme of the site. There are always ways to tie in the phrase you are looking for and get the backlinks you want. The most important thing to remember is to give the readers something that they can take with them.
I like your out of the box thinking on this. I suspect most blog owners would catch on to your sneaky tactic before publishing though. And article sites have a limited use in that you really only need one article on a site from a root domains perspective.
Have you gotten push back from blog owners using the tactics above?
Hi Mark,
Not at all. The point is to not be sneaky or deceptive but to add quality content for the readers and be able to tie your product in. Maybe I wrote this incorrectly so let me explain a little more.
With insurance, if you are guest Blogging for a Mommy Blog, write about 5 ways to lower total household costs. One of those things can be shopping for a new insurance policy or combining policies with the same company to save money. You could even do some research and give pointers on things to mention to lower the prices of current policies. Normally the Mommy Blogger may link to a resource for each anyways so it would be a natural looking link, especially because it is. That post will add value to their readers and also lets you pitch your product without it being all about a product pitch.
Before I write the blog post for the blogs, I always let them know what company I am with and that I want the backlink of a particular term. They get quality content that adds value to their readers and I get the link that I needed for my site. It is a win win for both of us.
I hope that clears it up a bit. The point is to use your brain to think of a way to tie in your product and to add value to their readers without spamming the site or over pitching your own services.
To your comment about only needing one backlink from the root domain, that is only part true. Yes you have the backlink, but if it is a popular blog, you can also build a following and fan base there. That fan base may then follow you to your site and help build up your own readership and get the word out about your site.
I wish I could edit certain things in this post, like the spelling and grammar errors (I was sick when I wrote it), but I hope this clears up what I was trying to get across. It is a great method that helps you to build up a following and get a legit backlink.
Best,
Adam
Hi Adam,
Thanks for responding. I believe guest posting is one of the most beneficial offsite activities some one can do for their online marketing. Also, I completely agree that when you are transparent & upfront from the beginning it is a win-win situation.
The one back link per root domain comment is directed primarily at article sites where there is not a loyal following. Popular blogs that are inline with your target market are definitely worth developing a relationship with both the site owner & readers.
Thanks again for the great article.
I agree, but some article sites have built communities out of them and when you connect with people there, they will often start to link to your articles or your sites from their articles without even telling you. Many Article sites haven’t built a community yet, but the ones that do are awesome because you can also find fellow Bloggers in your niche, etc… I probably should have left this post about Guest Blogging instead.
Thank you for your comments and its nice to meet you!
Adam
Hi, this article definitely caught my attention because it is a big goal for 2011 (i.e., publishing content on other sites for the link love). I operate in the technology world, so my only question about the tactic above is: how does this jive with the notion that Google only awards “votes” to sites that are in the same “neighborhood” as my own? For example, I suspect a vote from SearchEnginePeople.com would do a lot less for my SEO efforts than, say, 4GuysFromRolla.com, a popular article site for Microsoft software developers. Or, is that an outmoded way of thinking about linking?
Great article!
(This is just my opinion). Good SEO will have a mix of links from numerous sources and different types of sites (This is a very bold statement because some links are bad links and some sites are bad sites and you don’t want them. Bad sites and bad links are for a different post and topic though.) It is true that authoritative sites in your particular niche with content rich and keyword rich backlinks are best for you, especially if you are the only link in that article and it is high up. However, if that is all you have then it could be bad and you are limited to the amount of backlinks you will be able to have. I am a firm believer in having a nice mix of links from good sites which includes a focus on many high quality links from sites within your niche. Those high quality ones in your niche will be your most valuable, but the others won’t always be a bad thing either. Some people will probably disagree with that, at the same time that is why every SEO is different.
So i should use keywords in an article asking questions…..so if for example i am looking to link the keywords courier services and delivery services what is the best way of going about it? I would really appreciate some advice, as i am trying to help our community with this website…