Are you wondering what guest posting is?
Or do you know what guest posting is, but don't understand how it can possibly help you market your own business?
Or how it can help your business marketing as a new internet marketer? Intermediate internet marketer? Advanced internet marketer?
Did you answer yes?
If you did then you are in the right place! In this blog post, I will be answering all these and more.
By the end of this blog post you will know:
- What is guest posting?
- Why guest posting is important for your business marketing
- How guest posting can help you even if you are a new, intermediate, or advanced business marketer
Sounds good?
Awesome! Let's get started!
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What is guest posting and what are the different types of guest posting?
Guest posting means creating content for someone else's online property (usually an influencer's). Most people think it only means guest blogging i.e. text blog posts for someone else's blog.
But guest posting is not limited to guest blogging. It also includes creating audio or video content for other influencers. Whether this is for influencers' Facebook pages/groups, Youtube channels, websites, etc.
Already starting to get some ideas of where to guest post? That's great! When it comes to guest posting the possibilities are endless!
But how can creating content for someone else be important to your business marketing?
Let me tell you 13 reasons why guest posting can be important for your business marketing.
Why is guest posting important for your business marketing?
Guest posting is important for your business marketing period! This is true regardless of whether you just got started marketing, have been at it for a while, or are an advanced marketer. Here are the 13 reasons why.
Why is guest posting important for your business marketing when you are new
Reason #1 Cheapest way to find an ideal audience that buys fast
When you are new, finding your ideal audience can take a lot of money. And then getting them to buy from you can take a long time. Take the case of my friend Sharon. Sharon has a business selling natural hair dye solutions.
Once Sharon decided to market online she spent tons of money advertising. But the audience this yielded did not buy. And if they did buy it was only after Sharon spent a lot of time convincing them one on one. The reason? You see Sharon's ideal audience wasn't just one with the problem of greying hair. She also needed them to already be aware of the benefits of natural solutions. Better yet convinced of them! Otherwise, she would have to spend a lot of time educating them.
Your ideal audience isn't the only one who has the problem you solve. They also need to be aware of and open to the types of solutions you offer.
So how do you find an audience that both have the problem you solve and are open to your type of solution? And how can you do this without spending a ton of money or time?
The answer is guest posting. Guest posting allows you to reach the audience that has the problem you solve. And has the awareness/openness to your solution type. Plus unlike other business marketing strategies guest posting is both free and fast! Taking my advice, Sharon focused on guest posting exclusively for four weeks. She found that guest posting helped her find her audience for free. Plus the audience she found bought from her pronto!
Guest posting is the fastest and cheapest way to find your ideal audience, even if you are new online! #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #2 Gets your audience to trust you faster
How likely are you to trust a business you just came across online? I'd bet like every savvy buyer out there you would take some time to observe them. You would look at what claims they make. And if other customers' experiences show that the business lives up to those claims. The same goes through your ideal audience's minds when they first come across you on the internet.
This is why it's not surprising that left to its natural course, trust-building can take a long time. Some influencers even say it takes years.
I don't know about you, but I don't have time for that!
But luckily this is another area where guest posting makes all the difference. Guest posting gets your ideal audience to trust you faster. Every guest post increases your ideal audience's trust in you. Why? Because your audience sees your guest post as an influencer's endorsement of you. They immediately see you as more competent and credible as a result.
Your audience sees your guest post as an influencer's endorsement of you. This makes them trust you faster. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #3 Cure for writer's block
Have you ever struggled to come up with business marketing content? Most new marketers do. Take my student Teresa as an example.
Teresa was going through a very intense writer's block around her business marketing content. Her business was coaching women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. She wanted to give them tools to better deal with their diagnosis and make good decisions.
As a breast cancer survivor herself, she knew what they were going through. But even with that, she wasn't sure what to share that would help rather than overwhelm them. Should she share stories of hope and patience? Questions they should be asking doctors? How to read between the lines of what their doctors are telling them? The more she grappled with these questions the worse her writer's block became.
That was until we worked together and I helped Teresa realize that guest posting can help.
If you are struggling with writer's block guest posting can help you too. Why? Well, this has to do with why we get writer's block, to begin with. The reason you get writer's block is that you cannot answer questions like what:
- specific problems your audience have?
- types of solutions would be the most helpful?
- content format will most resonate with the audience
And you are not alone in this, because these are difficult questions to answer. Especially when you are staring at a blank screen. And that leads to writer's block.
Writer's block comes from not knowing what problems, solutions, and format to focus on. Guest posting helps you end that once and for all! #guestposting #contentmarketing
But when you are guest posting, the influencer has already done the work to answer these questions. You can see clues of their answers in the years of content, custom created with your audience in mind. Often these clues can spark your ideas for your own fresh angles building on their work. When this happens pay attention, as these are often the best ideas for your guest post.
Guest posting cures writer's block. You can quickly glean what to focus on from the influencer's previous work. Allowing you to benefit from years of their work, invaluable when you are starting off! #guestposting https://bit.ly/3x6jrwA
But that's not all, guest posting can even help you make sure you are on the right track! I explain more in reasons #4 and #5.
Reason #4 Gets you REAL feedback from your audience
Have you been struggling to get feedback from your ideal audience?
My student Priya was.
She didn't have an audience to get feedback from. At the suggestion of a coach, she interviewed people she knew (or found online) that fit her audience. But early on she realized that they were not giving her real answers. Most people were polite and told her what they thought she wanted to hear. And this wasn't getting her any closer to the feedback she wanted. Their politeness wasn't helping her gauge what content would help them most. Or what content would get them inspired to work with her. Can you relate?
If you can you will be happy to know that this is another place guest posting can help.
Here is why. When you are new online, members of your ideal audience don't know if you are someone who can help them. As a result they aren't likely to reveal their problems, challenges, or questions to you.
When you are new online, members of your ideal audience don't know if you are someone who can help. As a result they aren't likely to reveal their problems, challenges, or questions. #guestposting #contentmarketing
But once you guest post they start seeing you as a credible and competent person who can help them (even if you are new). As a result, they are more open and honest with you about their situation. They will reveal their problems, challenges, and questions around your guest post and beyond. Aka the mother-load of real feedback from your audience!
Your guest post makes your audience see you as a credible and competent person who can help them (even if you are new). This makes them more open to giving you REAL feedback. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #5 Gets you feedback from influencers
Would you like to get the feedback of major influencers in your niche on your content? The feedback that could save you years of trial and error? If yes, what stops you?
If you are anything like most people, what stops you is the fear of appearing obnoxious. Or sleazy and presumptuous. You might ask yourself why would a major influencer take time from their busy schedule to help you out? What do you have to offer to them that will be worth their time? Especially when you aren't anywhere close to them in audience size or expert status. And neither do you have years of successful content?
When you are new online, you don't feel like you have much to offer an influencer in exchange for their feedback. Your guest post opens a door to getting feedback from influencers! #guestposting #contentmarketing
Your guest post solves all these problems. Your guest post opens a door to getting feedback from influencers without appearing sleazy or obnoxious. In fact when you guest post, influencers welcome giving you feedback. After all they have a built-in incentive to give you feedback that is as useful as possible. It will help you improve your guest post and make it the best possible guest post for their audience.
Your guest post opens the door to get feedback from influencers. Influencers have an incentive to give you useful feedback. It allows you to create the best guest post for their audience.#guestposting #contentmarketing
Why guest posting is important for your business marketing when you are an intermediate marketer
Maybe you are no longer a new internet marketer. You've been marketing online for a while so you know who your ideal audience is. You also know what type of content works to attract them to you. You've even started to see a bit of traffic and a few email subscribers.
Why then should you spend your time guest posting?
Glad you asked. I explain why guest posting is important when you are an intermediate marketer next.
Reason #6 Increases your website traffic fast
Do you want more traffic? If you are like most business marketers no matter how much traffic you are getting, the answer is always yes.
But increasing your traffic can be both time-consuming and slow. First, it involves creating lots of content. Then it involves taking the time to optimize it for the search engines. Or in the case of social marketing, creating several social media posts/graphics. And that's for each piece of content.
Increasing traffic via search and social media can be both time-consuming and slow.
Here is another area where guest posting can help.
Guest posts help you increase your website traffic fast. The influencer has already taken the time to build lots of content. They have also created a system to regularly attract traffic to their content. When you guest post, you benefit from all of this. As a result, even a one-off guest post (as long as it is a quality post) will increase your own traffic fast.
Guest posts help you increase your traffic fast. The influencer has already taken the time to build out a traffic attraction system. When you guest post, you benefit from all of this & increase your own traffic fast.
Reason #7 Builds your website's domain authority
Your guest post helps you increase your traffic by directing the influencer's traffic to your site. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Want to be on the first page of Google so you can get free organic traffic?
For most business marketers that would be a dream come true. But getting on the first page means you have to build your domain authority (DA) first. And building your website's DA means getting backlinks from high DA sites.
Thanks to spammers this is no longer as simple as leaving blog comments with a link back. Most high DA blogs have made their comments no-follow. This means that the backlink you get via blog comments does not contribute to your Google DA.
You can no longer build your website's DA by getting backlinks from blog comments. Most high DA blog comment backlinks have been set to no-follow. Your best option now is quality #guestposts #contentmarketing
But building links via guest posting still works. The backlinks you get from guest posting on high DA sites are do-follow. Plus most influencers will have no problem giving you backlinks. They understand it is a standard practice to get a backlink in exchange for a quality guest post.
Guest posting builds your domain authority. It is the best way to get do follow backlinks from high domain authority sites. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #8 Gets more social shares
Want more social shares? But can't get more than a small percentage of your audience sharing your post?
Listen, I get it. When I was an intermediate marketer I struggled with the same thing. It didn't matter if my post was the most in-depth post out there. Or if it was higher in quality or more practical than all the other posts on the topic. At the end of the day, only a small percentage of my audience was sharing it.
What I didn't know at the time is that social sharers prefer sharing posts by large well-known brands. Brand content catches their eye more. And even if they don't take the time to read it, they know it will be valuable for their audience. And as an intermediate marketer, my brand wasn't large or well-known enough.
Now I could have been patient. I could have kept producing content year after year. Hoping against hope that with time my brand will be large and well-known enough for sharing. But ain't nobody got time for that.
This is another area where guest posting helps. When you guest post with an influencer, they are likely to share your guest post immediately. This happens even if you are not a large well-known brand. Unlike content they find in the social wild, they know your guest post content will be valuable. After all, they reviewed it as you created it. And once an influencer shares, other social sharers follow. This helps you attract an extra audience beyond the one you get from the influencer.
Social sharers, prefer sharing posts by large well-known brands. Not you? You won't many shares. But when an influencer you guest post with shares your guest post, their followers and others are likely to do the same. #contentmarketing
Reason #9 Grows your expert status
Do you know you are exactly what your client needs? Are you frustrated that they do not see you as the expert that you are?
If you answered yes, you are not alone. I completely understand how you feel because I used to be where you are. In the early days of my consulting business, I felt the exact same way you are feeling now.
I knew the mistakes my clients were making and I had a practical plan to help them get past them. I tried to convince them of this via proposals packed with analysis and step-by-step plans. But no matter how thorough my proposal, when it came time to make a decision they would opt for someone else. Usually, someone who had a bigger expert brand than me.
No matter how detailed your proposals are, your clients will buy from the bigger expert brand.
This is another area where guest posting helps. When you guest post you raise your expert status by association with the influencer. The bigger an expert the influencer is, the more your guest post benefits your expert status. I learned this first hand when my guest post with Adweek helped me close a $9,000 consulting deal. At the time this was double my average deal size.
Your guest post raises your expert status by associating you with the influencer. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #10 Builds your audience relationships fast
With so much informational clutter out there how can you stand out? How do you build a strong relationship with your audience fast?
Usually, people do this by emailing the audience that joins their email list. The problem with this strategy is that it is slow. Especially since your audience has joined a lot of lists and most of your emails get lost in inbox clutter.
Emailing to build a relationship takes time because your audience has inbox clutter.
So how can you stand out and build a strong relationship with your audience fast? By forming a powerful impression before you ever start emailing them! This is where guest posts help. As we discussed your guest posts get you seen as someone who is trustworthy (reason #2) and an expert (reason #9). We also talked about how they give you feedback to improve your content (reasons #4 & #5). The result is a strong first impression. And this helps you build a relationship with your audience fast.
Guest posting builds a strong first impression on your audience. This helps you build a relationship with your audience fast. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Why guest posting is important for your business marketing when you are an advanced internet marketer
Reason #11 Gets paying clients
Ever churned out lots of content only to have it not pay off with buyers? That's what happened to my friend Nichole. Nichole is a personal development coach. She is also a bonafide content machine. She generates multiple social media posts and videos every single day. But very few of the people that contact her after seeing her content ever become paying clients.
Most of the people who contact Nichole are looky-loos and tire kickers. And this is not because Nichole doesn't know who her ideal audience is. Or because she doesn't know what type of content attracts them. It is because of the mindset of the people scrolling through social media. Most are looking for a quick escape, fun, and entertainment. They are not in a committed mindset of taking serious action towards their goals or problems.
Most social media marketing does not attract paying clients. When people are scrolling through social media they are not in action-taking mode.
This is another place guest posting helps.
Because, unlike social media audiences, guest post audiences are committed. They are following the influencer because they want to improve. They are looking for solutions to some problem or goal. And they are more likely to take action on the content they consume. This makes them more likely to turn into paying clients.
Guest posting helps you reach a committed, action taking audience. This audience is more likely to convert to paying clients. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Reason #12 Accelerates email list building
Have you tried to build an email list? If you have you probably realized it takes a long time to grow your email list.
That's exactly what was happening to my student Patricia. Patricia helps young women build passive incomes through investing. When she showed her opt-in gift to her ideal audience they loved it. But when she put it on her website she got only a handful of subscribers.
At first, Patricia thought it was because her opt-in was not seeing that much traffic. So she spent weeks creating Facebook posts directing more traffic to her gift. But even that didn't help her get more subscribers. Frustrated, she gave me a call.
To be honest I wasn't surprised by Patricia's results. No matter how awesome your gift, people aren't sure if they should trust you with their email address. Especially if they just met you. They will want to wait and see if you can help them.
No matter how amazing your opt-in gift is, if they just met you most people won't join your email list. They will want to wait and see if you can really help them.
This is another area where guest posting can help.
As I mentioned in Reason #2 your audience sees your guest post as an influencer's endorsement of you. You instantly get seen by your ideal audience as someone who can help them. And as a result, they are most likely to opt into your email list in exchange for your opt-in gift.
Guest posting gets your audience to start seeing you as someone who can help them, accelerating your email list building. #guestposting #contentmarketing
BTW I saw this first hand myself when I first started my business. Several social media posts got me only 15 subscribers. Whereas a guest post on the same topic got me 200 subscribers in a single day and 900 over the next 2 month period.
Reason #13 Opens the door to joint venture collaborations with influencers
Want to collaborate with an influencer you admire in a joint venture? Perhaps you want to sell a product to their audience? Or even co-create a new product with them? What's stopping you?
For most people, it is because they do not have a relationship with the influencer. And even if they do, the relationships are superficial. They do not have deep relationships with influencers marked by trust and respect. Those relationships only develop from people working together. And in most cases that hasn't happened.
Joint venture influencer collaborations are only possible in deep relationships. Those types of relationships only come working together.
Seems like a chicken or egg problem right? How can you build trust and respect without collaborating?
Why guest posting of course! Guest posting gives you an organic low stakes way to work with an influencer. And it gives them an easy way to assess if you are someone whose competence they can trust and respect.
And the best part is since the guest post allows you to market to a new audience, you are winning along the way too!
Guest posting opens up the door to joint venture collaborations with influencers. It is an easy low stakes way for the influencer to work with you and assess your competence. #guestposting #contentmarketing
Wrap up & next steps
Congrats, you made it to the end! In this post you learned:
- What guest posting is
- Why it is important for your business marketing
- How guest posting can help your business marketing even if you are new, intermediate, or advanced
But you and I know that all this knowledge will only help if you put into action by pitching your guest posts. To help you do just that I have created a quick 4 step master the guest post training. Click here to grab it.
