1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Are guest posts really worth it?

Discussion in 'Link Development' started by HorrorMovies, Oct 18, 2013.

  1. #1
    This is a question that I am asked probably once a week from my clients, and it is something I see a lot of online.

    Lot of people selling blog posts and then some people buying them, we have all been there. I have paid for blog posts previously and I had never really seen the attraction of it, until I really sat down and thought about what I wanted from the blog post.

    Surprisingly I don't care about SEO when it comes to guest posting...

    http://www.natepayne.co.uk/pay-guest-blog-post-website/2013/10/18/
     
    HorrorMovies, Oct 18, 2013 IP
  2. uttoransen

    uttoransen Prominent Member

    Messages:
    8,227
    Likes Received:
    550
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    320
    #2
    Depends on the content and the quality of the target blogs. If you are guest posting on huff post, mashable, forbes and other such sites, am sure it is worth it... however the budget has to be really huge if you want to land your guest post on these!

    for most regular blogs, decent PR2+ - if the content is unique and has a decent quality, the backlinks helps to rank.

    so really, it all depends on what your targets are. Guest blogging can get you links, social followers and votes, subscribers, buyers, readers and much more...
     
    uttoransen, Oct 19, 2013 IP
  3. HorrorMovies

    HorrorMovies Notable Member

    Messages:
    1,466
    Likes Received:
    36
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    250
    #3
    Yeah I agree, being abe to get a post on Mashable would be great as I know first hand. I worked for a startup tech company doing some really interesting social apps which featured on mashable and the traffic was crazy! It didn't cost a penny either, we simply just sent an email and said "look what we are doing, let us know if you want to chat"... and they did.

    So, being an expert or doing something unique (I don't mean just unique content, I mean a different POV to an argument) will get so much more attention that paying $10 every time you want a article posted on a blog that no one probably reads.
     
    HorrorMovies, Oct 19, 2013 IP
  4. saca123in

    saca123in Greenhorn

    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    #4
    Guest posting is very effective only when you post it on your niche.
     
    saca123in, Oct 20, 2013 IP
  5. HorrorMovies

    HorrorMovies Notable Member

    Messages:
    1,466
    Likes Received:
    36
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    250
    #5
    Yeah, exactly what I said...
     
    HorrorMovies, Oct 23, 2013 IP
  6. John Michael

    John Michael Member

    Messages:
    154
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    43
    #6
    Guest posting is still one of the most efficient way of backlinking but there are many factors that you should always keep in mind. You should first determine the pr of the website where you going to Guest post. secondly, you should only post according to your niche. Also your guest post of high quality and many website owner didn't accept if your post of low content. Beside this, you should fulfil the requirement of the website where you are going to post. Note that: what your strategy related to that Guest post. should you do social bookmarking or not? One of the main reason that many people disappoint form Guest posting is that: they post on low pr sites which has a low benefits than higher pr sites but keep in mind that higher pr website required fresh and informative post of high quality and that will required little more efforts and research. Hope that information will helpful!!
     
    John Michael, Oct 23, 2013 IP
  7. Nick Gomez

    Nick Gomez Greenhorn

    Messages:
    70
    Likes Received:
    11
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    13
    #7
    Guest posting is still very effective...if the site has decent quality and page rank and you are posting in a relevant niche.
     
    Nick Gomez, Oct 24, 2013 IP
  8. acamso

    acamso Guest

    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    2
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    28
    #8
    Guest posts can definitely be effective. It depends on how you do it. Firstly, you will get a nice backlink. How effective this backlink is depends on many factors.. so you will need to research the site you are putting the guest post on. Secondly, you are attracting a new audience. Again, how effective this will be will depend on how your post ties into the audience of the guest post site.
     
    acamso, Nov 4, 2013 IP
  9. WebDev Solutions

    WebDev Solutions Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,644
    Likes Received:
    80
    Best Answers:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    170
    #9
    If they are niche specific and you search out the quality amongst the trash, absolutely.

    WebDev
     
    WebDev Solutions, Nov 4, 2013 IP
  10. indiasbull

    indiasbull Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    984
    Likes Received:
    17
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    130
    Articles:
    1
    #10
    if someone write unique and genuine , then its worth otherwise waste, but very very few peoples like to create new content.
     
    indiasbull, Nov 4, 2013 IP
  11. beninbro

    beninbro Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    113
    #11
    They used to be highly worth it until Google recently took aim at guest posting and press release distribution. I'd say that if your aim is to generate buzz and spark a conversation, then yes...They are still worth it. However, it goes without saying that for you to get value out of the posts, your posts must give value to the reader that goes behind the typical stuff that used to pass as guest posts...

    On the other hand, if you're expecting to see a big boost in rankings after guest posting, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.
     
    beninbro, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  12. WebBuddy

    WebBuddy Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,364
    Likes Received:
    23
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    100
    #12
    Guest posting is a great way of getting your word "out there". A classic case of killing several birds with a single stone, guest posting allows/enables you to:
    1. Getting a quality backlink from high PR sites.
    2. Great opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in the subject matter of your choosing.
    3. Getting real visitors to your site. In this case, you may even be able to attract visitors who aren't your typical target market but are likely to take interest in your product/service.

    Having said this, I would like to insist that the quality of guest post itself as well as the site you are choosing for publishing your guest post will have a huge impact on how much you are able to get from the guest post.

    Personally, I find that guest posts (paid/unpaid) are here to stay. There are most efficient way of creating quasi-natural backlinks (paid yet natural) and are far better than the spammy link building methods that used to be in vogue earlier (before GPanda and GPenguin came into existence).
     
    WebBuddy, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  13. gorrillamcd

    gorrillamcd Member

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    #13
    I have a question. What about guest posting on a blog in an unrelated niche, but with a post that relates it to your niche/product. Example: My site is has website dev tutorials, reviews of templates, etc. I guest post on a real-estate blog about what realtor's should look for in a good real-estate themed template or something like that. I would probably do that anyways just for the traffic, but how would that look from an SEO perspective?
     
    gorrillamcd, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  14. beninbro

    beninbro Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    113
    #14
    That sounds like something that could be highly beneficial from an overall perspective. As far as from an SEO perspective there's other variables at play too. Such as whether the content is well written, whether it has a natural flow designed to be enjoyed by humans, whether or not it's is over optimized for keywords/anchor text and your link velocity. If you had all of those things under control, then I'd imagine it definitely wouldn't hurt your SEO and it might even help.

    Here's something that I think sheds further light on this topic...It's an article from search engine watch, entitled "What Does Google's Link Schemes Update Mean for Guest Posting?".

    And again, let it be said that anytime you provide valuable content to an authoritative site, that's a win in your column for the simple fact that you're adding value that others can benefit from...i.e. Sometimes this results in new leads for your business, social shares of your content or even great conversation. So if this is the type of thing you had in mind, I wouldn't be too worried.

    On the other hand if your idea of guest posting is to merely churn and burn a bunch of low quality, spun or re-written content and throw 50 or so up on some low quality sites each month...then I'd say you're probably just painting a big bulls eye on yourself where any temporary gains you see in SERP will be offset by massive losses in position once Google catches up to what you're doing.
     
    beninbro, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  15. gorrillamcd

    gorrillamcd Member

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    #15
    Thanks for the thoughtful reply @beninbro. I took it for granted that it would be quality content that provides values to the users and the other site as well. I really hate the "styrofoam" articles that crowd the internet nowadays. About.com, for example, has decently written articles (grammatically speaking), but when you read them, you find out they teach you nothing.
     
    gorrillamcd, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  16. beninbro

    beninbro Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    113
    #16
    Great point! I love how you said that. Fortunately, for those of us such as yourself who produce or publish quality content - our efforts stand out that much more! :) What's interesting though is that it looks like we've finally come to the point in the web's evolution where great content will get you noticed - both by our fellow human readers and the eye's of the spiders too ;)
     
    beninbro, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  17. HorrorMovies

    HorrorMovies Notable Member

    Messages:
    1,466
    Likes Received:
    36
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    250
    #17
    I would honestly say that from a traffic POV its useless because people on the real estate website will there looking for real-estate not website templates - then its just down to how long it takes google spam team to catch up with you.

    It doesn't matter if your post is the best on the planet, if its being read by the wrong people then your just going to increase your bounce rate.

    You should NEVER post on a website that isn't closely related to what you offer.
     
    HorrorMovies, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  18. beninbro

    beninbro Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    81
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    113
    #18
    @HorrorMovies Interesting point. However, here's why I see it differently:
    • Sometimes people don't know what they want. Case in point...Check out registers. i.e. if all consumers displayed the sort of tunnel vision that it sounds like you're saying the RE site visitors had, the impulse buy shelves wouldn't exist.

    • Prior to becoming a freelance writer, I worked as an SEO analyst at an interactive agency and we built an entire department around "creative link building" - which included off the beaten path avenues to getting links - not much different than what @gorillamcd has hinted at doing and I tell you what...The clients ate that stuff up.
    • Perhaps most important - there are two opposing views of economics...One side looks at the economy as a demand-side model and the other side looks at things through the lens of "supply-side" economics. The ramifications of each view are staggering but I'll sum it up like this...1) I'm supply side all the way...2) And you know who else was supply side? Steve Jobs. This was a man who literally told the market what it wanted and guess what? The market responded.
    Note: If the guest host blog had nothing to do with the offer whatsoever, I'd be in agreement with you. However, in this instance there is a connection... Our friend is talking about posting on a blog that's frequented by Realtors and his offer is about themes for Realtors.

    So although it's not a blog run by and for people who want WordPress themes, there's still a connection. In fact, this is enough of a connection where I'd feel comfortable letting the supply-side model run its course.

    If it were me handling this sort of campaign I'd of course follow it up with the necessary analytics/analysis to determine whether my assumptions were correct. If they were incorrect, then worse case scenario some Realtors get to learn about real estate themes. I see nothing spammy about that.


    Anyhow, that's my take. Thanks for the discussion!
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2013
    beninbro, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  19. gorrillamcd

    gorrillamcd Member

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    38
    #19
    Well, @beninbro got it right. I wasn't talking about guest posting on a real-estate directory (like airbnb.com for example) with real-estate theme. That'd be dumb. I was talking about "going where the potential customers are". If I have a post that helps realtors navigate the many real-estate themes there are to find the gems, then that's definitely relevant for them. Sorry I didn't explain that clearly.
     
    gorrillamcd, Nov 5, 2013 IP
  20. alex06295

    alex06295 Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    944
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    130
    #20
    Guest post is the best method of link building if you are doing with relevant blogs naturally.

    It should be consistent and slow for better result.
     
    alex06295, Nov 6, 2013 IP