We’ve already discussed how to build links using strategic guest posting. With that strategy you find other websites that will allow you to contribute content as a guest blogger so that you can build links back to the content on your own website. The same process can build more links by implementing it in reverse.
Reverse guest blogging is when you seek out high-profile bloggers to contribute to your own site or blog as a guest blogger.
A successful reverse guest blogging campaign can garner a lot of attention towards your website and attract lots of links.
The central focus of this strategy is to empower those with strong personal brands within your own community or communities that run parallel to the topic that you are interested in.
For example if you sell dog food you might try to get a well-respected veterinarian or a well-respected dog trainer to write a guest column on your website’s blog. Having someone with a strong personal brand in a community of people that would be interested in your product or service will ensure that your website is shared among that community of potential customers.
But to further ensure that links are being built to the guest post you should also select someone that has a strong history of blogging and attracting links to their own website. Here are some tips to finding the right person to attract both links and attention to your website.
Search for Successful Bloggers
In order to make this strategy work effectively it will be important for you to select bloggers that have the ability to attract links. Two indicators that a blogger can attract links to their content is, their existing backlink profile and their presence in social media. You will want to examine both of these things when selecting the perfect guest blogger for your site.
You can begin your search using tools such as buzzsumo.com and sparktoro.com to find high-quality bloggers within a certain topic. Or you can examine search results for queries such as “<topic> blog” where <topic> is the subject of content on your site.
Examine Backlink Profile
The most obvious indicator that a blogger can attract links to their content would be their existing backlink profile. If their articles and websites are attracting high-quality links now, it is likely that they can also attract high-quality links to the content they write for on your site as well.
You should pay attention to not only the links that they have attracted to their own website but also the links that they may have attracted towards publications that they write for.
Examine individual articles, as well as links that point to their social media profile pages and other web assets that they have control over. Also look for other guest posting opportunities that they have done and if there are any links pointing to those as well.
All of these can be great indicators of whether or not they will be able to attract links back to your website after they have written content for you.
Examine Social Media Presence
A very good indicator if a blogger will attract links or not is how engaged are they on social media. Many bloggers have social media accounts and some of them have a substantial following. However engagement is the true key to growth beyond the individual platforms or profiles.
If a blogger is engaging people on social media through dialogue and comments back and forth, it is more likely that they are attracting links because it means that the people on social media are invested in their personal brand enough to follow along with the content they produce. Many of these people may also be the type to create their own content and are likely to link as well.
- Engagement on social media goes beyond superficial metrics like the number of followers a person has but rather how many comments does each one of their posts get?
- How often do they respond to comments?
All of these things will indicate whether or not a blogger has an engaging social media presence that builds relationships that in turn builds links.
Make The Offer
Most successful bloggers and especially the type that attract backlinks do not seek out guest posting opportunities. This is because there is more long-term benefit in creating content for their own sites than for other websites.
Consider it this way, if you could create content for your own website that would attract lots of links, then there would be no reason to write guest posts on other people’s websites that would only attract one link at a time.
Therefore, many successful bloggers only write for other people’s websites if there is an incentive. In many cases the incentive may be paid compensation, or an exchange of services. Either way you’re in offer it should be clearly explained that you are offering an incentive.
Make sure to be direct about the details of what you are offering in exchange for a guest post. They may respond with a counter offer that you can decide to negotiate with or not. But it’s important to make sure they understand that you are willing to incentivize them in some way in your initial offer.
It is also important to clearly explain your expectations for the content they will create for your website. Make sure they understand what the tone and the topic of the site is. Also if you are interested in them promoting their content in their social media profiles you need to make that clear as well.
Many successful bloggers consider the content they broadcast in their social media channels to be an extra asset. Therefore if you do not explicitly mention that you would like them to share the content within their social media profiles it is likely that they will not.
Consider that what makes them unique and valuable isn’t only the content that they contribute but also their presence within their community. Be clear of all of your expectations in the very beginning and follow up at the end to make sure that they have followed through on everything you have both agreed to.
Don’t want to do the link building work all by yourself?