Brand Development, Web Design, and Google Analytics Specialists
Experienced in SEM, SEO, Social Media, and Traditional Media
The Top 11 Benefits of Guest Blogging
* Original article *
Guest blogging is one of the best online marketing strategies you can invest in.
If you want to spread your brand’s message and win the trust of your target audience, start contributing content to other blogs related to your market or niche.
Not convinced you should work hard writing content for someone else’s site?
You should know that guest blogging offers many major benefits – both for your company and you, personally.
Here are the top 11 benefits of guest blogging.
1. Instant Exposure to Targeted Traffic
Regardless if you whether you get a link to your site, contributing to other blogs should pique your audience’s interest. If you manage to write a top-quality post, expect traffic to start flowing to your site once it goes live.
Traffic is the lifeblood of any online business or blog. Something as simple as a guest post can potentially translate into sales if you do it the right way.
Optimize your website’s landing pages, CTAs, and other elements to boost your chances at conversion.
2. Expand Your Personal Network
There was a time when connecting with influencers was extremely difficult. But with guest blogging, the process is now simple.
For example, some websites that accept guest posts foster a community of contributors engaged in related niches. In some cases, you’ll get the chance to take part in an email thread where contributors brainstorm potential topics. You can also collaborate with others for co-authored posts.
Regardless of what the community’s structure in a particular site is, you can always leverage your authorship. Seek partnership opportunities with influencers – from content cross-promotion to expert interviews.
All you need to do is be active in the community. Leave comments, share other posts, or cold-email your prospects. If possible, you can even invite influencers as contributors to your own blog.
3. Stimulate Social Media Shares
Generating social media shares is one way to exponentially extend your online reach. The more shares your branded content gets, the more shareworthy it’ll be in the eyes of your audience.
If you’re submitting a guest post to a blog with plenty of social media activity, then shares should come naturally once your content gets published.
To get the ball rolling faster, consider embedding highly shareable content in your guest post. Infographics, for example, can help you get 3x more engagement in social media than any other type of content.
4. Grow Your Social Media Following
Guest blogging not only increases the amount of social media shares to your content, it can also boost your follower count and accelerate your lead generation efforts.
By contributing to an authoritative blog, you are essentially getting them to vouch for your brand. This makes you look good in the eyes of their followers.
In most guest blogging arrangements, you also get to customize your contributor profile. Here you can include links to your social media accounts.
All these benefits will make it easier to win your target audience’s trust and turn them into active social media followers. Remember to reward them by posting regular updates and sharing useful information that aligns with their interests.
5. Improve Your Online Authority
Modern online marketing is all about authority. Even with the best content in the world, it’ll be difficult to convert your audience into loyal subscribers or paying customers if they don’t trust your brand.
By contributing to other authoritative blogs, you get the chance to prove your credibility as an information source. It will make your target audience realize that you’re someone who’s recognized by trustworthy brands. And as a result, they’ll be more receptive to any value proposition you may present in your own site.
6. Fortify Your Backlink Profile
Most blogs that accept guest posts allow their contributors to leave at least one link to their own site. After all, most of them don’t offer any monetary compensation for your hard work. A brief brand mention or keyword-optimized link is the least they could do to reward your efforts.
Still, even a single backlink from an authoritative blog will greatly benefit your SEO. They make your content more discoverable and indexable to search engines like Google. As much as possible, try to target websites in your own niche to build relevancy.
7. Grow Brand Awareness
Guest blogging is a great way to establish your authority in your niche.
As much as possible, try to share practical tips that aren’t already found elsewhere.
Leverage the opportunity to let them know what your company does and how it would solve problems.
Also, be sure to instill your brand’s voice into every single post you submit. This will make your personal brand more recognizable regardless of where you submit guest posts.
Some popular bloggers, such as Larry Kim, use a conversational and humorous approach to engage readers. They also avoid writing fluff while keeping sentences short and easy to read.
8. Generate Qualified Leads
One of the fundamental steps to a successful guest blogging strategy is picking the right websites.
In addition to niche relevancy, you also need to look for sites that already have a steady stream of traffic. This will help you connect with people who are already interested in what you offer as a business.
Always emphasize an actionable step when developing the page that you’re bringing traffic to. It should be related to the guest post you’ve submitted to the other blog. Otherwise, your link is nothing more than a disruption in your audience’s journey — a waste of time for them and a lost lead for you.
9. Shorten the Sales Cycle
The sales funnel has always been a challenge for content marketers. By distributing content through popular blogs, you are immediately building your target audience’s familiarity with your brand. Thus, you are shortening the sales cycle for your products and services.
Think of it this way: rather than waiting for potential leads to come to your site, you can introduce your brand’s value propositions in your guest posts.
You just need to be smart when picking or pitching topic ideas for your guest posts.
10. Get Useful Feedback from the Community
As a guest blogger, another advantage of being active in the community is that you get to receive insightful feedback from other contributors.
When you talk about strategies, for example, other experts may tune in to share their own ideas through the comments section. As a result, you can further develop or refine your strategy with their suggestions in mind.
To invite contributors to comment, try adding a call-to-action in the conclusion paragraph. You can refer to the end of this post to see how it works.
11. Sharpen Your Content Marketing Skills
Guest blogging requires every area of content marketing to be successful. It requires you to do content research, adopt the right writing voice for a particular audience, perform influencer outreach, and so on.
Remember, the best way to learn content marketing tactics is to deploy them yourself. You can’t just read about them, follow everything to the letter, and hope for the best.
By launching your own guest blogging campaign, you’re positioning yourself for growth in every facet of content marketing.
Conclusion
Guest blogging is, without a doubt, a crucial step for online marketing success. Once you grasp its benefits, give it a shot and see if you can make it work for your brand.
Beginner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing (& How it Boosts SEO Ranking)
It seems everyone you meet these days is a self-proclaimed influencer. Whether that’s over a multi-million plus following or their local book club, the significance of influencers has entered our daily lexicon and lives, and guess what, it’s here to stay.
As a business in 2017 it’s a marketing resource you can no longer neglect. In fact, a recent emarketer survey found that 84% of marketers intend on launching at least one influencer campaign in the next 12 months. Even more staggeringly, 94% of marketers from a variety of industries said influencer marketing was an effective strategy.
Finding key target influencers to develop strategic partnerships with will only take your brand and business to the next level.
Before diving into the complexities of a full frontal influencer campaign let’s go over the basics with this Beginner’s Guide to Influencer Marketing:
What in the World is an Influencer?
First, let’s take a step back and define influence.
In·flu·ence
Noun
- the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
With this in mind, an influencer is a person, or even in some cases a furry friend, that has established a level of authority and trust amongst their niche audience.
Unlike celebrity endorsements, influencers carefully select their affiliations, opting to partner with brands that reflect their personal branding and don’t alienate their followership. This close connection to their audience has fostered an environment where fans follow their every move, trusting their word sometimes above their very own friends and family.
Essentially they’ve curated the ability to affect and control customer purchasing decisions, and drive consumers to brands over others. Making them the ultimate potential trendsetter for your brand.
What’s amazing about an influencer is they can take many shapes and forms, and the term does not only apply to fashion and beauty bloggers. An influencer can be a journalist, author, commentator, industry insider, blogger, celebrity, happy customer, and the list goes on.
The ultimate goal with influence is to generate positive brand perception and awareness in a truly authentic and unique way. You’ll be in wonder of what some influencers can create with your brand!
Why Influencer Marketing Matters
Nearly 40% of Twitter users say they’ve made a purchase as a direct result of a Tweet from an influencer, according to Twitter.
With numbers like that, influencer affected purchases clearly aren’t are a one-off.
So let’s take a peek at a few successful influencer marketing campaigns that clearly illustrate Tomoson’s findings that “Influencer marketing was rated the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel, beating organic search, paid search, and email marketing.”
Ok numbers, do the talking:
1. Lulus
We’ll start with coveted and viral fashion online store, Lulus. Started a number years ago as a fast-fashion ecommerce brand, now has transformed itself into every it girl’s go-to for chic and affordable looks.
What led to Lulus explosive growth and cult status? Influencer marketing. How did they do it?
Lulu’s partnered with fashion bloggers that fit their branding. By reaching out to bloggers of varying and diverse followers they were able to tap into a wide, yet targeted audience.
They then provided these bloggers with the ability to select clothing, shoes, and/or accessories that fit their own personal brand. Then encouraged them to share how they styled their Lulus look with their followers on social media and their blog, and of course, without forgetting to include the #lovelulus hashtag.
As you can see in the example above, by supplying @nicholeciotti with a dress (and possibly some payment) they put themselves in front of her 450K+ audience that attracted 14K+ likes. All while advertising in a way that’s natural and ultimately led to purchase conversions through her delicate call-to-action.
Lulus has built a business on this type of seemingly easy breezy influencer marketing. Imagine what you can do with your business!
2. Suja Juice
We couldn’t speak about influencer marketing without mentioning local San Diego company, Suja Juice! To say their Midnight Tonic campaign went viral, would be a major understatement.
And if you can believe it… they were able to get their products in the hands and in the feeds of major celebrities, influencers, and raving fans alike at no paid promotional cost.
Let’s dive in and learn how they pulled it off!
In September 2016, Suja Juice released Midnight Tonic, an all black, limited edition charcoal based beverage to health conscious celebrities with an active social media presence.
A fever pitch ensued, with fans clamoring to get their hands on one of the 1,000 bottles available they witnessed their favorite celeb devouring with enjoyment. The madness caused the site to crash and the product to sell out in three days.
A few of the celebs and outlets that organically posted on a variety of platforms about their experience were Eva Longoria, Jesse McCartney, Kristin Cavallari, and PopSugar.
The campaign generated an awe-inducing 16 million social impressions. Not to mention, countless new customers along the way. All achieved without paying anyone for the endorsement.
What gives this campaign more heart, and meaning beyond tallying up the numbers is how CMO Heather MacNeil Cox described their thought process.
“We chose influencers that have been organic fans of the brand since the beginning, people that love and drink Suja on their own. The Midnight Tonic surprise shipment was a way to thank them for their support, and also re-engage in a conversation about something new and cool.”
Ultimately, the immense success of this campaign stemmed more from the thought process of showing gratitude, rather than focusing solely on how many celebrities they could get to show off their product.
The organic nature of the celebrities’ show and tell of the limited edition Midnight Tonic and their need to be early adopters is what drove the tonic’s virality; the authentic display of a health beverage so tangibly intangible that everyone had to have just a taste.
Suja Juice, we salute you.
Perks of Successful Influencer Marketing & How it Impacts SEO
On a simplistic level the goal of SEO is to achieve links directed to your site from high ranking and authoritative sites in order to drive your rankings for specified keywords to Google’s lauded first page.
You may be thinking if you just get a few solid links from influencers then you’re golden, right? Not so fast turbo.
Link building is much more complex, and so let’s break it down in regards to how partnering with influencers in a strategic way is indeed a boon for your overall SEO goals.
Campaigns need three types of links to grow overall domain authority, as we’re assuming you’re striving to rank specific keywords and phrases on your site.
- Broad, High Domain Authority: This link will point to any section of your website, whether that’s the home page, an internal page, blog, etc. An example, would be Huffington Post, a highly authoritative web news source with a wide reach.
- Specific High-Value Keyword Targeted Pages (with specific anchor text): By doing this individual URLs’ rankings will receive a needed boost. The easiest way is to provide a keyword and associated link for the influencer to place into the copy of their blog post about your product or service. Thus making its inclusion seamless and natural.
- Topical Influence: In other words, links to your domain from other sites within the same niche that give your site more authority and influence in your sector. This linking strategy is particularly pertinent to influencer marketing partnerships. If you’re a technology startup with a revolutionary product, you want to get into the hands of bloggers and journalists who write about the latest and greatest in tech.
While the above may feel a tad overwhelming, if you get it right, you’re ensuring yourself a goldmine of opportunities to drive web traffic and revenue. Not only that, you’re giving your business the opportunity to build relationships with influencers who will become forever fans whether paid or not.
The time really is now to get in on the influencer marketing game. To learn more about how influencer marketing can support the growth of your business, check us out at https://abovethefoldagency.com.
We’re Above the Fold & Ready for Take Off
We believe in the power of words and ideas. We believe what makes us different, makes us incredibly extraordinary. And we believe passionate creativity is the spice of life.
At Above the Fold, we’re a hungry and driven bunch of marketing mavericks with over 75 years combined experience. We’re breaking the mold of the Don Draper era marketing agency, and opting for a progressive, yet never stuffy, full-service boutique agency. No idea is marginalized here nor are needs neglected. Personalization is our thing. Our attitude? All thanks to our San Diego roots, which keep us completely grounded.
Being grounded is exceedingly important to what we do and who we are, especially in a time when our industry is at the precipice. We’re opting to rip through the old system and forge our own path to craft greater and more meaningful campaigns for our clients that provide real solutions for their marketing goals.
How We’re Reinventing the System
In the wonder years of the Madison era agency, their methods and spending often went completely unchecked because they held all the cards. With the digital revolution and a major push towards transparency, agencies struggled to meet client demand for analytical data proving successful results.
Essentially, they became bloated and overindulgent; drinking the Kool-Aid greedily.
At Above the Fold, we don’t go near the Kool-Aid. In fact, we prefer the more subtle and healthy taste of a simple green juice (must be those California roots).
Here’s how we’re reinventing the system with green juice in-hand:
- Transparent Pricing Structure: We never lock clients in long-term contracts because relationships are a two-way street. Hidden fees and surprises are not what we’re about. Integrity is our ultimate guide.
- Personalized Care: Being a boutique agency with a small, but highly skilled and experienced team gives us the ability to deliver personalized care, and expertly interlace marketing strategies to take a client’s business to the next level. Whether that’s through increasing ranking with SEO, developing a robust influencer marketing campaign, or rebranding their business for a new direction.
- Measurable Results with Robust Analytics & Reporting: The ideas and campaigns we craft are only as good as the results they produce. But how can we truly measure the outcome? We utilize the industry’s most technical and robust analytics and reporting tools to decipher what worked, and what didn’t. From there it’s all in the tweaking until we strike gold, which we aim for upon first move.
In the end, our commitment to client goals and exceeding expectations by providing solutions that increase brand equity and revenue drives us to hustle harder every single day.
Who We Are At Our Core
Founder, Matt Schwarzmann & wife Michelle
At Above The Fold we eat, sleep and breathe marketing. Our appetite plays into the core of how we help businesses. Our compulsiveness drives us to weave measurable results-oriented campaigns with imaginative flare into the fabric of robust marketing strategies.
In other words, we’ve got serious gumption that churns out tangible results. Beyond that, we aspire to build long-term relationships as a trusted marketing partner; we got you. We’re committed to spirited creativity and fostering an environment where fun, integrity and professionalism are the pillars that light our path and navigate our way.
We are also equally passionate and have a soft spot for all animals, especially four-legged pups. We have two brand ambassadors, Josie-Marie and Oliver-Jones who keeps us on track but also preach work-life-balance. We are proud to partner with and donate monthly to the Humane Society of the United States – the nation’s largest and most effective animal protection organization. They provide hands-on care and services to more than 100,000 animals each year. Ask us how you can donate today.
Brand Ambassadors, Oliver Jones & Josie Marie
