Benefits of Guest Blogging

Guest posting on websites in your niche or a related niche can help you build your own website. Most websites desire to build the number of unique visitors that come to the site while maintaining the existing visitors. Writing sound content keeps visitors around but it may not be enough to draw them to the site in the first place. Guest posting builds your expertise and exposes you to readers that might not otherwise find your site.

It does take time out of my own writing to guest post on other sites. The benefits for me outweigh the costs. I have met some great people through guest posting and continue to guest post with them and develop those relationships.

Guest Posting and Getting Started

My first guest post opportunity was with Amy Bayliss. I discovered her website one day and started visiting. I read on one of her posts that she had not been feeling well so I volunteered to help her out with a guest post or two. She gladly accepted my offer.

That one post was only the beginning:

• Through that one guest post I was introduced to A Woman Inspired online conferences where I met many new women.

• My website, Proverbs 31 Living, was listed as one of the Top 100 Christian Women Websites in 2008 on Internet Café Devotions

• And I was also invited to guest post on Internet Café Devotions.

• Next week I will be a featured speaker at A Woman Inspired Conference – Nurturing Creativity and Efficient Living.

All of these opportunities and connections came from one offer to guest post and through the relationship built before, during and after that post.

The confidence I gained through that first guest post prompted me to begin offering in other areas. Through my work I discovered a writing website, Freelance Writing Business, and I began to offer up ideas for articles on that site as well.

My next big guest posting opportunity came through the Christian Writers forum. Someone read something I wrote and was impressed enough to ask me to guest post on the writing website she had created. That one guest post turned into a temporary repeat guest post. Now I am writing for Author Haven on a weekly basis. Janalyn has blessed me by putting up a link to my eBook, Problems to Proverbs, including an author block with my picture and linking back to my posts through Facebook, Twitter and the forum.

The boldness that I have gained through these guest posting opportunities has translated into more than new visitors.

– I called a regional paper that was launching in the area and pitched an idea that led to a weekly column in “The Lakeside Post”, and I get paid for that!

– I began to have more comfort in my abilities and get higher paying jobs in the work that I do for hire, and the higher pay comes because I am willing to ask for higher pay.

– I have people that I can turn to when I need help, expertise or encouragement, and these relationships are there because I continue to reach out and connect.

Guest posting may not bring in income, but it will bring in much more than that. You will begin to build your own readership through the links in the guest posts. The level of your expertise and the recognition of your name in your niche will continue to grow (and at higher rates than if you just continued along on your own website). Most important, guest posting will help you to build the relationships that you need to be successful in your online endeavors.

Where do you think you could guest post right now? Have you been visiting a website regularly or a forum? Start offering your services and you may be surprised at the opportunities that begin to unfold.