In SETalks latest article there is quite a furor going around about whether some tactics stand a chance in the long run over marketing and digital branding. I do fully support Moosa on one point though, Guest Blogging was seldom ever about building links or having them placed within a website. It was a valid tactic used by many SEOers though. And it worked very simply, you emailed a certain blog and asked if you could write for them . And as you wrote a post on the relevant topic for them, you made sure that you put in a link or two from your site on that article. And since the link was of relevant detail to the topic, Google did in fact rate it as a valid tactic of blogging and SEO.

A brief history and how it was done

Linking within the Guest blogs were tricky because Google ranked your site’s worth and the site broadcasting the content’s worth based on the quality of the links within the content. In order to divide the content well and also credit proper sources, I have always been taught to not just use my own website’s link but also links from sites which give more credit to what I am currently writing. It has even helped the social media linkage to the bogs in its respect

The question of branding

Matt Cutts dismissed guest blogging as a very spam worthy practice for linking in which he was not completely off the mark.  Spamming did become commonplace for many bloggers who simply used one link over and over again with different words on them. Why I dis agree with Matt on this is because now Google itself is pretty good with dealing with spammy content and simply discredits the page attempting it. This means that legit use of the tactic is still very much valid and even beneficial.

Its potential as a branding tool is immense because of one reason only: it builds relations between businesses. You can agree with me that nothing has brought businesses closer than digital presence and because online provides the opportunity for many businesses to commute or build relations, the branding of a business also comes into play. This is precisely why many bloggers thrive by doing guest posts on other businesses’ or sites’ blogs. In retrospect, it probably means that many of those sites or businesses become aware of the your digital presence when you approach to them to write for them.

Is that the new order of business success in the SEO world? It does not have to be.  But It certainly is a new method of planning your writing. So if before you were writing to build links on someone else’s website then you have your knowledge of SEO but the business potential in building a nexus of content within like-minded blogs is a powerful tool.

Do visitors actually get converted?

Are readers of the guest blog ever going to note your brand? Again Im writing this post more as a content developer than a SEO expert but you understand the dynamics of marketing and try to do the math. So your business’s name appears in the writer’s column. You can even paste a link or two for the sake of linking if you want. But the moment someone likes the article that they have read, they will look below the written content and try to find out more information pertaining to the author. And this sets up the chain, they arrive on your website and see what you are all about. So now they even read your blogs and decide “hey these guys seem cool, let’s give them a shot” or “interesting perspective, I think Ill check back here again”

Why should you guest blog?

It allows you to get in touch with more businesses and that is one of the fastest way to build your own brand image in the modern digital world. SEO techniques like Outreach are still very powerful but we are talking about hardcore marketing without too many digital obstructions because this is exactly how it is done in the physical world too. You market your services, you build relations and you get ahead in the business domain by having more exposure to your brand.