Guest blogging is dead.

That’s right.

Guest blogging to get spammy links back to your site is most definitely dead and the only ones who’re still practicing this are shady so-called companies that are so painfully bad that they make me want to put my finger through my eye and out my ear and pull it real hard. YES. Sidenote: Read 19 Fatal Guest Blogging Mistakes to know exactly what I’m talking about.

So then, why is this post titled “Why Every Small Business Owner Needs Guest Blogging to Build Their Brand, Get More Traffic and Increase Sales”?

Because guest posting to build credibility, brand awareness and recognition, consumer education, expert status and most importantly, connect with your customers is still alive and kicking, thank you very much!

And I’m going to show you how in just a minute.

What Is Guest Blogging, Really?

Guest blogging, in a nutshell, is where you write an incredible blog post but instead of posting it on YOUR blog, you share it on someone else’s blog.

It’s like when you bake a batch of the best cookies or brownies ever, gooey and fudgy, dark and delicious, and then, instead of hogging it all yourself, you do a good deed and gift them to your neighbor. Your heart and waistline are both happier, right?

So, guest blogging is the same thing.

You write an incredible piece of content, you tease it and tweak it into perfection, season it with just the perfect amount of personality and then, instead of popping it onto your site, you lovingly send it over to someone else who then, showcases it in all it’s brilliance.

Isn’t Guest Blogging Just for Bloggers?

Is baking cookies just for bakers?

Or whipping up smoothies just for smoothie makers?

Or coloring books just for kids?

You get my point, right?

No… guest blogging is not just for bloggers.

Bloggers can most definitely benefit from guest blogging but it is as much a business-building tool for businesses as it is a visibility-boosting tool for bloggers.

We’re HUGE Buffer fans around here and it blew us away when we learnt that Buffer had gained over 100,000 customers using guest blogging. I kid you not.

Need more examples? Wondering if you have to actually write a ton of posts or is there another way to do this guest posting thing? Not sure if it’ll work for your service-based business?

Worry not, sweet friend. I have all the answers.

Yours truly has been published sharing her 6-figure blogging journey on Make a Living Writing, dishing out the ultimate guide to working with vendors on Big Brand System and talking about using social media for accomplishing goals on Huffington Post {soon-to-be-published!}.

These are just 3 of about a bajillion guest posts that I’ve done in my 5 years as a business owner. Every one of the posts have resulted in subscribers to my email list which, in turn, has led to working with said subscribers or them buying my eBooks and eCourses because well, they know, {hopefully} like and most certainly, trust me 😉

More examples? Read on!

Melyssa Griffin of Nectar Collective is incredibly amazing at what she does- sharing actionable advice for bloggers and infopreneurs. I’ve found her featured on the Latergramme blog, sharing her introvert best at The Business of Introverts and on a numerous podcasts as well.

Bushra Azhar of Persuasion Revolution is a rockstar at teaching you the art of persuasive copywriting. She’s guest posted at CopyHackers, SpinSucks, The Glass Hammer and a whole lot of other places.

So far you have a SaaS, a service provider, an infopreneur, a copywriting coach who’ve used guest blogging successfully.

What about product-based businesses? You got it!

Lily Jones is the founder of Curiosity Pack, a learning-filled activity sets business. Want to know how I found her? Via a guest post.

So, yeah, guest blogging is for you, the small business owner as much as it is for your friend, the professional blogger.

How a Small Business Can Leverage Posting on Guest Blogs to Boost Sales

Okay, Prerna, am sold!! Now how can I start guest blogging to get my own 100,000 or even 100 customers?

Sidenote: You do realize that I talk to myself as a character, right? 😉

So here’s the thing.

There are 2 ways to go about this.

You can either just start reaching out at random and shooting off emails telling people you want to guest post and sharing great content on little known sites leading to next to no traffic or sales for you…

OR

You can craft a well-thought out strategy complete with where should you get post and what should you talk about as well as how would you measure your ROI on every post.

Yeah, I know.

The second approach is way better, right?

You’ll know exactly what you should be looking for when reaching out to sites.

You’ll have a clear outline of what your content should be all about so no blogger’s block or overwhelm.

You’ll be confident and not come off sounding needy or worse, spammy 😉

Most importantly, you’ll discover the key metrics that you should be keeping track off to judge the success of your blogging efforts.

If you’re ready to craft out a well thought out guest blogging strategy, pop in your details below and you’ll be the first to know when Guest Bloggers Wanted opens it doors AND get access to some cool blogging freebies as well, while you wait.