Unlocking the Power of Guest Blogging: Boost Your SEO and Expand Your Reach

As an online course creator, coach, membership or 1:1 service provider, blogging is an excellent way to provide value to your customers, demonstrate your authority as an expert in your field and increase your search engine optimization (SEO). You can maximize the potential for all of these benefits with guest blogging. Either by offering other experts the opportunity to be a guest on your blog or by offering your services as a guest blogger for another online entrepreneur. As you navigate the world of guest blogging, there are a few business and legal issues to keep top of mind.

Inviting Other Bloggers to Your Platform

If you’re considering inviting other bloggers to your platform, here’s a few points to keep in mind:

• Have a process for your guest blogger to apply. You’ll want discretion to accept or reject the blog. You can set up a page for applications, or have information you send by email. 
• Ensure your guests are posting original content. You don’t want to risk a copyright violation claim or be competing with identical content published elsewhere.
• Set some standards as to how the guest blogger can promote themselves. While you definitely want to link to their content (this helps with your SEO), you may not want them promoting their offers on your site. 
• Identify your important deadlines and deliverables from your guest blogger. You’ll want to ensure you have everything you need on time to meet your deadlines.
• Be clear about compensation issues. You may or may not compensate your guest blogger (usually they are not compensated, and instead receive value from the exposure on your blog), but be clear about this up front. 

If you’re considering applying to be a guest on someone else’s blog, these steps can help you meet with success:

• Determine how you can add value to your host’s audience. If you can, check in with your host ahead of time to determine if there are particular topics that would resonate with their audience.
• Provide practical guidance or takeaways as part of your piece. You’ll want the readers to want to learn more about you, and how they might be able to work with you.
• Read and follow the host’s processes for submission of the content and related materials, like your photo and bio. If your host doesn’t have a system set up, help out by assembling these materials and promptly delivering them in advance of publication. 
• Proofread and double check any links in your blog. You want to make sure all the links are working and up to date. 
• If you have a blog, consider a reciprocal invitation for your host to become a guest on your blog. Collaborations are a great way to grow your business online, so don’t miss this opportunity, even if you don’t regularly invite guests on your blog. 

A Guest Blogger Agreement Helps Both the Guest Blogger and the Host

A Guest Blogger Agreement is a must have if you are hosting a guest blogger or appearing as a guest on another blog. Contracts help manage expectations between the parties, set important boundaries, and provide a roadmap of your business relationship. To learn more about contracts for your online business and how to make them enforceable, check out my Blog, Three Essential Components to Make Your Online Business Contracts Enforceable. A Guest Blogger Agreement will cover the basics of this business collaboration, as well as include important legal terms. The contract will cover items such as:

• Ownership of the content. Who will own the content and how can it be used.
• Representations from the guest blogger. You’ll want assurances such as the blog is their original work.
• The host’s discretion to accept, publish and alter the blog. Not all submissions may be suitable so the host will need discretion in accepting and publishing the content.
• Releases from the guest. The host will want the ability to promote the guest blog. 
• Mechanics of the guest blog collaboration. Covering the details about what information the host needs and what the guest blogger can expect will make the entire collaboration run more smoothly. 

To help you structure your guest blogger collaboration, you can find a Guest Blogger Agreement inside of my Collaboration Bundle available in my Step Up Your Legal™ Template Shop. The customizable template has the legal language in place and you are able to customize it for your business and your guest blogger collaboration. 

How Blogging and Guest Blogging Help with SEO

Website search engine optimization takes work, persistence and consistency. One of the key pillars of SEO is backlinks. In simple terms (from a non-expert in SEO), backlinks are links from other websites to your website. As explained by my friend and business collaborator, Sarah Buchanan Smith, If you have more backlinks, and they are from quality sources, you increase your SEO.  Sarah has a number of really useful blog articles which you can find on Sarah’s Blog. 

When you are inviting a guest blogger, or appearing as a guest blogger, you’ll want to ensure that you have links flowing both ways. If you are a guest, be sure to let your readers know where they can find your guest post by linking to your host’s site. If you are the host, be sure to include links back to your guest’s blog or website. 

Collaborations are a Win for Your Online Business

Collaborations, like guest blogging, create tremendous value and opportunity for your online business. If you’re looking for collaboration opportunities, you should check out Collaboration Station, run by my friend and business collaborator, Meg Burrage. (This is an affiliate link, and if you make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission at no additional cost to you). Here you’ll find all sorts of collaboration opportunities with other like-minded online business owners looking to provide value to their customers and grow their businesses. Have you tried guest blogging, either as a guest or a host? Get in touch and let me know your experience and how it helped your business. 

Are you in need of templates for your business collaborations? If so, you need the Collaboration Bundle of 7 Customizable Legal Templates. This bundle contains 7 templates for all sorts of collaborations in your online business: affiliate terms, bundle terms, collaboration agreement (with at least 3 easy ways to customize it), guest teacher/speaker agreement, guest blogger agreement, guest coaching agreement and guest waiver and release.