Guest Blogging - Build a relationship with a few blogs and post only there or post a few on as many good blogs as possible?

[Grow]

I'm curious which strategy is better in the short term and in the long-term?  Part of my link building strategy involves contacting bloggers and posting some guest blogs on their sites.

Now there are advantages with posting on a few blogs and creating a link between you and the blog readers and the blog owner.  It also saves time trying to contact blog owners etc.

However would my time be better spent contacting hundreds of blogs and seeing where I can guest blog and then post on as many as possible; in order to have a diverse number of links going back to my website?

What do you think is the best option and why?

[CliffordJones]

I agree with Anthony. Focus on communities, forums and blogs that are highest of quality, in line with your market's interests and yours so you're more inclined to be consistent with your efforts to build links.

[AnthonyMangia]

My short answer, which is also included in my YOUmoz post that got published today, 15 Smart Ways to Find Guest Posting Opportunities, is to do both.

Posting on a number of blogs helps build a large quantity of relevant, high quality back links.  Some part of SEO, however big, is indeed a numbers game.  You want to get as many external root domains linking to you as possible.

Posting on one blog, however, can help you build a following within their community.  Particularly for A-list blogs in your niche, you will find that if you write multiple guest posts, stay active on the comments section of your guest posts, and interact with their community via social media, you will get (at least) as much benefit out of the branding and traffic implications of your guest posting strategy as you will out of the link you built.  The SEOmoz knowledge base has a great thread on this exact topic.

If I had to pick just one, I would go deeper into just a few blogs, assuming that these blogs truly are authority websites in your industry.  I understand that it can be difficult to have the time to create all of this high quality content, so you will need to prioritize, and so you may opt to focus on a few authoritative blogs at first, and then expand outwards.

Shamless Self-Promotion: If you're looking for ways to scale the development of high quality content, check out one of my recent blog posts, 3 Ways to Outsource High Quality Content Creation.  Having the time to consistently write great content can be tricky, and these are the methods I use to help me out.