My Guest Blog: Still A Good Link Building Resource?

[KempRugeLawGroup]

In an effort to build some links, we want to really work on improving our blog content and exposure. We want to write two quality posts per week, and submit 1 quality guest post every 1-2 weeks. However, we're not sure how to go about submitting guest posts or who to submit them to?

I found an all article from SEOmoz http://moz.com/blog/4-valuable-link-building-services but it's from 2010. Is myguestblog still a good source? Are there better ways of doing it? Also, is ever advisable to pay to submit a post? Some of the legal blogs (we're a law firm) have this option, but that strikes me as spammy or low quality links.

Just to reiterate, we are striving to write high-quality useful content audiences will find beneficial, not just junk or salesmanship. If it takes longer than a week to write posts like that, that's fine. We just really need some specific advise on who we should be submitting our guest posts to and who we should avoid.

Thank you all so much for any advice or suggestions,

Ruben

[RobMay]

Just to touch on Chris point, (great point too!!) for your content production, make sure everyone on your staff contributing to the blog and/or content (or any Guest Author for that matter,/have Google+ profiles setup), so you can use the rel=author tag Here's a great step by step guide on it. It's an awesome way to get your content noticed in search results and helps people identify with the production. This will in turn, help your staff build a reputation and authority in the niche you are building and contributing too!

Cheers!

[GPainter]

Is possible don't forget rel="author" This should help with authority over time more info  can be found: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2539557

[KempRugeLawGroup]

Well, ideally, I would just generate content for our blog, however, I'm running under the assumption, I can't just write posts for us and then submit them to other people to post on their blog/media source, because no one wants duplicate content. I was thinking contributing to other people's blogs with original content would be a good kick start to building our blog presence until it stands on its own.

Thanks for the articles! I definitely have some research to do. I really appreciate it.

[KempRugeLawGroup]

Okay, what do you think of Andre's response? Just by the nature of Personal Injury law, we have a circle of doctors, clinics, chiro's etc that we refer to clients to and vice versa. Would reaching out and posting to them (at least the one's that have decent websites) be more beneficial?

Also, while I believe what everyone says about "crappy links not working" because most people on here know far more than me, I don't understand how this site" http://www.theinjurylawyers.com/automobileaccidents.htm does so well? They have links to biker dating site forums, and host of other nonsense (according to site explorer) but it doesn't seem to be hurting them at all.

[RobMay]

Hey Ruben,

Are you looking to build out content for your own blog as you mention in paragraph 1, or for other blogs and media sources, that would be hosted on alternate sites/blogs etc? I found this to be slightly confusing, but not in a bad manner.

Creating content is the first part of the puzzle You then need to figure out how to best get that content out to the world, and 'shared' across the web and in front of people to view, read, share and share more!

I would look Rand's recent WBF posting and figure out where you fit and into which path. Of course, you want to provide great content, that's the ultimate goal, but at the same time you are in the long run hoping for inbound links to be sourcing your content as an authority, right? This was a great Link Building vs Content Marketing post. It'll be very useful and help you identify which path you need to take or which one works best for your firm's resources. As you will handling your content development or content calendar, you will essentially be working as an SEO to get that content created around target keywords you have or research and topics you want to cover in the legal industry - while also trying to engage users and readers to read and share it across the web with other groups.

I would consider, if you haven't already, creating a LinkedIn page for the Law Firm. I researched it quickly and couldn't find the firm itself, but did find 2 of the people/attorney's that work there now. By creating your firms page, you will have a place to publicly share your content to build a following of readers. LinkedIn is a great resource for networking as well - and building that trust there is a key factor. Having your blog setup with RSS will help move the content into the media stream, which could potentially share the feed across other sites looking to pull in RSS links to their blogs or sites of similar niche markets. Don't forget all the social media profiles you should have, FB, Twitter mainly. Perhaps if you wanted to start doing video and media marketing a YouTube channel for the firm? Remember, you have think about the ways to get your content out to the marketplace, to share Tie any social media accounts to tour site, law firm online and the LinkedIn profile so people can find you quickly and easily. Maintain consistency among all the profiles (descriptions, pictures, info, phone numbers, etc) to keep everything lined up too.

This was also a great resource in Link Building and Growing Popularity by Moz. It's part of the Beginners Guide to SEO series, but should also help you wrap your head around the processes involved. The 2013 Link Building Survey by Moz offers some great up to date insight as well. Read that here.

Doing reverse search might also help you. Find legal firms that are ranking in positions you want to try to achieve. Research and profile their back-links and see if there are sites/blogs/sources/news or sites that you should be getting links from, or want links from Then it's about 'outreach' and contenting them to see if they might be interested in allowing you to guest post on their media sources. It's a long process, but worth the effort and time. You really identify some sites that you want to set as goals to start ranking against. If time isn't an issue - this is a perfect avenue to take. They might even be interested later in guest posting on your site/blog. If you want your blog to be a source for valuable content, don't always assume you should have the posting done in house of by your staff. Find sources that might help you build a valuable community with information that matters, and work to build that community into the best blog about legal information/etc ever!! Keep them coming back - and that might mean working with guest postings, guest authors, professors, other lawyers, etc, etc.

You might want to consider running an analysis of your site now (back-links)- see if you have broken links in your profile that you can repair and reuse. A great way to fix possibly 404 inbound errors that might be driving traffic nowhere!

NOTE: Do watch how you handle the anchor text now though going forward. Really work to keep a totally organic and not 'indexing footprint' with overused anchor text. This should and will keep you in the good graces of Google Ross Hudgens had a great post I just linked to for you above

You might also want to consider reading the following article on Scalable Content Production. It's got some really great insights on building content and scaling it out. This will help you plan going forward as you start producing content for the web.

Do you have a program to start tracking projects, and processes going out for content creation? I have been using Trello for some time and it's great for SEO or content writing project tracking. Try it out, it's free and a great source you can tie into anyone involved with your ongoing projects.

Anyways, don't want to keep you forever and a day! Hope some of this helps you out and gets you started. All the best.

Cheers!

[GPainter]

Although Google technically ruled that guest posting was bad I think that more at a spammy style en-mass target guest posting. If your guest posting is niche and relevant and really adds something why not keep at it.The main thing Google wants is relevant info and if you and making good content that is relevant to your niche it's not a bad thing.

As for paying for links I wouldn't as aside from going against guidelines there really is a lot of other fish in the sea that would be happy to take the good content. It depends on your authority in your niche.

The main thing to always remember is why are you writing is it to get links or is it to add content to your niche ?

[Chris.Menke]

Ruban

Guest posting on blogs can be worthwhile if done with the proper knowledge, time and research--meaning that it is not a shortcut  to building good links.  Yes there are sites like myblogguest that work to broker the introduction of writers and publisher and it is possible to use them to "build links" but believe me, the SEO knowledge, time, and research that you're going to have to put in to it is more than what you're thinking it's going to be.

The reason for that is the technique is so overrun with low quality content being offered and accepted by low quality sites that finding a gem and knowing that you've found one takes a lot of digging and a good amount of knowledge to understand what makes a good guest post opportunity.

If you're just starting out on your blog and on your SEO knowledge and you move full speed into the guest posting strategy, you're likely going to populate your back link profile with low quality quality links and not really be aware of it.  Currently, you've got about 14 domains linking to your site and a fair percentage of those already aren't of substantial quality. A few guest posts probably aren't going to hurt you but unless you can choose the best opportunities, they're not likely to help much, either.

Rand did an interesting post on his blog hypothesizing If the first 500 links that point to your site aren’t authentically earned, you’re screwed that's worth a read--and the comments.

Another good one is Eric Enge's interview with Matt Cutts goes which touches on the issue of guest posts: http://www.stonetemple.com/link-building-is-not-illegal-or-bad/

[EGOL]

If I was writing one high quality post a week it would go on my site and no where else.

When you give content away it feeds existing competitors and creates new ones.

I don't syndicate my content. Never have, never will.  I know that I am in the minority.  That's A-OK.

A few people give me content and I post it on my site.  Some of them don't like it when their content on my site outranks their website for their important keywords and I am getting thousands of visitors a month into their article page on my site.

They got a link.  I got a page, thousands of visitors per month, nice ad rev, some conversions, and I am ranking above other websites on new turf using their labor.  Sweet deal for me.   I can't understand why they make these types of deals.

[Jonathan_Hatton]

My Blog Guest is still a good source in my opinion. However, you need to be careful of websites that are just content farming. They are bound to be part of some sneaky network. Before you accept any website to publish your blog, make sure you do an opensite explorer check on them to see if their inbound links look legitimate. You don't want your website to be associated with poor websites.

[AndreVanKets]

Nothing wrong with contributing to other websites! The problem comes up when you start scaling it up and do it to much! (quality decreases and footprints start to appear)

Instead of looking to "build" links through groups of webmasters that exchange content (My Blog Guest), why not find websites related to your industry manually that have blogs and reach out to the webmasters or editors?

You could look at what they've been publishing in the past and visualize what type of content they'd love to share with their audience and then pitch your ideas to the editor and see what they say. It doesn't have to be directly related to the service you offer as long as its in the same general industry.

Just remember, with guest posts, the intention is to write awesome content for a given website and its audience, not to try and sell anything or deliberately do it just to reference your site. Keep the website's audience in mind first and you should get your articles published on great sites!

Greg

[irvingw]

Guest posts are the latest form of link building that Google has targeted and identified as a SEO link building activity, so I would read up on it and be careful and not use valuable anchor texts.