You’ve heard it before – guest blogging is a powerful strategy for driving traffic to your blog.
But how much traffic can you expect? Well I’ve had guest posts published on blogs of all sizes and even a guest post on the biggest blog is no guarantee of a massive rush of traffic to your own site.
So you might be wondering just how valuable that traffic really is. I’m going to show you some stats from a guest post of mine that was published last week, as an example of the value of guest posting for traffic.
Traffic Stats from a High Profile Guest Post
This particular guest post was published on one of the leading websites in the niche, and provided just a single link back to my own blog from the author bio. It is my second guest post on the site (the first was via a republishing agreement, this one was a unique article).
How did those visitors compare to overall site traffic?
- Time on Site – 155% higher than site average
- Bounce Rate – 37% lower than the site average
- Pages per Visit – 99% higher than the site average
- Conversion to Email Subscriber – 428% higher than the site average. Better yet, over 800% better than the conversion rate for the blog’s main traffic source, Google.
The conversions alone are worth the time it took me to write the guest post. It’s been exciting to see the big jump in new subscribers to that list.
How to Land Great Guest Posting Spots
The post I’m referring to above was on a major site in the IT/tech niche, where I run my main blog. I’ve also guest posted on sites that are in the blogging niche, such as Problogger. In my interview for BlogcastFM I was asked how did I manage to land a guest post on Problogger.
In the interview I explained that it came down to a few main factors.
- Darren already knew me from interactions on his blog, Twitter, email and the Problogger forums
- I took the time to write a quality blog post, giving myself time to do multiple edits and revisions until I was completely satisfied with it
- I did as much leg work as possible for Darren, such as pre-formatting the HTML, and making sure the images would fit in his blog’s content column
- I linked to as many of Darren’s relevant archived posts as I could find
- The timing was perfect, because it continued a theme from a guest post by David Risley and a post by Darren himself
If all of those factors were not present I would not have had the confidence to even pitch the guest post to him in the first place.
So how did I learn all of that? Well a few weeks prior to that I had bought and read the guest posting guide by Chris Garrett. Chris has been a prolific guest poster over the years and condensed everything he learned into this package which includes an ebook, video, and some worksheets and other resources to help plan a guest posting campaign.
I remember thinking at the time that the guide was a bit different than your typical ebook product. I couldn’t really put my finger on it until I actually met Chris in person at the Problogger Training Day in Melbourne. Chris is so genuinely shy and humble that he can’t oversell anything. It just isn’t in his nature. So that instantly explained the very plain website and the bargain price for the guest posting guide.
Using Guest Posting to Build Traffic to your Blog
You can use guest posting to drive traffic to your blog by following this simple process.
- If you aren’t confident enough or want some help with the finer details, check out Chris’s guest posting guide.
- Choose the blogs that you want to write guest posts for. Don’t just pick the top blogs in your niche, look for some smaller ones as well, especially those that have passionate audiences.
- Get to know the blog owner by participating in their comments and in other places such as Twitter.
- Make sure you read their guest posting guidelines, if they have them.
- Write an amazing blog post. It should be so amazing that you would happily post it on your own blog. Don’t hold back thinking you need to save the best stuff for your own blog.
- Submit your post following their guidelines to the letter.
- After about a week if you haven’t heard back from them you should send a quick follow up.
I really recommend you give guest posting a try if you aren’t already doing it. As you can see from my own stats it is a very powerful method for driving high value traffic to your blog.
Image Credit: Flickr
About Paul Cunningham
Paul, thanks for the post. I found traffic from guest posts the most targeted I have.
You definitely need to check out MyBlogGuest.com – it has plenty of great opportunities including blogging ones: http://myblogguest.com/
The guest post probably needs to be directly about the topic of your blog – otherwise the traffic probably won’t convert.
Yes, though it doesn’t necessarily need to be on another blog that is in the same niche.
I consider the niche is very important, because you have to target people who have the same interest as yours.
I know I need to step up my guest posting game. My problem is that my niche doesn’t have many bloggers in it…I’m kind of an athletic “coach whisperer” talking about coaching strategies. So what do I do in that situation?
Sometimes the best opportunities are slighly outside your niche. Don’t limit your search to blogs about coaching, but rather look for blogs that your audience is already likely to be reading.
Thanks for those percentages, it’s good to see the improvements shown numerically instead of the usual, “Guest posting is great!”
I came across the Chris’s guest posting guide just last week, I haven’t bought it yet, as I’m a few weeks away from getting down to some serious guest posting, but it’s great to see you benefited from it!
I think the caveat here is that your returns will be higher if you’re guest posting on a blog in your niche.
For example, I also wrote an article for ProBlogger and my returns were much smaller than yours. It was still absolutely a good experience; I just don’t want bloggers on other subjects to think they’ll get the same results.
Hmmm, I never actually ran the stats on my own Problogger post. I know it helped a lot with name recognition and other intangibles though.
Those stats are for a blog in the IT/tech niche… I probably didn’t make that quite clear in the post :-)
Hi Paul!
Thanks for providing information about your traffic returns. I agree with the others that niche is important, but I also think that engagement level is important, too. Rather than seeking huge, massive blogs for guest posting, I’ve done well by looking for blogs that have audiences who are leaving comments and saying something beyond “thanks.” When a blog with a lower PR and a lower Alexa is still getting a lot of activity, it means that that community is a great place to plug into.
I’ve had some mixed experiences guest posting, but overall, I’ve found that it helps develop relationships with bloggers who I think are doing it right. I just want to be in good company!
Cheers,
Tia
That is an astnoshing rate on the number of e-mail subscribers. I have been working on doing more Guest Posts and definitely saw an increase in the number of visits. Valuable information, thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the really nice article. I will surely try them. I thought guest posting was just to publish our post so that it only gets read. Now I know that it also generate traffic. Thanks!
Ak Harith, a writer for http://journalio.blogspot.com/ and http://gunnersbrunei.com/