You’ve no doubt heard that Matt Cutts recently identified guest posting as a spammy practice. If you’re one of the Australian SEOs who’d come to rely on submitting guest posts as a key SEO strategy, that was quite a blow.
After Google had decimated forum profiles and article and web directories as sources of valid back links and guest blogging was seen as white hat.
However, you have to remember that Cutts said that guest posting was suspect purely from an SEO perspective. For Savvy SEOs, the practice has far more benefits than simply garnering links.
In fact for serious guest posters, the prime objective was putting quality content in front of an audience and thus attracting traffic. In that regard, Cutt’s pronouncements shouldn’t have changed anything. Unfortunately, reputable sites are now reluctant to accept guest posts for fear of being seen as black hat.
So if guest posting was a component of your content marketing strategy, what do you do now? Here are some ideas.
Focus on Your Clients’ Sites
Where better to place your content than on your clients’ sites? At the end of the day, that’s where you’ll get the most value if you do things right. The more content you publish, the more traffic you should get.
You’ll enhance your image, your brand and get the visibility and reputation that will bring you natural back links just the way Google likes. (Don’t neglect to setup your Google Authorship).
However to give things an initial boost in visitors, you can use social media such as Google+ or even PPC for traffic generation. You can also use curated posts and industry news and trends to rank well for certain high profile keywords and get traffic and in the process, improved rankings.
Create Newsletters
Why not create a monthly newsletter for your client’s industry?
By regularly sending them useful content about trends and new developments is a great way to keep in touch and build a bond with the client base. You should also stress how your clients ‘products can help with common problems and position your client as the solution. Such newsletters are sure to be better received than salesy email promotions.
Content Syndication
Publishers of newsletters are always looking for interesting stories for their readers. If you can identify newsletters that would benefit from your clients’ solutions, contact the publisher and send him some ideas. It can put your clients and their products and solutions in front of thousands of new readers.
So don’t lament the end of guest blogging. It was inevitable that spammers would spoil it as they did with everything else since online commerce began. Instead look for ways to put your content to work for you in ways that will be even better.
