Every Friday, we’re answering your questions about business, startups, customer success and more.
Happy Friday!
This week’s question comes from Dani Salem, who asks:
Some people will tell you that you shouldn’t bother trying to guest post until you’ve built up an impressive body of work on your own blog.
I couldn’t disagree more.
If we were starting the blog over again, I’d be publishing guest posts from day one, when there was only a single post on our site.
There are three big reasons for that:
- Guest blogging has value, period. And the amount of guest blogging you can do isn’t limited by the number of opportunities out there. If you had the bandwidth and the right strategy (see the post I linked above), you could literally find homes for a new guest post every single day. So if you’re worried you’ll “use up” your guest posting opportunities, don’t be.
- Guest blogging doesn’t just drive traffic (though it does that very well). It also helps you build relationships with smart, successful people who have deep insight into your audience. It’s never too early to start building those relationships.
- The biggest reason: guest posts aren’t a “flash in the pan” when it comes to traffic. If you’re posting on successful sites, you won’t see a ton of traffic on day one, and then never get another referral. Great sites have spent a lot of time and energy building their SEO foundation, and they get huge amounts of new organic traffic each day. Some of that traffic will read your guest post and visit your site for as long as the post is up. And if your post is useful and evergreen, that organic traffic will compound over time.
I’d spend equal amounts of time developing content for your own site and for guest posts. You’ll continue to reap the benefits from your early posts long after you’ve published them.
The most important part is to stop deliberating and get started. Good luck!
