The highest click-through rate for paid advertising is 6.05% in industry benchmarks, compared to 27.6% in organic search results. Hence, optimizing and positioning an e-commerce website for search engines remains the primary means of increasing website traffic. Guest posts are one way to increase website traffic by creating pathways (links) from other websites.
E-commerce sellers should publish guest posts on other high-authority websites because it is an effective content marketing strategy for referral traffic. The approach increases awareness for your brand, cements your authority as an eCommerce business, and helps reach target audiences. However, you must carefully select the website for your guest post and establish a measurable goal before starting.
Guest posting opportunities are available on several websites to help you pull quality traffic to your own site. However, you must consider a few things, such as blog post topics and the number of links to include that send readers to your website. We will cover these in the article, including steps to find guest posting opportunities for your eCommerce business.
What is a Guest Post?
You should consider guest posting in your online marketing strategy if you are just starting or already have an established brand. It involves publishing articles on another website and including backlinks to your website.
Creating content for guest blog posts reaches the target audience of the blog owner while referring them to your platform. It gives more brand awareness to potential customers who may visit these blogs that accept guest posts.
A blog owner can accept guest posts as free content, while others demand payment to post an article on their platform. You can focus on the specific niche of the third-party website or use your own topics. That is dependent on the blog owner.
Guest posts place you among the blog’s audience, expanding your chances of landing potential customers. It is a win-win situation for you and the sites, as the article gives them one less thing to worry about. They can diversify their content and rank higher while you capture their targeted audience.
Why You Need to Write Guest Posts
There are over 12 million eCommerce websites in the world. Although less than a million have sales above $1,000, the statistics show how competitive the industry is.
It is why many invest in different strategies, from paid advertising to social media marketing, hoping to draw high traffic. Guest posting is an economical alternative to getting high traffic from other blogs. It attracts the target audience to your own blog through clever placement of backlinks.
Here are a few benefits that guest posting brings to you as an e-commerce business owner:
Backlinking for Organic Traffic
Backlinks on a guest blog post do two things:
- Generate referral traffic to your own blog or website when the target audience clicks the link.
- It gives your online store better positioning on Google and other search engines. They will rank your website better when referenced on other websites. That is because the bots believe your website is essential and has high authority for a particular topic.
Links must be carefully placed to optimize the guest blog posts. Backlinking is an integral approach to improving your website’s SEO. Consequently, guest blog posts become essential to any backlinking strategy, especially from established and high-ranking websites.
Create New Relationships
Guest posting does more than provide backlinks to your website. It can help you build relationships with the site owner or other bloggers. For example, the owner may refer to your product or blog post in the future.
Typically, you will provide details of your guest posts to the site owners. That keeps them in the know about your website or eCommerce store. Additionally, you may converse with them through emails, chats, or calls.
We recommend you maintain this relationship once it is established. You can get 65% of your new business opportunities through referrals from them and others.
Reaching New Clients
Your guest posts can reach an engaged audience on the third-party website. Depending on their interests, they may comment, share, or like them. Then, you have the opportunity to build new relationships with potential clients.
Keep taps on your article after publishing. Ensure you promptly answer questions or respond to comments on the guest post. That will keep the audience engaged, allowing you to generate new leads.
These clients will become more eager to visit your website to see your products. Then you can lead them through your sales funnel.
Where Sponsored Posts Come In
It is economical to write guest posts and publish them. However, delivering quality content takes time, skills, and effort. You can hire a remote freelancer to handle blog content.
Some site owners may not allow discussing other brands in their guest posts. They may also frown at advertising products. In that case, you can opt for sponsored articles.
A sponsored article appears on blogs and is paid for. The site owner will allocate the space or page to you.
Requirements for Guest Posting
Sites often have unique guest post guidelines. However, we’ve identified general things to remember before you write and submit a guest post. They include the following:
Value Quality
Guest posting is not an opportunity to spam the content with your keywords or backlinks. Most sites will reject spam or poorly written content. So, you must exert considerable effort to write them.
Creatively place links in the article. Ensure your content adequately addresses the topic discussed. Better still, aim at providing knowledge instead of building links.
Most site owners have stringent conditions for filtering guest posts. They will check everything from grammatical errors to facts, plagiarism, and AI writing. Even if they are not strict with the checks, keep the quality high.
You want readers to stay on the blog post long enough to click your backlink. So, keep your writeups exciting and engaging.
Formatting Requirements
Sites often have standards for guest post formatting. They may have the following formatting requirements:
- Paragraph length
- Section length
- List of topics
- Minimum number of words for a full post
- The number of links you can place
- The number of internal links
- The number of royalty-free images you can use
Go through the requirements and ensure you understand everything before you start writing. Adhering to their requirements increases your chances of being published on their website. Remember that publishing is the first step to getting conversions from the site.
No Overly Promotional Copy
We mentioned earlier that most sites would frown at advertising other products or platforms. Even if you produce quality content, you want to make sure you avoid sounding like an advertisement.
You should keep your post less promotional. Only mention your brand according to the guidelines, and do not promote your products the same way you would on your site. If you prefer to sound promotional, sponsored content might be a better fit, but it will cost you.
The key to delivering quality content that does not break any rules is asking questions. Ensure you have enough clarity before you submit a guest post.
You Should Have a Blog
This requirement is only sometimes necessary for sites accepting blog posts. You don’t need to own a blog to be a guest blogger. However, ensure you have one if it is a requirement on your target website.
Focus on the Site Theme or Niche
Your main focus as a guest blogger is often on the site’s niche or theme. Some sites may allow guest posting outside their niche to reach wider target audiences. Nonetheless, clarify before you put up quality content that gets rejected.
Tips to Optimize Your Guest Post Submission
Getting a spot on a website is half the journey. Using it to get what you want is the other half. Consider the following before you write that guest blog post:
Have Measurable Performance Metrics
Setting metrics begins with determining the purpose of this approach. We believe it is part of your digital marketing strategy to draw users and obtain high search engine rankings.
Google Analytics can help you determine which backlinks bring you traffic. Then, you can focus on those websites and continue optimizing your posts.
You’ll also identify non-performing articles and either stop writing them or improve on them. Whichever way, always have guest blogging goals before you begin.
Keep the Reader in Mind
A contributing factor to high bounce rates is poorly written articles. That means your article should address the topic and be engaging enough. Then, a reader will read enough to click links and visit your website.
Solve a problem for readers interested in learning more—tutorials and “how-to” articles are good starting points.
Your digital marketing strategy already has a target audience. Always keep your audience in mind when crafting ideas for guest posts.
Write Unique Content
Plagiarism can affect the ranking of a website. You may be sued in extreme cases of copyright violation. So, your content should be original.
Find out where you can add unique perspectives. Find new, unexplored ideas for your guest posts.
Partner with Authority Websites
This approach goes beyond finding the highest-ranking websites in search engine results. Find platforms that are authority figures in their fields.
You can use the following keyword searches when searching for an authority website:
- “Niche” guest post
- “Niche” write for us
- “Niche” guest column
Be mindful of the “write for us” keyphrase, as sites often need writers for their columns.
Don’t Wait. Start Now.
You don’t have to wait for guest blogger openings before contacting a site. Cold emailing is a strategy that can get you through the door, even though it is challenging. Keep the emails short and include links to your platform or previous blog content.
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