5 SEO Benefits of the Reverse Guest Post
One method, I feel is underutilized in blogging is what I refer to as the Reverse Guest Post. This involves interviewing and profiling a specific person, not within your company, for your blog.
It sounds very simple, but it has 5 major business benefits you may not be considering:
1. It is an extremely effective mechanism to build relationships
There are few better mechanisms for building relationships than offering a business or person free media coverage, and the reverse guest post is exactly that! I have found the simple act of emailing someone with an inquiry about profiling them on a particular topic, and then the subsequent article that is produced can be a great start to long and fruitful relationships. (I even know some savvy people who use this as a mechanism to get in the door for later business development, sponsorships and/or advertising. Quite clever, no?)
2. Others do your marketing for you
What do people love second to getting free media coverage? Sharing that media coverage.
And what does this mean to you as the person who is writing about these people? Instead of only having access to your network for sharing a new article through social media or email, now the person you profiled will likely use their social network to share and spread the post as well.
Profile two or three people or companies for a single piece? That is two or three more potential networks in which your article may be shared. The reverse guest post can garner outside support from influential people!
3. It is a fantastic and somewhat easy source of link building
The unfortunate truth about link building? The only way it works is when you do it well, and the right way is often long, tedious and unsuccessful. However, if you do a great piece on a person or business they will very likely place a link to the article on the press / media page of their site. (And it never hurts to nicely ask for them to do so, either.)
4. It provides your readers different perspectives
Regardless of how brilliant a blogger, writer or company is their writing can become boring and even worse – predictable. People read what you write because they like your perspective – assuming, of course, that perspective stays fresh and interesting. The Reverse Guest Post allows you to provide readers a new perspective within a format and topic which you ultimately control.
5. It is less work for you (Hurrah!)
Letting someone else provide all of the thinking for a blog post is far easier than coming up with a topic, deciding what you want to say, writing it (well), editing it, providing imagery and other support for the piece, marketing it yourself, etc. etc. etc.
Blogging is a powerful tool that is too frequently under or poorly utilized. Those who find creative ways to bring it to life not only stand to gain in search engine rankings, but in building brand awareness and engagement and customer acquisition and retention.
Here are some other resources on reverse guest posting that may be helpful.
http://www.cucumbernebula.com/blog/how-to-build-your-presence-with-reverse-guest-posting/
http://www.webnavigatorgal.com/reverese-guest-post-2013-seo-tip/
