Guest posting wisely isn’t always easy to do.

Because there is a lot of blogs to choose from. 

But…unfortunately, not enough of them are worth the time and effort.

But the ones that are high quality, the really worthwhile ones are very picky about who can write for them (for a reason).

Because they don’t want to let just about anyone write for their blog.

What they really want is quality and relevance.

Not sure which one to choose? A lot depends on what audience you want to reach.

So what counts as guest posting wisely?

Then, from there, you can break it down based on stats and other relevant factors.

Today we’re going to talk about qualities that are worth looking out for if you want to do guest posting wisely.

1) Alexa Rankings

Alexa rankings are a worthwhile means of determining if a blog is worth writing for.

But why is that the case?

Because it audits and makes public the frequency and number of visits to specific websites.

So if you want to guest post wisely, select a site that has a high Alexa Ranking.

High Alexa Rankings mean that a higher number of readers will see your article.

Which is a huge perk, especially if those readers are potential clients.

And the more readers read your article, the higher the chances are that at least a handful of them will visit your website.

In fact, I noticed similar results when I wrote my first ProBlogger article.

In only a month, the number of views, and the number of unique visitors increase significantly.

And that’s 100% thanks to the fact I guest posted on a site with a high Alexa Ranking:

2) Social Media Love & Affection

Another factor that’s equally as important as Alexa Ranking is social media engagement.

Because if you write for a blog with a high level of social media engagement, the word will spread faster and a hell of a lot more.

Not to mention, high levels of social media engagement means that there are more built in fans.

And a blog with a lot of built in fans is the perfect way to do guest posting wisely because many of those built in fans will become your fans.

But how can you properly identify social media engagement?

Tools like BuzzSumo are a great way to find out.

To identify exactly why that’s the case I’m going to do a BuzzSumo search for Millo.co, the site I wrote my most recent guest blog post for:

That is the sign of a high level of engagement for one, very simple reason:

The number of shares is extremely impressive.

And that’s worth factoring in because people don’t just share content for the sake of sharing it.

They share it because it made them laugh, or spoke to their own life experiences, or was useful to them in some shape or form.

So any site that attracts a high level of shares consistently is definitely worth writing for.

3) It Appears on the First Page of a Search Engine

Search engines are a really great way to figure out which blogs, on a specific topic are getting the most attention.

For instance, on desktop/ laptop computers, the first page of a Google Search Engine result has a 34.36% clickthrough rate (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics).

So if you want to guarantee that your guest posting efforts lead to your desired results,  do a search engine test to see what the best places are to write about a specific topic.

For the sake of making exactly what I mean by that slightly clearer, let’s say you wanted to write something blogging tips related.

To uncover what the best places are to do that, search for “blogging tips” via Google.

The first result is often paid advertising.

But when you look below that here’s what’s the recommended reading material is:

The box at the top of the page is a featured snippet, and in Google lingo that basically means that it gives the most direct and immediate answer to the search query.

And this can work in your favour because this is a blog that already has a high ranking for this topic.

But this doesn’t mean that the other results aren’t worth paying attention to.

In fact, the four results that follow the featured snippet also have a high clickthrough rate.

So I’ll scroll down a bit, and see what other blogs show up.

And here’s what I found:

So…now all I have to do is work on building relationships with at least some of these bloggers and check out their guest posting guidelines.

And, if they allow me to write about blogging tips for their blog, I’ll know with a hundred percent confidence that the long-term return on investment payoff will be huge.

4) Feedback & Comments

If a blog you want to write for really gets people talking in a deeply meaningful way, it’s probably worth it!

But, unlike the previous qualities I mentioned, it’s not really about quantity.

It’s actually about the quality of the responses as a whole.

For instance, a blog that I read regularly called Freelance to Freedom Project does this extremely well.

Because the quality of the content is high enough that it actually encourages people to engage in a meaningful discussion:

And the reason why this is an important quality is simple.

These meaningful discussions lead to on and offline shares.

And that is what compels people to learn more about not just the blog but also the writers behind the blog.

But why is that important?

Because quality discussions are the only actual way to measure the quality and relevance of the content. 

However, this measure of quality may not be found in just the comments section.

It may be present in other public forums as well such as: 

• Public discussion forums (I.E Reddit or Quora)
• Social media
• Online citations
• Etc

After reading a few articles, do your research, find out what others are saying about individual articles, and then you’ll be well on your way to guest posting wisely.

What counts as quality convos?

 If people are providing more in-depth responses than just the words “nice article”:

It is the sign of a job well done.

So if you’re not sure if:

• Saying “yes” to a guest posting opportunity
• Or even just cold pitching a blog is worth your time

Check not just stats but also discussions that the blog’s content inspires over the long-term.

This is the only actual way to know for sure if you’re guest posting wisely.

And if you don’t consider yourself to be a good writer, but still want to reap the benefits of guest blogging, you can check out my blogging package options here.