Guest blogging is certainly one of the most effective marketing strategies available on the Internet today.
It's popular because rather than having to find readers for your content, faithful readers see what you've written by virtue of it appearing on a blog that they regularly visit.
But, the quest to guest blog has become, for some, the Holy Grail of blogging.
In this article, I want to share with you the dangerous thinking behind this and give you a strategy so that you can avoid a silver bullet mindset.
I read an article recently that stated in no uncertain terms that one reason why investment into online branding fails is because those behind the spending spree aren't guest bloggers.
It's true that guest blogging can be a very effective means for getting people who you might not ordinarily reach to read your content, but there is a danger here that is being overlooked.
The danger is of putting all of your eggs into one basket.
Effective marketing online depends on the widespread dissemination of quality content that you've written.
But, if all you do is focus on obtaining places in which you are a guest blogger, then your efforts are likely to fail.
Why? Because it takes time for such opportunities to develop.
Notice that I didn't say you shouldn't do it; only that it shouldn't be the only thing that you do.
The article I read actually listed five problems, but this particular one rang alarm bells for me.
And that's because it suggested to me that the authors placed disproportionate emphasis on this technique.
They made it into a silver bullet.
Anytime you devote all of your energies to finding a silver bullet in anything, you put your business in a dangerous situation.
You risk business success.
And that's because there are so many other activities that you could engage in which, in the time it takes you to obtain the blogging opportunities you seek, could be more fully developed, and therefore more effective, not just now, but into the future as well.
The problem with relying on guest blogging is that even if your posts are accepted, weeks can pass between the time that you submit the first one and when it is actually read.
And that means that you need to have a basket of marketing strategies for your online business, because the more of them you do well, the better your results will be.
It's popular because rather than having to find readers for your content, faithful readers see what you've written by virtue of it appearing on a blog that they regularly visit.
But, the quest to guest blog has become, for some, the Holy Grail of blogging.
In this article, I want to share with you the dangerous thinking behind this and give you a strategy so that you can avoid a silver bullet mindset.
I read an article recently that stated in no uncertain terms that one reason why investment into online branding fails is because those behind the spending spree aren't guest bloggers.
It's true that guest blogging can be a very effective means for getting people who you might not ordinarily reach to read your content, but there is a danger here that is being overlooked.
The danger is of putting all of your eggs into one basket.
Effective marketing online depends on the widespread dissemination of quality content that you've written.
But, if all you do is focus on obtaining places in which you are a guest blogger, then your efforts are likely to fail.
Why? Because it takes time for such opportunities to develop.
Notice that I didn't say you shouldn't do it; only that it shouldn't be the only thing that you do.
The article I read actually listed five problems, but this particular one rang alarm bells for me.
And that's because it suggested to me that the authors placed disproportionate emphasis on this technique.
They made it into a silver bullet.
Anytime you devote all of your energies to finding a silver bullet in anything, you put your business in a dangerous situation.
You risk business success.
And that's because there are so many other activities that you could engage in which, in the time it takes you to obtain the blogging opportunities you seek, could be more fully developed, and therefore more effective, not just now, but into the future as well.
The problem with relying on guest blogging is that even if your posts are accepted, weeks can pass between the time that you submit the first one and when it is actually read.
And that means that you need to have a basket of marketing strategies for your online business, because the more of them you do well, the better your results will be.