Have you ever used Google Trends to look up a keyword or phrase to see its popularity? You can discover the number of search queries over a certain period of time. I did that today with “guest Blogging.”

If you’re not familiar with this tool, here’s what Google has to say about about Google Trends.

Anyway, back to what I found using Trends. It looks like “guest blogging” was at its most popular in search queries back in January 2014.

The term isn’t googled as much today. Trends shows a score of just 19 this month compared to 100 (the highest number possible) in January 2014. Way back in November 2004, “guest blogging” scored a 94. As we can see, the term’s been around for years. (You can only go back to 2004 in Trends, by the way.)

Popular term or not, guest blogging is still the best way to describe what you do if you write for another person’s or company’s blog.

A Recent Guest-Blogging Experience

Recently, I stumbled upon the website of a WordPress developer, Monterey Premier. I noticed they call for guest bloggers and, long story short, I contacted them with my interest, they sent me blogger guidelines and I wrote an article, How to Build Real Relationships While Working Remote. They published it with no edits (score!) and shared it on their social media. I did the same on my social channels.

I had a trio of reasons for contacting them. First, I liked the idea of my blog post living on a WordPress developer’s site. I’m a huge WordPress fan. Have been for more than 10 years.

Second, I thought the company might need a content writer for their clients’ website projects. I figured if I did a good job on the article that they might want to work with me.

The third reason is because I thought I might partner with them someday on a client website, where they’d be able to do more custom coding than what I typically do when building a site for a client.

How I PARLAYED Guest-Blogging

After my post was published, I reached out to the owner with an affiliate-related question (how we might pair up on site development). While we were talking, I casually (but with intention) shifting the conversation, asking if he was aware I guest-blogged for them recently. His response was something like, Wow. I just got goosebumps. I didn’t make the connection. That was a great article!

Day. Made.

I mentioned my online copywriting expertise and offered my services, should one of his projects ever require a writer. He said it does come up occasionally and that he needs someone capable and dependable. He said he’s glad to have made the connection and that we should keep in touch.

I probably spent 4–5 hours on the blog post — writing, editing, asking a peer to read it and last-minute tweaking, followed by formatting it on Monterey’s WordPress site. (That was a requirement in the blogging guidelines). All in all, not a lot of work for what I could get out of it — exposure, experience and maybe a project or two down the road.

Benefits of Guest-Blogging

If you write articles for your own website, you may wonder why you’d carve out precious time to write for someone else — here’s why:

• It boosts your visibility. Your name and expertise will be found online in more places. That’s a good thing if you’re building your reputation, business and brand.
• Guest blogging grows connections. When I offered to write a blog post for Monterey, that experience turned into a new connection with the owner (both on LinkedIn and when we had our affiliate call).
• You’ll gain blogging experience. Building your blogging muscles, which I’ve talked about before, helps you become a better writer. When you blog for someone else’s website, that stretches you to work a bit harder.
• You’ll stand out in your industry. Industry publications and associations are always looking for people to contribute content. If you’d like to be known as a pro in your industry, guest blogging is an effective strategy.

THREE MORE Reasons to be Guest-Blog

• It’s a new line-item on your resume. When you contribute to other blogs, you’ll want to add a blurb to your resume and your LinkedIn profile, too.
• New visitors will come to your site. Guest bloggers typically get a byline and bio blurb with their post, with a link that points readers to your site. That’s good for visibility, good for site traffic and search engines like it, too. Inbound links for the win!
• You’ll get more social media followers. When people discover your content online, if they like what they see they may become a follower of your social media accounts.

I bet I can think of more benefits of guest blogging, but what would you add to this list?

Will YOU Guest BLOG FOR ME?

Blogging for Monterey wasn’t my first guest-blogging experience. I’ve done it many times in the past, as well. I’ve already reached out to another company (a nonprofit) to see if I can guest-blog for them.

If you have perspectives on marketing, social media, content development or blogging that you’d like to share, send me a note and we’ll talk about featuring you on my blog.