The question of whether to pay for a guest post service or not is an important one. While backlinks are an essential element of any good SEO and content marketing plan, you also have to be careful that these links are valuable and relevant.
Publishing content on any blog or website won’t necessarily provide value. You need to be exceedingly strategic.
Plus, guest post services often write the content for you, meaning the information isn’t your thought leadership. There’s a risk in outsourcing that aspect of guest posts too.
You have plenty to consider when evaluating guest post companies. Here’s a look at the top factors that help determine the value of paying a guest post specialist.
Factors to Consider Before Hiring a Guest Post Service
Outsourcing any aspect of your business requires careful consideration. But guest post services that are poor could have long-term impacts on your SEO that you may never recover from. Choosing the right partner is essential to your success. So here are some factors to consider before hiring a partner to find guest post opportunities.
1. The Service’s Credibility
Some guest post companies are just glorified backlink companies. And many backlinking companies are spammy. The SEO industry preys on small businesses looking to get fast results. Any service that promises fast SEO results is likely lying to you.
SEO is a long game. It takes a minimum of six months to see SEO results and realistically more like a year. So if a guest post service is making big promises, walk away.
Ask for references and companies who have seen success with the company’s services. You want as much background information on the company as you can get.
Read reviews on as many websites as you can find the company listed. While it’s possible to get fake reviews, it’s unlikely they’ve focused on getting reviews across all third-party websites. If you dig, you’ll find real information about these companies.
2. Your Resources and Existing Contractors
You should have some team members focused on content and SEO. If you don’t, it’s time to take a step back and consider your content strategy before you move to guest posts.
Businesses that already have blogging resources should consider whether pursuing one guest blog post a month using existing resources makes more sense than paying for a service to do this work.
You’ll have more control over the guest post opportunities this way and ensure that the content matches your voice and tone. Again, SEO is not fast and skipping important steps will impact the results.
3. SEO Research and Strategy
Guest posts should be part of a larger SEO strategy. Without a full strategy, you might not use the best anchor text for hyperlinks, which will decrease the value of your guest posts.
And you won’t know the best guest post opportunities to pursue without a larger SEO strategy. Plus, guest posts are somewhat of an advanced SEO task. Without the right foundation, the work is wasted and so is all the money you’ve spent on the service.
4. Content Drafting and Approval Controls
Once you hire the service, how much control do you retain over the content that becomes the guest post and what websites the post publishes on? Retaining control over your content is important, especially when your relationship with a contractor is new.
Guest posts aren’t all about SEO, though of course, that’s a driving factor. But these posts should also present your company to new prospects and potential customers who are a good fit for your products and services. And when presenting your business, you want to ensure that the voice and tone match what you’re presenting on your website and blog.
Don’t let just anyone write your content, even if it isn’t being published on your website or blog. Make sure this content is high-quality and presents your company in the right light.
5. Existing Backlinks
How much time and attention have you given to getting backlinks on your website through existing business relationships and local opportunities? If you haven’t explored this opportunity yet, you don’t need to pay for a service yet.
Go to your business contacts and see what you can do to earn backlinks this way. Consider targeted LinkedIn outreach to people you already know or have a connection to. Offer them value through high-quality content or links from your website.
Just be sure that the websites these connections manage have a strong domain authority and good website practices. Your small business connections might have been victims of SEO “specialists” that built spammy backlinks and engaged in poor strategy.
6. Blogging Strategy and Website Maturity
Before you start publishing on other blogs and websites, take a hard look at your own. Do you have a blog strategy? Have you taken the time to draft customer-centric website copy? Have you hired some team members who specialize in content and SEO to manage your strategy?
Ultimately, you want to start with a firm foundation long before you pay for a service that offers any type of backlink, even guest posts. Take the time to outline who you are and why you matter to your customers before advancing to guest posts.
7. Price Compared to Other Lead Generation Strategies
Ultimately, there are many ways you can spend your marketing budget. Focusing on a lead generation strategy and effective follow-up for new leads will likely do more than hiring a guest post service.
While it might be easier to find guest post opportunities than to consider your customer buying journey and supporting materials, that doesn’t mean it’s the right move for you.
Guest posts are a sort of advanced strategy you do to elevate your SEO. But if you don’t have a strong SEO foundation with keyword research and an effective website, the tactic is worthless.
Finding Freelance Copywriter Support for Blogging and Guest Posts
Investing your marketing money in a high-quality freelance copywriter and paying for guest posts on reputable websites slowly will likely prove more valuable than a guest post service. The guest post service looks to fulfill its promises without emphasizing quality. Don’t exchange fast and furious backlinks for a slow and methodical SEO strategy. Schedule a free consultation with freelance copywriter Rebekah Brately.
Guest Post Service FAQs
You have many considerations when it comes to guest posts and the accompanying services available. So here’s a look at some common questions and answers.
What Is the Process of Guest Posting?
Guest posting and guest blogging are interchangeable terms for writing and publishing articles on someone else’s website. To see SEO value, you’ll need to ensure the website or blog is within your niche and serving similar customs.
Does Guest Posting Still Work?
Yes, guest posts offer many outstanding benefits for businesses looking to improve their SEO and meet new customers. But you have to integrate it into your master SEO plan and not think that it’s a standalone effort.
What is a Guest Blogging Service?
A guest blogging service allows someone outside of your company to write and publish guest posts on third-party websites on your behalf. These writers and outreach professionals represent you and your company when reaching out to third-party websites. You should proceed with them cautiously.