Need to Boost Authority? Try Guest Bloggers

First, make sure they are really experts.

In digital marketing, your resume is your online footprint. Before you formally ask anyone if they would like the opportunity, Google the name of every potential guest blogger to make sure they have a presence in the industry that will impress your readers (remember, everyone writing on your site should be viewed as an authority by the audience). Another reason to do this is to make sure there is nothing unfavorable written about them elsewhere. It could be embarrassing for your brand to promote someone who has recently received some bad press, so this step is important. Once all that has checked out, you can proceed with choosing a guest blogger.

Ask for pitch submissions.

Before you allow someone to blog on your site, they must be screened to ensure they are qualified. Anyone who wants to have their byline on your site should be able to pitch you a story angle for their blog post that will be relevant to your audience. If they fail to do this well, they may not be the right choice for your blog; you want guest bloggers who understand which topics your audience wants to read about.

There may be an exception to this, though. If you have failed to provide quality content on your own, and are seeking the help of guest bloggers to spice things up, you may want to trust that they know what they are doing – even if you don’t care for the topics they have pitched you. As long as you have verified their expertise and their writing abilities, it could pay to take a chance on them.

Make your blog a place they want to be.

Your guest bloggers are most likely going to represent the same people that are in your audience, so your blog should be a place they would enjoy visiting. Whether or not you are attempting to use their content as a way to improve your blog, you should give your guest bloggers incentives for doing you this favor.

One idea is to make a guest blogging section on your home page, where all your guest bloggers are linked. This makes it easier for readers to find the content your guest bloggers have provided. There should also be a link building incentive for their time and effort, which is discussed here. Choosing a guest blogger can be an enjoyable process; it is an opportunity for you to network with others in the industry, and the bloggers you choose may return the favor by asking you to blog on their site sometime. It may seem like just another small step toward the goal of increasing conversion rates, but if your site is still struggling to establish credibility, finding guest bloggers can be a great place to start.