How To Create Content That Engages and Drive Traffic As a Guest Blogger!

{This is a continuation of our series on guest blogging strategies that was halted because of the unpleasant occurrence that led to this blog being down for over a week. Now, that we are back it's proper that we continue with it and bring it to a conclusion! 🙂 }

Let me quickly refresh our minds by saying that so far we have covered:

1. The Secret to Getting Hordes of Endless Free Traffic as a Guest Blogger! – Here I talked about the need for a strategy built on a defined purpose if you want your guest blogging venture to pay the right dividend!

2. The Essential Element that Will Lead to Woeful Failure as a Guest Blogger! – In this article I mentioned that focusing only on your desired goal in your guest posts will only lead to failure since “every guest post you’ll ever write is not about you but about your target audience.”

and then,

3. How to Guarantee a Continuous Flow of Traffic with Your Guest Posts! – This post showcased one secret that empowered some of my guest posts enabling them to stay afresh as they have continued to pump free organic traffic to my blog 3 years after they were published.

Now, if you have not read any of these posts, I encourage you to do so. They will not only help you better understand the flow of this series but you'll definitely gain a whole lot of knowledge from them!

Engage your site visitors with ease!

Inculcating the 3 Most Vital Elements of Good Content in Your Guest Posts

In this article my focus is the actual writing of your guest post – what you need to craft a guest post that will both engage your readers and drive targeted traffic to your offerings. Let me quickly say that you don't need a degree before you can write good valuable guest posts.

However, like every other content marketing tactic, writing a guest post goes beyond putting your thoughts into words. Your guest posts should be able to capture the attention of your readers and pique their interest.

It will interest you to know that there are actually 3 vital elements of good content that will help you do this. These are compelling content, focused content and refined content. Once these elements are in your guest post your dream of driving the right traffic will definitely be fulfilled! Compelling content is what will hook the reader’s interest and guide them to do your bidding.

As a blogger I know one of the things you do every day is creating content for your blog. But that not minding, a little more effort must go into your guest posts if they are to accomplish your purpose.

Here’s how you can inculcate the 3 vital elements of good content in your guest posts:

1. Write To Interest Your Readers

Whatever the topic you are handling, create your post to pique the interest of your readers. You should understand that people like to read “light” stuff most of the time. When people log on to the internet, they are not only looking for information – they are also looking for information they can obtain easily and in a relaxed manner. So, to attract more visitors with your guest posts, it is very important to add a human touch to your articles. Use humor by adding funny comments in your articles where suitable.

2. Write To Entertain, Educate And Excite

There have always been arguments on how long or short an article should be. Many argue long posts are boring and will never be read. However, it bears down to knowing your target audience. If you have taken the time to study the host’s blog articles (we mentioned this earlier Engage your site visitors with ease!) you will know the direction to take.

Nevertheless, no matter the length of your guest post, you can actually make it a hit if you can find a way to entertain, educate and excite your readers with it. The powerful way to ensure that your reader stay glued to your article is to, use your guest post to anticipate and answer all of his questions and overcome all objections that pertain to your subject matter. Of course you don’t need to throw in everything you can think of under the sun. You only need to include as much information as you need to excite your reader.

3. Write To Be Scanned

Your use of the space available to you is very important. You want your post to look inviting and refreshing to the eyes. In short, you want your prospect to stop whatever he’s doing and read your guest post to the end.

However, if there are no breaks in the text, no white space, and no subheads; if he sees a page of nothing but densely-packed words, do you think he’ll be tempted to read it through?

Not likely.

But if you do have ample white space, short sentences, short paragraphs, subheads, and an italicized or underlined word here and there for emphasis, it will certainly look more inviting to read.

Here’s something worth noting:

When reading your guest post, some will start at the beginning and read word for word. Others will scan through your, noticing the title and the various subheads strategically positioned throughout the post. This will help them decide whether to read the entire thing. And, some may never read the entire post.

You must write for every one of these prospective readers. Write interesting and compelling long copy for the studious reader, and short paragraphs and sentences, with enough white space and subheads for the skimmer.

4. Write To Get Attention

On the internet attention span is a fraction of a minute. As a result of information overload people will only be ready to take a second look at your articles if only they perceive there is something for them in that article.

But how can they perceive that value?

90% of the time, it’s through your TITLES!

It is a confirmed fact that five times as many people read the title than the body of your post and so making the first impression with your titles is important. One way you can do this is to write the title as an ad for the post. Use the title to promise a benefit plus some news. This is because people won’t stop their busy lives to read your guest post unless you give them a good reason to do so.

5. Write To Have A Conversation

Your readers want to connect with you. They want to be treated as humans. They don’t want speeches. And so, stimulate a conversation using your guest post. Write the post as if you’re having a conversation with a personal friend. This will make your reader take you more as a friend rather than a person of higher authority simply to be listened to!

Besides, you should understand that people connect more easily with people they like, people they empathize with. So let your personality shine through in your guest post as this could spark some curiosity in your readers and naturally they would want to know as much about you as the information you’re offering them.

6. Write To Tell And Not To Sell

It is unfortunate that many guest bloggers misunderstand the promotional and marketing value of guest blogging. Yes, guest blogging is a content marketing tool. However, one sure way to kill the effectiveness of that tool is to write your guest post purely with monetary value in mind.

Instead of focusing on the immediate financial gains of your guest post, write to leave behind content that transforms. Content that speaks to your readers. Content permeate the deepest cellars in their hearts. Let your content fill them with a vision and prompt them to action.

Instead of using your guest post as a medium of selling use it as a medium to help your readers. Provide helpful expert tips.  Use your knowledge to create the content that specifically answers a pressing issue.

Freely give of your expertise, knowledge and skills in your guest post. As you do this more of your readers will readily click on your links to receive more from you. Of course they would reason that if you can offer so much free information in your guest post then you definitely have more to offer on your own site!

Guest Blogging Takeaway: Guest blogging like every other form of here will readily build your online visibility and improve your brand loyalty. However, you need first of all to provide high-quality, relevant, and valuable information to your target readers and prospective customers.

Implement the above essential elements of good content in your guest posts and you'll be able to attract, engage and acquire the right traffic that will achieve your objectives.

So, what you do think of this post? As usual I’d love to connect with you in the comments. So share your views with us in your comments.

52 Comments
  1. Guest posting is getting huge recognition these days.Most of the blogger offering this great service that give everyone chance to write their best and share with world.Thanks for all great tips to write excellent guest posts.You are really a good blogger.Trying to learn more about guest posting.

    • @top movies,

      It’s a thing of joy to know that you found this post interesting. Indeed, guest blogging is receiving good attention today because more and more people are coming to understand that the benefits are really great.

      Guest blogging gives you good returns in terms of backlinks which is good your search rankings. Besides, it is also good for traffic generation and brand building which every online marketer would want to take advantage of right now.

      This guest blogging series was started because, after publishing a few guest bloggers on this site, I discovered that many have not really come to terms with the many benefits that guest blogging can give them. I do hope that the series will help as many who will put the tips to use.

      Thanks for the comment and I’ll truly appreciate if you can tell you friends about this series or don’t you think it will benefit them also?

  2. I like how you make a comparison between the skimmer and the educated reader. White space is important for skimmer and in-depth information for the educated reader who wants to wants to delve into your compelling content.

    • @Rob Koenig,

      This distinction is really necessary if you want to connect with your readers. This is one thing that many who have submitted guest posts for publishing on the WebIncomeJournal have always missed.

      Only a few knows how to use the white space to their advantage. But this is a must if you want your readers to flow with your writing.

      What you called the educated reader are rare. Personally, when I read an article I like reading it all through to get the details, except of course if that article has nothing new to offer me! But I know only a few blog readers will do this. So as content creator, understanding this two groups and structuring your article to cater for both groups is a sure way to win the game.

      Thanks for the comment I appreciate your visit.

  3. Guest blogging is a great way to get more exposure and attract targeted visitors on your blog, which also helps in brand building and increasing your business.

    • @Aasma,

      You’re just right on point Aasma. Unfortunately, not many who wants to guest blog really know this. Many are only focused on getting backlinks which is just a small fraction of the benefits of guest blogging.

      If you’ve followed the series all through you will understand that my reason for taking the time to do this is so that all of us will benefit with our guest blogging efforts. I actually take the benefit of brand building very seriously as it can have both immediate and future benefits.

      Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation.

  4. Guest Blogging has always been a wonderful method for attracting visitors towards the website. Thanks a lot for such great tips….

  5. Good site for writing good Content .

  6. Hi
    I dont know how effective is guest posting. because i have never tried this. Very useful aticle. Thanks for the share.

    • @pavithra,

      Hmm, you’re not really alone even many who know about the effectiveness of guest blogging are just doing the wrong way. I’ll advise that you read through the whole series (check out the older posts in the links at the beginning of this post). I’m very sure that you will gain some useful knowledge from it.

      Thanks for the comment.

  7. I am glad I visited our site again, its been a long time. for me I think that the best way to attract many visitors or readers is creating a unique and useful content. but I am just wondering I think that before ending up a guest poster we need to have reputation in one site. am I right?

    • @Kate Brown Wilson,

      Glad to have you around again and thanks for the comment.

      On whether one need to have reputation before being a guest blogger, I don’t think it’s really necessary. In fact, guest blogging is a good way of building your reputation online. By the time you publish guest posts all over the web more and more people will get to know you and if your posts are really great, you’d be able to build a good standing with a wide audience out there.

      So, if you’re really aiming to build a reputation, do some more guest blogging!

  8. I suppose that the best way to attract many visitors or readers is creating a unique and useful content…

  9. Can i make a guest post and download page in blogger?Thanks

    • @Hen Dos,

      If you understand your question very well, you desire to guest blog on a blog hosted on the blogger platform. If that is what you mean, the answer yes, you can make a guest post in blogger. What you simply need to do is send the guest post to the owner of the blog and he/she will publish it as a guest post.

      I don’t know if this answer your question. If not let me have details.

  10. Nice article, thank you Chadrack! Already use some of these techniques, and I can’t wait to explore others.

  11. elect the right keywords. Keywords should be specific and not general phrases. For example, if you are selling handbags, Italian leather handbags would be a better keyword phrase to use than simply handbags.

  12. interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you

  13. As Google has updated so many things to catch spam and spun contents. so has to be more innovative while developing content. Because search engine needs more unique and excellent contents to crawl on your contents. Above points are really amazing and effective to build content. Thanks!

    • @Kathrine.

      Thanks for the comment Kathrine. It’s a pleasure to see that this post resonate with you. Your insights are really interesting. Google is working round the clock to sanitize the internet. We must work with it by providing good content instead of trying to game the show.

  14. Related to topic and unique content always help you to grab users attentions but if we dressed with related images and videos or infographics so it will easily help to boost visitors.

    • @Rizwan Sultan,

      Yea, I do agree with you. Images actually make your post come alive especially today when Pinterest is a rave! Thanks for the comment.

  15. That is why it is so important to blog about what you are passionate about in this way it is easy for anybody to engage to their visitors. You are a good example of what a prospective customer is all about and what they are looking for, what their needs are, etc.

    • @Becca,

      I do agree with you that you blog about the subjects you’re passionate about. With this you’re able to more interact with readers. Nevertheless, a good writer can always do magic with just any subject. If you’re freelance writer you will understand that you will have cause to write articles on subjects you’re not really passionate about. But as a good writer it falls on you to produce something engaging. So the secret is really in your research and writing abilities. Or don’t you think so?

  16. Yes becca is right, one should always start a blog on a blog about which he/she is really passionate about, otherwie you will eventually get blocked and wont be interested in running the blog any more.

    • @Website Design Dubai,

      Ok, that is really true when you’re running a blog. But remember that we’re talking about guest blogging here. Must you only guest blog on topics you’re passionate about?

  17. I definitely agree that you should try and entertain at the same time as providing useful info. This helps seprate you from the dozens of other people writing about exactly the same thing

    • @LM Photography,

      Yes, and it also opens the reader up to better recieve what you have to say! Make the audience more receptive and you will make good of your purpose. 🙂

  18. Guest Blogging has e’er been a wonderful method for attracting visitors towards the website. Thanks a lot for such zealous tips….

    Scanning of reader’s handle is also really fundamental .Encourage pen to recount is justified.

  19. Guest blogging is a great way to engage with potential visitors and customers to your own site and is something I’d like to get more involved in. You’ve listed some great tips and points Chadrack which have given me plenty of food for thought.

    • @Beth,

      Oh, it’s really great to hear that! I do hope you’ll be able to use these tips to do something great. Frankly, guest blogging can do a whole lot of things for you. You can get involved right away. I encourage you to read the other posts in the series and you’ll definitely be glad you did. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

  20. In my opinion, guest post always drive traffic if you make useful content that gives helpful information and advice to the readers. A dry informative post could also cause less traffic so also try to make little bit humerous informative post.

    • @Pete Goumas,

      Must say, that bit about adding some humor in the post is really insightful! One good way of connecting with your readers is to make them relaxed while reading your post and humor can do that quite easily. Only catch is that you just need to know how to make the humor relevant to the post. Thanks for the comment.

  21. As a blogger I couple one of the things you do every day is creating content for your post. But that not minding, a short much endeavor must go into your guest posts if they are to win your mean.

    • @Terra@Girls Bedding,

      I agree with you. Focusing only on creating content for ones blog may be good but getting some on other blogs is a sure way of generating a continuous flow of traffic. Thanks for the comment.

  22. Hi Chadrack Hope you are doing well. Again after a long holiday i am in My Lovable Blogging Arena. Yeah Nice post. Guest Blogging is the best way to gain more traffic as well as building good backlink too.

    • @Amit Shaw,

      Hi, Amit glad to see you again! How was your exams? Hope you had a good holiday. You’re highly welcome!

  23. As search engine has updated so many things to catch spam and spun contents. so must be more innovative while developing content. Because search engine needs more unique and brilliant contents to crawl on your contents. Above points are really awesome and effective to build content. Thanks!

  24. Great article focussing on the ways to Create Contents which include and drive traffic as a Guest Blogger!this post has a solution of some big queries.

  25. I believe that Guest blogging is one of the best strategies to put in action in order to increase more and more visitors. People should get the maximum benefit from it as it has become a demand in I-Marketing.

  26. Hi chadrack i totally agree with you guest posting is getting huge recognition these days.Guest Blogging has always been a wonderful method for attracting visitors towards the website. Thanks a lot for such great content….

  27. Though, I agree with everybody has said about guest posting been the in thing for now but I would like to sound a warning giving your very good content to others, is easier said than done, what do you think?

  28. thanks for tips. Im scheduled to do a lot of guest posting for next week. i’ll take note of the tips you have on this article. (Goodluck to me…hehhe)

    thanks for sharing!

  29. Thanks for your detailed recommendations. Grabbing the interest of readers and providing them with some value is the best way for gaining more online visibility and positive branding. It seems that these principles actually would work for all types of content marketing.

  30. Excellent post Chadrack – I am starting my own blog in the next couple of weeks – just creating it at the moment and I will be following the advice in this article closely. Best lesson I have taken from it is stick at it and you will get there in the end – perseverance is key! Thanks 🙂

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