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		<title>After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</title>
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		<pubdate>Wed, 29 Nov 2017 13:31:21 +0000</pubdate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>How to get started with guest blogging? How to submit a guest post to leading blogs? Get the tips from an Entrepreneur contributor and the author to 50+ guest posts.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/guest-blogging/">After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<ul>
<li><strong>How can I get started with guest blogging?</strong></li>
<li><strong>How can I submit a guest post to the leading business blogs?</strong></li>
<li><strong>How can I get more clients and work via guest posting?</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If you’re looking answers to these three questions, this article’s for you.</p>
<p><strong>Because that’s exactly what this article&#8217;s about – how to <span style="color: #000000;">get started with guest blogging and</span> accelerate your way to contributing to the top publications.</strong></p>
<p>But first, there’s one important question that needs to be answered:</p>
<p><strong>Is guest blogging even worth your time?</strong></p>
<p>Around 2 years ago, I wrote my first guest post for a small business blog.</p>
<p>Fast forward to 2017, I’ve become a contributor to some of the top-tier blogs that once seemed like a distant dream: <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302418" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, <a href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/03/promote-blog-content-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Marketing Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-drive-traffic-to-blog-posts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social Media Examiner</a>, and many more.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’ve learned about guest posting after contributing more than 50 articles to more than 15 blogs.</p>
<h2>Part 1: The benefits of guest blogging</h2>
<p>Believe me, I’m highly sceptical about the ROI of guest posting.</p>
<p>This said, I’ve seen both value and time wasted when publishing in third-party blogs.</p>
<p>If you want to get the maximum value out of guest blogging, <b>you need to know your goal</b>.</p>
<p><strong>Here are some common reasons for guest blogging:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Getting <strong>high-quality backlinks</strong> for your website</li>
<li>Establishing yourself as a <strong>thought leader</strong></li>
<li>Increasing the <strong>awareness</strong> of your brand</li>
<li>Finding <strong>new clients</strong> and potential partners</li>
<li>Building <strong>new connections</strong> within your industry</li>
</ul>
<p>The reason I started guest blogging was to get quality backlinks for <a href="https://www.scoro.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scoro</a>’s website – my employer at the time. I also loved the challenge of getting accepted to some of the top blogs I had myself learned from.</p>
<p>Guest blogging can be a highly efficient strategy to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/02/11-ways-to-improve-seo-in-2017/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve your SEO results</a>.</p>
<p>Ahrefs <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">studied the correlation </a>between the number of backlinks and keyword rankings on Google. They found that those two metrics have a high correlation between them.</p>
<figure style="width: 549px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-4.jpeg" alt="google rankings' correlation" width="549" height="335" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Backlinks = more organic traffic – <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>While I personally believe that guest blogging didn’t contribute much to our blog’s growth, I still believe it had <i>some</i> effect on the rapid <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/">growth of our organic blog traffic</a> thanks to quality backlinks.</p>
<figure style="width: 550px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-41.png" alt="guest blogging benefits" width="550" height="308" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Scoro’s blog traffic growth over time</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #1: You need to know <i>why</i> you’re guest blogging.</h3>
<p>Alright, we can say that submitting guest posts to other websites has the potential to increase your <a href="https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Domain Authority</a> in the eyes of Google and bring you more website traffic in the long term.</p>
<p>But there’s also a caveat: <b>not all guest blogging is equally beneficial to your SEO results. </b></p>
<p>There’s a big difference between a backlink from a popular blog and a website with low authority.</p>
<p>Compare this to creating your brand’s showroom in the middle of the woods or a royal castle.</p>
<figure style="width: 451px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-42.png" alt="backlink from a popular blog vs website with low authority" width="451" height="308" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Where would you rather be seen?</figcaption></figure>
<p>Guest blogging on a low-authority site with a few readers is likely going to have a smaller impact on your long-term website traffic than writing a high-quality blog article for your own blog.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #2: It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority sites.</h3>
<p>Popular blogs also get more traffic which means higher visibility for your post, you, and your brand.</p>
<p><strong>P.S. If you&#8217;re looking to increase your blog traffic, check out this article: <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/promoting-blog-articles-facebook-promoted-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18 Hacks for Promoting Blog Articles on Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p>If you’re hesitating whether to write a guest post for a particular website, use an SEO tool like <a href="https://moz.com/products/pro/seo-toolbar">Mozbar</a> to check how high Domain Authority that website has. Mozbar will show you the Domain Authority (on the scale of 1-100) of any website you’re interested in.</p>
<p><b>Try to find guest posting opportunities on websites with the DA higher than 60 points.</b></p>
<figure style="width: 553px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-43.png" alt="domain authority measurement" width="553" height="327" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Look for websites with a high Domain Authority</figcaption></figure>
<p>But what if your goal for guest blogging isn’t to improve your website’s SEO? What if you’re interested in building your personal brand?</p>
<p><b>Guest blogging is a great way of establishing yourself as a thought leader in any particular industry. </b></p>
<p><b>However, it’s not always as efficient as you might think.</b></p>
<p>For example, when I published an article in <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, only nine readers looked up my profile and website.</p>
<p>It looks like guest blogging isn’t going to bring you much fame after all… Even a small&#8217;scale <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/facebook-advertising-hacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook advertising</a> campaign would bring you significantly more results.</p>
<figure style="width: 611px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-44.png" alt="generating traffic through guest blogging" width="611" height="223" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Guest articles bring little traffic to your website</figcaption></figure>
<p>Tim Soulo, Head of Marketing at Ahrefs, conducted an <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive analysis</a> of 273 guest posts and their ROI.</p>
<p>Here’s what he had to say about referral traffic from guest posting:</p>
<figure style="width: 624px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-46.png" alt="guest blogging doesn’t bring you much website traffic" width="624" height="181" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Tim seems to agree</figcaption></figure>
<p>Out of 239 guest articles Tim wrote, 35% generated less than 10 visits and only 15% generated more than 100 visits.</p>
<figure style="width: 409px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-6.jpeg" alt="average referral traffic from a guest article" width="409" height="409" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">That looks pretty bad… – <a href="http://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>Alright, so now we have data from two marketers saying that guest blogging is a terrible way of getting more traffic to your personal or branded website.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #3: Guest blogging is an awfully inefficient way to increase website traffic</h3>
<p>Does this mean you shouldn’t <span style="color: #000000;">be guest posting </span>at all?</p>
<p>Not necessarily.</p>
<p>Here’s another finding from Tim’s research:</p>
<figure style="width: 624px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-48.png" alt="guest posts with links" width="624" height="144" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">You can make your guest posts work!</figcaption></figure>
<p>If you’re able to include a <strong>relevant link</strong> to an article or research material on your website, the guest post will bring you a lot more value.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #4: Increase your traffic from guest posts by linking to your other articles/research.</h3>
<p>Another cool idea is to create a content upgrade, e.g. an eBook with additional insights, and offer it to your guest post readers in exchange for their emails. This way, you can collect the readers’ emails and reach out to them in the future.</p>
<figure style="width: 555px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-49.png" alt="free e-book for your guest post readers" width="555" height="273" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">For example, an eBook with relevant material</figcaption></figure>
<p>I’ve also learned that <b>the topic of your guest post matters a lot</b>.</p>
<p>For example, if you’re a marketer looking to get hired, it makes sense to write guest posts on marketing, not productivity or management.</p>
<p>When I wrote an article on Facebook advertising for Content Marketing Institute, it was picked up by other marketers.</p>
<figure style="width: 626px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-51.png" alt="9 brilliant tactics to promote your blog content on facebook" width="626" height="311" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Article I wrote for Content Marketing Institute</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Compare to the nine website visits I got from a guest post in Entrepreneur, writing for a marketing blog had a significantly higher ROI.</strong></p>
<p>The guest post brought me 30+ visitors. While it’s not much, some of those people were interested in collaboration or hiring me.</p>
<figure style="width: 376px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-53.png" alt="some guest posts have a high ROI" width="376" height="292" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">This guest post had a high ROI</figcaption></figure>
<p>Look for blogs where your potential customers hang out and write guest posts that show your expertise on the right topics.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s another question people are curious about:</p>
<h2>Can you get hired via guest blogging?</h2>
<p>Definitely!</p>
<p>More than once did I write a guest post to a marketing blog and got made an offer to keep writing to them as a paid contributor.</p>
<p>I’ve also had several people read my guest contributions to leading marketing blogs and reach out to hire me.</p>
<figure style="width: 621px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-56.png" alt="sometimes you get hired via guest blogging" width="621" height="260" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Guest blogging can bring you cool job offers</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #5: Guest blogging can be an efficient way to attract new customers.</h3>
<p>However, don’t get too excited about writing one or two guest posts and seeing all the business to come in&#8230;</p>
<figure id="attachment_2264" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2264" style="width: 374px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-2264" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/lounging.gif" alt="pokemon gif" width="374" height="281" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2264" class="wp-caption-text">It’s not THAT easy – <a href="https://giphy.com/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p><b>You also need to have a strong landing page / personal blog to land a job. </b>People who love your guest post will check out your website.</p>
<p>Having a website to back up your expertise will help to convince people to hire you.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #6: You need a personal website for people to find out more about you.</h3>
<p>For me, guest blogging has always worked hand-in-hand with my personal website. <i>The best </i>job offers never even came via a guest post, but thanks to people reading my blog.</p>
<p>However, guest posting helps to <strong>strengthen your personal brand a</strong>nd establish you as an expert in your field.</p>
<p>Here’s an example of a Twitter profile belonging to marketing influencer <a href="https://twitter.com/iconiContent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aaron Orendorff</a> – having published in so many well-known publications helps him to increase credibility.</p>
<figure style="width: 576px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-58.png" alt="Aaron Orendorff twitter cover image" width="576" height="297" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">That cover image definitely creates trust</figcaption></figure>
<p>To sum up the first half of this article, here’s how you can benefit from guest posting:</p>
<ol>
<li><b>It’s worth guest blogging on high-authority websites</b> and the blogs your potential clients read.</li>
<li><b>Guest posts do not usually bring much traffic to your website</b>, even not the articles published on high-authority sites.</li>
<li><b>Sometimes, it’s worth skipping a guest posting opportunity</b> and write an article in your own blog instead.</li>
<li><b>Guest blogging works best when combined with a personal blog</b> or a branded website.</li>
<li><b>Look at guest posting as a way to increase credibility</b> and connect with other people in your field.</li>
</ol>
<figure style="width: 571px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-59.png" alt="guest blogging on high-authority websites takes time" width="571" height="316" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">It takes some time to get there</figcaption></figure>
<p>If you find the goals above worthy of your time (it takes around 8h to write a 2000-word article or even more) and you’re willing to put in some hard work, keep reading.</p>
<p>In the second part of this article, we’re going to explore how you can become a guest <span style="color: #000000;">blogger</span> to world-class blogs like <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneur</a>, <a href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/08/marketers-use-artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Content Marketing Institute</a>, and <a href="https://thenextweb.com/guests/infographic-explains-teamwork-fails/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Next Web</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Part 2: How to get started with guest blogging</h2>
<p><strong>I wrote my first ever blog article in 2015.</strong></p>
<p>I had just joined the software startup Scoro as their Content Marketing Manager.</p>
<p>My first week at work, I wrote <a href="https://www.scoro.com/blog/business-hacks-part-1-basic-lifehacks-applied-to-business/">the first blog article </a>I’d <i>ever written in English</i>.</p>
<p>Looking at it now, I feel slightly embarrassed, would like to rewrite the entire article, and prohibit my past self from publishing any more content.</p>
<figure id="attachment_2265" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2265" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2265" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/giphy-copy-28.gif" alt="embarrassed gif" width="250" height="250" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2265" class="wp-caption-text">Never re-read your first articles – <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/dog-tired-sleepy-EMyypuqU025Da">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>However,<b> if I hadn’t started to publish those blog articles, I never would have learned to write</b>.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #7: The best way to learn to write is to write.</h3>
<p>Your first articles are 99% sure to be poorly written and will fail to attract many readers.</p>
<p>But that’s just fine.</p>
<p>The worst thing you can do is to give up and never take on writing again.<b> Keep blogging on a regular basis until you get better and start attracting some readers.</b></p>
<p><strong>A good litmus test is to show your articles to your friends and ask if <i>they’d </i>read that.</strong></p>
<p>I started to write and publish a blog article on Scoro’s blog every week. After six months, my articles <a href="https://www.scoro.com/blog/workplace-productivity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started to improve</a> and I kept learning from my colleagues that helped to edit my work.</p>
<p>I was super eager to start guest posting in some of my favourite marketing blogs. Yet some of my earliest outreaches got negative replies.</p>
<p>I still needed to grow as a writer.</p>
<figure style="width: 716px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-62.png" alt="early pitches will be rejected" width="716" height="262" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">You’re going to get a lot of those emails</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #8: Your early pitches will be rejected. Don’t give up.</h3>
<p><b>Reaching the level of expertise and writing skills demanded by top publications takes time.</b></p>
<p>If you submit the first article you’ve written in your life as a guest contribution, it probably won’t get accepted. You’ll first need to gain some credibility as a writer.</p>
<p>So here’s what I did next: <b>I started by</b><span style="color: #000000;"><strong> guest posting</strong> </span><b>to small blogs.</b></p>
<p>Here’s how I looked at it:<b> If I get accepted to some mid-tier blogs, I can put in hard work, publish some amazing articles, and then pitch larger blogs based on that experience.</b></p>
<p>I sent out 10+ pitches to some of the blogs I considered to be reachable, pitched them highly relevant ideas and was given a chance by a couple of editors. You must constantly improve your <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/copywriting-for-facebook-and-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">copywriting</a> skills to write better pitches.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the thing:<strong> Instead of pitching your ideas to 1-2 blogs, reach out to more than 10. There&#8217;s a lot higher chance that one of your pitches will get accepted.</strong></p>
<p>One of the first guest posts I wrote was for the HubSpot blog.</p>
<figure style="width: 691px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-64.png" alt="6 ways to transform a hectic office into your personal haven" width="691" height="249" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Thanks HubSpot for the opportunity!</figcaption></figure>
<p>It even had a decent amount of social shares that made it possible to pitch myself as a <span style="color: #000000;">guest blogger to</span> additional blogs.</p>
<figure style="width: 306px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-65.png" alt="number of social shares" width="306" height="311" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">71 LinkedIn shares is pretty good</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #9: Start guest <span style="color: #000000;">blogging in</span> small or mid-tier blogs and work your way up.</h3>
<p>Don’t expect those first guest posts to bring you fame and new customers.</p>
<p>However, <b>you’ve got to get your snowball-effect snowball rolling from somewhere</b>. So look for blogs that accept articles from less-experienced writers like yourself.</p>
<p>Here’s one more highly important tip: <b>Write relevant and original pitches.</b></p>
<p>Here’s how NOT to get your guest post pitch accepted:</p>
<figure style="width: 652px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-67.png" alt="example of a bad pitch" width="652" height="211" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Don’t write these kinds of pitches</figcaption></figure>
<p><b>Here’s what’s wrong with this pitch:</b></p>
<ul>
<li>The blogger did not introduce herself.</li>
<li>The blogger made no pitches for articles she wanted to write.</li>
<li>She didn’t refer to her previous work to prove she can write.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>That’s worse than not sending any email. It’s sending an email and wasting the editor’s time.</b></p>
<p>Here’s another one: the regular guest post pitch I saw when working as the Content Marketing Manager for Scoro.</p>
<figure style="width: 789px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-68.png" alt="Generic pitches get rejected" width="789" height="390" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Generic pitches get rejected</figcaption></figure>
<p>What’s wrong with<i> that </i>pitch?</p>
<p><b>All the three topics they pitched are generic,</b> and there are probably 10 articles with the exact same titles already published. This pitch is a no-go.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #10: A bad pitch is worse than no pitch at all.</h3>
<p><b>So what makes a good guest post pitch –</b> one that gets you accepted to the leading blogs?</p>
<p>CopyHackers has a funny and insightful guide to writing an <a href="https://copyhackers.com/write-a-guest-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awesome pitch</a>. Here’s what they suggest:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>STEP 1: Be awesome.</strong></li>
<li><strong>STEP 2: Choose a topic you know shit-tons about.</strong></li>
<li><strong>STEP 3: Work on that headline some more.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In fact, their guidelines make you almost too intimidated to send over a pitch.</p>
<figure style="width: 705px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-71.png" alt="post guidelines by copyhackers" width="705" height="289" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Would you dare to send in your pitch?</figcaption></figure>
<p>But these guidelines also <b>push you out of your comfort zone, nudging you to be creative and put in some hard work.</b></p>
<p>That’s exactly how writing a good pitch should feel like.</p>
<p>As I’d always wanted to <span style="color: #000000;">be a guest blogger</span> for CopyHackers, I decided to take my chance. It took me <b>22 minutes (instead of the 3 minutes most people put in their pitches) </b>to write an email to the blog.</p>
<p>I’m still proud of myself when looking at this<em> </em>pitch.</p>
<figure style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-73.png" alt="engaging and original pitch" width="760" height="460" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Write engaging and original pitches</figcaption></figure>
<p>A couple of hours after sending over my email, I got a reply from CopyHackers’ founder Joanna Wiebe, saying <b>she loved the pitch</b> and would like to see the outline or first draft. ????</p>
<p>In a few weeks, <a href="https://copyhackers.com/2017/05/36-facebook-ad-hacks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my article</a> was published and got tons of positive feedback.</p>
<figure style="width: 689px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/null-75.png" alt="guest post for copy hackers" width="689" height="342" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">This pitch turned into an article</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Which leads us to the next lesson…</strong></p>
<h3>Key takeaway #11: Work on your pitches like your life depends on it.</h3>
<p><strong>Here’s what a go<span style="color: #000000;">od guest post </span>pitch looks like:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><b>It shows personality – </b>your introduction should differentiate your from other contributors</li>
<li><b>It’s original </b>– the ideas you pitch have not been written about before or you’re offering a unique angle to the subject.</li>
<li><b>It’s practical –</b> you’ve done your research on the blog and suggest topics they haven’t published yet.</li>
<li><b>It’s convincing –</b> you explain to the reader why you’re the right person to write on the proposed topics and also link to some of your previous articles.</li>
<li><b>It’s entertaining –</b> use interesting wording and create a good flow, so that the reader will enjoy reviewing your pitch.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yeah, that’s a lot of things you need to get right. It&#8217;s a lot harder than creating an <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/instagram-campaign/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram campaign</a> or brewing the perfect espresso.</p>
<p><b>But&#8230; The more you practice the art of writing pitches, the better you’ll get at it.</b></p>
<h2>How to become a<span style="color: #000000;"> guest author in</span> top blogs</h2>
<p>If this question&#8217;s the reason you&#8217;re reading this article&#8230; Well&#8230; <strong>Here comes the answer!</strong></p>
<p>After I had written for some notable marketing blogs, I felt ready to approach the big players – blogs I had only recently<i> dreamed</i> of writing for.</p>
<p>By this time, I had <b>tens of articles and referrals to prove my expertise.</b></p>
<p>I had written 30+ articles<i> </i>for <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/office-personal-haven">HubSpot</a>, <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/emotional-marketing-to-facebook-ads/">Kissmetrics</a>, <a href="https://copyhackers.com/2017/05/36-facebook-ad-hacks/">CopyHackers</a>, <a href="https://adespresso.com/blog/landing-page-mistakes/">AdEspresso</a>, <a href="https://klientboost.com/ppc/facebook-ad-tips/">KlientBoost</a>, <a href="https://learn.infusionsoft.com/marketing/social-media/7-facebook-ads-examples-for-irresistible-lead-magnets">InfusionSoft</a>, <a href="https://www.ducttapemarketing.com/content-optimization-tools/">Duct Tape Marketing</a>, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/guests/infographic-explains-teamwork-fails/">The Next Web</a>, and many more blogs.</p>
<p>More importantly, I had set in motion the growth of my personal blog that was seeing high readership from fellow marketers.</p>
<p><b>First, you need credibility. Only then can you start pitching to the high-level blogs.</b></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure id="attachment_2266" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2266" style="width: 320px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2266" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/giphy-1.gif" alt="supermario gif" width="320" height="300" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2266" class="wp-caption-text">You need to level up – <a href="https://makeagif.com/gif/super-mario-bros-fireworks-flag-pole-run-neogaf-DcqsiW">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<h3>Key takeaway #12: Before pitching to top-level blogs, build up your personal brand and credibility.</h3>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">Look at guest blogging like</span> a game – y<strong>ou need to level up in order to get accepted to high-rank blogs.</strong> Coming up with original ideas and pitches that get accepted gets harder once you start approaching the leading business blogs.</p>
<p>Becoming a contributor to leading publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and the top industry blogs is not easy, but definitely a goal that you can reach.</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Did something remain unclear? Do you have additional questions regarding guest blogging? Leave a comment and we&#8217;ll get back to you.</p>
<p><a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/facebook-ads-ebook/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-2770 aligncenter" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad.png" alt="200 facebook ad examples ebook" width="1400" height="800" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-300x171.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-768x439.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ebook-ad-1024x585.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px" /></a>  </p><p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/guest-blogging/">After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here&#8217;s What I&#8217;ve Learned</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
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		<title>[Podcast] Growing Your Blog Traffic to 30,000 Visitors</title>
		<link>https://karolakarlson.com/ro/podcast-growing-blog-traffic-30000-visitors/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[]]></dc:creator>
		<pubdate>Tue, 12 Sep 2017 15:13:48 +0000</pubdate>
				<category><![CDATA[Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<guid ispermalink="false">https://karolakarlson.com/?p=1593</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>For a lot of SaaS companies, building blog readership and acquiring a steady flow of traffic is one of the greatest challenges when it comes to growth, brand awareness, and acquiring new customers. When Edward from AdvanceB2B reached out to me with an idea to do a podcast together, that was the topic we chose: [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/podcast-growing-blog-traffic-30000-visitors/">[Podcast] Growing Your Blog Traffic to 30,000 Visitors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>For a lot of SaaS companies, building blog readership and acquiring a steady flow of traffic is one of the greatest challenges when it comes to growth, brand awareness, and acquiring new customers.</strong></p>
<p>When Edward from <a href="https://www.advanceb2b.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AdvanceB2B</a> reached out to me with an idea to do a podcast together, that was the topic we chose: Growing blog traffic from 0 to 30k+ visitors per month.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.advanceb2b.com/thegrowthhub/podcast-karola-karlson-taxify-aggregate-grow-blog-traffic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Among other growth hacks and SEO best practices, we talked about:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>How to build a growth-focused content marketing strategy</li>
<li>What are the key mistakes made by B2B and SaaS marketers</li>
<li>The importance of 10x content and how to balance quality versus quantity in your content marketing</li>
<li>A two hour hack to quickly boost your organic traffic</li>
<li>Some of the key learnings from my career this far</li>
</ul>
<p>I hope you enjoy listening to <a href="https://www.advanceb2b.com/thegrowthhub/podcast-karola-karlson-taxify-aggregate-grow-blog-traffic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this podcast</a> as much as I enjoyed recording it.</p>
<p>Do check out the other episodes as well, e.g. the one with Dave Gerhardt, Director of Marketing at Drift.</p>
<p>You can also read about the tactics discussed in the podcast here: <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors – How We Did it</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;  </p><p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/podcast-growing-blog-traffic-30000-visitors/">[Podcast] Growing Your Blog Traffic to 30,000 Visitors</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
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		<title>From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months – How We Did It</title>
		<link>https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/</link>
					<comments>https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Karola Karlson]]></dc:creator>
		<pubdate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 09:27:57 +0000</pubdate>
				<category><![CDATA[blog home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Golden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In-depth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEO]]></category>
		<guid ispermalink="false">https://karolakarlson.com/?p=578</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>You’ve likely seen these kinds of “traffic growth” articles before. However, this one’s going to be different.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/">From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months – How We Did It</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>You’ve likely seen these kinds of “traffic growth” articles before. However, this one’s going to be different. Here’s why:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>It’s about <em>real</em> growth, not “a 400% growth without any mention of the initial traffic numbers”</strong> (growing 400% from 100 website visitors to 500 visitors is no big deal. Growing from 1.6k to 30k+ is a real deal).</li>
<li><strong>All the tactics mentioned here <em>really</em> work.</strong> They’ve been tried and tested, not copied from other blogs.</li>
<li><strong>It’s also an honest account of what <em>didn’t</em> work.</strong> It’s not just shiny victories that paved our way to 30k+ monthly blog visits.</li>
</ul>
<p>In September 2015, <a href="http://www.scoro.com/blog/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our startup&#8217;s blog</a> had the total of 1,615 organic visits from Google. By March 2017, this number had grown to 31,375 visits.</p>
<p>A quick calculation shows that in the past 12 months, our organic blog traffic increased by 1,843%. This has also translated into a significant growth in the number of leads and sales.</p>
<figure id="attachment_594" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-594" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-594" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/blog-organic-traffic.png" alt="blog organic traffic growth" width="750" height="131"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-594" class="wp-caption-text">Our blog&#8217;s 20-month growth curve</figcaption></figure>
<p>However, the fastest growth has happened in the past 11 months while we grew our traffic from 6k/month to 31k/month.</p>
<figure id="attachment_595" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-595" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-595" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/organic-traffic-chart.png" alt="organic traffic growth chart" width="750" height="421" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/organic-traffic-chart.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/organic-traffic-chart-300x168.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/organic-traffic-chart-768x431.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/organic-traffic-chart-1024x574.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-595" class="wp-caption-text">A chart from Moz’s organic traffic report</figcaption></figure>
<p>To be honest, this good-looking growth curve did not always result from a solid SEO strategy. Rather, it was a series of a-ha moments and sudden revelations that guided the process.</p>
<p><strong>We got an abrupt idea, applied it to our website, and kept our fingers crossed to see whether our (often crazy) ideas work. Sometimes, they did.</strong></p>
<p>And that’s how we grew from 1,6k organic blog visits to 30k+ visits.</p>
<p>You know how some people say there are no golden nuggets and it’s only the long-term strategy that leads to goals… That’s not entirely true – the best results appear when a strong long-term plan gets mixed with bold ideas.</p>
<p>This article’s about the hacks and growth tactics we used to build our website traffic. The best part is that they can be easily applied to your marketing strategy as well.</p>
<p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE:</strong> I’d also like to give credit to our brilliant colleague <a href="https://twitter.com/Merilyy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merily</a> who’s been rocking our SEO, content, and CRO.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s another article you might like:&nbsp;<a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/guest-blogging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After Guest Blogging 50+ Articles to Top Blogs, Here’s What I’ve Learned</a></p>
<h2>How we got started:</h2>
<p>When I joined Scoro, I was eager to get started with content marketing right away.</p>
<p>Up to this point, the SaaS startup had been buying generic 800-word articles from an agency. Nobody wanted to read them, and it showed in the blog’s readership numbers.</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #1: <strong>Don’t outsource your content marketing to an agency as they can’t see your SEO results nor do they plan for your long-term growth. (At least the agencies I’ve seen in action)</strong></h4>
<p>What you should do instead, is to establish a solid content strategy and a growth plan with two main goals:</p>
<ul>
<li>Building brand awareness and acquiring fans</li>
<li>Publishing content that will bring you traffic in the long run</li>
</ul>
<p>Rather than publishing three short articles per week, we aimed to publish one really good article once a week. This tactic’s also been explained by Rand Fishkin in his <a href="https://moz.com/blog/how-to-create-10x-content-whiteboard-friday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Whiteboard Friday episode</a> on 10x content.</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #2: Don’t publish for the sake of publishing – focus on quality, not quantity. (I bet you’re tired of hearing this, but it’s 100% true)</h4>
<p>Our initial content marketing strategy was simple. It included a topic, headline, keywords, and a publishing date. We’re using a similar approach to this day.</p>
<h2>Building a growth-focused content marketing strategy</h2>
<p>At the beginning, our content marketing strategy was like a vacant parking lot – there were so many potential keywords and opportunities waiting to be employed.</p>
<p>Not to waste a single opportunity, every article we published had to show a huge organic traffic potential.</p>
<p>According to research by Ahrefs, the average Top10 ranking page is 2+ years old. It takes nearly three years to land the #1 spot.</p>
<figure id="attachment_580" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-580" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-580" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/age-of-page-days-copy.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="502" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/age-of-page-days-copy.jpg 900w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/age-of-page-days-copy-300x201.jpg 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/age-of-page-days-copy-768x515.jpg 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/age-of-page-days-copy-360x240.jpg 360w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-580" class="wp-caption-text">It takes 900 days to rank on #1 place – <a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-rank/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>The fact that it may take 2+ years to have your blog articles rank on Google means that you need to focus on the long-term strategy and build “content bundles” with articles complementing each other.</p>
<h4>#Key takeaway 3: Plan and create content with long-term gains in mind. It may take up to two years for an article to start ranking in the TOP10 on SERPs.</h4>
<p>Actually, I can assure you that some articles only take a month or two to start ranking high on SERPs. But it doesn’t change the fact that the focus should be placed on the long-term growth.</p>
<p>Instead of brainstorming fun headlines, we defined the five main topics to center our content around. I like to call those overarching topics the “content bundles”.</p>
<h2>Creating content bundles as an SEO strategy</h2>
<p>When analyzing our past three months’ website traffic, we noticed that 75% of the organic traffic resulted from two types of articles – software lists and KPI-related content.</p>
<p><strong>I’ve never been a big believer in the <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229813" target="_blank" rel="noopener">80/20 rule</a>, but it sure seems to apply to our blog strategy. Most of our organic traffic comes from two content bundles that we’ve been expanding since 2015.</strong></p>
<p>Just to be clear, here’s how I like to define content bundles:</p>
<ul>
<li>A series of articles around one key topic</li>
<li>Each article focuses on a different (yet related) keyword</li>
</ul>
<p>By interlinking the articles inside a content bundle, you’re able to create a keyword bubble. And for what I’ve seen, Google loves these kinds of bubbles around a specific topic. After some time, Google will begin to perceive your blog as an expert resource in the given field, assigning your articles a higher rank in SERPs.</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #4: Create content bundles – a series of articles centered around one key topic.</h4>
<p>For example, we’ve been working on the content bundle focusing on the keyword “KPI dashboard” for over 15 months. It’s a sweet keyword – the exact match has over 1k monthly searches in the US alone.</p>
<figure id="attachment_588" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-588" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-588" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard.png" alt="moz keyword rankings" width="750" height="209" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-300x84.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-768x214.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-1024x285.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-588" class="wp-caption-text">We use Moz for SEO tracking</figcaption></figure>
<p>The other pages ranking for this keyword have a considerably higher domain authority. However, we’re now ranking as the #4 result in SERPs in the US.</p>
<figure id="attachment_589" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-589" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-589" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-in-serps.png" alt="kpi dashboard in serps" width="750" height="414" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-in-serps.png 2094w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-in-serps-300x166.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-in-serps-768x424.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-dashboard-in-serps-1024x565.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-589" class="wp-caption-text">Ranking as the TOP4 result</figcaption></figure>
<p>Slowly but surely developing the content bundles has certainly been one of our highest-ROI tactics. The best part is that it’s easily applicable even to sites with a low domain authority – to blogs just starting out.</p>
<p>https://www.mindtitan.com/?utm_source=aggregate&#038;utm_medium=paid-ads</p>
<figure id="attachment_941" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-941" style="width: 645px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.mindtitan.com/?utm_source=aggregate&amp;utm_medium=paid-ads"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-941" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png" alt="ai agency" width="645" height="118" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png 1024w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-300x55.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-768x140.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-941" class="wp-caption-text">This is a sponsored post from a brand I believe in.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>The secret SEO tactics that bring skyrocketing results</h2>
<p>Alright, it’s time for the best part of the article – the no-BS tactics that helped to grow our organic blog traffic at a fast pace.</p>
<p>As you might have guessed, it all starts with keyword research and identifying the best opportunities.</p>
<figure id="attachment_602" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-602" style="width: 356px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-602" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/giphy.gif" alt="you win gif" width="356" height="200"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-602" class="wp-caption-text">Here&#8217;s how it all ends – <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/cartoonhangover-animated-artists-on-tumblr-illustration-ToMjGpyO2OVfPLpoxu8">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>?SEO hack 1: Learn to do SEO research the right way</h3>
<p>Instead of simply checking the Google Keyword Tool to see the monthly search volume of specific keywords, you can take your research to a higher level. I’ve also written about this method in-depth <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/how-to-do-better-keyword-research/">here</a>.</p>
<h4>Step 1: Google your keywords</h4>
<p>After you’ve discovered some keywords with a great monthly search volume, head to Google and, well, google. (You can use a tool like <a href="https://isearchfrom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISearchFrom</a> to see the results in specific countries)</p>
<p>Let’s say you want to create a list of Top SEO Blogs.</p>
<p>A quick Google search will reveal a list of results:</p>
<figure id="attachment_585" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-585" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-585" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-results.png" alt="Google your keywords" width="750" height="372" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-results.png 1740w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-results-300x149.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-results-768x381.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-results-1024x508.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-585" class="wp-caption-text">Always google your keywords</figcaption></figure>
<p>While it’s a good general overview of your competition, there’s a simple way to learn a lot more.</p>
<h4><strong>Key takeaway #5: Don’t limit your SEO research to the Google Keyword Tool. Dig deeper.</strong></h4>
<p>My personal favourite tool for competitive SEO research in the Moz SEO Toolbar.</p>
<h4>Step 2: Use the Moz SEO Toolbar for advanced research</h4>
<p>Use the Moz SEO Toolbar to get more insight about the articles in search results. Most of the features are free, simply add the extension to your web browser.</p>
<p>The SEO Toolbar will show you the Domain Authority and Page Authority of each website on the search engine results page.</p>
<figure id="attachment_592" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-592" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-592" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-toolbar-results.png" alt="moz toolbar results" width="750" height="370" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-toolbar-results.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-toolbar-results-300x148.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-toolbar-results-768x379.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-toolbar-results-1024x506.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-592" class="wp-caption-text">Moz toolbar, you&#8217;re a blessing</figcaption></figure>
<p>What you want to do is to look for pages with a low domain authority that have managed to get listed among the high-DA pages. This means they’ve published such good content that Google thinks it’s necessary to refer to their site.</p>
<p>For example, an article from a site with the DA of 29 could appear between other pages with a DA of 80+.</p>
<figure id="attachment_590" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-590" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-590" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/low-page-authority.png" alt="low page authority pages" width="750" height="271" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/low-page-authority.png 1586w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/low-page-authority-300x109.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/low-page-authority-768x278.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/low-page-authority-1024x371.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-590" class="wp-caption-text">Compare the DA metrics</figcaption></figure>
<p>The guys over at the low-DA site must have done something right. Analyze what differentiates their content from all other results.</p>
<p>Often, you’ll find that those low-DA pages have 10x more comprehensive content or have an exact keyword match. That’s what you’ll want to copy when creating content to rank for the same keyword.</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #6: Find content marketing and SEO opportunities by discovering low domain authority sites that rank among pages with a high domain authority.</h4>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve discovered that another low-DA site is able to rank in the TOP10 SERP results for a particular keyword, so can you.</p>
<h3>?SEO hack 2: Spend more time interlinking</h3>
<p>Remember when we talked about the content bundles in the first half of this article?</p>
<p><strong>Adding links in&nbsp;between your blog articles helps to strengthen your keyword bubbles and make them visible to Google (and get your new articles ranking more quickly).</strong></p>
<p>While most websites make an effort to add links to older articles inside the newer content, we took it one step further. After we had published a new article on a given topic, we went and edited older articles around the same subject, and added links to the new article.</p>
<p>For example, when we published this article on KPI Reporting in February 2017…</p>
<figure id="attachment_587" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-587" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-587" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-article.png" alt="kpi article" width="750" height="435" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-article.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-article-300x174.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-article-768x445.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/kpi-article-1024x593.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-587" class="wp-caption-text">This article&#8217;s part of our KPI content bundle</figcaption></figure>
<p>We went ahead and linked to it in a KPI-related article published one year before.</p>
<figure id="attachment_586" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-586" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-586" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/interlinking-seo-hack.png" alt="interlinking seo hack" width="760" height="356" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/interlinking-seo-hack.png 1642w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/interlinking-seo-hack-300x141.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/interlinking-seo-hack-768x360.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/interlinking-seo-hack-1024x480.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-586" class="wp-caption-text">We either use in-text anchors or add a suggestion</figcaption></figure>
<p>As a result, the new article picked up more quickly and appeared in the TOP20 SERPs two weeks after publishing.</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #7: Interlink all the articles around a related topic to create keyword bubbles and improve your search rankings.</h4>
<p>By interlinking our blog articles, we steadily built a network of links, supporting each individual keyword and helping our articles rank higher on Google SERPs.</p>
<p>https://www.mindtitan.com/?utm_source=aggregate&#038;utm_medium=paid-ads</p>
<figure id="attachment_941" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-941" style="width: 645px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.mindtitan.com/?utm_source=aggregate&amp;utm_medium=paid-ads"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-941" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png" alt="ai agency" width="645" height="118" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png 1024w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-300x55.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots-768x140.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/mindtitan-chatbots.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-941" class="wp-caption-text">This is a sponsored post from a brand I believe in.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>?SEO hack 3: A/B test new headlines and meta descriptions</h3>
<p>The two SEO tactics mentioned previously helped us to grow our blog’s organic traffic by over 1,500%.</p>
<p>However, it’s this third trick that gets credit for the latest improvements in our SERP rankings. It’s about rewriting and A/B testing your article’s headlines and meta descriptions.</p>
<p>Hearing about this SEO hack was definitely one of the few a-ha moments on our journey to 30k+ monthly organic (blog) traffic.</p>
<h3>Key takeaway #8: Rewrite and A/B test your article’s headlines and meta descriptions.</h3>
<p>Here’s how it works&#8230;</p>
<h4>Step 1</h4>
<p><strong>Select an article that’s ranking in the TOP20 search results and is optimized for a high search volume keyword.</strong></p>
<p>I like to use Moz’s keyword ranking reports for that.</p>
<figure id="attachment_591" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-591" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-591" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-rankings-report.png" alt="moz rankings report" width="750" height="174" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-rankings-report.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-rankings-report-300x70.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-rankings-report-768x178.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/moz-rankings-report-1024x238.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-591" class="wp-caption-text">Sry, can&#8217;t show you all our superstar keywords</figcaption></figure>
<p>The keyword “What is a kpi” has a considerable search volume, and the current ranking #15 shows that it has a potential to move up the ranks.</p>
<h4><strong>Step 2</strong></h4>
<p><strong>Google the keyword to see what other articles rank next to yours.</strong></p>
<p>In this phase, you’re going to sherlock on your competition, looking for their article’s headlines and meta descriptions.</p>
<p>We like to approach this stage by asking: What would make our article differentiate from the crowd and make people click?</p>
<figure id="attachment_583" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-583" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-research.png" alt="google SEO research" width="750" height="317" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-research.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-research-300x127.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-research-768x325.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-research-1024x433.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-583" class="wp-caption-text">How could we make our headline shine out?</figcaption></figure>
<p>In this case, all the headlines seem pretty generic and boring. What if we could rewrite the headline to make it more noteworthy (and clickable)?</p>
<h4>Key takeaway #9: Rewrite your headlines to increase the CTR on search result pages, and thereby raise your SERP rankings.</h4>
<p>We usually rewrite both the primary and SEO headline – if we come up with a better solution, we also want to have it in our blog.</p>
<p><strong>The key tactics we use to write powerful headlines:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Create a curiosity gap so that people will click on the headline.</li>
<li>Include your main keyword in the headline to be highlighted in search results.</li>
<li>Create comprehensive lists with odd numbers.</li>
<li>Make your headlines actionable by using action verbs such as “Learn”, “Get”, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Google <a href="https://moz.com/blog/does-organic-ctr-impact-seo-rankings-new-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evaluates search results</a> based on their click-through rates. It makes a lot of sense to put effort into increasing your top article’s CTRs.</p>
<p>Higher SERP click-through rates = higher rankings</p>
<h4>Step 3</h4>
<p><strong>Use the <a href="http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=google+search+console" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Search Console</a> to A/B test and measure results</strong></p>
<p>A marketing tactic is useless without proper measurement.</p>
<p><strong>What if you rewrite your blog headlines, but instead of increasing, your CTR actually drops?</strong></p>
<p>We’ve seen both success and failure with this SEO hack. It’s a good thing we measured the results and were able to restore some changed headlines and meta descriptions to their original state.</p>
<p>By using the Google Search Console, you can easily track your keywords’ and article’s click-through rates on Google.</p>
<p>To get a report that looks like this&#8230;</p>
<figure id="attachment_593" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-593" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-593" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/serp-ctrs.png" alt="serp ctrs in google search console" width="750" height="192" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/serp-ctrs.png 1630w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/serp-ctrs-300x77.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/serp-ctrs-768x197.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/serp-ctrs-1024x263.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-593" class="wp-caption-text">You can compare SERP CTRs from multiple periods</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>Follow these steps:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Log in to Google Search Console</li>
<li>Select “Search Traffic”, the “Search Analytics”</li>
<li>Tick the box in front of CTR</li>
<li>Change the columns from Queries to Pages</li>
<li>Select the dates you’d like to compare</li>
</ol>
<figure id="attachment_584" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-584" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-584" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-console-results.png" alt="google search console results" width="750" height="345" srcset="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-console-results.png 1400w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-console-results-300x138.png 300w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-console-results-768x353.png 768w, https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/google-search-console-results-1024x471.png 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-584" class="wp-caption-text">Change the chart&#8217;s settings accordingly</figcaption></figure>
<p>Using these reports has been of tremendous help in optimizing and A/B testing our article’s meta descriptions and headlines.</p>
<h4><strong>Key takeaway #10: Measure your marketing experiments’ results to see what actually works.</strong></h4>
<p>And now, it&#8217;s time for the sweetest part of the article – the fuckups.</p>
<h2>You can’t always win – our biggest failures</h2>
<p>I promised to also share our failures. While some of them being embarrassing to think of, we can at least say: We tried.</p>
<p>In retrospect, many of these failures make us feel like this…</p>
<figure id="attachment_582" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-582" style="width: 500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-582" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/funny.gif" alt="funny gif" width="500" height="246"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-582" class="wp-caption-text">That&#8217;s us at a marketing meeting – <a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/celebs-comedy-jessica-alba-tJ9hWojpuYnRK">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>But there are also the mistakes that make us feel more like&#8230;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<figure id="attachment_581" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-581" style="width: 370px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-581" src="https://karolakarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/embarrassed.gif" alt="" width="370" height="159"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-581" class="wp-caption-text">How could I be <i>that </i>stupid? – <a href="http://mrwgifs.com/hermione-granger-shake-my-head-gif/">Image source</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>It’s up to you to guess which failures make us feel in certain ways. (I&#8217;ve boldened my favourite ones)</p>
<ul>
<li>We tried Outbrain for content promotion, but it never delivered the anticipated results.</li>
<li>We forgot to add UTM codes and REF codes behind our paid promotions’ links.</li>
<li>We sometimes created content that stole our landing pages’ place on SERPs. We fixed this by adding CTAs inside blog articles.</li>
<li><strong>We created a <a href="https://www.scoro.com/blog/christmas-infographic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christmas infographic</a> on productivity that we published 20 days too late.</strong></li>
<li>We tried some crazy headline and meta description changes that significantly decreased the CTRs to our articles. Luckily, the rankings recovered in a few weeks.</li>
<li><strong>Once, I mistakenly thought Outbrain’s budget signifies the total campaign budget.</strong> It was the daily budget. You might have guessed why I don’t like Outbrain&#8230;</li>
<li>We waited for too long to update our blog layout and redesign the article page.</li>
<li>We didn’t do enough outreach and collaborate with other industry blogs.</li>
<li>For the first 8 months, we focused on vanity metrics such as social shares, instead of website traffic and lead conversions.</li>
<li><strong>We spent 30+ hours on an eBook campaign that returned only 4 leads.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h4>For us, guest blogging didn’t work. At all.</h4>
<p>While everyone’s praising guest blogging as a brilliant SEO tactic, I’m going to play the devil&#8217;s advocate&nbsp;here.</p>
<p><strong>We did lots of guest posting on other sites, like <a href="https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/test-100-facebook-ads-one-month-what-we-learned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/03/promote-blog-content-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, and <a href="https://klientboost.com/ppc/facebook-ad-tips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. However, considering the time and resources spent, this is not a high-ROI way to grow your blog traffic.</strong></p>
<p>I would recommend that you do PR, but forget about guest posting – focus on publishing excellent content in your own blog instead.</p>
<h2>Over to you</h2>
<p>As you can see, nothing too serious went wrong. We were able to happily test away all our new ideas.</p>
<p>If you intend to grow your organic blog traffic, know that there is no instant way to win (Ahrefs’ case study perfectly illustrates it). Use what you’ve learned in this article to accelerate your journey to tens of thousands monthly blog visitors.</p>
<p>I hope this helps and would love to hear the hacks that have helps you to grow your website traffic. Let’s have a discussion in the comments.&nbsp;&nbsp;???</p><p>The post <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro/growing-organic-blog-traffic/">From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months – How We Did It</a> appeared first on <a href="https://karolakarlson.com/ro">Marketing Fix blog</a>.</p>
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