Guest postingWhat is Guest Posting?Guest posting, in the context of the cybersecurity industry, refers to the practice where an individual or organization contributes a blog post or article to another's website... More in cybersecurity is a topic I’m very familiar with. I’ll often open my inbox to a flurry of emails from random people and organizations to see if they can submit an article to a very popular cybersecurity site I manage.
As I’ve been doing this for almost a decade now, I can easily spot someone trying to get a dubious backlink or clearly having no idea what we do and just wanting to publish something, anywhere.
But why do people and organizations keep doing this?
There are a few reasons why these SEO agencies are doing their utmost to get a blog published on your site, but the main reason is to try and get backlinks. When you have a site with high domain authority and publish content from an array of industry experts, you’re going to get targeted by spam. The higher the domain authority, the more emails are coming your way.
Cybersecurity expert, Troy Hunt, posted this hilarious article on his site called, “No, I won’t link to your spammy site”. After you’ve read this article, I suggest you give it a quick read. Someone of Troy’s caliber will always be a target for backlinks, it’s pretty hilarious how he toys with the spammers.
However, all is not lost, guest posting (or guest blogging) is still a very smart thing to be doing (only when it’s done correctly.)
Tips for Guest Posting
As defined by Neil Patel, “Guest posts (or guest posting) is publishing an article on someone else’s website.”
It really is that simple.
This isn’t a new thing that people are doing, but as more of us are spending more time online and building our own sources of information, guest posting is a tactic that can be used for a number of reasons.
#1 Build up your reputation
If you’re new to the cybersecurity industry, or perhaps looking to build up your online presence, guest posting can be a great tool to help compliment the work you’re already doing. There are a ton of great cybersecurity sites out there such as Dark Reading and CPO Magazine that have their own independent following. So having your name on their site, tagged on by their social media team, and being featured in their regular newsletter carries a lot of weight.
#2 Reach a new audience
Writing for various sites can help you build up your reputation, but not only that, it can help you reach a new audience. You might be a prolific writer for your company blog, but you’ll find it’s mainly customers and employees reading your work. Which is great and has its place, but when you start guest posting, you’ll be reaching new people in new places and making new connections.
#3 Make new connections
Once you start building your reputation and talking to a new audience, you’ll find more opportunities will come your way. The number of people I’ve known over the years that have had a rush of LinkedIn connections, Twitter followers, and even direct emails off the back of writing has been impressive. I’ve seen writers being approached to speak at industry events, join webinars on the same topic they have written about, offered to write in other publications, and even had job offers! If done correctly, guest posting can have a huge impact on your professional career.
#4 Link building in an organic and natural way
When you guest post, publications will want you to create unique, thought-provoking content. This isn’t an exercise to talk about your company, your products, or solutions. Guest blogging is all about offering insights using your personal experiences, how you have overcome them, and sharing advice with peers in your industry to help them in their day-to-day lives. Guest blogging should be an educational process with a sprinkle of entertainment.
However, when it’s possible, you should always try and get a relevant link to something you’ve worked on before on your own site, or even your company website. It could be a new blog you’re looking at getting more visibility or something else important to you that you want to drive a bit of awareness too. Like I said before though, if it’s promotional, a good publication will see through this straight away and decline your submission.
Getting an article published
If you’re new to guest posting or just looking for tips on how to get your blogs posted on cybersecurity sites, here are some things to consider:
Do your research
If you’re writing about fashion tips, don’t email a cybersecurity site asking to place a blog on “10 reasons to attend Paris fashion show”. Stick to your niche, be relevant and add value to the site you’re approaching.
Does the site have guidelines?
If so, then read them. It’s taken their team time to put guidelines together so the least you can do is read them to make sure your submission is relevant and of value to their audience.
Check the website’s spam score and domain authority
If you’ve found a site you want to post at but their domain authority is 15 and they have a high spam score, is that where you want your work to go, and are you getting a good return on the time you’ve invested on this piece of content?
Does this cost money?
Some sites will charge for posting on their site, this can be for a number of reasons but most of the best sites won’t charge. They will be looking at the quality of the content and if you’re adding value to their readers, this is better than paying to get something placed. Also, think if it’s easy for someone to pay $100 to post a blog, is that where you want your work to be showcased?
Don’t chase too hard
Good sites and the best editors are very busy people and they have a particular process to deal with regular requests. If you don’t get an initial response, don’t be passive-aggressive and follow up the next day. I’d consider creating a timeline to make sure your submission doesn’t get lost in their volume of submissions, or because someone is on vacation.
When working with experts in the cybersecurity industry, they can get extremely excited about the thoughts of guest posting and the benefits it can have on them and their organization. However, it’s not that simple for a lot of people to spend time coming up with new ideas, writing, editing, finding relevant publications, and then submitting the content to the relevant editors.
That’s where Bora comes in. We have a team of experts that can help you come up with the right ideas, interview you, record, and actually write the content for you and your organization to review. With just 30 minutes of your time, we can help create an article fit for almost any cybersecurity publication. Not only that, our team has built up relationships with numerous publications in the industry, allowing us to easily get high-quality blog posts published in the best cybersecurity publications out there.
Being an expert at what you do is time-consuming, but sharing your work and ideas with the broader industry is really important for you and your business. And instead of adding to your already heavy workload, let Bora do the lifting for you.
