Are You Planning on Guest-posting?
According to Jeff Goins, “… guest-posting is the single most important strategy for growing your blog readership and platform.” (I recommend you read the entire post on his blog.) Jeff explains it best; I’ll give you some practical application.
So, What Is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization (which can change as search engines themselves change). To put it simply, a blogger should learn what they can, and should, do to have a higher page ranking on Google in particular, but also on Bing.com and other search engines. In other words, would you like your post to appear on the first page near the top in a search or buried several pages deep?
Again, according to Jeff Goins, “… when it comes to SEO, guest posting on other sites is five times as valuable as creating new content on your own site. (So long as you get the backlink.)”
Now That You’re Ready to Guest-post
You and your host may prefer you compose an original piece of work as your guest post. This eliminates all the rigamarole of duplication and helps both you and your host to have fresh content. You might want to read another post of Jeff’s, How to Be a Polite (and Successful) Guest Blogger to learn about the relational and social-sharing aspects of your new adventure.
If, however, you’ve already posted a really good piece you’d like to share and/or you’re already maxed out on how much writing you can fit into your life, then read on. (You should also read the first two posts in this series so you understand a bit about bloggers’ concerns about duplicate posts and copyrighting original work.)
I recommend a Creative Commons license for your original work. It will look similar to the license at the bottom of this post. Here’s how to create one easily.
When you submit your content to your host, include the license at the bottom. Here’s an example of a post from eQuipping for eMinistry on MissionalWomen.com so you see what I’m talking about. (I changed the link slightly to include the post title and my name. My host didn’t want the license icon.) If you click on the link in the license you’ll go to the original work.
Why All This Effort?
Because you’re using the license with the links, a search engine knows which work is the original post and will be able to rank your creative writing accurately. This will help your SEO.
When you’ve published a guest post, I’d love to hear back from you about your experience.
UPDATE (Jan. 2014): Guest-posting and SEO might be changing because of overuse and abuse. I recommend you read this article.
This image is modified from the original on Wikimedia Commons.
In this series
Guest Posts, Licensing, and SEO by Sus Schmitt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
eQuipping for eMinistry 
Thanks for doing what you do. So much of this is confusing to my old brain–the learning curve feels huge! But you have made so much sense and given such gracious help that I feel like I’m getting there. I so appreciate you!
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Thanks, Dayle. You have so much to offer on your blog, Tip of the Iceberg. Just keep it simple and God will grow it. You really don’t need all the bells and whistles.
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