By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Greg_W._Scott]Greg W. Scott
Last year when the Google Panda update gave the article directories a serious slapdown, I started looking at other ways to market my site. What I figured out was that I can keep writing articles and getting them published on the web through guest blogging. Guest blogging is the same deal except that with article directories you get a cheap backlink. With guest posts you get a much better one, as well as wider readership.
It's pretty simple - You write a high-quality blog post that you're proud to put your name on, and then contact a blog owner and offer it to them. They get free content and you get exposure. It's win-win and so far every blog owner I've contacted has accepted. But you have to give them your best! That's really important.
Finding Good Blogs
What's the best way to find good blogs for guest posting? Of course, the best way is to contact blogs that you already read and comment on. They'll know you already for your helpful and insightful posts, and this increases the likelihood that your posts will be accepted.
If you don't read any blogs in your niche (shame on you!) or you're just not ready to send your blogs to them yet, you can always find good blogs using Google search. Try searching for 'topic + blog.' You can also try searching for 'topic + blog + guest posts' to find blogs that accept guest posts, or you can search for your specific topic (the topic of your article or something similar) using Google's blog search on the left-hand side of the screen.
I only use Google search because I figure that if it comes up at the top of the SERPs for that keyword, it gets lots of traffic and Google Love, and thus it's popular. If I found it that way, others will too. Simple is best in my way of doing things.
Checking Out Blogs
When you find a blog that looks like a good fit for your work, you need to check them out to make sure that they accept guest blog posts. Otherwise, you'll waste your time sending them an email and look like an idiot who doesn't do their homework.
Start by looking at the 'about' page. It will usually tell you if they accept guest posts. You might also see a page that's something like 'write for us' or 'submit your work.' If you still can't tell whether or not they accept submissions, skim through recent posts and look at the authors. If they're all written by the same person, chances are pretty good that they don't accept guest posts.
Busting Out The Numbers
If you want to put on your SEO hat and maximize your traffic, you can do some research on the sites you choose to see how much traffic they pull. You can do this by checking their Google PageRank and Alexa ranking.
PageRank is a number from 0 to 10 that measures a site's worth in the eyes of Google. It's based on a million different super-secret factors that Google will take with it to the grave. A higher number is better.
You can check out a site's rank at Google's PageRank Checker. Put in the page's URL and write the funny words in the anti-spam box, and it will tell you the rank. It even shows you a little green bar that visually represents the pagerank just in case you can't interpret a number.
To give you a basic idea, anything under pagerank 4 is considered low. From 4 to 7 is pretty good and over 7 is awesome.
Pagerank can be a little bit misleading though because it measures pages and not websites. A site's main page can be pagerank 7 while its other pages are 0. This means that you might be submitting to a site you think has a high pagerank but your blog post goes to the 0 page.
Alexa ranking tells you how many visitors there are and how long they stay. It's a measure of traffic only. The numbers go from 0 to infinity with low numbers meaning more traffic.
Like pagerank, it isn't always an accurate measure of how much traffic a site gets. But if you've got a low Alexa ranking or a high pagerank, you can be pretty sure your guest blog post will get seen.
Quality And Relevance
What's really more important than numbers is quality and relevance. In other words, you wrote a good blog post and you posted it to the right site where people will enjoy it. If you can do that, your post will be a success.
I don't bother checking PR or Alexa rankings. I just use Google, find sites I like, and ask myself, 'Would my guest blog post be good here?' If the answer is 'yes,' I write them an email.
I write your content so you don't have to >> [http://www.gregscottwrites.com]www.gregscottwrites.com. I've got hundreds of satisfied customers under my belt. This article is copyright 2011 by Greg Scott. Anyone may use this article as long as all links in the article and resource box stay active and the article is not altered in any way.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Guest-Blogging---Choosing-The-Right-Blogs-For-Your-Work&id=6737037] Guest Blogging - Choosing The Right Blogs For Your Work