Is your guest post a flop? Let’s fix that!

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This is a guest post by Brandon Connell from Make Money Blogging. It is being republished because WebsiteBegin.com has gone offline for good.

There have been a couple of times when I first began when I did not get nearly enough comments to make the donated article seem like it was worth the effort. In essence, it flopped horribly, and I consider it an embarassment. These days, the lowest I get usually is 20 comments. I consider 20 to be a flop because of my high standards, and the fact that I tend to average 50 or more.

The good thing is that even your old forgotten posts can become one of your most commented. How? By driving traffic to it in various ways with your established reputation. It also helps the blog that you guest posted on because you are sending traffic their way. Below are a few methods I like to use to drive traffic to those old posts.

Editors Note: I suppose the fact that WebsiteBegin has gone offline and you can now repurpose this guest post here is all part of your master plan Brandon?! Poor little Joe, what did you do to him? LOL
Great Post mate – think you guys will get a few typically helpful Brandon-esque tips here. Enjoy

Oh, and just quickly – I was looking for an image to go with this post so I searched Google Images for ‘Guest Post’ and this is what I found! LOL. From now on anyone who contributes to this blog will get to wear this badge ALL day! (that’s 24 hours folks!) Brandon – I know you’ll wear the inaugural one with pride.

WTF? Where is the EY? At least they got the 'Great and Powerful' bit right.

#1. Reference Materials: New vs Old

One of my newest methods that I have started to employ is to link to old guest posts within new guest posts. If the old article is relevant to the new article content, then why not? Blog owners will not object to this because you are providing a quality reference for their readers.

The cool thing about this method is that you will get the interest of the blog owner where you previously posted when they notice where the new traffic is coming from. If you haven’t been in contact with them in awhile, your link-love will certainly remind them that you exist and may result in them leaving commentary on your new article, and your blog!

#2. Automatic Linking

I have used automatic linking on my site to get traffic to old articles, and to monetize affiliate offers. The free wordpress plugin I use is called BM Keywordlink and does an excellent job of linking whenever I use a specific keyword or keyphrase.

You don’t have to limit this functionality to interlinking or affiliate promotion. You can use it to link to old guest posts like you would with the “reference materials” method above. You also reap the same benefits as previously mentioned.

If you have the funds, you can use Ninja Affiliate instead of BM KeywordLink and receive additional functionality.

#3. Ebook Traffic

Ebooks are a great, and long lasting method of driving traffic to old guest posts. Even if your ebook were to be illegally circulated, you would still benefit in the end because there are links to your articles contained within them. You can also get the added boost of distributing your ebooks if you were to let the blog owners that you linked to them within them. They would be eager to promote your ebook on their blog heavily because they will benefit from the traffic.

#4. Make it your signature article!

If you aren’t aware, Digital Point Forums is one forum that allows you to change your signature that gets displayed with your posts, and it doesn’t change site-wide. What this means is that you can drive traffic to multiple links throughout the forum forever! You can take advantage of this by linking to two of your articles in your signature, and then posting a few threads or commenting on some to get some traffic to those articles. You can rinse and repeat the next day or two.

Not all forums do this however. Most of them make it default where if you change your signature, it will change the signature on all of your old posts as well. You can still get traffic this way, but it is more of a short term solution rather than a long term one.

#5. Sponsored Link

There is a technique that I love to use, and one I have written about a few times. That method is the sponsored link that I use when I release free web templates or themes. I release these designs under creative comments with a link requirement in the footer. When someone uses that template for their site, I get backlinks with my anchor text.

But what if you used this method to get backlinks to your old articles? I am sure the blog owner will be appreciative!

#6 Advertise!

You don’t have to go and rack up an expense to promote your old guest posts. I mean, why go and pay for an ad that brings another blog some traffic? Instead you can use that money to advertise your own. But you CAN use your own ad space to promote your old guest articles!

Let’s assume you have a free 125×125 spot open on your sidebar. You can design an ad which targets that article, and link to it. People click on these little ads, so why not use them to your own benefit rather than to push an affiliate product? If the slot is open, use it to get commentary on those old articles!

Conclusion

In the end, your goal is to get traffic and commentary on those old guest articles. If you employ the methods I mentioned, you are likely to have those old ones overtake the new ones by hundreds of comments! Share your methods below for driving traffic to your old guest articles.

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Tagged as: Backlinks, blogging tips, how to blog