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The Best Guest Posting Sites for Busy Business Bloggers

As a busy business blogger, wouldn't it just be nice to have short a list of quality guest posting opportunities and know where to go to get the best guest posting tips without having to read hundreds of articles?

Well, you've come to the right place.

Ramblings on the State of Guest Posting Today...

Now that Google has decisively shut down several of the most flagrantly artificial SEO techniques, guest posting has become big business. But the problem is, it's become a little too big. The guest posting field is getting watered down by linking building droids who are spamming webmasters left, right, and center with their low quality, spun content, causing many webmasters to recoil in frustration. But none of this is surprising. After all, guest posting is supposedly the last free method of securing a prized backlink to your site...

So, let's first get one thing straight, guest posting is not the best, free method to get quality backlinks to your site. There's nothing "free" about it. To be successful at guest posting, you have to at least dedicate a significant amount of time to researching sites, being active on them, writing up a quality post, answering comments, etc. And your time is money, remember? If you are outsourcing your linkbuilding and content creation (or have permanently hired someone for the task) then it requires a direct investment of money as well.

The bottom line is that it is getting harder to find quality sites to guest post on, and it is getting harder to even get noticed in the first place, and this is happening as the tasks required to run a successful business blog and website are getting more and more numerous.

That said, there are plenty of quality sites out there that are still open to guest bloggers. For a good post on how to search for these sites in your particular niche and for some general guest posting tips, see this great post over at Kissmetrics; you should also take a look at this video at SEOMoz (transcript included). There are several posts out there listing "hundreds" of sites that accept guest post submissions. But,  for those of you who have limited resources, yet realize the potential of guest posting to amplify your message, build brand awareness, and send targeted traffic to your site, you may be looking for something more focused.

The sites listed below will give you the biggest bang for your buck. If you only have the time and money to focus on a few guest posting opportunities, you may want to target these sites first. To make the list they fulfill most (if not all) of the following criteria:

  • Strong social sharing- Aside from amplifying your work, social signals are becoming more important than ever in increasing your "authorship authority"- something Google takes into consideration when ranking the content on your own site.
  • Awesome commenters- The more comments, the more opportunities you get to express your expertise and ideas (by responding to them). If the site has Commentluv, then you can also showcase other posts on your site.
  • Strong brand- A guest post on an authority site is almost like getting an endorsement. Your brand is being associated with another strong brand that you can reference later on.
  • Good traffic-You need this to maximize those referral visits.
  • High page and domain ranking- You are getting a strong link from an authority site which will help your site's ranking.
  • Allows a range of guest posters- You'll actually stand a chance of getting published even if you are not running a top-ranking blog or website.
  • ***Bonus: The people behind many of the sites listed below are online networking superstars. It pays to sign up for their email lists and download an ebook or two even just to see what the "professionals" are doing. They are living examples of how to leverage your readership and brand.

You'll notice that this list is relatively short. It was done on purpose. It is very much quality over quantity here. If you are a business blogger- especially a time-strapped, cash-strapped one- then I urge you to take a look at these sites.

The Most Valuable Guest Posting Opportunities for Business Bloggers

SEO, Internet-Based Marketing, Blogging Tips, and Making Money Online:

Business Topics:

  • Small Business Trends- The number one site for small business news and trends.
  • TweakYourBiz (formerly Bloggertone)- A good guest blogging platform exclusively for business bloggers.
  • Business2Community- Not so much social activity here, but it's an extensive network of professionals writing on a variety of business topics.

General Topics and Lifestyle Blogs:

  • Com Luv Network- The blog over at CommentLuv supports a whole range of topics and has a large readership
  • Pick the Brain- A popular self-development blog.
  • Life Hack- Another all-rounder with a strong readership and community
  • Technorati- Technorati is perhaps best known for its website ranking system, but you can also guest post there. This site offers a readership of millions monthly and publishes on a variety of topics.

Guest Blogging Communities:

  • Aside from the sites above, you may also want to join a guest blogging community. Such sites bring together bloggers who are interested in connecting with other bloggers across various niches to both publish and receive guest posts. Though there are a few options out there, the best one is My Blog Guest, by Anne Smarty. The site is heavily moderated (read: no spam), it has an active community, and the quality of the articles are relatively high. You can try connecting with other bloggers via the forums or for $10 a month, you can get a pro account which allows you to put a summary of your guest post submissions into the articles gallery.