Promote Your Site by Contributing to Another

How do you build valuable inbound links, enhance your website’s credibility, expand your portfolio, and possibly make some money, all in one step? The answer is to go write for someone else’s website. That’s right; whether as a guest blogger, an article author, or a paid contributor, writing for someone else’s site can provide numerous benefits for your own.

Here’s how it works. You are invited or volunteer to write on a site, preferably a reputable one. In exchange, you may be paid and/or receive a byline for your article. If it’s a blog post, you provide feedback in the comments (linking back to your own website when appropriate, even if the links are nofollowed). If you become a regular contributor, you may get an author bio page featuring a link back to your own site. It’s only courteous, since the host of the site is receiving valuable content without having to work for it.

There are downsides to this method of website promotion, of course. For starters, if your own website is a blog, your posting frequency may suffer from divided attention. If your blog is profitable, this may lead to lost income, even if you’re paid for your contributions elsewhere. Unfortunately, weighing the costs against the benefits might be like comparing apples to oranges, so it may be difficult to say if it’s really worthwhile. When in doubt, offer to contribute on a trial basis.

The real benefit, of course, is reputation. My friend JP Sherman, for example, earned some street cred in the gaming community by posting articles for Ten Ton Hammer. I’ve done the same thing by posting on Search Engine Lowdown and Daily Blog Tips. Whether or not these contributions have any immediate benefit is irrelevant; in the long run, they’re money in the credibility bank, which can easily improve your readership or even land you a new job. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call time well spent.