With guest blogging becoming such a popular method for promoting your blog more and more bloggers are asking where they should publish their best content – on their blog or on the blog their guest blogging for. Initially, my gut reaction was to tell them that no matter where you publish it should always be your “best content.” However, let me get a little more specific here, because there’s more to it than that.
I’m a regular guest blogger on several blogs and websites and I have other places I publish, including Squidoo, Hubpages and a few different article directories. So no matter what type of content I write there’s always some place where I can publish it.
All of these other properties and websites have an audience base that would be interested in my content but each audience is a little bit different. So, instead of asking where I should publish my best content, I ask myself “Where is the best place to publish this content to get the results I want?”
Content for traffic generation: Of course, the hope is that all the content you create falls under the “shareable content” category but we know that’s not always the case. Shareable content includes videos, infographics, and information-packed lists posts.
Bookmarkable content: Bookmarkable content is typically detailed How-To articles or long, comprehensive lists posts, articles that can’t be read and absorbed in one sitting. I place this type of content on my own blog because if people are going to be bookmarking so they can come back again, I want them coming back to my blog, not someone else’s.
Blogging contests: When I enter blogging contests I also like to use guest blogging to promote that contest entry so I publish on the properties or blogs with the highest traffic.
News-type content: If I have news-type content I publish on a site that might have access to Google News or a site that gets traffic from webmasters who are interested in new technology. For example, when Google has a new update I might write a guest blog post about it and either submit it to a friend who writes for Examiner.com, which has access to Google News, or I’ll submit it to one of the technology blogs I write for. Again, I’m looking for the best source of traffic.
Content for Linkbuilding: If I’m writing for linkbuilding purposes then I’ll choose the site with the highest ranking that will allow the type of content I’m publishing. In some cases, I might not be able to use an article directory because of what I’m linking to, so I’d go with Squidoo or Hubpages.
All of your content should be your “best content”, no matter where you publish it. But before you publish, think about the results you want to achieve with that content. Are you trying to get direct traffic, referral traffic or organic traffic, or are you after the link juice? For link juice and referral traffic you’ll have to publish somewhere else. For organic and direct traffic, publish on your blog.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!