As we continue to look into various ways of making your blog famous, I want to take a look at two popular ways to increase your branding. I will be looking at Advertising on Blogs as well as Guest Blogging, putting them head to head in a few different categories to see which one comes out the winner.
Blog Advertising
This is where you purchase an image space or a link on a blog or website linking it back to your blog. For this comparison we will be using the standard 125×125 ad space that is featured on most blogs these days.
Guest Posting
This is where you write a post specifically for another blog. Usually you contact the blog owner first and pitch a post outline to them and if they accept , you then write the post and they post it on their blog – with a sentence or two about you and your blog either before or after the post body.
Now I have personally over the first half of July had both blog advertising running and guest articles posted so I will use the data I can get from these for my analysis. (I realise that results may vary from blog to blog)
There are two ways to judge the benefit of a marketing method. One is short term results. The other long term. To make it easier to understand I have made the short term goals the initial traffic I received as a direct result of the marketing method, and the long term goal is the impact it had on my branding. This second section will be based wholly on my personal opinion as it cannot be looked in things like visitors and numbers.
Short Term Benefits Analysis – Traffic Stats
- Blog Advertising
I have banner ads on 4 blogs currently. However two of them did not make my referring sites section in AwStats with less then 8 visitors ( sorry Nathanial and EliteBlogger). I will however take a look at the stats from the other two blogs that I have a 125×125 ad spot on:- TechTreak.com
So far this month I have had 13 unique visitors from this ad space. - ThomasSinfield.com
From this ad spot I have derived 10 new unique visitors.
- TechTreak.com
- Guest Posts
I have had the opportunity to guest post on 4 successful blogs, however I did not receive enough traffic from my guest post at MixedMarketArts to complete our analysis. Here is the traffic details for my other three guest posts:- CarlOcab.com
The traffic coming from the posts address is 8 unique visitors, however I did receive another 38 visitors from Carl’s homepage – which as the link to my blog from the post was visible on the index page, it is safe top assume that a portion of these visitors were a result of the post. - TylerCruz.com
My guest post here brought me in a total of 12 visitors. - RetireAt21.com
And this guest post added another 11 visitors.
- CarlOcab.com
I cannot honestly say that I am impressed with the stats either of these marketing methods have produced. However, we can safely agree that both have similar short term results.
Now lets take a look at the benefits in the long term – with branding.
Long Term Analysis – Branding
When I think branding, there are three things I look for.
- What Are People Seeing To Help Them Remember My Blog
- What Is The Credibility Of The Marketing Effort
- How Long Will The Marketing Stay Live
So lets take a look at each of these for both blog advertising and guest posting. Starting with the first.
- Blog Advertising
- What Are People Seeing To Help Them Remember My Blog
The thing I love about blog advertising is the image awareness that it creates. I honestly don’t care if I get 1 or 1000 visits from the blog I have a 125×125 ad spot on. My main goal is to get as many people to see my ad, which is well designed and highly congruent to my blog layout, because when they happen to stumble upon my blog later they will feel like they have been here and know about my blog.125×125 ads are fantastic for increasing exposure, but you need to makes sure that you have them professionally designed and they have the same feel as your blog does.
- What Is The Credibility Of The Marketing Effort
Sure having an ad spot on a credible blog may give your ad some weight, but think about all the BeachBum marketing ads that are on many of the high profile blogs. Your marketing has very little credibility as everyone knows that the only reason you image is on the blog is because you paid for it.Does this mean that they are worthless? Of course not. The results you receive from image branding still works.
- How Long Will The Marketing Stay Live
As long as you keep paying for it. This is one of the down sides of paid advertising. You have to keep paying if you want to keep getting the benefits.
- What Are People Seeing To Help Them Remember My Blog
- Guest Posts
- What Are People Seeing To Help Them Remember My Blog
- With every guest post you are able to have some sort of blurb and link back to your blog. HEre are some samples of mine:Guest Link On Tyler Cruz
Guest Link On MixedMarketArts
Guest Link On RetireAt21.com
Guest Link On CarlOCab.com
As you can see although guest post blurbs come in a range of ways, they usually have a small writeup on you and your blog as well as a link to your blog using the anchor text you require.This helps with SEO, and the branding of the name of your blog, but doesn’t really do anything for branding your blogs image.
- What Is The Credibility Of The Marketing Effort
This is where guest posts takes over blog advertising. Guest posts carry a great amount of credibility as they are seen as a personal recommendation from the blog owner. Visitors know that to get a guest post published it has to be approved by the blog owner – meaning that they approve (and even recommend) the blog post, and also to a smaller degree the guest blogger.I have seen a few bloggers gain a bucket load of credibility from regularly guest posting on major blogs – and this has seen the blog grow dramatically.
- How Long Will The Marketing Stay Live
Forever. Well maybe not. A blog owner may take it down – but why would they? The blog owner is getting great content and probably some nice search engine traffic, so the chanced of getting your post removed after a month is very minimal. This means that your post (and link) are going to be there for visitors months and even years into the future.
So Which Is Better?
Well based on the traffic stats both blog advertising and guest posting are head to head. So I guess in this regard it depends on whether you have time or money to spare. Writing a guest post would probably take you half and hour and buying a blog ad can cost anywhere from $1 (or even free) to $500 a month plus.
I cannot really judge the performance of the branding aspect at such an early stage but it is safe to say that both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so just choose the model that is right for you.
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I’ve never spent a dime on blog advertising and I prefer to keep it that way. Guest posting costs nothing and helps directly to get visitors, plus also gives you the linkback to your own blog for SEO purposes.
Erik Kareys last blog post..Niche Review Sites = Free Organic Traffic
Guest posting can be very effective if done properly, doing a bad guest post can actually damage your reputation though!
I only guest post on authority blogs, and have never bought a 125 slot, but have been donated a couple!
David Shaws last blog post..Blog Review: Clubblogger.com
Interesting insights and analysis. I have been considering the guest posting route, as it was recommended to me by a blogger with a high-traffic site. I still have a little more research to do on the benefits, but I’m leaning towards it.
BTW, great looking blog you have here. I’m going to subscribe.
whataboutblogs last blog post..Contest from bloggernoob and crunchnow.com
I do need to do some guest posting. I have seen limited benefits with advertising, but that can get expensive really quick.
Nicks last blog post..CTCSS and PL Tones
I think it depends on where the ads or guest post is.
OR,
The number of clumsy people who accidentally click an ad ;) Lol j/k
Gs last blog post..Pirates Suck
I never understood the 125×125 ads – does anyone seriously click on them? The ones I see are all too flashy for me to take them seriously.
Edwards last blog post..Facebook Ads Credits
Nice post! I would put this in my section of competition. Maybe in a few weeks I will do one on the same topics! The ending could be a little more dramatic(sharing your opinion on which is better, which of course does not mean that it is really better), but I like the ideas presented here.
Guest posting is definitely better because you not only get traffic but you get a backlink forever.
Germzs last blog post..Tips to get more backlinks
Great post Tom! I would stick to guest posting since it’s better in my opinion, and cheaper… :lol:
What I would really like to see, is a comparison between a guest post on Problogger and an advertisement!
Rajaie AlKoranis last blog post..5 Important Characteristics Of Social Media Content
This is the topic that I have been w8ting for in your blog… Well I can say guest post can boost you up especially if your post would somehow get liked by the readers of that certain site… Advertising is done just for branding purposes.. You see people who do this wants to appear in a niche market. I don’t really see any importance of advertising your blogs… I just don’t feel blogs should be advertised. Just advertise your product maybe…
Another great post.I prefer guest posting as it has a more personal touch and it lasts longer and it benefits readers as well.I don’t want to comment about advertising as I have mixed ideas about it but this is a great post :D
Jagdesh-OnlyTechStuffs last blog post..Keyboard Shortcuts
Hi Tom, Great topic, I have never really thought about the difference between ad vs. guest post. But now I will be looking more closely at my stats when I do get a guest writer. I have a couple lined up, that said they would do a guest post for me. I guess you would have to also factor in who the “guest writer” is as far as traffic is concerned. Always good information coming from StandOut Blogger… Thanks Tom
jjmomscashblogs last blog post..How to Write Ads That Sell – Part I
@Edward – I see an overall CTR of 3% on the 125×125 ads I run on OpTempo. Some individual ads do better than others though. My rotating 125 slots are free but are nofollow.
As for guest posting, I’ve seen some “pay for play” going on with some blogs. That’s where you pay a big blogger for the opportunity to do a guest post on their blog. I don’t think that’s such a hot deal unless you’re more interested in popularity than anything else.
Frank Cs last blog post..Save Money with an Electric Tankless Water Heater
I have never done any advertising. I did guest post on two blog TUK and Zero and Up. I do not know if I received any click from them.
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