So, by now you’ve heard that guest blogging is the hottest SEO avenue, exceeding article directories and general SEO websites. For good reason, since guest blogging involves writing higher quality content of interest to educated readers. However, the thought of guest blogging may be intimidating to you—especially if you’re used to dealing with the relatively easy submissions process of an article directory.

However, learning the business of guest blogging is not as difficult as it might seem. It not only involves writing content for other blogs, but also involves a new submissions process of contacting the blog owner (or appropriate contact) and making an inquiry about submissions. This process is similar to a traditional “query letter” that writers have to create when submitting material to publishers or agents.

Guest blogging does require writing ability (that will appeal to regular readers of a niche and not just general web viewers) as well as the ability to negotiate and befriend blog owners. So it is a somewhat gregarious position, since you will have to connect with many blog site owners in order to publish these stories on a regular basis. Organizing your guest blogging sites according to niche and scheduling regular submissions will be the challenge.

There is a submissions process, which means there may be a chance of receiving a rejection letter. Do not lose heart if this happens. Since we’re discussing guest blogging here and not an agent in a big New York publishing house, you can assume that if your piece is rejected it will be primarily an issue of scheduling conflicts (i.e. too many submissions written on the same topics) or the wrong sort of niche topic. If you are a legitimate writer and can speak English and form a coherent sentence, rest assured you do have a place in guest blogging.

Naturally, not a lot of lawyers, doctors, marketers, company owners or entrepreneurs have the time to invest in guest blogging, which is why they will often outsource these needs to an SEO firm. An SEO firm has a list of guest blogging networks and sites that can help to publish new quality content.

Whether you handle the reins yourself or outsource this job, it is a wise decision to plan for plenty of guest blogging features in the future. Guest blogging is overtaking article marketing and even company-sponsored blogging in search engine results pages. More than ever, readers and search bots are looking for high quality content designed for well-read and discriminating readers. The real money in web marketing is not just in high traffic but in the number of loyal visitors, and the time they spend reading a site.

Yes, it’s all about targeted content. And that’s where guest blogging can really help you.