Guest Blogging is in some corners the new dirty word for link building but if done with tact and restraint it can not only help with SEO but create direct leads for your business. Since Google got into the zoo business and started pushing out the Panda and Penguin updates a few years ago the SEO world has been scrambling to figure out new ways to get links that Google likes. One method has been the Guest Blog where you find another website and give them content to publish that contains a link back to your website. The idea is that good and useful content is being created which Google users find useful when searching for information and Google links that to your website as well as the one it was published on.
The problem is that just as with link building before lazy and nefarious people have made it into a new arms race of how many links can be created quickly and cheaply. This misses the underlying focus of the Guest Blog which is to create relevant and useful content for users.
My suggestion is that if you are going to partake in the Guest Blog method that you keep high standards not only for the content you create but for the websites that you have it published on. This takes more work which I know everyone wants to avoid but compared to digging a ditch its pretty easy stuff. First of all start writing about what you know and why people should pay you for your knowledge. Then search out similar people to what you do and check out their websites for good content. See that they care about what they are putting online and then reach out to them and see if they might be interested in taking a Guest Blog post from you.
The same goes for accepting Guest Blog posts onto your own website. Be very wary of anyone reaching out to you. Make sure they are legitimate and have their own domain name email address as well as good content on their own website. The lazy people are sending out email blasts to anyone and everyone trying to get their poor content and links on as many sites as they can.
You should be highly selective with giving and taking any content online. Instead of thinking mass marketing think individual readers. If you spend 4 hours writing up a couple of articles and then get them on the right websites you should expect to get inquiries from them. As an added bonus you might get more search traffic as well.