Guest Posting vs Press Release: The Differences & When To Use Them

16 April, 2019

We always say content is king, and you need to create good actionable content for your readers to get those backlinks.

But guest posting and press releases should not be ignored too. There’s no denying that they are still a relevant technique to boost backlink profile and up your ranking game.

But what’s the difference between a guest post and a press release? Which one would work better for a certain situation? Let me break that down to you.

Choosing A Topic For A Guest Post vs Deciding Something Newsworthy to Announce via Press Release

Writing a guest post is just like writing a blog post on your own website. You need to put in just as much effort and content to make it stand out. Not forgetting every single tweak that you can to make sure it ranks.

While choosing a topic for a guest post, you usually have no free reign. The topic will have to be heavily related to the theme of the blog you’re guest posting at.

A few points in choosing a suitable topic that can help you to successfully pitch it as a guest post.

1. Choose a topic that can expand on what the blog recently posted. If they have recently posted about the best travel locations in Southeast Asia, you can pitch them a blog post with something that can expand from that like a comprehensive guide to Bangkok’s nightlife.
2. Bring in your own expertise or opinions. Blogs accept guest posts to provide more variety to their readers. So try to make your post uniquely yours by including content based on your own experience.
3. Choose an evergreen topic. You want your guest post contribution to bring in long-term benefits, both for yourself and the blog you’re posting at. Choosing an evergreen topic that would be relevant for months and years to come is better than a trending topic that might fall out of the radar in a month.

While for a press release, there are several rules that you need to follow.

1. Make sure it’s newsworthy. Announcing a new business partner will be much better than a 300-word press release on 6 ways to choose a mattress. (On a side note, 6 ways to choose a mattress will fit better into your blog, not a press release.)
2. Make sure it follows the guidelines of the media sites you’re sending your press release to. Some sites might be cool with accepting your announcement of a year-end sale, while others might not like it.
3. Make sure it’s only about the business you’re consented to represent. If you’re a marketing firm and you’re sending out a press release to help boost your client’s online reputation, that’s good. But if you’re putting the name of other big brands of celebrities for attention, that might bring you some legal trouble, so try to avoid that.

Who’s Reading Your Guest Post vs Who’s Reading Your Press Release

A blog is usually aimed at the general audience with varying levels of knowledge in the topic you’re writing about.

So you really want to look through the blog you’re guest posting at to gauge the specific kind of audience they will attract.

Since you’ll be writing for a general audience, you want to keep the tone of your guest post casual, engaging and direct.

Adding lists, images and infographics can help make a more interesting post too.

Perhaps sneak in a joke or two in there to keep it entertaining.

Depending on the topic, you can always add some personal opinions or share stories based on your own experience. That can definitely help make your post more uniquely yours.

Since this is a guest post, you want to try to stand out from the crowd. Be interesting enough that the readers will want to read more of your stuff. Or perhaps some other blogger will extend a guest post invitation to you.

If you can get that, you’re nailing guest posting.

On the other hand, for a press release, you’re writing to a group of professional audience. You’re writing to the press, the journalists, the columnist. A press release is an official announcement that is going to formal news or media sites.

You want to sound impersonal, professional, and straight to the point.

Regardless of whether you’re hiring someone to write a press release for you or you’re writing it yourself. It’s always a good idea to read through some good press releases to understand the suitable tone needed for one.

Here is a checklist to see if your press release draft is fitting.

There are no first and second-person pronouns such as I, we, me, and you.
There is a minimum number of connectors (less than 3).
The adjectives used are truthful and not over the top (groundbreaking and state-of-the-art are some examples of adjectives that have no place in a press release)
All the contents are straight to the point and is clearly about your business and services.
Unrelated general information and personal opinions are kept to a minimum.

You can always head over to our news hub. There’s a big collection of press releases, updated every day, that you can refer to.

Here’s a piece of fitting advice I’ve read about writing a press release.

“Good press releases walk a fine line between excessive self-promotion and dry facts.”

- source

Guest Post Opportunity vs Ordering Press Release

Sending a press release can be as easy as looking for a reputable press release service site and purchasing an order.

The same can’t be said for guest posting.

As a rule of thumb, only guest post on another blog that is related to your own niche.

For example, if you’re selling travel backpacks and luggage, you can definitely fit in a travel blog, but not a food recipe blog.

You can search for a guest post opportunity in a few ways.

Go through the blogs related to your niche and see if they’re openly accepting guest posts
Sending an email to the identified blogs or bloggers asking about guest post opportunities
Search on Google using the keywords: guest post, write for us, this is a guest post by, writers wanted, articles wanted, contributor guidelines, becomes an author
Search on Twitter using the same set of keywords: guest post, write for us, this is a guest post by, writers wanted, articles wanted, contributor guidelines, becomes an author
Check your competitors' backlinks using tools like Ahrefs, and then pick out which of those backlinks are from the websites they’re guest posting at.

And that is only the first step. After successfully locating a blog that’s high quality, has your desired visitors' demography, and is actually open to accepting guest posts, you’ll still have to pitch them your content, which we’ll discuss later.

On the other hand, for press release it’s really all about choosing the correct service that serves your needs.

From the branded high-end press release distribution service providers to the midpoint providers that won’t give that much dent in your wallet to the small sellers on online marketplaces. There’s a whole lot of choices that can fit any needs.

Compared to digging through multiple blogs to look for a guest post opportunity, ordering a press release package is much more easier and straight to the point.

On our websites, simply click on sign up in the upper right corner to get started if you haven’t already got an account.

Now, just fill in all the required fields and click on the register button to create an account.

After successfully creating an account, you can now click on my account to sign in and start sending a press release!

Once you’re in the account dashboard, click on the submit press release tab. There, you’ll be prompted to fill in all the details of your press release to be submitted.

And if you haven’t bought any credits before, choose among the four circuits for your press release before you start filling up your press release details.

Once you've got some credit in your account, you are ready to send out a press release to boost your online visibility.

Should I Guest Post or Send A Press Release?

Guest posting should be an ongoing link-building effort.

Also considering the unpredictable outcome of a guest post pitch, you should go for it whenever you get a chance to pitch.

Guest posting is best used when you need to build up your reputation in a certain niche.

By leveraging the existing readers of the blogs, you are contributing to their blog in return for earning some new readers of your own.

Backlink wise, it differs from one blog to another. Some blogs will let you have a do-follow link back to your own blog in the small “about the writer” box on the bottom of the content.

So, it might not be useful when you need a quick ranking boost since those are more link-based.

More about link, it’s better to do a little research on the backlink policy yourself instead of asking about it when you’re pitching for a guest post.

You don’t want to risk sounding like you’re just there to get a share of their link juice.

So as long as you’re actively updating your own blog, you should be actively searching for guest post opportunity as well.

Guest posting is suitable if…

You are already actively blogging.
You want to attract more readers to your own blog.
You can commit to a long-term effort of looking for and pitching for guest post opportunities.
You do not seek immediate positive ranking effects.
You’re looking to slowly build up your reputation in your niche.

Now, what about press release?

Sending out press releases is a reliable and readily available way to spread news and gain backlinks with a relatively short turnaround time.

Despite the seemingly limited scope of choosing a suitable topic for a press release, most press release service agencies would be glad to help take care of that for you with their in-house writing service. Or you can also look at some press release examples to gain some ideas on what to write about for your very first press release.

If you need a way to quickly get some backlinks for an immediate boost on your search result rankings, press release will work great for that.

Do keep in mind that due to the news-related nature of press releases, older press releases will be periodically removed since they are no longer considered “fresh” news.

So plan out a series of press releases with a few months of intervals between them will be the best way to leverage the power of press release.

Press release is suitable if…

You’re looking for someone to take care of the writing part for you.
You need to see immediate boost in your ranking.
You want to only put in minimum time and effort.
You have time-sensitive events going on that are suitable to be announced via a press release.

Conclusion

Both guest post and press release, if done properly, can bring a positive boost to your website’s ranking, your online visibility and your authority in the niche.

Instead of choosing only one of them, they are more beneficial if combined into one plan.

Get instant visibility boost with press release while steadily increasing your connections and expanding your website visitors via guest posting can be a tremendous help to set any new websites on their fee.

Then send out a press release from time to time to push out fresh news about your business.

What do you think about this plan? Let us know if this works for you!