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Who's the guest?
This guest post, about guest posts, comes from yoinkgasp of the WickedFire forums.
Utilizing Guests Posts: A Basic How To
Blogging has become the latest and greatest symbol of affiliate affluence. It’s no secret that blogging has been around for a while, but blogging seems to be withholding the test of time. Unlike other flash-in-the-pan trends, blogging isn’t going anywhere. This has been reinforced by bloggers who attempt to kick blogging to the curb, only to come back to the blogging scene.
Obviously, anyone worth their weight in salt is going to focus their marketing efforts on working, with blogging take a place firmly rooted on their proverbial back burner. The unfortunate downside to running both a business and a blog is that one tends to suffer when the other is successful.
Not so, thanks to the many advantages of guest blogging.
Why Guest Blogging Is So Powerful
Extracting some excellent and unique content from another specialist to post on your blog is almost always a win-win situation for everyone involved. If your blog is even mildly popular, having a guest post or two is a great way to expand your reach and draw in new visitors. You may even find that the content discussed in the guest post brings in a significant enough of a reader base to expand upon further in future posts.
For the guest blogger, it means the ability to reach out to a completely different visitor base and, hopefully, bring some of that action back to their blog. The golden rules of guest blogging are simple (provide good content, good a juicy back link), yet so many bloggers throw the rules out the window. Namely, the “provide good content” portion gets thrown out in exchange for convenience and/or money. This, ultimately, is a bad thing.
Qualities Of A Good Guest Post
If you’re the owner of a relatively hip and happening blog, the idea of a guest post or two may certainly seem appealing. Before you start throwing up any and all lines of text someone throws your way, you should carefully consider if the content should actually be on your blog.
• Does the post meet the quality of your other posts? Little details, such as the use of proper grammatical conventions or the proper spelling of common words, can really disconnect a reader. Never assume that someone will just ignore certain shortcomings due to your reputation. Ensuring that the guest post is technically correct on a copy level will prevent this from ever becoming an issue.
• Is the content of the guest post accurate and relevant? There’s no faster way to ruin your reputation, aside from selling your friends out (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/how-to-spam-facebook-like-a-pro-an-insiders-confession/), than endorsing false or misleading information. Your reputation is paramount in any industry, so it’s in your best interests to protect it.
• Is the post mutually beneficial? If your blog is about pet supplies, and you throw up a guest post about how to level quickly in World of Warcraft, where’s the benefit? The back link loses its weight due to unrelated association, and your readers will likely skip right over the post.
Most importantly:
• Does the guest blogger have credibility? Anyone and their mother can claim to be an internet marketing guru or search engine marketing specialist. Does your guest post come from someone with credibility, so that the information they are presenting has merit to the reader? A guest post from a newbie marketer on this particular blog would likely be overlooked, especially if the lack of experience on behalf of the poster was ever exposed. Ensure that your “expert guest post” is actually written by an expert.
Obviously, opinion posts and/or posts that are a little more casual in nature don’t need to carry the same authority.
Following this de-facto guide to guest blogging will ensure many long-standing and mutually beneficial relationships in the future!
- yoinkgasp (http://www.wickedfire.com/members/yoink-gasp-.html)
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I am agree. Especially with the quality and relevancy.
But, my question is, how to get the valued and ‘relevant’ readers ?
Is it enough only by SEO, or there are other tips to do this?
I am facing this problem now
Writing a guest blogpost does indeed bring you to new readers and provide a solid backlink. But if you want to get those new readers from that other blog it might be better to have them write a guest post at your blog and have him/her direct the visitors to the guest post.
What’s your opinion about this?
Yes it definitely helps if that guest writer does acknowledge the guest post on their own blog. Then it is more of a win-win situation. You can effectively share your readers between the two blogs.
Guest posts are so easy to do, I’m not sure why more people aren’t doing it.
First and foremost, it’s usually an article you’ve already written. All you have to do is repurpose it if necessary. It’s really a big bang for your buck.
I disagree here. I have dozens of niche sites, and get people asking to guest post all the time. If all you’re going to do is rehash what I’ve already posted (and what everyone already knows), go away. Not interested. There’s no value in it for ME, though there may be for you.
I completely agree. The article must be tailored to the blog, it can’t be any old rubbish or re-hashed article. If you take the time to write a fresh article, you’ll typically get traffic too.
Dan
I totally agree, guest posts are great. Being observant in the blogsophere is really important, because that way you can filter out the bullshitters from the real dudes. Once you get that out of the way, work your way to build a relationship with that person and in exchange maybe a guest post especially if you think that this certain person relates to your blogs niche.
Dino | Dinono.com
I agree, guest post provides a mirror to new bloggers to see that how effective their writting in front of plenty of visitors. guest post gives a future view to them as a famous blogger.
Very good article, and raises a number of points often forgotten in the process. Something that I have to watch is that I get approached by guest bloggers who want to write about something I’ve already covered. They are often too lazy to check my article archive.
@yoinkgasp – you might be interested in taking a look at my project to make it easier to find guest bloggers:
http://www.blogsynergy.com
Dan
Sorry, typo! http://www.blogsynergy.com
Hey that’s a great site! Thanks for the heads up on that- I’ve signed up
Excellent! Just had notification that you’ve joined. Look forward to hearing your feedback!
Dan
Guest posts are a great way to create new content without having to do the actual work. It is cool to be able to offer someone else’s perspective on the same issues you normally talk about.
[...] Utilizing Guests Posts: A Basic How To [...]
Guest Blogging is a PROVEN way to get constant traffic, for years. Massive Traffic Report shows this traffic strategy in great details, and if done correctly, you can literally bring thousands of people to your website per day. Working smart helps here a lot – when you have a guest post, bring backlinks to it, tweet that website, ping, etc… so many things you can do for free, that can actually bring you the money
For my business, this is one of the best, and I would say, least time consuming, traffic methods.
Thanks for this great post.
Alex
Good basic tips on how to utilize guests posts and they are useful for generating traffic .
There has been quite a bit of buzz about the marketing possibilities inherent in the process of guest blogging. This helps the blogmaster who is too busy to regularly put content up on his or her blog, along with the guest poster, who gets valuable links back to his or her work, along with being exposed to a brand new audience, who might well not ahve been aware of them in the past.
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