Many people that are blogging nowadays are offering people the chance for someone to be a guest blogger. This may be good and it may not be good for your blog but if you’re thinking about letting people be guest bloggers then just make sure you are not pissing off your other readers.
Don’t Hurt Your Brand (May Make Readers Angry)
Your readers or subscribers can get upset because they want to hear more from you then other bloggers. The University Kid kind of talked about how his readers wanted to hear more from him than other bloggers. He then decided that he wouldn’t post as many posts from guest bloggers.
I think where he went wrong was that he was posting content that was not very informative you could say. I think Jason @ University Kid is a very informative writer and that is what his readers and subscribers got used to. So it was kind of a letdown when other guest bloggers were writing posts. Try not to make that mistake.
Don’t Duplicate Content
This is one thing that has really caught my eye. I say this because it just happened to me on Sunday. I offered a guest post for Jason @ University Kid and I never received an e-mail back telling me that he was ever going to use my content. That was his first mistake and trust me I have done it on my other blogs.
I let someone be a guest blogger on my blog a couple of years ago and it was a review about a brand new car that was coming out. Well, I never even emailed that person to tell them that I was going to use their blog post on my blog and when I posted it I came to find out that the guest blogger had already posted the content on their own personal blog. This is not that person’s fault at all considering I should’ve emailed that person first and told them that I would be using their guest post.
I ended up posting my blog post on this blog, 10 Simple Ways To Make Money Blogging. It was about four days before he posted it on his blog. Of course Syed @ Balkhis.com had to point it out in a asshole kind of way that this post was already on my blog word for word. He also mentioned that a blogging rule is don’t duplicate content (Another rule is don’t look like an ass). You don’t want to duplicate content because it might make you look like you are stealing content. Plus, Google also doesn’t like duplicate content either.
When I found out that Jason ended up posting it I took it off my blog but then he decided to take the article off of his blog. What we should learn here is that we should email a guest blogger back and tell them that we are going to use their content. Don’t be an ass like Balkhis. And last but not least don’t duplicate content.
Guest Blogging Guidelines
If you are going to accept guest bloggers then make sure you have a post or a page just about guest blogging on your blog. Layout the guidelines so everyone will know what you expect out of them if they want to be considered as a guest blogger.
Also make it easy for them to submit their guest post by setting up a contact form right on that page or post. If you want guest bloggers try to make it as simple as possible to submit a post.
Guest Bloggers Will Make Less Work For You
I think the best thing about having guest bloggers is that it means that you will have to write less content which means less work for you. It is also a good thing to round up some guest posts if you’re going to take a few days off or go on a long vacation. Darren @ Problogger.net has done that many times and is currently doing it right now (Skelliewag is currently doing all the guest posting).
If you look at Copyblogger you will find that Brian Clark has a lot of people that guest post so that he doesn’t have too write as much content. He doesn’t really have to worry about his readers getting upset that he isn’t writing though since he has so many. That ends up leaving him the rest to fall back on. You bloggers do not have that option.
So make sure if you are having guest bloggers that it is really what you want to do and that it won’t hurt your blog. Of course it will make less work for you and give you more time to market your blog.
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If I were to allow guest post on my blog, I would definitely have it manually and personally moderated. Having duplicate content somewhere sounds scary and might hurt my blog’s SEO, considering Google is very watchful for duplicate contents and spamming. If I were to allow guest post, preferably I would allocate time to check not only the content’s originality but the quality as well. How could ever take advantage from guest posting if the content the poster submits could devastate your blog’s SEO?
Keep It SEO Simples last blog post..Application Letter For Copywriting Position
@Keep IT – I think it goes without saying that you will need to be the moderator all posts on your blog. When you request a guest post from someone, before they even start writing, make sure you both agree on a topic or at least a general idea of where the article will go. Though I have not had any guest posters on my blog yet, guest posts can be a great way for your readers to get a fresh perspective on your blog topic.
I just posted a contribution from one of my commentators. This person is not a blogger but came to my site and had his own experience to share on the same event. I was more than happy to post this.
Sean.
OK, the commentluv didn’t work that time. So here is the post I just mentioned. Steve Ellison’s City-Bay Experience 2008
seans last blog post..Steve Ellison’s City-Bay Experience 2008
Commentluv is a pain sometimes.
Tell me about it. 2 mins later and it works for some unknown reason. I still think it is a good plugin though. Just a bit unpredictable.
Let’s see what it thinks this time!
Sean.
Great topic. I have taken a different angle on the guest post idea on my own blog. Since I deal with what can be a very personal topic (ie, religion), I started from the very beginning asking for personal “testimonials” from people. What I have received has generally been very good and readers respond well to them. In fact, the most popular post on my blog right now is a testimonial that a 16 year old girl wrote!
I think it all depends on the purpose of your blog. A blog about the author’s personal experiences doing X would not be a great candidate for a guest post – since readers are expecting to hear from the blogger and not random people.
Testimonials is another great way to allow yourself to concentrate on other things besides writing content.
I check out your blog quite often and I found that you created your blog design yourself. I have never really been all that good at coding, I just know a lot about blogging. I was wondering if you had any expertise on creating a PSD file into a CSS and HTML. I want to add something into my blog design.
“Testimonials is another great way to allow yourself to concentrate on other things besides writing content.” Exactly. And people tend to love reading personal narratives – especially if they can relate to them.
I have not worked much with PSD files (I am currently using a free photoshop alternative), but I am comfortable enough with php, html, and css that I was able to construct a theme from scratch. Thanks for checking it out. You never know when you are going to offend someone in that niche
Yes, well guest blogging is definitely something to consider. We are all looking for ways to work less after all, aren’t we? In any case, it should be someone we can trust and has proven themselves to be reputable somehow. And even then, moderation is the key to making this work.
Keep It SEO Simples last blog post..Application Letter For Copywriting Position
I also run a site about nutrition and excercise – http://www.gettingpumped.com and it all started from a community chat on irc efnet. ME and the guys there decided to all post together to ease the duties of one person. However so far its only me thats posting. Hopefully they will pick up the slack soon.
Digerati – SeizeThePage.coms last blog post..I’m against the bailout of AIG
Depending on the nature of the post, you want to make sure that the author knows what he or she is saying and has good reason to know what he or she is saying. This might go beyond a simple moderation. The last thing that you want is the person who guest posted on your blog to be later exposed as a liar or untrustworthy. If you keep guest posts restricted to people you already trust then that scenario should not really be a problem. Always keep your own reputation in mind
IF you have a guest blogger, do you have any right to edit the content in any way?
Harmonys last blog post..Who Is A Global Citizen?
If you mention it in your guest posting guidelines then yes. Just make sure people know you may edit their post if you choose to do so.
I agree – definitely make sure people know that you might edit it and to what extent. If the edits are not minor you might even want to bounce it back to the author and have him or her look the edits over. I edited one of my first guest posts for spelling and received an e-mail from her expressing her annoyance at what I changed. Apparently she had purposefully misspelled some words in a certain way to make a point that I totally missed. The situation would have been less awkward if I had some disclaimer about editing posts already in place.
When you write a guest blog post for some blog, give the owner some time. I wrote a post for John Chow’s blog. I didn’t get any notice that it will be posted in 5 days or what not. I just sent him the post, and forgot about it until I started seeing traffic generating and realized it was there.
In an ass hole kind of way shows the professionalism you have. All I did was told Jason that it was duplicate content. Sorry buddy even though you are a regular reader on my blog, I have been a regular reader at Jason’s blog. I have also been a regular reader at your blog, so I do get everything in my email.
Now if I see exact word by word post on two blog that is suspicious.
Perhaps a lesson you learnt was not guest posting if you don’t have enough patience. Also another lesson you should learn is not name calling in an industry. Because what I did was the right thing… What you did was wrong! Ethics of guest blog posting is understood among the bloggers… Don’t know which world you came jumping from.
Hopefully you won’t sensor this comment out.
Syed Balkhis last blog post..Your Guide for refining the Semantic Web Markups
I agree to disagree. I must have a little Mark Cuban in me.
Thanks!
Harmonys last blog post..Who Is A Global Citizen?
Hey thanks James and Franklin for taking the time to answer.
Harmonys last blog post..Who Is A Global Citizen?
No problem. If you have any other questions then just let me know and I will do my best to answer them.
Sometimes with all the hassle involved in getting someone to guest blog for you, I’m thinking if it wouldn’t be simpler to just do it myself. Of course that will take up a lot more of my time, but I’m a hands on kind of guy and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that my blog posts are safe will make it worth it somehow. It’s a trade off between convenience and certainty I guess.
Keep It SEO Simples last blog post..Wikiweblog Covers The World
It really depends, I think, on the focus and purpose of your blog. If your blog is personal, then guest blogging does not make much sense. If your blog is educational, then it may be fruitful to have guest bloggers who know a lot about some specialized topic. The fact of the matter, however, is that well-established blogs don’t even need to ask for guest bloggers – they probably get plenty of unsolicited requests. If you are a smaller blogger then it may be more difficult and indeed a hassle trying to convince someone why they should post in *your* blog. In that case it is probably better to avoid the hassle and just put up a small invitation for guest bloggers and wait and see if anyone responds.
Hey Franklin,
I would be interested in doing a guest blog for you. I could write up and article or two see your thoughts on it you were interested. Just let me know. Also, do you have any other suggestions on how to go about trying to recruit guest bloggers?
I will read your guest post
You might try looking in forums for people who write well and have something interesting to say. My #1 most popular post was written by a guest that I found on a forum. She had written an excellent piece and I asked her if she would post it in my blog…the rest is history.