Guest Blogging - Does It Rock?
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Writing For Free? No Way!
We all want to be rewarded for our efforts, money is one thing, but what about increasing your readership and getting more exposure? It’ll probably make you more money in the long run anyway. It sure is fun to get paid for writing a post, but it depends on your goals.
If what you want is to make money fast, you can surely find paid writing gigs. But if what you want is to gain recognition as an expert or a leader in your field (and eventually make money from that), guest blogging is great.
In fact when you guest blog you don’t actually “write for free“, it’s a win-win thing. You provide content for another blog, and that blogger gives you some exposure, and links (don’t we love links?). And you build a relationship with that blogger, which can lead to more projects, partnerships, joint ventures.
But I Don’t Know The Blog Owner….
So? You can easily change that by sending him/her an e-mail. Easy. Read the blog, comment on posts, add value. Chances are, if the blogger is looking for guest writers and you drop him an e-mail, he’ll be more interested in having you as a guest.
Blogging makes it easy to connect with like-minded people. Don’t be afraid to contact the blog owner, even if he has 60K rss readers, if you can write something that he’ll find interesting, chances are it’ll get published.
It Takes Time, I Don’t Have Time
It’s hard to succeed if you’re on your own. The time you put in writing a guest post will definitely be worth it. If you think you don’t have time to write guest posts, think again, I’m sure you do have time. You have time to check your stats, go on social networks, redesign your blog, reply to e-mails, right?
I think guest blogging is almost as important as writing on your own blog.
“Build it and they will come” ?? I’m not so sure about that. Even if you write the best posts on earth and publish them on your own blog, if no one knows about it, it’s like it doesn’t exist. Put some time aside for writing guest posts, even if it’s just an hour every week. The cool thing about guest blogging is you don’t necessarily have to write guest posts everyday, you can tell the blog owner “it’ll be ready by friday” and voila! :)
But What Should I Write About?
Take some time to read the blog you wanna write for, get involved in the comments section, engage in discussions. You’ll get a pretty good idea of what you should write about. What would you want to see on that blog? What are the topics already being discussed?
If you don’t know, ask the blog owner. We all have to start somewhere, and it’s really ok to ask for guidelines and ideas. Then write the post and submit it. The blog owner kinda expect a different writing style, it’s all good.
Where Can I Find Guest Blogging Opportunities?
First, you have to analyze your writing, what are you good at? Are you a list maker? Do you ask questions? Are you a conversational blogger? Then once you have a good idea, find blogs you would really like to write for, even if those blogs don’t have a “write for us” or “guest bloggers wanted” link or button, that doesn’t mean they’re not looking for some quality content. Drop an e-mail to the owner and ask. It never hurt anyone. :)
Find blogs that are closely related to your niche. If you have a marketing blog, find other marketing blogs, if you are a web designer, find web design blogs. Or, if you can’t find any, but would like to write on a blog unrelated to your niche, you can surely find a way to make your post relevant to the blog but still talk a little about your experience in your niche.
A blog about web-design can surely use some posts on social networking. Get the idea? :)
Your Turn To Talk
Have you tried guest blogging before? Did it help you get more rss subscribers, comments, traffic? If you haven’t tried, tell us why? I think this will be interesting. What is it you found was difficult? What were the easy parts?
Take care!
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Great post. I’ve had guest bloggers on my own before, but I’ve never actually done it for someone else. I know that guest blogging on another blog would help me, but I like posting my content to my own blog. It’s hard enough to come with my own ideas, much less for someone else! I suppose I could rewrite an idea on a previous post I’ve written. Perhaps I’ll do it someday. :)
hmm……do you just contatct the owner? saying “Hey I want to guest blog for you.”
Is it like creating a JV letter? I am reading around the internet how guest blogging is important and others sayings its not - I want to guest blog for a popular blog author. but still trying to find a way to attack the subject of contacting the author
Ian,
The easiest way to contact a blogger is to write a great post and send it along with a note saying that you’d love to do a guest post and here it is.
If they decline, no big deal, you can always post it on your own blog!
Hey Jon,
Guest blogging does rock! I really enjoyed writing a spur-of-the-moment post for Shoemoney. It’s something I want to do more of. I’m just in the “don’t have time” boat right now.
I think this fall I should be in the “must make time for” boat.
Tay, I know what you mean, wanna publish it on your blog, I felt the same when I first guest blogged, but having my posts on other blogs feels good, and there are a lot of benefits ;)
Ian, sure, you just go ahead and contact the blogger, you can even prepare 4-5 posts and contact 2-3 bloggers, and send 2 examples each. Like Shane said, you can always publish them on your blog if they get declined, but at least you made contact with the blog owner ;)
Shane, your post on Shoemoney got quite a bit of attention (it was the one that got the most comments I think), It does rock :)
I have seen guest blogging done successfully a lot lately. I think it is a great way to add some unique content to a blog and help the guest blogger by exposing him or her to a new audience. Good post.
I agree with Shane 100%. If you send along the post with your message to the blog owner, there is a MUCH greater chance they will take you up on your offer. Plus, if that blog owner doesn’t use it, you can offer it to someone else or just keep it for your own site.
Another idea is to write content that is specific to a certain blog. I monitor several high-traffic blogs in my niche, I have developed relationships with their owners, and I have posts planned specifically for their blogs.
Wayne, totally, win-win, or even exchanging posts, just so your readers get the taste of what another blogger can write, always win-win ;)
Aaron, that’s great! You’re right, if you build a relationship with a blogger, chances are when that blogger will be looking for guest posts you’ll get an e-mail :)
I never thought about it this way, I guess it’s possible and in some cases you may even get valuable links. But personally I think that the time spent on guest blogging can be better invested in traditional link building. You’re the best in creating content for your site - do that! I say focus, and dont waste your energies.
Ian,
As the others have said, contact the owner and send them a post on blogs you like. Or another way is to leave a response in the comments if you can’t find contact info. I would always consider a guest post as it helps add content I may not have time to write. Feel free to look at my blog and suggest a guest post. You can leave a comment.
Great Post!
Hi Jonathan,
Well done mate. This is really very good and useful post. I was thinking about such an idea. Its similar to yours but the different is that i would have a guest from a company or a site am dealing with as my blog talks about business in general. Keep it up!
Mido from pimpmycash
Jews, I see your point, but I don’t think guest blogging is a waste of time, I got way more traffic and links from high authority blogs than from classic link building, and still my blog is PR4 ;)
BC, yep, commenting helps a lot (building a relationship), of course if there’s no contact form on the blog it’s kinda hard to submit a post, but still it’s a good way to get the attention of the blog owner.
Hi Mido, that’s a great idea, exposure for that company, and content for your blog, interviews are really nice too :)
I have had a few guest blogs on my site and I haven’t had much success. Nobody commented on my guest posts both times and there was little user interactivity for those days. Maybe just bad lucky ill give guest posting a try a few more times! Great post as well stumbled it :)
Shaun, humm, well sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, still it’s worth trying :) Of course if you write a post for a blog that has a lot of traffic and rss subscribers, chances are some (if not many) will follow the link to your blog :)
Thanx for the stumble, always appreciated!
I cant wait to use a guest blogger(hopefully Jon :) when I go to University in September. I think it will be a refreshing change for my readers
[…] Guest Blogging - Does It Rock? - Jon explains why he thinks blogging rocks. […]
Jon,
Guest posting has been one of the most effective ways of growing my site. Not only are the links great, but it provides an excellent opportunity to start networking with other influential bloggers. One of my guest submissions even got me a paid position.
I would like to be a guest blogger but I guess I am still a little shy or fear criticism…lol.
Take care and cheers
Hey Marc, sure will, just let me know when you need a post! ;)
Steven, a paid position, now that’s cool, I noticed you guest blog a lot, what do you find is the hardest, or the easiest part in guest blogging?
Hey Robin, best way to overcome that fear is to try it :)
Hi Jonathan,
Really useful post. Considering the benefits of guest blogging, bloggers should try doing it. Unfortunately, I think I need to put more content on my blog before I try guest blogging.
Although guest blogging can be great, be sure not to do it too much! Look at John Cow. The other week, the Cow took a step back from the blog and posted a lot of guest posts. Their traffic went way down and they’re still trying to recover.
Blogging Mix, good point there, you have to have some pillar articles and great content in place before you start guest blogging, or else people coming to your blog from a blog you posted on will probably not stay long.
sitefever, humm, that’s interested, “can guest blogging kill your blog?”, I think it can in fact kill a blog, but on the other hand, if you look at problogger, Darren can spend weeks aways from his blog, have guest bloggers and still it works great, and it’s growing :)
I’ve used guest blogging. Sometimes it’s just nice to hand the reigns over to another for a day or two. Especially if you’re updating a daily blog.
Plus it gives your readers a different flavor, and it’s appreciated when it’s completely useful to them.
I also submit a few articles a week to article submission sites, which, in essence, is the same thing as guest blogging for another. They get the good content, you get the traffic.
Just find something you like to talk about!
Take care,
Chad.
well, I still think that guest-blogging is a effective way to push traffic and make yourself some kind of popular as long as don’t disregard your own projects as sitefever just mentioned above.
I definitely want to do be a guest blogger but I still haven’t found blogs that are looking for guest posts… Someone should compile a list of them
Hey Chad, yep, for as long as it’s “win-win” and the readers don’t mind, I think it’s all good.
ferienwohnung, exactly, especially if you guest blog on hugely popular blogs :)
Crystal, that’s a great idea, you can also contact a blog owner, one you would like to write for, this usually works pretty good.
[…] When you guest blog you don’t actually “write for free“, it’s a win-win thing. You provide content for another blog, and that blogger gives you some exposure, and links (don’t we love links?). And you build a relationship with that blogger, which can lead to more projects, partnerships, joint ventures. - Jonathan Phillilps on Guest Blogging - Does it Rock? […]
I’m looking for good guest bloggers. Just come to www.articlearchives.havhere.com to sen me a note through the site if interested.
Excellent article. I’d never thought of guest blogging, but who knows, maybe I’ll be posting on this site soon ;D
One of my favorite blogs has been having a run of guest bloggers recently, and I’ve discovered a few new favorites because of that. I’m sure others have done the same and these guest bloggers will have a bump in readership.
Great post. I am one of the ‘guest’ bloggers on the Nitro blog, sort of. The way we do it is everyone on the Nitro team takes turns writing a blog post.
Thanks in a large part to guest blogging for Darren Rowse, I secured myself a problogging position with Bloggy Network…and have been 100% full time for two years now.
[…] read a lot about the value and benefits of guest writing on other blogs. But until recently I hadn’t given it a […]
You can avoid what happened to JohnCow by ensuring that the guest blogging article is relevant and of quality, and not to overdo it too much. I haven’t done any guest blogging for others or invited to mine since I’m still new, but hope to do so soon as I really love to share ideas!
Hi Jon, this method REALLY WORKS!! I tried it on several of my blogs and I always see impressive results! Thanks for sharing
yeah it works with some people but i don’t like it sometimes it gives backlinks
Great post, I will definately be looking to do some guest blogging now.
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
I just started doing some guest posts… it was on a blog with 8000 subs. Got about 100 visitors from the first two days, and about 20 new subscribers. So I think if done on a large scale, quite worthy, but I’m not sure if these results are standard?
Cheers, Albert.