Guest Bloggers: Who, Why and How
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In Boost Your Brand: Why and How to Start Guest Blogging, I shared a few ways to find blogs who welcome submissions from others, as well as the benefits you can receive by writing guest posts. But what about the other way around? Is there any advantage to inviting others to write for your blog?
Fortunately, this is one of those situations that’s beneficial no matter which side of the table you’re sitting on!
Benefits of Having Guest Bloggers
- Offer your readers a different viewpoint from your own
- Publish information that’s over and above your own expertise
- Keep your blog active when you’re too busy to write
- Free up your time to work on your other projects
- Update your blog more often – great for driving traffic to your site and search engine optimization!
- Allows you to build mutually beneficial relationships
- Most guest bloggers are eager to share their posts with their own networks, which exposes your blog to a lot of people who might never have known about it, many of whom may become regular readers or even clients!
I’ve been publishing guest posts for several years, and have experienced all of the above benefits.
How to Find Suitable Guest Bloggers
- Ask bloggers from Blogging Organizers, POPS Circle, or other groups
- Approach other bloggers whose work you admire
- Do an online search for experts in a particular topic you’d like to cover in your blog
- Post a notice on your site inviting readers to contribute to your blog
How to Communicate with Guest Bloggers
Of course, you’ll need to devote some time to corresponding with your guest bloggers and screening their posts to ensure they meet your standards of quality.
No matter how you find your potential guest bloggers, clearly communicating your wants and needs will make it easier for the blogger to decide whether they can fulfill your requirements. This may include:
- Description of your blog and its target audience
- Suggested topics
- Minimum and/or maximum post length
- Timelines
- Whether the author should supply images and, if so, how many
- How many links the author may include in their post and/or bio
Providing the above information up front will also reduce the number of emails back and forth as you hash out the details.
If you’re looking for a guest blogger, please feel free to post your request in the Comments section!
Photo ©Johan Hedengran / Depositphotos
Janet,
I started inviting guest bloggers to my Organized Artistry blog about a year ago. I mostly do it because there are times my kids don’t have school which leaves me little time for blogging. I usually go to a blog of someone I know and I scroll their blog looking for material that is related to what I write about. I even found my last guest blogger at the Blog Carnival you hosted on ‘Procrastination!’
Yes, I do have to take the time to contact the author and format the article and create links but it relieves my already crowded brain from having to write a blog post during a time when my creative juices don’t have the time or energy to flow.
Great post!
Stacey
Stacey, thank you for sharing your experience with my readers. I’m really pleased to know the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival is helping you grow your network and your blog.
If you’re interested in telling your story to a wider audience, FizzNiche has an open call for guest bloggers on the subject of Allowing Guest Blogging. They actually published something I submitted today!
I am constantly getting requests from the PR arms of random companies and from freelance writers wanting to write or provide guest posts for my blog. In almost every single case, the writer assumes that my blog focuses on residential organizing (which is almost never does); on the rare occasions where it does not, someone will have Googled and found that I had one post, often ten or 15 years earlier, that had one link or one sentence on something tangential to what I do, but in their wheelhouse, and they’ll be incredibly enthusiastic about writing on that random topic.
My standard, gentle reply has always been that my blog serves as my portfolio for potential clients to get a sense of the expertise I’d bring to a client session, and as such, don’t accept guest posts. (On occasion, I will take really good infographics that those PR people share, and then write a blog post around that content.)
In general, I still feel that my blog should be 100% my voice because of its purpose, but if I ever decide to monetize my blog and aim to reach a larger audience, instead of using it as a portfolio, I can definitely see the value of inviting guest posters. (Still, I’d be more likely to call upon my colleagues who are professional organizers first and bloggers second, like those in your group, Janet, rather than the random folks who email me from some master list.)
That said, I absolutely agree with all of your points as to why accepting/inviting guest posts could be beneficial, and your approach seems the wisest for getting the “right” kind of advice and content.
I hate those random requests! I’ve posted specific guidelines as well as a note to use the guest blogger application form and not my regular contact form, and that seems to have helped a little.