Our host Murray Newlands and David discuss the large demand for video content creation, as well as:

• How Works for Business
• Sharing Content
• Relationship Building
• Guest Blogging

For more information about Future Of Engagement, go to adrants.com.

To learn more about host Murray Newlands and his marketing agency, go to murraynewlands.com and influencepeople.com.

To learn more about Spark Media Solutions, go to sparkmediasolutions.com

Jim added a link to a blog post explains 5 reasons why he don’t do guest blogging, and why he actually don’t bother!

Jim, I read your post and I wanted to comment on it, but I didn’t because I felt to write a lot, the comment won’t really hold what I want to say, so I wrote this post! I knew your reasons, and I am sorry to say that I don’t agree with you at all, none of your 5 reasons seems to be valid to me, and here is why…

1- My voice has to blend in with theirs

This is not really the way it is, I don’t see how someone will force you to blend in your own voice to theirs when guest blogging.

As a Guest Host, I am seeking a new blood, I need someone who can write what I can not write about and think in a different way that I never thought of! This means You as a guest blogger are absolutely free to write with your own voice, your ideas, your words.

I remember once that a few blog readers thought I am open for everyone to guest posting with no firewall, and as a result they saw a lot of crap has been published on the blog, probably they didn’t realize that the idea here was giving  a space to everyone to present their own voice, or actually to find their own voice!

I see you agree with this when you said:

One reason why people will choose to follow your blog is to see the world from a different perspective.

This is actually an important reason why you should guest blog! And, that’s why I think there is a conflict between your reason and opinion.

2- SEO experts claim that guest blogging will benefit my blog

SEO experts claim that guest blogging will benefit my blog because of spill-over traffic.

They don’t claim it, this is a fact my friend!

However, I think the main point of guest blogging is not really about traffic, it’s more about engagement!

But this dosn’t mean guest blogging won’t bring you traffic, in fact I know a lot of bloggers who were unknown before they start to guest blog and get their best content published on other blogs. And, please pay attention to this, you won’t get a lot of traffic by publishing a couple of guest posts, you will need to do a lot of guest posting to achieve this goal.

So let me tell you this, If you want to be a popular blogger, there is no easier way than dedicate one month of your work for guest blogging, writing 20 or 30 quality blog posts then submit them to popular blogs, and watch your dream come true!

But, before you do that, make sure that you actually have something worth on your blog, you don’t want you blog visitor to forget about you for ever from the first visit, you actually want them to love you, and keep visiting back, and turn them into a regular readers!

Are you aware of article marketing? (please watch the video) There are some issues in article marketing, that’s why SEOs thoughts about replacement, which is guess blogging! I am sure that every Guest Host know about this… There are thousands of dollars paid every month for SEOs, marketers, and link builders who convince bloggers to get their posts published in a try to promote their clients.

While dealing with guest bloggers, I personally reject many of those who pretend to be bloggers! I prefer to help out bloggers who actually promoting their own blogs or businesses.

When was the last time you clicked on a guest blogger’s bio after reading their article?

Ok, I can answer that with another question, what makes someone check your bio?

You see, I do a lot of work here on the blog trying to enhance the way guest bloggers are presented. But, this responsibility is a share between me and the author! Authors has to first of all write a good post, and secondly… Engage!

I mean how you expect that someone will check an author Bio if the post is full of crap!

Without good content and engagement, how come you expect someone to look into your Bio and check who you are?!

And, guess what?

There are a lot of other guest posting hidden benefits that you probably haven’t notice!

Most of these are here on FamousBloggers.net, so not every blog really cares for this, and that’s why they don’t succeed on attracting more bloggers to write for them, but I do!

1. You are allowed to add a few links into the post buddy as long as it’s relevant to the topic and not forced in the content, these are good for SEO!
2. The other thing is you got your Bio where you can have more links, even use your best keywords!
3. For every comment you add on the blog, you can get two other backlinks to your blog and recent posts of yours.
4. There is the author archive page which has a list of your posts, and also extra backlinks straight to your blog.
5. Also, there is a Great Pens widget on sidebar which gives another backlink to every author here!
6. Your post will be shared 10s of times on social media sites and networks.
7. It will be submitted to social bookmarking sites.
8. You will have a chance to get even more shares and links to your blog, and we will even recommend you to our readers for a very long time!

So, if the visitos missed your post links, they won’t miss your Bio links, engagement in the comments, or the Great Pens widget links!

You know? All these can lead to traffic with time, especially if posts are ranked high in search engines, which is the case for many of the posts on FamousBloggers.net

3- Blogging for someone else, adding value to their brands

Blogging for someone else, you are adding to their brand value with very little return to yours.

“I wrote for so-and-so” other writers will claim. They think that by writing for a famous brand, that popularity will somehow rub off on theirs.

It doesn’t work that way. It is still someone else’s brand they are promoting. I would rather be patient planting seeds on my own garden, thank you.

This sounds old way of thinking, I mean why you spend time on social media adding stuff and commenting here and there?

What could be better, a valuable comment on a Facebook post, or blog post?

I know this looks off topic, but it’s not!

To prove my point, let’s think about it, when you add a valuable comment on social media, it will disappear with time, it will be so hard to find. But, a comment on a blog post is more appreciated by the blog owner, that’s why it will be there all the time for people to read it and even interact with it. The same thing goes to guest blogging, I mean why we limit the way we think about things, it’s so clear that guest blogging can drive traffic in the long term, you know why?

Simply because when you choose a blog to guest blog for, you want to make sure that blog has more authority than yours, which means your ability to rank your blog post is higher than if you publish it on your own blog, or then you shouldn’t be interesting on doing it on the first place!

Ok, let’s think in a different way… The other side’s opinion!

Actually, I don’t think that any guest blogger can add a big value to an already established blog with huge authority!

I think that I should charge guest authors for the value they get by publishing their posts on my blog!

4- You don’t need to Write for Others if you have a well established Brand!

Once you get what building a brand is all about, you will NEVER write for someone else for the rest of your life.

Allow me to tell you about Danny Iny, he did what I am talking about above (I actually learn from him), and I have no doubt that Danny was having more authority and popularity than me, even before publishing his book, the Engagement from Scratch.

So, why Danny guest blog?

Danny did a fantastic engagement with other bloggers to actually write the book, then he did its marketing via guest blogging, he did 10s of blog posts for other blogs, that’s how he succeeded (in my opinion)!

Here are other people’s that I see doing same thing, and I see they are super successful:

• Leo Widrich , co-founder of BufferApp.com
• Tammy Kahn Fennell , co-founder of MarketMeSuite.com
• Gregory Ciotti , founder of SparringMind.com

P.S. See how those people get extra promotion and mentions?! That’s what you will get when you write for other blogs!

5- If I am good enough to write for someone else, why should I?

If I am good enough to write for someone else, why should I?

I think you should know the answer by now!

Finally,

Just like you! I share my opinion, and I know that anyone can live without guest blogging, but the only issue is that you will be missing a lot of good things!

I admit it, I am guilty not to guest blog on other blogs more often, I hope this post will remind me, I also hope this will change at least 10% of what You think of guest posting, or then…

You go plant your seeds, while I enjoy my plate that is full of fruits!

Guest blogging is one such technique.

There are plenty of websites that invite expert authors to write for them. By posting blogs on such websites you get the benefit of quality backlinks from sources having a high page rank and which are updated regularly. This ensures that your blog content is crawled regularly, leading to some solid rankings for the specific keywords that you have got your backlinks from.

Here are ways through which guest blogging helps generate popularity.

Your post has the potential to go viral on Social Media

All guest blogging sites these days have integrated social media buttons in order to make their sites more interactive and engaging. Readers who like a particular blog post can immediately share it with their friends and followers on their social media network with the click of a button.

Within minutes of being posted, your post can go viral on social media and earn the kind of popularity that one can only dream about. All those Likes, Tweets, Stumbles, and Diggs will put your blog posts in high gear. Now, tell me that it’s not going to help generate awareness about your brand.

Search engines will pick up the Buzz

The crawlers are always looking for something that’s buzzing on the net; and if your post goes big on the social media, the SEO value that your website or blog is going to earn from it, will be immense. Also, your blog post will have links back to your website, which means that the link will go a long way in generating SEO value every time the blog post is shared.

But, one of the most important contributing factors for improving SEO value of the blog is the fact that the more the post stays on the homepage of the website that it has been posted on, the better the value of its backlink.

Helps Improve Visitor Count

Guest blogs, and very well written guest blogs can even help generate direct traffic to your website. The bottom line is that everybody appreciates a good read, and if your blog material has resonated with the reader, there is every chance that they want to click on the backlink that takes them to your website.

And once they are on your website, quite a number of them will love to know more about your products and services.

A great relationship building exercise

Your guest blog is a great way to foster a relationship with your readers. With your blog, you are talking directly to your readers and sharing your views about a certain subject. If it is really worthwhile, the post is going to generate a certain level of curiosity and in turn attract comments. It is these comments that can help you create an impression in the minds of your readers.

For e.g. if there is a comment that has debunked whatever you have mentioned on your post or critiqued it heavily, you can defend your position and make your point. This is the kind of attitude that never goes unnoticed by readers. It is the attitude of a blogger who believes in what he/she writes and isn’t afraid to stand up for it.

Of course, if a commentator has made a valid point, as a blogger you mustn’t be afraid to recognize it. This is the mark of a blogger that is gracious and accepts his/her mistake. All this goes on to improve your reputation by a long way, which has a carry forward effect on your website and the brand as a whole.

Influencing the Opinion Makers

There is a huge group of people on the internet who are called opinion makers. It is their views on a particular subject or topic, which decides whether an online user chooses a particular product or service. A guest blog in its own subtle way seeks to influence these opinion makers. If they like your post, they are going to give you and your brand the thumbs up.

So, it’s always a good idea to make your post as professional and well researched as possible.

To put it simply, your post needs to be relevant and above all, it must make sense.

This is a small sampling of the reasons why guest blogging is such an effective way of earning popularity.

But, it’s important that you approach it like a battle in which you have come well prepared and fight hard. You can’t take things easy. If you do, your guest blog can go unnoticed, which will lead to a domino effect on your brand. So, be careful and use your guest blogging well.

Ways to Handle Guest Bloggers

Before we start, I know many bloggers wants to get others to write for their blogs, I bet some of you are still wondering why guest blogging is not working for their blogs. Anyways, I just want to make sure that you know how hard work it takes to grow your blog, it’s not easy to manage a multi-authors blog unless you have a good plan, good design, great community around your blog, and most importantly is that you must be ready to spend  quite enough time to develop and manage your blog.

Here is a post I wrote a while ago that has useful recommendations on building and designing a multi-authors blog.

Just one more important thing..

In most cases, you will need to have a page on your blog for geust blogging information, guidelines and rules, you can take a look to our guest blogging page as an example.

Now, let’s talk about ways to handle guest bloggers.

Method #1 The Easy Way to Handle Guest Bloggers

I call it the easy way because it doesn’t require any technical work from your side, but from the other side it takes more communications work between you and your guest authors. This way is useful when you don’t want to have your guest bloggers register to the blog, or have any access to your dashboard, so basically all what you need to have is a simply way to communicate, for example: a simple contact form, or maybe just include your contact info somewhere so contributors can get in touch with you.

This way works simply like this: contributors email you and attach the article with their bio, and you publish it like any other blog post under your own account, of course you should include their bio and credentials manually in the post.

Pros – This way is easy! Technically speaking, there is no need for extra plugins and any type of special development.

Cons – Here are some things that I don’t like about this method:

• You don’t keep any contact in your WP blog, all contacts are done via email.
• There is no user profiles
• You do all the work manually!

Method #2 User Registration Required

This time you want to register authors and allow them to have an account, this is useful when you want to display their bio and links somewhere on their posts, also have a page for each author on your blog, which I think is a good idea, by doing this you automate the process and makes it easy for yourself to manage guest bloggers.

If you are using Thesis Theme, then you may take a look to my BlogSkin for Thesis Theme, it has all the multi-authors functions that any blog needs.

Here are two posts that could help in this stage:

1. Adding Custom Fields in WordPress User Profiles
2. Customize WP Author Archive Page (Thesis Theme Tutorial)

Now that authors are registered, and by giving them the right capabilities, they can simply submit their guest posts.

Here are some notes:

1. Allow registration (anyone can register), and set level to subscriber.
2. Ask them to get in touch so you will get to know them (avoid spammers), then upgrade their account to contributors. (why contributors?)
3. Contributors are allowed to submit posts as pending for review, yes they can see other posts and stuff inside WP dashboard, but they don’t have control over it, means they don’t have capability to edit, change or delete anything. (not a big deal if they can see other posts, however this will be solved only if you follow the method #3)
4. Once you get a pending for review post, you can then check, edit and publish it on your blog.
5. You can also install some useful plugins to assist you, for example:
• (Role Manager by Thomas Schneider, which gives you control on who can do what, really useful plugin)
• (WP Status Notifier, by iDope, sends notification by email to contributors about status of their posts)
• (Peter’s Post Notes, by Peter Keung, allow editorial notes)
• (Great pens widget, for Thesis) maybe consider is as some sort of promotion

P.S. Plugins mentioned above are tested and recommended, I personally use them on my blog for more than 2 years now, however you can find other useful plugins that dose the same job by searching the WP plugins directory.

Pros – This method is great for these reason:

• More control over the blog while automating part of the publishing process.
• Each contributor has a profile, they can edit it by themselves any time.
• You can grab and display author bio and social profiles on posts.
• You can mass email all users at once to send them updates and news. (check out Emu2 – Email Users 2 plugin)

Cons – This method is great, but needs adjustments, you will discover issues by time based on your niche and audiences:

• Pay attention to spam if you are allowing anyone to register, (using some plugin like SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam is useful)
• Users may have access to some part of your WordPress dashboard (will talk about this in method #3)
• Still this method require a lot of work (one of my own problems).

Method #3 More Advanced Way to Handle Guest Bloggers

If you want to have more control of your blog, protect it from spammers, and disallow guest bloggers to get into your blog’s dashboard, but at the same time still having them as registered users, then this is probably the most way I can think of. However, it requires heavy work from your side to get everything to work together correctly.

The idea here is to use a plugin like “Gravity forms” and their nice “User Registration Add-On” plus the other plugins mention in method #2.

Not sure if I can explain the whole process with more details here, but it’s still useful if I can outline the main idea for you, so here you go:

1. Make sure to implement Custom Fields in WordPress User Profiles
2. Set your blog to “no one can register” (we will use Gravity Forms to do the job)
3. Create a form to register members. (see example form on our blog)
4. Create a form to submit posts; this form will actually work on the front end, so no one can access your WP dashboard. You can set post submission to be pending for review. (It’s more advanced setup) , but Gravity Forms has a really good support, I am sure they will help you out.
5. Use some plugin to limit access to dashboard for contributors, for example:
1. Adminimize (extremely useful plugin, full control on who  sees what!)

Pros – Simply this is the best way to handle guest bloggers in my opinion.

Cons – The only issue that I see is this method requires a huge amount of effort and time, it could take a couple of months (based on your needs) to develop a really easy to manage and fully automated multi-authors blog, oh! and be ready to spend some money on premium plugins, and get a good theme framework, in this case I would recommend either Thesis or Genesis, free stuff won’t help.

Bottom line

After two years of running a multi-authors blog and dealing a lot with guest bloggers I came up with a conclusion, the best way to handle guest bloggers is to actually have them registered to the blog, this is not only good for managing things, but it’s extremely useful to for building community, especially if you want your guest bloggers to contribute more often for your blog.

I am at still in the middle of creating a perfect multi-authors blog. One of my blogging goals is to make FamousBloggers.net a better blog.

I hope this help in any way.

Guest blogging is becoming more and more popular, hence more and more misconceptions have been emerging. It is great if I managed to make the whole process clearer due to this QA (thanks Hesham for the opportunity as well!)

Question #1

Sometimes when we do offer them reward, tons of irrelevant or spammy postings are being sent. Is there a comprehensive way to tackle this issue?

Answer

Unfortunately, spam is an integral part of most blogging activities (especially if you are popular). How do you deal with spam comments, for example? I am sure you have more spam comments than legit ones…

You probably handle them similarly to how we all do that: you just ignore spam comments and reply to authentic ones. Handle guest posting the same way: don’t waste your time on spammers. Just ignore them. Focus on those who deserve your attention and who spend effort on making your blog better.

Question 2

(1) In accepting guest bloggers, what are the best things to do to make sure the quality is high?

(2) Also, if everything looks great until you actually see it (and it’s sub-par), are there any issues with not accepting the content?

Answers

(1) Just use your gut feeling! No one can tell if the post fits your blog except you. No one can do that better than you. So if you just *feel* like the article is not good enough, don’t be afraid of openly saying so. If you know why, be sure to add your constructive criticism and mention how the author can improve their writing to better fit your blog next time.

(2) No issues at all. No one will ever accuse you of not accepting a guest post if you don’t like it. You are the one to decide because that’s your blog and your baby.

Question 3

I just came across your site 3-4 days back and joined this. I am really happy that this is the only site for this purpose. I am looking forward to providing quality articles for guest posting. I am just checking the interface to be comfortable with this. Where can I get high authority blogs with PR greater than 4.

Answer

Google Page rank is not the only quality estimator we are using at MyBlogGuest. We combine it with Moz Rank, number of pages in Google index, domain registration to rank websites. If you need to find more powerful blogs, you are always welcome to sort search results by “Power” to see blogs with higher rank on top of the list.

Another thing to note here is that I do not encourage focusing on high-PR blogs: contributing to smaller but vibrant communities will help you better understand the process, improve your writing and will help you build following.

Question 4

As a relatively new blogger, with a blog that has no PR etc (yet) how do I pitch it to attract Guest Articles in your MyBlogGuest?

Answer

Obviously, bloggers seek exposure in exchange for the content they provide. So the best thing for you to do is to promise a lot of social media shares and reader engagement (comments and clicks).

Our Articles Gallery has worked great for finding guest posts even for newer blogs – you should try it as well!

Question 5

Is the PR of a page more important than the amount of unique visitors? Basically should I be guest posting for “link juice” or for “visitors”?

Answer

I always advise against guest posting for links because that’s an easy way to step up on “low quality” road. Forget about links: think about traffic, about conversions and about the new followers. The links will come on their own!

That’s how I’ve been promoting MyBlogGuest and I am happy with the results so far: we’ve achieved great results both with word-in-mouth and Google rankings.

Question 6

The site sounds really great, but I don’t think it’s the only one for this kind of thing. What about iwriter? I heard that it is something like this. I don’t think there is a difference between hiring a quest blogger or buying a post from them. Or am i wrong?

Answer

There may be other services somehow connected to guest blogging but none of them offers what we do: high-quality free content and 100% flexibility (as long as you follow the general rules).

As for the specific service that you mentioned (iwriter), it’s absolutely different: there you need to pay for content, with our service you get articles for free!

Question 7

Hi Ann, great to see your continued support of guest blogging!

One question for you… What do you think about bigger, well-known companies/sites offering guest posts? Do any of them “get it” yet?

I’ve seen one bigger site (top 1000 Alexa rank) implement a very poor guest posting strategy by sending out semi-related posts that don’t even include an author’s name (more of a paid link than anything if you ask me) and then not responding to follow-up email. Much lower quality than the authentic members on MyBlogGuest

Answer

Thanks, Levi, for your kind words. Gladly, I have seen quite a few huge companies that do get it: look at what Intel is doing at Mashable and PsPrint is doing at various powerful design blogs.

The most frequent problem with most companies is that they are picking wrong subcontractors: those who spread low-quality content.

If a company wants to succeed in guest posting, they need to get deeply involved: create and/or edit content, approve or disapprove guest post targets (before they get pitched), reply to all comments and foster social media engagement.

Question 8

Hello, Ann! I have just read above about myblogguest.com. From the perspective of a blog owner, what are the top tips to make your blog attractive to attract as many quality guest posts as possible?

Answer

Just get involved! There’s no magic button: you need to get active! Create a thread and keep it active by updating it regularly. Help promoting it (we have a separate “Social Help Needed” forum where members help promote each others’ guest posts). Use our Articles Gallery to offer your blog for relevant articles.

Like with any other user-driven networks, the key here is to get involved and become useful to the community!

Question 9

In order to have a high acceptance rate, is it better to research about a blog, write a suitable article and write to the blog owner to offer it as a guest post? Or is it better to agree the details upfront?

Answer

If you don’t have an article yet, it is highly recommended to research a blog first. Here’s my old guest post on evaluating a blog before deciding if you need to guest post.

• Check a few random posts to see how many comments and social media shares there are in general for new posts published;
• Evaluate Twitter popularity (Topsy SITE: search is good for that);
• Check the feed count.

The above exercises will also help you understand what goes particularly well with the particular blog readership and how to craft a better pitch.

Bu if you already have an article (which was, for example declined at a previous blog you pitched), just go upfront!

Question 10

1. What would be your no1 tip/advice on how to get your article accepted by a blog owner as a guest post.

2. As a blog owner, when you receive requests, what should one look out for, as to be honest, guest posting is becoming more and more popular, spammers are getting on board too.

3. Give us an example of a Good & Bad bio, to end a guest post with.

Answers

1. Include personalized screenshots. Are you mentioning any social media technique? Illustrate how it works using the blog you are going to pitch the article to.

Another great way to have the blog owner fall in love with you is to include links to his/her older posts in the opening paragraph of your post. Show that you care about his blog and you read it as well!

2. Spammy-looking links inside the body. I hate them and hate it when guest authors attempt to “camouflage” them as the source links or authentic links. They look unnatural as well. I like bylines links much more just because they look honest.

3. I had a post about guest post bylines quite some time ago but it does have examples, so it’s still valid to be mentioned here: Guest Post By-Lines: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In a word, “The Good” byline is short but does provide some important details about the author; it has no more than two links (possibly plus a couple of social media links):

“The Ugly” byline is stuffed with links which make the whole post look like a made-for-links spam:

Thanks for the great questions!

Ann Smarty is an experienced blogger, search geek and a social media enthusiast. If you are serious about blogging, be sure to join Ann’s community of guest bloggers My Blog Guest: there you will find bloggers for your site as well as guest posting opportunities to promote yourself.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Ann founded the MyBlogGuest.com which I think is the only community that is dedicated for this purpose.

Ann also writes here on FamousBloggers and she has been our main media partner for long time, we used to run Blogging contests together, check our recent blogging contest.

Have a Guest Blogging Question?

Today, we are having Ann in our Q&A week, this means you can post all your guest blogging related questions in the comment section, after 7 days from today we will close comments on this post, and you will no longer can post questions! After getting all questions from our readers, Ann will answer these questions in dedicated blog post to be published latter.

Please, make your question short, straight to the point, and as clear as possible, this will make it easy for us to answer it.

Guest Post on another’s blog

To get permission to write a guest post on another’s blog is fairly easy, but there are usually some rules to be respected in order for you to get your topic approved.
The rules / guidelines are mostly that:

• The text is unique which means you haven’t published it anywhere else.
• You fill out the author profile, where you will usually also be allowed to post a few links.
• The email you use is connected with a Gravatar profile.
• It’s xxx number of words.
• You may make xx number of links in text.
• You must respond to the comments coming in.

And it is here in the last rule where most work occurs, but also where you create connections and relationships to bloggers on that blog which will also benefit your own blog.

But why write a guest post on another blog?

Because you get:

• Backlinks
• Targeted visits to your blog / website
• Your blog becomes known
• You improve your writing skills
• You become better known within your niche
•  You increase your link building and SEO

Guest Post at your own blog

There are several good reasons why you should allow guest posts on your blog. It can be because you’re running out of good ideas, but the primary reason should be that it creates additional traffic to your blog because the writer will spread the word about your blog. And the fact that you get quality text on your blog which can help to improve your blog SEO.

This means that you get:

• Backlinks
• New users on your blog / website
• Quality content
• New traffic
• Your blog to become more known
• To increase your link building and SEO

But it’s important that you set some requirements on what the text can and should be about, such as SEO, link building, wordpress themes, currency rates or recipes. In short, you set the guidelines. It’s important that you set them before you start so you know what you are looking for, and it is equally important that you stick to them, because a blog post about grilling spareribs is not relevant if your blog is an SEO blog. In order to set the right requirements for your blog, you might want to find some inspiration. This you can get from other blogs that allow guest posts.

Get started

There are obviously differences in how easy it is to get started with guest posts on your blog, and getting a post on another blog. Getting a post published on another blog should be the first thing, because this will also spread the word about your blog, hence its popularity.

Places that are open to guest posts could be, for example these blogs.

• Cumluv
• Famous Bloggers
• W3blog

You can find more relevant blogs by searching on “guest post” or “Guest posting”, or just how you find blogs it’s up to you.!

Getting others to write a guest post on your blog is harder, because those who are writing guest posts are always looking for some good value for their texts. They all have different things that they view as important for them, but based on a WordPress blogs they might be Cumluv and the new CommentLuv Premium plugin that has KeywordLuv, the blog should have some daily visitors. And from personal experience the higher you’re PageRank is the better and the easier it is to find others that will posts on the blog.

So, if  there was ever talk about a situation that is win win then this is it.!

I understand the need to put spammers and link-seeking trolls in their place. But there are ways to accept guest posts on your site without going into fascist mode. My thing is this: it’s my site. I don’t have to be overly defensive of my guest post policy. It is what it is, and there is no need to go over the top.

The site I’m referring to was one of those sites that doesn’t even appear to be run by a human being. Boxy, template-looking, with author bio boxes that didn’t even have any content in them! Not surprisingly, the site didn’t have many guest posts – or posts at all. And yet under the inviting looking “Write for Us” menu link was a dissertation-like guest post policy that, between the lines, screamed, “Don’t write for us.”

I’ve long held the belief that guest posting is good for the host and good for the guest. If it is not a win-win situation, it’s not worth it. And for those of us who host, the “win” we offer is not simply real estate on the blog. If that’s all we’re offering, that’s not good enough. As a host, I try to go out of my way to ensure that my site is a good place to publish.

But not all site owners see it that way… Here’s how to avoid those who are really just looking to use you. Watch out for these signs.

Signs that a Site is Bad for Guest Posting

1. The site owner blatantly tells you that they are not going to let you know if your post is published or not.

I understand not telling you if your post will NOT be published, but it’s simply common courtesy to let a potential guest blogger know that their post will be published. I let them know in either case.

Simple fix for the lazy or busy: Install a plugin that will alert contributors when their posts are scheduled to be published. Now, the caveat is that your site needs to be structured such that guests are set up as contributors. In my case, I have both situations frequently. When guests are not set up as contributors, I simply let them know when their post is published AND I send them the link to it.

Is it really that difficult to go out of your way to do that, as a host?

I loved the line on the blog I referred to earlier that reads, “Due to the high volume of guest posts that we receive, you will not be notified if your guest post is accepted and published on [site name].” High volume of guest posts? YEAH, RIGHT.

2. The site requires you to promote your guest post on your own blog.

So let me get this straight. This host is chastising guests from desiring a link/SEO benefit from guest blogging, but requiring the guest to give them a link. Sounds like a double-standard to me.

Again, guest blogging should be win-win. As a host, I don’t need a guest to link to their post on my site. Sure, it’s great if they do, but what goes on my site is mine to promote, and I take responsibility for that. I don’t require guests to give ME a link for publishing their content on my site. To me, that’s over the top.

3. The site’s bio boxes are deserted.

If the site is set up to display bio boxes, and there’s nothing in them (and ‘admin’ has no gravatar), move on. This site is most likely on auto-pilot. The owner doesn’t care about it enough to even give themselves credit, so don’t kid yourself into thinking they are going to give you any credit.

To me, it is a huge red flag when the owner has gone to the trouble of generating an extra long guest post policy but can’t be bothered to make sure the other more important features of their blog are set up properly. They are simply in it to receive, rather than to give.

4. The site owner tells you they are going to delete your email if you write to them with questions.

Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. This host (the one who inspired this post) is completely off her rocker.

If you come across a site that tells you that if you write to them asking about your submission, they are going to delete your email, move… on. Forget about them. Only a jerk (in my opinion) would say something like that. Now, I may not be the best at getting back to people, but I haven’t made it a policy (in bold lettering) that I will delete their emails if they try to contact me.

Pssshh! Onward.

If you are a host and you can answer yes to any one of those scenarios, you are a bad guest post host. And if you are a blogger and you come across a site with those ridiculous guidelines, run. Do not waste your writing on that blog.

To me, these four things are complete red flags and showstoppers. I wouldn’t publish a post on a site like that. Would you? What are your non-negotiables? What have you done as a guest post host to ensure your guests feel comfortable blogging with you?

Guest blogging here will be defined as blogging on any site other than your own. It can be one of the highest ROI activities for an Internet marketer, and is well worth the effort in terms of sales, retention, visibility, and turnover.

Here are 5 Major Benefits of Guest Blogging

1. Free exposure for increased traffic

If this was the only reason that you chose to guest blog, it could be well worth it. Guest blogging gives you the free exposure to what could be a completely new audience. Guest blogging also allows you to turn this increased traffic to your own blog. Keep in mind: Though this is not an instant overnight traffic spike, the fact is that if you continue to be seen as a guest blogger on other sites, people will begin to take notice and give your own site more traffic.

If you can, try to guest blog on web sites with similar / relevant interests. If so, you can attach added relevance to your posts and give yourself the reputation of an expert in your field.

2. Opening more doors for yourself.

You can open gateways to many other venues by guest blogging. There is never anything bad about building relationships with webmasters and the audiences of those webmasters. You never know what new professional and personal doors could be opened for you from guest blogging.

3. Guest blogging benefits your search engine optimization.

Ever since the Google Panda update, staying relevant is more a matter of total experience for your audience rather than any single metric, like number of keywords or number of one way backlinks. The major search engines are also constantly changing their algorithms, but one thing remains the same: If you are seen as relevant on many sites and your name keeps popping up for relevant and similar search terms, all the pages that you are on will experience a rise in search engine placement. You will be seen as an expert and trusted by humans and by search engine algorithms, which creates a positive whirlwind that builds upon itself.

4. Guest blogging improves your standing in social media.

Aside from the major search engines, having a social media presence is the best way to get yourself noticed by both new and old customers. Staying relevant in the cluttered market of today means that you hold personal recommendations from a community and respect within that community. Social media presence builds that more quickly than any form of Internet marketing, and guest blogging is the easiest way to put your name everywhere without hard selling it and turning others off by being annoying.

The more content that you have to play with, the more links you can post, the more pages you will have ranked in search engines, and the more visible your name will be in the public eye.

5. You will be seen as an expert.

People want to be advised by an expert. Guest blogging shows that other gatekeepers of public opinion, namely blog hosts, trust you. If they trust you, then their audiences will trust you.

Do not be afraid to give out free information. You can give away as much as you want to about your product or service; the fact is that most people simply do not have the time to implement any solution you may recommend and would rather simply pay you to do it.

Write “how to” articles and answer questions in forums that are related to your website. Once you get the regulars asking questions directly to you via private message or thread, you know that you have gained their respect as an expert.

Why People Go Without

The most common reason that people don’t choose a specific niche for their blog is that they are blogging as a hobby, and are not particularly interested in attracting any specific audience or running their blog as a business. That is perfectly fine – not everyone wants to make money with their blog, and people should be allowed to think they can blog purely for the enjoyment of it.

What is a little more worrying is that some people who do start a blog to make money also don’t choose a specific niche. Such people are often misled by others that tell them making money by blogging is easy, or they think that their daily life is so interesting that they will be able to attract many thousands of readers and monetize that traffic – unless you’re already a celebrity then most people probably won’t care. Most commonly though, people know they should choose a niche but don’t want to feel tied down by choosing just one, so they write about many subjects on the one blog.

What Are The Consequences?

The biggest consequence of not choosing one niche is that you don’t attract targeted readers for your blog – if you aim to make money with your blog then this can become very important down the line. If your content isn’t focused around one subject, then it can also be hard to attract a readership that comes back to visit your blog on a regular basis – so your blog will grow much slower than if your content was focused around a particular subject. A large majority of people also choose to monetize their blogs by releasing their own e-book or other information product. This becomes very difficult when you’re not building up a targeted audience to release that product to, not to mention bloggers usually use feedback from readers to release a product that is sure to meet their specific needs.

What Solutions Are There?

If you have so many interests that you cannot write about just one thing, then you may want to think about starting multiple blogs – or separating your main blog into several specific categories. Whichever option you choose, make sure that you’re building a separate subscriber list for each individual topic. Another possible solution (which I prefer) is to just stick with one niche blog, but write about your daily life and whatever else interests you in a way that relates back to your niche. This usually results in highly original and interesting content, and also prevents you from becoming bored.

These solutions still allow you to write focused content to build your readership and earn you money down the road, as well as preventing blogging from becoming a painful experience for you.

I hope you’ve found these ideas useful. Have you got any more to add? Please mention them, or any other questions you have, in the comments section below…