There’s been a new guest post almost every single day for the past two weeks and for the most part, they’ve been excellent! There have been a couple however that I have had to reject because they weren’t guest posts, more like excuses to publish sales pages that lead to more sales pages or written solely to publish an affiliate link.
Wipe your feet!
If you are going to submit an article to someones blog as a guest post then show a little respect, don’t trample your affiliate links and blatant seo baited anchor text all over the floor! You’ll go a lot further if you write a decent article, one that reflects your own blog and constructed in such a way so that the reader actually wants to visit your site.
Honestly, if you have to trick someone into clicking a link or lie your way onto someones front page just to get some eyeballs on your content then, well, that’s all I need to know about what you do to know that I don’t want a part of it.
(dont) Follow the crowd (over a cliff)
A lot of people say that guest posting is an excellent way to get links back to your site, they also say it’s a great way to get more traffic but what they don’t say is that you wont get either if you don’t do it properly!!
Make sure you follow the guidelines set down by the blog owner, that means write to the minimum word count, don’t put a gazillion tags on your post or try and hyperlink every.single.keyphrase and for crying out loud, don’t include affiliate links no matter how relevant you think they are!
Drive by guest blogging
Don’t ruin your chances of getting your site noticed and your brand recognized by drive by guest blogging. Nothing will lose you respect and hinder your chances of becoming noticed quicker than thinking that you can get away with a half arsed article full of links to splogs.
I know you’re excited about your product launch or 110% believe in your platinum plated, guaranteed roads to riches, one million hits traffic formula but, you know what buddy? keep it off my blog!!
From little acorns…
Rome wasn’t built in a day, slow and steady wins the race etc etc. Don’t rush these things! It’s so true, from little acorns, mighty Oaks grow. Don’t be a fool and think you can publish one post full of questionable links to even more questionable sites and sit back and watch the riches come in. IT WONT HAPPEN!!
It takes time to build a reputation, it takes effort to create a brand and it wont happen overnight. Sure! guest blogging can be an amazing way to jump start that process but not if you mess it up. You’ve got to do more than write guest posts, you’ve got to write GOOD guest posts!
The whole point of guest blogging (to me) is to get yourself in front of a new audience, to showcase what you’re about. If the new audience likes what they see then they are sure to click through on your guest author box to see what else you have to say. If you write good articles the blog owner will want you to come back and write more, it’s in their best interests to have a steady supply of unique, interesting content published on their blog so write the best post that you can, make it interesting, informative.
Good show! (of products/services/writing skill)
There have been a few articles published over the past two weeks which have struck me as really good articles in their own right but also do a good job of promoting the guest authors own site/business.
One such article was the “How to keep dogs from barking all night” post written by Dave Baker who runs a pet advice site .
Another was “How to make your blog famous” by Rick LaPoint who runs an internet marketing blog.
They don’t all have to be a shoe in to your own site, guest posts can show off how well you write and what kind of authority you have on a given subject. Take Ileane Smiths post about “Five costly video blogging mistakes” , a funny yet informative post that makes me want to visit her basic blog tips site or Satrap who has published guest posts all over the blogosphere to do with link building and SEO tools. His Big List of 60 Web 2.0 Sites for Link Building has definitely caused visitors to go on to his ways to make money online blog so there has never been a better time to guest blog.
Submit your request today and you can be up there in the blogosphere with people like Karen from Blazing Minds or Byan from “Earn money from home” writing quality articles that get well deserved attention on numerous high PR and pageview blogs like ComLuv, FamousBloggers and more.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Many thanks for the mention, I do my best to get myself in guest posting mode, so many blogs, so little time
Karen´s recent blog post ..Setting Up My Second Hand BlackBerry Curve on Orange
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
hey you’re welcome! thanks for adding your content to this blog, I hope you get enough time to do some more!
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I’ll squeeze one in when I get a bit of inspiration and time
Karen´s recent blog post ..A Slight Update to the Author Box to Include a New Twitter Button!
Twitter: another_blogger
says:
Hi Andy,
Your article came in the right time, I just published an article calling for guest blogger for my blog.
Yea, I need to make guest blogging rules as you said. Karen is here? I think I must join Karen right away. I’m already with Hesham at FamousBloggers.net and Karen at BlazingMinds and few other blogs.
Thanks for the article Andy.
Latief´s recent blog post ..Calling For Guest Blogger
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
It seems everyone is getting the guests in to blog! good luck with your site, make sure you have rules set down before you start accepting articles. it makes it much easier to refuse!
I would love it if you would join Karen and submit a guest post or two here, you would be most welcome!
Twitter: johngarrettx
says:
You’d think that a lot of this would be common sense but I guess not, huh?? Lol.
Still this is a good wake up call for people who are thinking of doing a guest-post circuit with half-ass posts.
To me, if it has my name attached to it I want it to be top-notch, and DOUBLY so if I’m guest posting. I wouldn’t guest-post for anyone I didn’t respect and as such I’d feel like crap for bringing down the level of quality of another blog.
I do see the complaints about guest-post submissions a lot so I think this will be a problem for awhile unfortunately. Peace!
John Garrett´s recent blog post ..Considering the PopUp Domination plugin
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
you would think so eh? haha, it’s ok though I understand. some people think that any article will do, they read somewhere that you should guest post and think that’s all there is to it. They don’t realize that submitting a lame post is worse than not submitting anything!
Twitter: Feisty_Woman
says:
Wow, I had no idea people actually do the half-a$$ variety guest blog. I guess that want to ensure they’ll never have to guest blog again. No?
FeistyWoman´s recent blog post ..9 Signs He’s Out to Use You For Sex
Twitter: BasicBlogTips
says:
Hi Andy,
Guest posting here has been a very rewarding experience for me and I tickled that you mentioned me in this post. It’s true that some of us need more guidance than others when it comes to guest posting and “best practices” to follow.
I would like to encourage anyone that had their post rejected to do a little homework and find out where they went wrong. We all have to start somewhere and in the beginning most of us have no clue what we’re doing. On the other hand, just the idea that you joined the CommentLuv community means that you’re on the right track, so don’t give up!
I see commenters coming to my blog that leave some pretty lame comments but if I see that they are CommentLuv members I’ll approve them (once) because I remember when…
Bottom line CommentLuv is a valuable resource and if you’re not sure how to take advantage of it properly – “you better ask somebody” LOL!!
Thanks Andy.
Ileane Smith´s recent blog post ..Help Readers Find Your Guest Posts
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
and thanks to you Ileane for helping out other commentluv users! you’re always welcome here
Thanks for the post. I will have the first guest on my blog this week, so I’m excited. So I hope it leads to me doing a guest post for someone. It’s the goal right now.
dsalvatier´s recent blog post ..How Australia Inspired Me To Draw
Twitter: lavenderuses
says:
Hi Andy
With all the posts about how to guest post to get published; I am saddened you had to write this post! You are so generous with commentluv and all that you do to help us bloggers get our blogs out there and noticed.
For me, joining commentluv community has introduced me to so many great bloggers and their blogs. In fact I left a comment on Rick LaPoint’s excellent guest post here and it resulted in me being asked to guest post for him
I guest posted over on his site last week and through that have 2 more invites from other bloggers to guest post on their sites now.
If we respect blog owner’s sites and contribute to the quality of comments on their site surely that will show what type of blogger we are. It brings it’s own rewards and for me that is enough
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia´s recent blog post ..Lavender Products Galore-Must Be Party Time
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
that’s great news Patricia! so, when will you be guest posting here?
I’d love to hear some lavender based wisdom.
Twitter: lavenderuses
says:
Wow thanks for the vote of confidence. Will have to think about that one. Have so many loyal commentluv readers visiting would have to be something extra special.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia´s recent blog post ..Lavender Products Galore-Must Be Party Time
Andy, what an excellent post. I agree with Patricia, with all the posts and info all over the internet about guest posting and its common rules, its so unbelievable that people would still try to “self post” rather than “guest post”. Writing a post full of affiliate links and for the sole purpose of self promotion is simply damaging the host blog and what it represents. Yes, we all do guest posting to promote ourselves in one way or another, but not by stepping all over the host.
In Persian (my tongue mother) we have a saying that I go by, that has served me well not only in guest posting but in all expects of my life and that is “do for others what you like others to do for you and don’t do things to others that you don’t want others do to you”. Basically treat others as you like to be treated, simple as that!
satrap´s recent blog post ..an Easy Way to Earn Money Online Without Investment
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
thanks for agreeing with me! I see from your guest posts all over the internet that you follow the proper methods for guest posting. I think your Persian saying is universal! I’ve heard it in a different form in many places.
Andy, sorry for double posting, but I forgot to ask you this, how do you come up with these great images for your posts. I love the images you use for your posts. They are so appropriate and go so well with the content. Seriously, its genius. Do you have people working for you whos only job is to search for images for your posts or use a plug-in of some kind to help?
satrap´s recent blog post ..How Keyword Research Can Help You Make Money Online
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
hey no worries Satrap, I just do a google image search for the most relevant keyword and that’s it. No big secret. Sometimes I have to make my own but I’m not as good as Hisham for creating good images.
Hey thanks man….will surely keep an eye out for these mistakes from now on…cheers!
animecrazy´s recent blog post ..Final Paper
Twitter: hcgdiet411blog
says:
I couldn’t agree more – The more successful my blog becomes, the more people in my niche will come to leave a comment, which ends up sounding more like a sales pitch. Then on top of it all, they will use the key words as anchor text to embed an affiliate link or website link in the comment.
They will try to do the same thing in my forum. They will start a thread to promote affiliate products. It takes a lot of time to take all of that stuff out – Then someone else comes and does the same thing.
Great post,
Brian M Connole
Brian´s recent blog post ..How To Mix Sublingual HCG Drops
Twitter: unique_tips
says:
I think I done lot of mistakes in my six month blogging carrier.Very late to find out those mistakes. will concentrate more on my blog promotion.
Madav´s recent blog post ..How to create a feed-count button for your website
Twitter: xaffiliatex
says:
Andy, this was a great post. I recently started exploring the guest blogging avenue myself. I have to say, you can not just read one post on a blog and expect to write something fantastic. You have to really look into the blog owner’s writings, determine their mission and align your content as such.
Thanks for the post!
Lisa´s recent blog post ..4 Tips to Build Your TwitShips
Twitter: Feisty_Woman
says:
Just wondering if it’s bad etiquette to inquire about being compensated for guest blogs. Asking not demanding. Especially if they don’t mention it up front. I guess we shouldn’t be too choosy or pushy if we’re out there trying to promote a brand-new blog.
Entertaining and informative article. Totally on point!
FeistyWoman´s recent blog post ..9 Signs He’s Out to Use You For Sex
Hey Andy, definitely some great points about guest blogging. As someone who runs a site that accepts a number of guest posts myself, I try to put my best foot forward when I contribute for other blogs. When I first started accepting guest posts the overall quality was quite poor for the most part. Fortunately, it’s improved tremendously. I still use Copyscape to check guest posts which recently caught someone plagiarizing the famous “Dr. Mercola” which was an odd choice given how well-known he is.
Jarret´s recent blog post ..Long-Term Effects of Snack-centric Diets
Excellent post! I do agree with everything that was written here. Rome was NOT built in a day and I feel sorry for those people who want instant success. There is no such thing. It takes time, patience, and a lot of effort to even start being noticed. I recently just added commentluv to my blog and am anxious to see what results this will yield. I am also worried about many people writing one worded, irrelevant comments – but thats what I have akismet for!
keep up the good work
zoopco´s recent blog post ..ZOOPCO is now CommentLuv Enabled
Twitter: jessytroy
says:
Great post with some useful indight. As an active guest blogger, I was very keen on reading it thoroughly.
You should also check out MyBlogGuest.com – the community of guest bloggers. I’ve been member for more than 6 months now and have been amazed by the opportunities it offers so far.
Jessy Troy´s recent blog post ..3 Eco-Friendly DIY Christmas Wreaths
Twitter: xyJmqPmHcULncjBzUVM
says:
I will certainly check it out thanks!
Twitter: rwperkinsjr
says:
This goes back to a comment I just made over on Karen’s most recent submission, “The Stages of a Blogger”.
In that comment I mentioned: “Quality over content, in my opinion. They say content is king but if it is not quality content then you are not going to get return visits. I have recently changed my blog and moved from the low quality PLR/Paid-To-Post type of posts to personal posts to provide better quality and information to my readers and to try to establish a quality base.”
It’s the same thing whether you are posting to a blog for yourself and especially if you are guest blogging on someone’s blog. You want to deliver the highest quality content to ensure someone will go back to the top and see who you are and click to your site.
I can tell you this… If I come to a site that is filled with ads and links I move on qucik. There are way too many websites offering the same thing you are and I can find what I am looking for in a atmosphere I am comfortable with. If your post looks dicey and questionable, like stated above in the post, then I will move on.
Let’s put it this way, if you go to buy a car and the show room smells like urine, the walls are covered in filth and the sales guy is shifty eyed and deceptive are you going to buy a car there or are you going to go down the street to the lot that is a whole lot cleaner, the sales guy had a shower and you feel he is telling you the truth? I am going down the street and I am going to mention the dirty lot while I am there thus spreading bad publicity that may lose them a sale sometime in the future.
Bottom line if you are going to guest blog respect the blog owner but most importantly respect the readers that blog owner has busted their butt to get. If I am reading a blog I am looking for information not your affiliate links, I have plenty of those of my own.
Richard´s recent blog post ..Maybe You Can Help – Spray Nozzle