Do you allow guest bloggers on your blog? Have you ever written a guest post for someone else’s website? Why would people write for other people’s sites at all?
Bloggers differ in how they deal with guest blogging. Some seem to fill their space in the blogosphere with posts from other bloggers and others appear to be more territorial. I’ve written several guest posts and have also allowed a few bloggers to post on my blog, as well. There are definitely pros and cons to guest blogging.
PROS:
1) Cross-promotion via social media.
2) Possibly increasing readership and/or followers.
3) Opportunity to write for a different audience.
4) Possible chance to blog outside your own blog’s niche.
CONS:
1) Website owner may not post much (or anything) about your guest
blog on social media; thus, your possible readership is lessened.
2) Introduction to your guest post may contain spelling/grammatical
errors or (this actually happened to me!) refer to you by the wrong
name.
3) Post may not be published in a timely manner and you may miss out on peak viewing hours.
4) You may give more to the blogger posting on your site than s/he gives to you.
What’s a blogger to do?
If you’re thinking about guest blogging, you should carefully choose where your blog post will reside. Consider websites that consistently produce quality content and that you feel would tout your post on a variety of social media platforms. (Perhaps you even want to discuss ahead of time how many “mentions” your post will get on Twitter, Facebook, or Google +.) Think about blogging for someone you trust who is also a good writer. This person should be someone with whom you’ve already formed a positive relationship. Maybe s/he has even retweeted your tweets or +1’d your posts!
When in doubt: Check the Domain Authority.
Domain Authority (DA) is a website metric developed by Moz and it’s created from a combination of your website’s age, popularity and size. The greater the DA, the more likely your website is to have strong traffic and a high ranking. To determine a website’s Domain Authority, go to Open Site Explorer and type in the name of the site. This tool gives you a ranking out of 100. Better, stronger sites yield DAs of 50 or higher.
Although you can have a very successful blogging life without ever having written a guest post, it is a fun opportunity. If you do decide to be a guest blogger, I encourage you to use the information above to maximize your experience.
Bonnie Frank (a.k.a. LadyBlogger) is the creator of the LadyBlogger 2015 blogging conference and her Bonnie L. Frank website where she writes about the business of blogging. Bonnie is a former college professor with a Master’s Degree in Education.