The Benefits of Guest Blogging
By Bryan Clark on Oct 22, 2007 in Better Blogging
You may have noticed that I have allowed a few people to guest post on One Man’s Goal lately. All of the posts have been fantastic and I want to thank the authors. In case you were wondering, there are many benefits of allowing a guest blogger on your blog…
- Time - It frees up time for you to do other things. Lately on the nights that I haven’t posted I’ve been working on a fantastic product that I hope to have released by Christmas. I’ve also taken the time to guest post on a couple of other blogs.
- Exposure - Blogging is a give/take relationship. If I can send somebody a few hits by allowing them to guest post on my blog… I’m all for it. It also allows me to work on guest posts for others, which increases exposure to my blog!
- Perspective - Guest blogging allows your readers to get a different perspective on topics in your niche. Everyone writes in their own style, and it can be pretty refreshing to bring some new blood in from time to time.
- Links - Guest blogging will get you an incoming link from the site you blog on… that can definitely help you with your SEO campaign.
- Community - Allowing people to guest blog (or guest blogging for someone else) increases your position in the community. As bloggers we are pretty good at helping each other out. Guest blogging just strengthens our community. It’s like lending a tool to your neighbor.
I just wanted to briefly go over some of the benefits of guest blogging. This obviously just scratched the surface, but it sheds light on the situation. You’ll see more of these guest posts to come. You are more than welcome to send me a guest post (email it to admin (at) onemansgoal.com) - but I don’t accept all of them. I value my readers and I don’t want to post anything that I’m not positive they will enjoy. If it’s a good post, it’s got a good shot at making it onto the blog.
I plan on publishing more guest posts, but what in your opinion is too many? I want the right blend of guest posts and my own posts so as to not alienate anyone. I know that a lot of my wonderful readers just check in daily because of me… I don’t want to make them unhappy. So speak your mind… what do you think?
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12 Comment(s)
By Ruchir on Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, I couldn’t have agreed more. If you don’t have the budget to order reviews every month, a viable alternative is guest blogging. The best thing is that guest blogging is free. I’ve seen many bloggers rise to famed through the extensive use of guest blogging.
By Caroline Middlebrook on Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
I think I am pretty isolated in this opinion, but I really dislike guest blogging! Ironically, I found this blog though the announcement on Yaro’s blog that you were going tobe a writer for him
However here’s the thing - if I want to read you stuff, I’ll come to your blog. If I want to read Yaro’s stuff I’ll go to his blog. I’d be really upset if I went to visit a friend of mine, and got a different person instead - a friend of my friend! I understand all the benefits yada yada but I just prefer it when people just stick to their own blogs 
By Michael on Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
I have only guest blogged once and it didn’t really benefit me much, except for an acquaintance (the owner of the blog I guest blogged on).
I’m sure it might have helped if the blog I guest posted on was a little bit more high profile but it was a fun experience none the less.
By Sutocu on Oct 23, 2007 | Reply
I think guest blogging is a very good idea as long as it’s done right. It should never lower the value of your blog, so moderation is needed. As for a good number… I think at least half your posts should be non paid posts by you. It’s cool to read other voices every ones in a while, and paid reviews are a necessary evil. Just keep the most important thing most visible.
By BONTB on Oct 24, 2007 | Reply
Agreed and thanks for letting me be one of your guest posters.
PS: I still wait for yours to return the favor
By nick on Oct 26, 2007 | Reply
Guest blogging is something I have teetered back and forth with, but I have had negative experiences in the past with it. I have a good friend from college who is also a journalism major, and he asked me if he could post some work on my site, and reluctantly I agreed. Let’s just say that he isn’t very talented, so I was left in an awkward position. So I reluctantly buried his post at the bottom of my page (I use a magazine theme). I thought it was going to be a one-time, but he has inundated me with post after post and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to offend my friend, but I don’t want to dilute the standard that I have set for my product.
As far as guesting for other people, I do it now and then for exposure, but I feel that a link back to a story serves me better at tunes. I spend a lot of time on my posts, I’m not the type of blogger that is going to write 300 words or throw up a you-tube video and call it a day. I routinely write about 1,000 or more words everytime out. So unless it is a site that is going to benefit me with a lot of traffic I would rather pass, unfortunately I have problem with saying no, and have gotten ropped into a weekly feature at a site that has returned me very few visitors. So I go about this half hearted and post things I would never put on my own site there. In fact, I think it’s actually hurting me because I am representing myself with a lackluster effort.
Now on the other hand, I have recently been asked to do a weekly post on USA Today’s website, and I go about that with the vigor of a starving man. Obviously I would be an idiot not to do so. Still, even with this exposure, I still make little money off my site. It would be nice to be able to make a living doing this, but I’ve failed miserably through my first four months. I’m sitting back waiting for someone to say hey let me put a banner on your site.
What Bryan really needs to teach us is about soliciting advertisers and such, we don’t all have monetizing sites, so doing reviews and that doesn’t benfit all of us. I would like to hear about how he finds his advertisers and approaches them. I have no idea where to start in this process, and I’m sure a lot of people are right there with me. We all know how to get Google ads, and text ads, and affiliate programs, and I’m sure these methods are bringing little to no money for most of the people that read this site. Show us how to do this, or at least let us know what you have done so far in this capactiy.
So, I guess the point of this story is to make sure that you are benefitting from these efforts. It’s pointless to go about it if you know that it is going to be a fruitless.
By Visitor766 on Nov 21, 2007 | Reply
Your site found in Google: http://google.com/search?q=lda
By Cosmetic Surgery Tummy Tuck on Jan 9, 2008 | Reply
I’ve been trying to get some regular guest posters for one of my blogs. It definitely takes some heat off you from producing all the content on your blog.
By Kathy Pop on Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Well, I think that guest blogging is great. Several of us are starting a community blog, so that we can each share our knowledge to people. Plus, we all have very busy lives and other activities for our businesses, so this is a perfect solution. I am glad my friend recommended your blog.
Thanks!
By Antonia Wells on Apr 18, 2008 | Reply
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By Jerry Hart on Apr 22, 2008 | Reply
Our clients under http://www.trivalley.com have seen mondo success with guest blogging. Her ecommerce explodes with each guest blogging opportunity she hooks into with someone who is passionate about her jewelry at http://www.twisted-silver.com. I’m so proud of her as she really gets social media and I find that awareness she has about guest blogging and it’s power to build community is in short supply across the web. Nice post.
Jerry
http://www.trivalley.com
By Jerry Hart on Apr 22, 2008 | Reply
Our clients under http://www.trivalley.com have seen mondo success with guest blogging. One of our clients ecommerce explodes with each guest blogging opportunity she hooks into with someone who is passionate about her jewelry at http://www.twisted-silver.com. I’m so proud of her as she really gets social media and I find that awareness she has about guest blogging and it’s power to build community is in short supply across the web. Nice post.
Jerry
http://www.trivalley.com