The obvious reason why you would guest post on another blog is the fact that you want to get your message across to (potentially) a larger audience or quite possibly the fact that you want to gain a larger readership for your own site. Sometimes you can also offer your services for a price too, but usually for an exchange of traffic, the guest post should be free. But whatever the reason, is guest posting good or bad for you?
The obvious choice would probably be that it is good for you. I mean, what do you have to lose besides time? And some people do say “money is time” but let’s not go there. Well, you can lose more than just time; you can possibly lose creditability before you gain it.
I have guest posted on a couple of blogs and I have to admit, I have gotten some decent traffic. I did not guest post on blogs like Problogger.net (with a readership of over 40K daily and guaranteed traffic) or anything but a readership of at least 1,000+ and I had mixed reviews. A bunch of readers liked the post(s), while others tore it up. Either way, it was a learning experience.
Like I mentioned, I have gotten some pretty good traffic from those sites but for those who did not like my post, I already lost their trust. Yes, they may have come to my blog to give it a chance but my first impression obviously wasn’t good. And I can guarantee that I lost creditability from a bunch of those readers that will never give me the time of day ever again.
On the other hand, it was a learning experience and negative comments are not always a bad thing. It can motivate you to step up your writing and blogging skills. Plus, if you think about it, the blog owner wouldn’t have published it if they didn’t think it was good to begin with. So, there’s at least one person who liked it (besides yourself).
So, is guest blogging a good or bad thing? Although, there might be some bad to it, the majority has to lean towards the good aspects of it. Yes, you will spend extra time that you may or may not have. Yes, you are not going to please everybody with your post. And yes, you have to have a tough skin to take in the criticism.
But at the end of the day, you exposed yourself to a larger audience that may have never heard of you in their lives. You know what they say, “you could be the best writer in the world, but if you don’t market it, no one will know it.”
So, if you think you’re an excellent writer, why not try submitting a guest post to an A-list blogger?
Stay tuned because I will discuss some things you should consider before submitting your first guest post.
Guest Posting
Guest Blogging
Writer
Blogging
Hey Jay,
Too bad I just submitted a guest post to be considered at bloggin-ads. Hope it will be published. Should have waited for your tips before submitting it, who knows I might learn a thing or two in there. So, looking forward to your tips. By the way, which A-list bloggers currently looking for guest posts?
Bobby - Yeah, Mike’s a pretty good guy so if your article is decent, I’m sure he’ll publish it for you.
But as far as A-list bloggers, if your article is good enough then I’m pretty sure you can get on any of them. For instance, I have a few friends that published articles on John Chow, Problogger, etc blogs.
But I’ll publish my tips sometime this week.
Jay
DaTMoney.com
I disagree about “losing credibility” by guest blogging. For the most part you’re writing to an audience that has never been exposed to you before so you really have no credibility to lose.
Now of course it’s possible that those same people may have been exposed to you at a later date and had a more favorable first impression but there’s certainly no guarantee of that. Besides if you agree with only half my blog posts there’s only a 50/50 chance you’ll like my blog if you do happen upon it.
I’m just a new blogger and working on my first guest post for a mid sized blog. I can only dream about someday guest blogging on Shoemoney or John Chow. Even if 80% of the readers hate what I have to say I’m sure it would yield more new readers and subscribers than not guest blogging.