Why would you want to publish someone else’s thoughts and words on your site? Why would you want to blog on another site? What advantages does this have? How do you approach another blogger about this? And once I do guest blog on another site, should I post the information to my site as well?
I recently have delved into the world of guest blogging. Just yesterday, I was approached by a fellow blogger to write a guest post for their blog. The above questions came rushing through my mind at lightning speed. I found that I had to do a little research in order to complete the task at hand… guest blogging.
First off, when I was asked to write a guest post, I immediately visited the site to do a little bit of research. In my opinion, an informed blogger is a good blogger. I wanted to know what the site was about, what kind of content they would be looking for, and who makes up their readership base. Once I had these bases covered, I decided that I could confidently accept the offer. But, not only did I accept, I asked the person to reciprocate with a post of their own for AverageGal.
There are many benefits to guest blogging. By guest blogging, you are able to reach a more diverse audience and capture readers that may not have visited your site otherwise. This is added exposure that you desperately need when starting out or trying to grow your readership. In turn, having guest bloggers on your site give you the chance to showcase others’ work and expand your readers’ knowledge. Also, having a guest blog gives you a breather from writing. It’s a great way to break up your work week.
As I mentioned in my article, “Love Google, Hate Google… Who Cares, Copy Them!”, I stated that you should make several contacts prior to approaching another person to ask for something. This concept also applies to asking another blogger to guest blog on your site. It’s best to establish a relationship to make sure your interests and intentions coincide.
Lastly, once you have the final guest post all written up, make sure that you do NOT post the exact same post on your site. This is bad for SEO. Having the same article on several (or 2) sites hurts your search engine optimization. You could however, write up a little summary of your article and direct your readers to the other blog. I’m sure that the the other blog owner would appreciate that as well!
As you can see, guest blogging certainly isn’t for dummies! It’s a smart move and can be beneficial in so many ways! You can check out my recent guest post on Tumblemoose Productions.
Any other questions or suggestions regarding guest blogging? Have you asked someone to guest blog yet? Have you ever been a guest blogger?