So, you have your blogging schedule down pat. You blog every day, you've got a list of great topics to write about to keep you busy until next Christmas. You're pleased with how the blog reads, you're confident that your content is great. In fact, you are so intent on your blog that you could be accused of staring at your own navel. No matter how good you are, there is nothing better than gaining a slightly different perspective with a slightly different audience and stretching yourself that bit further.
Why should I guest post?
There are many benefits to posting on someone else's blog. The first is a simple matter of arithmetic. Let's say you have 100 subscribers. A similar blog has 150 subscribers, of which 20 are probably the same people. So, your 100 already know who you are. By guest posting, another 130 new people will know who you are. Suddenly, 230 people are now aware of you, your name and your ideas.
Glen Allsopp as written a great summary on why guest blogging is a good idea. Cleverly, he has written it as a guest blogger. His first two points accord with our little maths problem above, but he also points out the SEO value as well as the general feeling of goodwill it may give you. I think there is probably a sixth point which he could add. Stepping away from your own blog, style and audience can help to grow and develop in ways that you may not if you don't step out of your comfort zone and give it a try. The audience may react differently to your own audience. They may want something alternative to what you are used to. The new blog may require a different style or emphasis. In learning how to write elsewhere with different guidelines, you can't help but improve your own blog.
It pays to be a bit audacious
Asking to guest post on a popular blog can be a bit nerve wrecking - like going up to the cool group at school and asking whether you can play in their football game. I want to refer you to one of my favourite posts of all time by Skelliwag where she extols the virtues of audacious blogging. Effectively she says 'go for it'. The worst that can happen is they can say no. And if they say no - well, what have you lost? But if you don't have that courage to put yourself in the line of fire, you are never going to know whether or not they might have said yes.
A lot of bloggers have lives too (believe it or not). They, like you, run a business, have a life, manage their reputation and status, market themselves, fulfil on their work, pay their bills, spend time with their family and friends. The one factor in life which we all have, no matter who we are, is the 24 hour rule. There are only 24 hours in the day. Begging, crying or shouting isn't going to suddenly give you more. Therefore, many bloggers would probably be glad to accept your offer of help. It allows them to take a day off from posting, or to go away on holiday knowing that their audience is being looked after. Rather than seeing other bloggers as the cool gang, see them as being just as harassed and busy as you. It will make it easier to offer your services.
Turning it around - getting guest posters to come to you
But it works both ways. Yes - you can take your blog and reputation to the next level by expanding yourself into other blogs, but your blog will also benefit from allowing others to post for you. Suddenly, your readers get some variety or additional value which you may not be able to offer. And just think - you can take the day off to spend with your kids after all.
However, there is a word of warning which Patrick Altoft relays in no uncertain terms:
The problems with guest posting
Patrick put out a post from his very popular blog, Blogstorm, which asked for guest posters. Of course, when you see a request to join the football team, it is a far more appealing thing that having to summon up the courage to ask. It appears that Patrick received a lot of guest posts and was frustrated to find that many of them were exercises in proving how much the guest poster knew rather than providing value to the audience.
It is understandable why this happened. In the hope to get selected to post on a popular site, many people forget what they blog for and simply set out to prove that they know more than the next person. I am sure if you went and read the blogs of most of these submitters, they would provide good valuable content and blah blah blah...so why does it change?
It is the competitive nature of most of us - developed while we were young and carried into our later life. When we are just writing, we remember why. When suddenly our writing is being pitched against others, we forget. It is difficult to remember that you are not writing for the selector, you are writing for the audience but it is absolutely vital if you want to succeed at guest posting. Think of them as your own audience, because if you do it right, they soon will be.
Thanks to CupeVampe for the image
Read the rest of the series on advanced blogging
- Advanced Blogging: Your Blogging Strategy
- Advanced Blogging: Constructive Conversation With Your Readers
- Advanced Blogging: Building Regular Traffic and Doing Something With It
- Advanced Blogging: You've Got The Look
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