Ah, once again the topic of guest posts on blogs. For all the grief I feel about these things, while recognizing that they can offer some value, it turns out that I haven’t talked about it as much as I thought I had. It seems I mention it and then get away from it like I did with last week’s post on social networking (see #10).
Yet, I have written about it; I’ve even done videos about it. Thus, it’s not my intention to repeat everything word for word again. Instead, I’m going to share the videos and the links of my previously talking about it while griping about a few more things this week regarding the subject.
The first… I used to have an advertising policy on my finance blog (now defunct). These weren’t guest posts; they were sponsored posts. In other words, if anyone wanted to put an article on that site, they were going to pay for the honor.
Why? It was just so frustrating having to do all that editing all the time, especially while I was on the road consulting in another city. I mean really; if you’re asking if you can put a guest post on someone else’s space, at least make sure your article is written well. Is that really too much to do?
Actually it must be, because I see a lot of guest posts on other sites that are horribly written. I also notice that way too often the writer of the guest post never responds to any comments that article received.
There are too many canned letters, too many people not even visiting the site to see what’s there; sigh… those and the lies they tell about how wonderful the blog is and sending me a link to an article I wrote (or a guest post that someone else wrote when I did accept guest posts), without saying anything about the article. Does that work on a lot of people?
It’s not that I’m against guest posting in general. Heck, I even gave some guest posting tips and talked about how to write a guest post, and you saw that my last article was originally a guest post on another site. I even wrote an article talking about using guest posting as a traffic strategy, as it can be a very valuable way to market oneself (though I don’t think it’s at the top). I’m not hating just to hate; I’m fussing because of the goofiness of it all sometimes.
Last week someone wrote me asking what the advertising policy was on my finance blog; sigh… I wrote and told him where to find it, since I happened to be out of town when I saw the email. Then we wrote me back and asked me how much each sponsored post was, which is in the policy. I wrote back saying how much it was and asking if he’d missed it in the policy.
He then wrote me back making me an offer that was less than half the amount I ask for, saying he was willing to send me 8 sponsored posts… which I really didn’t want to see coming from one source I didn’t know. I wrote back saying that was unacceptable and the rate was the rate. Then he wrote me back asking what my final offer was… what?!?! Y’all know I deleted that in a heartbeat.
This is a good time for a video about guest posting so I can take a breath…
https://youtu.be/UxUkoTMZqx0
Are y’all feeling me? I think I’ve covered about all I want to cover here, and for once you’re getting a relatively short article from me. I gave you lots of links and a video; nothing else to cover on this front for the moment.
I’d really like to know what your opinions are on guest posting requests, because I know I’m not the only one getting them. If you’re someone who uses guest posting as a strategy, do you think what I’m saying is fair or unfair? Go ahead, let me know; I’m out!
I’ve had several guest posts as well as interviews (including one with you), but those were posts that I actively solicited. When I receive those out of the blue requests to provide a guest post then I figure it’s someone with something to link to or to advertise. No thanks to those. I’ll usually politely decline or in a few instances when they seem too canned I’ll just ignore them.
I think you’re right about policy. In fact, now that I’ve cut back on posting at my remaining sites, I don’t even ask for guest posts (though I guess I’d consider one from a blogger whom I like and respect).
Arlee, these folks are driving me crazy. I mean, I have a link on the site saying I don’t accept guest posts and I have a link to the advertising policy. I know a lot of these people are seeing my site on one of those other sites that lists sites that accept guest posts but come on, 3 years later, you’d think those sites would be updated. At the very least you’d think those people would at least visit the site they want to pop a guest post on, wouldn’t you?
Hi Mitch, I totally agree with you. I get requests too and refuse 99% of them
I have contributors I know and ask when I need help with a post.
It’s frustrating to get emails from folks that never visited your blog to guest post. How do they know what your readers need or want?
I’d stick with your policy Mitch 🙂
Thanks Lisa. Something I didn’t add in the article was someone who wrote me 3 times, never mentioned my name and kept copying the previous requests into the email, finally asking why I wasn’t responding to him. In this case I did write him back, told him about the unprofessional manner of his correspondence, and said it was that reason I hadn’t responded to him before and that it would hold back his career if he kept doing that while trying to guest post on other sites. That finally shut him up. lol
Hey Mitch, while I no longer accept guest posts I’m more than happy to take their money when they want me to accept a paid post. When accepting those I always make sure that the links etc are acceptable.
That’s always the first step whenever someone even asks me if they can have a sponsored post. I want to see what they’re linking to and give it my approval before they even think about sending something to me. That’s saved me on a few occasions.
Hi,
Guest posting was a good way to get traffic and recognition but these days with so many blogs and websites I do not think we will get good exposure.
Thank you.
I kind of agree with that Ali. Guest posting never increased any recognition for me, but it might still be a good business strategy for the right people.
Hi Mitch,
I totally agree with you.Guest posting was a good way to get traffic and recognition but these days with so many blogs and websites I do not think we will get good exposure.
Guest Posting is the toughest job to many new bloggers because many don’t know how to approach their fellow mates.
Thanks for your comment Robert. I agree with both of your points (obviously lol), especially the one about how to contact potential bloggers who’ll accept guest posts. I’ve just changed my advertising policy on the one blog again as I realize it’s time to get tougher with my standards.
I’ve been considering strategies for creating guest posts (in truth it’s what led me here), but I don’t think I could stand the hassle of accepting guest post submissions from others for my own blogs to be honest. For every great piece of writing that would benefit my readers I imagine I’d receive a lot more spammy, poorly written content and I just wouldn’t want to ever compromise or dilute my own message. Too much hassle!
You’ve got that right Daniel. Heck, even the emails I get requesting the right to send me a guest post are written badly. These are people who don’t care what they’re writing… either that or they’re incompetent. lol As for my own guest posts here and there, I’ve never asked anyone if I could write a guest post for them. I’ve always been asked, and if it’s someone I know pretty well I deliver something often better than what I might write here… maybe… 😀
Haha, I can imagine! I think we all know the root of it though, there are two types of people who want to gather links for their own business, which of course is no bad thing in itself. The ones who want to engage in good faith in creating new content, conversations and relationships, and those who just want to cheat it for their own selfish goals and don’t care about you or the integrity of your page as long as they get that backlink. I too am sick of the latter!
As you should be. No one wants to deal with bad actors when it comes to their blogs, and unfortunately there’s way too many of them to deal with.