Get the Most out of Guest Blogs with Some Practical Guidelines
By • Leave a commentI don’t know about you, but I’m writing more guest blogs and inviting more people to write guest blogs for my site. It has happened sort of organically, but I’m also aware that it helps SEO if you link to another blog or they link to you.
So, if I’m going to continue to ask for guest posts, I need to create some guidelines for writers so that there are no misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Just as important, I need to be more strategic in asking for columns that align with my brand and are providing useful information for my readers. In turn, I need to be sure that I’m not saving the best for my own blog, but offering content-rich posts for other blogs.
Here are several sets of guidelines that I liked after a search of the web. I’ll pick out a few good tips from each to share in this post and you can go in and read them if you like.
Danny Brown. He actually set down some rules for when you write guest posts but they are just as relevant for your guest writers. Under “Make it Great” he asks these very relevant questions:
- Would I be happy posting this on my own blog?
- Is this the best this post can possibly be on this topic?
- Am I being relevant to the audience of the blog I’m posting on?
The Bloggers Bulletin. This is a LinkedIn subgroup of The Blog Zone. I actually write guest posts for the group and these tips come from a post by Karen Fleeting.
- Check the article writer’s credentials. Can they write?
- Set the bar. The blog must be up to your quality standards.
- Edit. Correct grammar and spell-check.
- Ask for a link. You’re linking the post to their blog; ask for one in return.
Business.Gov. I was surprised, and delighted, to learn that the U.S. Small Business Administration accepts guest blogs for its Industry Word Guest Blog (this is something I will definitely check out). They have quite a few guidelines, and here are a few:
- Avoid posting spam, pornography, offensive content, excessive spelling/grammatical errors or profanity.
- Bloggers will offer unique advice and insight that is informational and apolitical in nature.
- Bloggers agree to reply to comments. (this one is a must)
I’ll be writing up my guidelines soon. Leave a comment if you’d like me to send them to you. And I’d be interested in guest blog guidelines from my readers, too.
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Hi Jeannette,
Thanks for the kind shout and sharing my post with your readers – much appreciated, and glad you enjoyed.
I agree, I think it’s great that the likes of Business.Gov are setting guidelines. Anything that can help bloggers understand a new audience (and in turn, offer them more exposure and acceptance) can only be a good thing.
After all, we’re all here to learn together.
Cheers again,
Danny.
Making sure you’re not holding back your best for your own blog is very social media of you
Thanks for a very helpful post. I’m planning to add more guest bloggers for the reasons you outline. A question though. Do you require a guest blogger do an original post? What about “reprinting” a post (obviously with permission and appropriate attribution and links) rather than just linking to it to make your readers job easier? Is that a no no? Thanks.
Lee — Obviously, my first choice would be to have an original post. But I think it’s perfectly fine to reprint a guest blogger’s original post with attribution, if you feel it’s great content that would benefit your readers. You can always add your own insights at the beginning or end of the post. By the way, love the masthead on your website.
Very astute Jeannette. Nice to see someoone put thought before action and I’m sure it’ll pay off for you. Guidelines are must for guest posts if you are to preserve the character of your blog.
It’s also very wise to have your intentions out in the open, sort of warning your readers in advance of what to expect. Once in awhile, visitors will recieve guest posting poorly and view it as something of a copout by the blog owner. The fact that it is very good PR, altruistic, and great blog strategy gets lost on some people.
You’ve done an excellent job detailing your reasons and intentions which is exactly how you avoid that problem.