Being a guest blogger on another site or blog is a great way to network, find new readers, and create relationships with other bloggers. Every time you guest on another blog, you are exposing your site and writing to new audiences that have a chance to connect to you, as well as helping out a fellow blogger with fresh content for their own audience, content they may have wanted to share but didn’t have the expertise or information that you could provide.
A great guest blogger is being offered an opportunity to show their best self, but at the same time is receiving an opportunity they should be grateful for. For this reason, there is definitely an etiquette or protocol anyone who guest posts should follow to show the hosting site their appreciation. What are some tips to make yourself a welcomed and desirable guest blogger?
Guest Blogger Tips
1. Write well. Give the hosting website and their audience your best. Don’t slap something together just to get your links out there, with no thought to their typical content or their readership. This is very inconsiderate, and pressuring anyone to accept your submissions if they aren’t suitable is a faux pas as well. Make sure the post is enjoyable, interesting, useful, and easy to read.
2. Along with providing good content, a great guest blogger should provide their own links, photos, etc. Asking someone else to “fill in the blanks” to make the piece more appealing, well-organized or readable is not fair, and a great way to make sure you aren’t sought after as a guest poster. Anyone interested in being featured on another site should provide a complete, ready to post article with all relevant information, html, photos, etc intact.
3. Promote the post. There are few things worse than an unappreciative guest blogger. If someone is allowing you to post on their site for your own benefit, you should engage their readers who comment on your post, answer their follow-up questions, share the post via social media to drive traffic to it- basically anything you can so that allowing you to guest post would have been worthwhile to the site hosting your content.
4. Do not self-promote. Your guest post is an opportunity to find new readers, not to stuff another site with multiple links to your blog, sell your products, or in any way spam another site. The focus of your post should be to provide something to their readers (entertaining or useful information) as well as the host (great content and possible traffic). Focusing on what is in it for you is a great way to make you unwelcome as a guest blogger.
5. Make sure your own blog is well-organized, attractive, and up-to-date. You are trying to draw new readers to your blog, so when they come visit, make sure they want to stay. If your site is in maintenance mode, hasn’t been updated in over a month, or looks sloppy/spammy, you aren’t very likely to find that your new visitors return.
Above all, be grateful to websites that are willing to work with you, offer them your best, and offer their readers something to enjoy when they visit you as well. Your traffic can increase, you will make new friends, and in addition to the information you share, you may learn a thing or two as you guest post on other blogs.
These are some really great tips, Penelope.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Great post Penelope! I need to do more guest blogging.
Great tips! It is important to self promote when you do a guest post!
Great tips, I don’t know that I’ve guest blog but twice before.
Great tips! You are always a great guest blogger! Thank you!
bookmarked!!, I love your blog!
Great tips! I’ve been incorporating a lot of guest bloggers on my blog, but need to do some guest blogging myself.
great tips. I haven’t been a guest blogger before so I’ll remember this post when the day comes.
Great guest blogger tips, thanks for sharing.
I just started blogging this year. Whenever I stumble across great advice, I bookmark it and add as a favorite on Twitter. This is excellent advice for bloggers whether beginning or who have been in the game. I would love to start guest blogging but have no clue where to begin? Any tips or suggestions?
Sure, if you are part of a blogging forum, offer yourself as a guest poster (bloggers who go on vacation or are planning a maternity leave need great posts lined up and would appreciate a guest post, especially if the content is great for their readers to enjoy). This is the main way I do it…I see someone asking for help, and I offer a post.
Very well said. These are great tips!
Love these tips! Hope it makes some other guest bloggers fab. 🙂
I never have been a guest blogger for another site. I dont’ let other guest blog on my site either I just don’t see the point of it. Have u noticed an increase in readers when you do it. How large
These are great tips.
Great tips Penelope. I need to do more guest posts.
I think it’s a great way to help out friends who’d like new content that you offer (or maybe are taking a trip and would like some fun posts while they are gone), and I’m happy to let people guest post for me who are looking to branch out. People have found me on other sites through guest posts, a great way to make new friends and find new readers who are looking for a site like mine 🙂
I don’t think there is anything wrong with self promoting, but do it in the author bio section. Everyone needs credit for their hard work, but like Penelope is saying, definitely don’t overdue it with your guest post.
Such a great reminder. I didn’t realize about sharing my own guest posts for the longest time. I would do a blog post round up once I had a few written up linking to them though. Very useful information!
Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for sharing!