Send to Kindle“And then they stripped my guest post of all the links…”
photo credit: violet.blue
Yes, I’m at a blogging meet up and that’s just one of the many conversations I’ve heard about guest blogging and how hard it is for decent bloggers to get a guest post on a decent site.
A lot of the issues the bloggers are talking about are simple good manners, or guest blogging etiquette. Guest posting is not a free for all, it’s not the wild-west. Those days are over.
This list of things to remember when guest posting is in no particular order, yet each one a bug-bear for host bloggers when they receive your guest post, My favourite line from would-be guest bloggers is “what an amazing opportunity it is for you to publish their post“. It’s not, so don’t say it.
- Always take the time to research the blog owner’s name so you can personalize your email.
- If you can’t find the owner’s name reference the blog name in your email. Hell, reference the name of the blog anyway so they know you have a brain.
- Read the blog’s guest post guidelines before submitting your article. Ensure that it meets the required word count, topic and adheres to any formatting guidelines.
- Make your blog post easy to read. Use bullet points, lists and bold words when necessary. Keep your paragraphs short and provide lots of white space which is easy on the eyes. Remember to include images or graphics if required, again refer to the guidelines for assistance.
- Reference other guest blog posts you have done. Show that you have other posts and content that’s popular elsewhere.
- Have a clear call to action in your bio or resource box. Guide the reader so that know they can get more information or download a free guide by clicking your link. Don’t let your resource box sound like a sales pitch or a spam fest.
- Reply to comments on your post. Nothing annoys me more than negotiating a guest post, publishing it and then having the comments ignored… Don’t ignore the commenters, make a connection with them and thank them for their time.
- Use the comments and questions from your post as material to create new posts.
- Develop a relationship with the host and explore the option of writing on a regular basis for them.
- Write for the readers forget about search engines.
- Remember that guest blogging brings you an audience and not just visitors.
- Direct the readers of your guest post to a free giveaway on your own site if your host allows this.
- Tweet about your guest post and post it on your Facebook page. Share it everywhere and encourage others to share it too.
- Research your target blog carefully.
- See how many posts were written by other guest bloggers and which ones are popular.
- Edit your post very carefully before submitting it remember to check facts, figures, grammar and links
- Include a short bio with a link to a relevant topic or giveaway on your site but make sure you don’t conflict with what your host is offering.
- When looking for site look for those where the owner states that they are going away on holiday or travelling and target those as these owners have a more urgent need for quality guest posts
- Check the guidelines or ask if any special file formats are required when submitting posts. And then when you have the information use it!
- Approach your target host blog with a series of articles for posts as this can increase your chances of acceptance but only if each one is totally awesome. 23 posts that are crap will get rejected along with one crap post.
- Ensure that your guest posts offer valuable, usable information and are not just a sales pitch for one of your own products.
- If you do include links in your article double check that they are live when published.
- Make sure your content is original, don’t post it on your site then offer it up as a guest post
- Offer to supply images with your post
I could go on… but I think that covers the basics 
If your post doesn’t fit the format of the site or comply with the guest blogging guidelines then the host blog will make changes. Be prepared for that.
As for stripping out the links, I couldn’t really comment without seeing the post. Some might think one link in the body of the article is enough, others may like lots of links. But without doing your research and following the guidelines available to you then you’ll never really know.
Sarah Arrow
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I write a cancer biology and drug development blog, yet it always amazes me that the people pitching me for a guest post often haven’t checked the blog and what it’s about so the stuff they send in often has no relation to the posted content whatsoever!
sally recently posted..Making a difference in Advanced Prostate Cancer – an interview with Bertrand Tombal
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Twitter: maverickny
I know where you’re coming from Sally, how many times do we say Birds is about business women and not about Bingo? I think there must be some auto-pitching guest-blogging software doing the rounds somewhere.
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Sarah Arrow recently posted..Hosting a guest blogger? 5 fairy-tales around best practice.
Twitter: saraharrow
When I was in the magazine business, part of the standard etiquette was that if you pitch a magazine, you damn well had better 1. know the editor’s name and 2. know what sorts of articles the magazine wants and doesn’t want.
Well, plenty of unsuccessful writers didn’t bother following those guidelines, and I guess it’s the same for guest posters today.
I must be getting more successful because I’m starting to get horrible pitches from horrible writers who tell me how much I am going to benefit from allowing them to promote their crap on my website.
Mary C. Weaver, CSCS recently posted..Why it’s so damned easy to gain 20 pounds
Twitter: themusclediva
Important information Sarah, something for all bloggers to consider when looking for guest blogging opportunties, as well as aiding bloggers to consider what to add on their websites, if they are looking for guest bloggers..
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Thanks
Anita recently posted..Be Transformed: be happy with those who are happy
Twitter: NitaJoyDesigns
I’m fed up with the whole guest posting thing – people keep emailing me to guest post who obviously have not taken 3 min to see what I write about. And then there’s the guy who impressed the hell out of me with the writing samples he provided so I gave him a shot – good thing I checked the link in the bio he sent me because it went to his Empower Network pitch page! Finally there are those who s-a-y they want to guest post, but never bother to follow up. I’ve had it! If you’ve found reliable people to work with – bless you. From now on I’m not even going to bother to wasting my time with a polite response.
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marquita herald recently posted..Taking Time to Appreciate a Few of Life’s Carefree Moments of Pure Joy
Twitter: martyinmaui
Hi Sarah, I’m with Marquita, the guest post request spam all but turned me away from allowing guest posts. I went to “invite only” for the most part. If I don’t recognize the name in the request, I don’t even bother opening the email.
Most of the submissions I’ve received would have need checked with Copyscape, rewritten, formatted and I would have needed to create an image for it. By the time I do all that, I could have written a better post myself. And then you never know if they will bother coming back to reply to comments or even promote it on their end.
I would love to have a handful of regular guest bloggers that could log in and write posts without all of the work and worry that it causes now. I have several bloggers that I can trust but they do not have the time to post on a consistent bases.
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Brian D. Hawkins recently posted..Increase YouTube Video Views With This Simple Routine (Video)
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Like so many really good ideas, when you see a number of courses and programs that promise to teach anyone how to do guest blogging, you know there is going to be a whole lot of peole mis-interpreting the guidelines to guest post well.
I’ve seen so many different ways of saying what to do to write a guest post, that its hard to believe that people forget the most common sense ideas. Be polite, know what you are talking about and know who you are talking to. Thank you Sarah for sharing this list of best practices, I hope lots of people will take heed and create some excellent guest posts.
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Michael Shook recently posted..Positive Thinking Made Simple
Twitter: alifeoflight
Well, Guest post is very effective way to get more custom backlinks, then it will be considered as a good SEO impact. And also guest post is function to open more opportunity to get more relationships to another Bloggers.
Jack recently posted..Tips For Increasing Google Pagerank
Twitter: rujacksalad
True enough, but not every guest poster has honorable intentions
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thanks for stopping by.
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