I spoke about this very subject on “Get Published”, episode 63 (the last one for those of you who listen) and I wanted to share my thoughts here as well.
Guest Blog Posts. Good or Bad?
I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, especially as I have seen and participated in several of these myself the past while. In essence, a blogger or blog-site asks various people to write (as a guest) a post on some subject to be displayed on the blog.
The key to getting eyes on your page is to provide new and interesting content regularly. Getting someone else to actually write something for your site would do just that and with minimal effort to the site’s owner.
What are the negatives for the guest? Well, the guest DOES need to spend some time writing the post. Time that could be used elsewhere. That doesn’t really seem like a good enough reason not to do it. I mean, even with my busy schedule, I can usually find thirty minutes to write something.
Are there good reasons TO go ahead and do the post? Lots, to my way of thinking. First, the writer gets a new forum to showcase themselves. Presumably, the site you are writing for has a readership and some of those people don’t already read your site. This is a great opportunity to cross-pollinate your sites.
Another reason is, if you are doing a guest post for someone, they might just do one for you as well. That feeds up to the cross-pollination I just mentioned, PLUS you get someone providing content for your site. Usually, that content is in a new voice so your readership will get something different from the normal fare, which might keep them coming back even more often.
Creatively, it makes sense as well. When you are writing for someone else, chances are pretty good that it’s on a topic you may not have touched on for your own site. You, as the guest, have an opportunity to do something different.
I like the idea of guest posts. I think I may just have to think up an interesting topic and start poking nudging some of my fellow bloggers to contribute.
Keep watching.
