This is a guest post by Janne from Air-N-Water.com
Blogging on your own blog is one thing. Writing a guest blog for someone else is another thing altogether.
There’s a very intriguing give-and-take phenomenon that happens with almost all relationships formed from guest blogging.
Your host has to be willing to back your thoughts by simply being willing to allow them to appear on his blog, which, in itself, brings up some vulnerability. He also has to be willing to proofread and edit to insure that his standards are met. There’s always time spent on his part.
And then, there are you, the guest.
You have to be willing to send off your precious words and thoughts to another who has freewill to edit and do as he will with whatever you give him. That takes major vulnerability and trust.
Really, when you consider the odds that two people would see eye to eye on something so personal as writing, it’s amazing guest posting happens at all, let alone as often as it does.
But it does, and it can be extremely beneficial for both sides. Hosting guest content gives the owner a break. It also gives the blog readers fresh content with a new voice, and almost all readers, no matter how dedicated they are, can and do appreciate new life and voice from time to time. And, no matter how much of an expert you are on your topic, you just can’t know it all. Filling in the gaps with guests is a terrific solution.
We all know that having someone willing to take on our work, promote it on their site, send traffic our way with a link and give us invaluable SEO link juice adds up to a win-win deal. You can’t go wrong with guest blogging. That said, more often not, the guest benefits a bit more than the host. And, because of that, it’s crucial that you strive to be the best, most helpful and most gracious guest blogger your host has ever had the pleasure to come in contact with.
Need help?
Here are some of the things I think about every time I contact and work with a new blogger.
1. Approach Graciously
Regardless of the fact that you are offering up free content, you do have much more to gain from the relationship than the blog host. Keep that in mind when you approach anyone new. Never come across cocky or proud of your work. Stand behind it solidly, yes, but leave it at that.
2. Take the Lead
No blogger wants to have to expand any more work on you and your post than is necessary. This means that it will be beneficial to both of you if you take the initiative and offer all that you can in the beginning. Save your blogger time e-mailing you at all costs!
This means: do not send one e-mail simply introducing yourself and wait for a response. Send an email that has everything, or close to everything, that he might need. Send him your résumé, list of recently published links, a list of pitch ideas you could offer to write for him, etc., ALL in that first e-mail. That way he doesn’t have to send you an e-mail back saying “Hi, please send……..”
One e-mail and he’ll know right away, yes or no, if this will work. And, the fact that he knows you’re not going to cause him a whole ton of extra work and are proactive enough on your own to get things done, he’ll be much more likely to say yes.
3. Provide Everything
Once you get permission, your next, and immediate job, is to find out how to make the rest of the process easy and smooth for that blog owner. What does he want for formatting? Would he like you to give a photo, if so, check through his posts and find out how he likes to attribute it.
Provide your byline and link clearly. Send the document in the form he prefers (Word, Notepad, doc.x, WordPress, etc.). Nothing is more irritating than getting a document in a form that you cannot open and having to re-email and ask a different version. Save your blog host the hassle and do it right the first time.
4. Follow Up
Never be the guest blogger who gets his link and runs. Follow up. Respond to comments if you get any. Thank your host for his willingness to work with you. Try and send traffic his way. Promote his blog (not just your page on his blog) via your social media outlets. Stay in touch afterwards and continue to be an active participant in the blog.
You’ll both get something out of a lasting relationship that makes any added extra effort well worth it.
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I like the tips, humility and courtesy goes a long way in any endeavor.
Also remember not to loose yourself or personality because of your willingness to please your host. This might be one of the reasons why he agreed that you guest post because of the way you present your content.
I have seen a few guest bloggers who really shine when it comes to keeping up with responding to comments and I have seen others that post and run. When submitting a guest article I remind my guest bloggers that their article must do 1 of three things (Inform, Assist or Entertain). If it did one of those things for me, then I usually am willing to approve it.
Good tips. It is difficult to get your guest posts approved when submitting to some top notch blogs and your tips will really help us in achieving that. Thanks for sharing.
But no matter how difficult it is to enter never ever give up. Because determination also a very important key in order to succeed.
Exactly, determination is everything that gives us the courage and hope to do things without caring about the results. We should never look back.
These are great tips. What do you think about writing the content first and then showing that to the author? I’m thinking you could be more efficient, since if the one declines, you can show it to another blog owner. Any thoughts?
Surely it is worthy to read the entire content. However, one must make mutual understanding to the one where he wishes to keep his post or valuable comments, while when it comes to regular commenting, replying and giving feedback, surely this earns great juice to the site. Anyhow, thanks for the material. Keep on posting. Best of luck.
The “provide everything” part really interested me a lot, bloggers must be able to provide a to z information to the visitors this way they can get whatever the want..anyways nice article posted in details learnt something new and valuable..keep up the good work friend!
@Justin, I love this “I remind my guest bloggers that their article must do 1 of three things (Inform, Assist or Entertain).” Exactly! Glad you guys enjoyed the post… we can always learn a thing or two about improving our guest posting manners. 🙂
Indeed.
I’m usually very annoyed when I get an email from some guest blogger that doesn’t even bother to read my blog and has no idea about what I write. And he asks me what to write about. Well, the idea behind blog posting is to provide some quality related information and to help the blog owner. If i have an idea of a cool topic, then I’ll write the article myself lol. I hate those guys that have no common sense.
Guest blogging is cool, only when the author decides to follow up with the comments. It’s unlike a hit and run thing where one posts and doesn’t visit the blog that he had posted on—it’s rude not doing so.
However, I feel that there’s no need to place too much rules on guest blogging. Just allow the ones who you’ve built up a r/s with (they’ve commented, chatted on Twitter, promoted your articles) to post articles and you’ll do just fine. 🙂
TO be guest blogger first of all become regular visitor of that blog and try to understand each post and write a comment in a unique way by getting understanding of niche.When initial relation of communication develop go ahead for further steps.