Expanding Exposure with Guest Blogging
This article goes over the importance of guest blogging and the necessary strategies to take to maximize its impact. Guest blogging is where you write or publish an article on someone else’s blog or website. In order to do this though, you obviously need to get the blog owner’s permission. Foster’s Guest Blogging: A Beginner’s Guide comes in handy when trying to decide which sites would get your article the most exposure. Foster states, “you should always make sure that where you’re placing your post has a high relevancy to what you ultimately want to accomplish.”
So the first thing that Foster says is that you have to do your research. She says that the easiest way to do this is by using Google search and searching keywords. The idea is that if you can find it easily so could your potential viewers. After doing this with the most common keywords relating to your topic, you should make a list based on priority and relevancy. You have to decide whether you can trust that side and its information and make the decision whether the site has too much spam. Once you do that, begin to make a proposal specific to each site. Make sure that you proofread and that the topic shows your writing and your knowledge. At this point, she says you should be patient and not push the blog owners after you send the proposal. Once you get approval, Foster says to constantly follow your topics and to if possible, establish yourself as a professional in the niche. That way people would be more likely to accept and listen to want you are saying. These are the basic tips for guest blogging.
Honestly when I read this post, I am reminded of sending resumes for a job. You definitely have to research the job and the company to see if you could both enjoy what you are doing and the company. You have to make cover letters specific to each position. Then, you obviously prioritize your applied jobs to see which the best choices are. Your actual resume is also very similar to guest proposals as they are short and concise but at the same time say a lot about the topic. After you send in your resume, you can only wait until you get a call-back.
I can definitely understand the importance of guest blogging. It really does seem like an effective way to spread your name and content among bloggers who follow your genre of topics. All of the people who visit that site will probably already have a basic knowledge or interest in the topic since they had to search for it so there is a decent chance that they may like your guest post as well. This can also be used as a good opportunity to connect with the community that also blogs about the chosen topic. The members of this community can offer you new opportunities and create a mutual follower sharing system. Maybe you may even find friends in this group since you already share one interest.
RU Creative Blogging FA13 
Guest blogging is a not an easy thing! Guest blogging for class was pretty difficult; our partners were handpicked, too! Imagine researching for a top blog site! The steps you provided were actually helpful, though. I had to research the other blogger’s site. I needed to know what her tone and content was like. After figuring that out, it was a breeze. You need a lot of communication skills to go forth with guest blogging. You are correct when stating that one needs permission! You have to make sure that the person you are guest blogging for likes your content.
Guest blogging is a great way to get your name out. If guest blogging for an amazing, top blog site, it would be even better. Readers get curious and click around everywhere! A cool, interesting picture may trigger them to click. An interesting title will jog their minds. If a guest blogger happens to show up on the blog, people will be more interested. “Wow, this person is worthy to write on this blog!”
Guest blogging sort of reminds me of writing resumes and cover letters. It is important to know about a company just like knowing details about the host’s blog. It is a great way, honestly. The guest blogger learns how to write about different topics, too. They get to be more well-rounded. Guest bloggers will get feedback from a wider range of audience, other than their constant audience. It is great to hear criticisms and compliments. It helps us grow as writers!! Guest blogging is pretty challenging but oh so fun!
At first I thought guest blogging was pretty cool because I thought it was just another person contributing to your blog and the type of topics you discuss on your personal blog. But once we were assigned to be guest bloggers for someone else’s blog, that idea I had quickly changed. It has become a challenge for me personally to contribute to one of my classmate’s blog because we have very different interest which means we attract different readers. I struggle with finding the common ground where I can contribute to their blog while still keeping the same energy, personality, and voice that I have on my blog. And the biggest challenge for me is what should I write? I thrive off of celebrity gossip, fashion, and all things in pop culture so I am wondering how to combine my interest and love for these things with the topics discussed in the blog I am supposed to be contributing to. But, my views on guest blogging aren’t all bad I believe that the good in this is that bloggers can collaborate and make the community of blogging a place where helping others is key. I also feel that the exposure a blogger can get is great because they get the chance to reach an audience that they did not have access to.
Guest blogging seems like a good idea at first. However, I think the success of it really depends on who the guest blogger is. I mean if you have someone guest blog for your blog that has no idea about the topic, it could really hurt the credibility of your blog. On the other hand, if you have a great guest blogger, it will help break the monotonous posts and voice of your personal everyday posts. This could allow readers to dip their toes into someone else’s ideas and in turn create a value for your own writing but also show an appreciation for the different writing style of your guest blogger. I think the idea of guest blogging therefore is a great one, but it has the potential to go terribly right or terribly wrong. I am eager to see how my guest bloggers post this week turns out. I also feel pressure to make the blog post that I am doing for my partner really good. I don’t want to ruin their blog! pressure, pressure. I guess we will see how it goes! Stay tuned….
I’m not going to lie, I hated the idea of group blogging. I feel very pissesive over my blog and I feel like this is a part of me. I think that my blog is a great way to express myself and get my feelings out there in order to feel good. I had no idea when I took this class that it was a blogging class but I am very happy that it was. I felt very uncomfortable with the idea of someone using my blog and writing on it. I know that I don’t have a lot of viewers but I think the ones that I do, like my taste in music. I think that it is very hard to find people with my taste in music. I have a different taste of music than most of my friends so this left me very skeptical. I think though when I finally did get over the initial fear. I enjoyed the concept. I am excited to write about a different topic. I was lucky enough to get mini college tips. This is something that I can write about so I’m not that nervous anymore. I also feel like can find ccommon ground with other guests to write on my flowing stream page. This is a page that I have not kept up with but a guest blogger could fulfill it’s purpose. I don’t think I could ever feel comfortable with someone writing a post on my front page but I can definitely see myself having other guest bloggers on my flowing stream page. As for the article, I thought it was frightening but i am over that now.
Guest blogging, especially on a credible, well-known blog, can easily increase your popularity. If people see your blog post and are interested, they will visit your blog! Especially that said credible blog allowed you to post, viewers have the feeling there must be something good about you. But, just as the article says, you need to make sure you know what you’re talking about or the post may actually decrease your credibility.
I really agree that it sounds a lot like applying for a job. You need to get your facts straight, spend a decent amount of time perfecting your resume (post), and then send it in and hope for the best. Also, like jobs, you can’t just apply to one blog! Make several posts for several blogs and eventually one will like your stuff enough to let you have your guest post. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!
I also agree with the other commenters so far that I want to make sure I have a worthy post for my partner’s guest blog! Because in our case, the blog can’t really reject us: we get to post a guest post on their blog. On the other hand, if a post you are less than happy about gets posted, it’s not the end of the world in my opinion because it’s clear on your blog that you are not the one who posted it.
I never realized how much work and effort was needed in order to guest blog. Guest blogging can have their ups and downs for both the blog host and the writer.
First of all, the blog host needs to be careful choosing the right guest blogger for their blog. The candidates for the guest blog send in a proposal on why they should be able to guest blog on their site. So choosing the wrong guest blogger can prove to be detrimental for your own blog. If the guest blog post goes against your own blog topic and even contradicts it, that would be bad public relations for the blog and the blog host might end up losing readers. On the other hand, in choosing a guest blogger who is reputable and famous in the areas of your blog topic might bring bigger fan base for the blogger.
I think for the guest blog writer there are more pros than cons in guest blogging. The pros would be the writer is able to write a guest blog post on another blog that might be very influential and successful. These guest blog post can help bring credibility to the writer and they are able to gain more readers. Even if your guest blog isn’t that great, it doesn’t ultimately ruin your credibility because you’re always able to try again. The con’s of writing is the change of being able to guest blog on another blog. Like you said trying to get a guest blog is much like applying for a job with a resume. If you don’t have the experience and reputation as a blogger, it’s much harder to get onto the more popular blogs.
I do like the idea of being able to put my name out there on other blogs, but I can also see how guest blogging can be quite nerve wracking. If I got the opportunity to write on a really popular blog, I would be scared to death by what people might say about my post. I already get nervous enough when people read the normal stuff on my personal blog. It is a great way to get more publicity and exposure on the internet, but I don’t think I personally would be able to handle all the stress that would come with it. Not only that, if I’m writing about a topic that I don’t know very well, the research I would have to put into it would also be a lot of work. Thankfully, I have to guest blog on a tech blog for this week’s assignment. I’m not a major techie, but I know enough about computers to come up with something interesting. As for having someone else write on my blog, I’m actually really paranoid for what they might put. It’s my personal blog, so I kind of use it as an outlet. I agree with Hillary in that I don’t think many people would appreciate my taste in music. It’s not like technology where everyone has used it at some point; music is much more personal. I don’t know how my guest blogger is going to handle my subject, but I am both excited and scared to see what he can come up with.
I haven’t heard of “guest blogging” before, and I never knew that there are blogs that participate in this. But after reading your post, I think that it can be a great thing for both the blog and the guest blogger. The guest blogger can obviously get his or her name out there even more and help establish him or herself as a credible blogger. It can also help the blog, too, buy having another fresh perspective on the topic. The readers can get another voice on the topic rather than the same author/s, perhaps giving the blog a little more spice.
I don’t think that guest blogging is as difficult as lisak0 and a couple others say it is because it is much different in real life than how we are doing it in class. In class, we may (and many did) get assigned a blog that we have no idea what to write about (in fact, my…partner? does not watch hockey so she may have a little trouble). But for an actual guest blogger, they already come in with some idea about what to write, since they probably are interested in that topic to begin with. Like Brian said, it’s like applying for a job. The applicant most likely already has some experience with the job they are applying to. The equivalent to what we’re doing in class would be if I was assigned a random job to do; there is a great chance that I would get a job that I have no idea how to do, making it much more difficult than it normally would be.
Guest blogging is like being a substitute teacher. But I like the idea. Maybe you want to write about a different topic or another topic that you are passionate about. I think it would be difficult to guest blog for something that you don’t have much interest in or have never blogged about before. For example, I couldn’t do a cooking blog because rarely cook. And since you are the guest blogger, there is a little pressure to make what you write about as interesting as the regular blogger does. I agree with Brian that it is like applying for a job–it’s a specific position and therefore you have to craft your writing to fit that particular position or show you can do that job. In real life situations, a blog can be someone’s actual job, and therefore they would have to rely on the guest blogger to make good post because that brings readers and advertisements to your site which = your $$$. Fortunately, we are not doing that and my guest blog post is on why we do things, relatively easy to come up with beacuse it is everday observations. Guest blogging is also a good way to gain readers and get noticed, kind of like the Blogher website, the only difference being that is a form of social networking.
Guest blogging definitely is a great tool to get your name around. Whether you have your own blog or website, or you have a product or service to sell, guest blogging will help get your name out there. I think the research is really an important part of the process of finding a place to guest blog at. You want to make sure that you and the place you are going to guest blog at, mesh. You want to make sure that what you have to say is going to be relevant to all the readers of the blog you are guesting at. I believe it is very important that what you write is not only relevant, but that what you write is written well. Foster mentions proofreading several times in her article. Your writing is an advertisement of yourself. If you write a post with a lot of errors, readers may not take you seriously and your host blog will be embarrassed. But if you write a great post, readers will hopefully be impressed and maybe your host blog will ask you back! What can also happen is some of those readers may have blogs or websites of their own and may ask you to guest blog for them. This gets your name out in another venue with a whole bunch of new readers. And as mentioned, guest blogging is a great way to connect with the community. You will be able to interact with readers through their comments. Fostering relationships with readers in the community is just another way to get your name out there.
I think that guest blogging can be helpful and useful to new bloggers or bloggers who want to open up their audience. It is true you have to find information and research about the topics the blog you are going to post on. It would be easier if you became a guest blogger of a topic that is similar or some how related to the topic of your own blog; this makes it easier for you to create a relevant post that incorporates both the blogger’s and your own personality. Although it can be very beneficial it is not as easy as it sounds. In class we all kind of noticed how hard it was to do this assignment. Some people were paired up with others whose blogs had absolutely no relation at all. As bloggers we work hard on our posts to entertain and inform or audience. It is really hard to give someone else the confidence, especially another blogger who knows nothing about your blog, to write something that would fit your topic. As the guest blogger there is some pressure of creating a post that would represent the owner’s blog appropriate while also showing your self and promoting your blog. People have different writing styles and personalities; it is hard to try to make yourself write like another person if you have a completely different writing style. An example would be my blog, I use slang terms and purposely misspell words to have a causal and conversational atmosphere. Not all people write like this in their post and may find it difficult or uncomfortable to write like this. It is a great idea but it can be tricky and risky for both the guest blogger and the owner.
Hahaha I think everyone’s comments don’t give an accurate description of guest blogging. I don’t think its really as hard as we experienced it to be because you’d typically get to pick a blog yourself, based on your interests and personal blogging style. That said, it is always interesting to read from a different person’s point of view. It can be a great way to not only expand your readership by getting the other blog’s followers to check yours out, but also be able to help another blogger out (assuming they wrote for you, or you promo’d them). The only thing that is kind of weird about it is that if your content has been slacking lately prior to getting another writer, it may make you look lazy.. as if you need help keeping your blog up. I enjoy reading blogs that occasionally use guest writers.. it gives an interesting insight into different outlooks of the topic. Too many, however, can be annoying and confuse the theme of the blog and who the author is.
Guest blogging can definitely be helpful to the blog depending on who the guest is, however I wouldn’t say that it is important. Important means that you need to for survival, but you don’t need a guest blogger to survive. Now with that being said, I believe that some change can be a good thing and its always interesting looking at things through a different set of eyes. A guest blogger can definitely provide a vital and key view point that someone who has been doing this for a long time wouldn’t catch. This collaboration between two bloggers on one blog could potentially increase the audience of both blogs provided that we know who the guest blogger is. With every good point there is an equally bad side to the situation. Some of your followers could hate the different style of writing along with its viewpoint and unfollow you. The idea of a guest blogger is a nice change of pace if it isn’t done every week or on a regular basis, but too much of anything is a bad idea.
Guest blogging is very cool! I believe that before any person decides to create this feature for the blogs they should be aware of how their guest blogger is and what type of information they are going to provide in your blog. Most importantly, I believe that the guest blogging should be pre-read by the blog author before any posting goes up, just to make sure that the information he is providing is accurate and also that it fits in with the whole theme of your blog. I believe guest blogging is very different because it brings a different perspective into the blog since it’s a new type of writing and different information been provided to the readers. In addition, its very good as well to have a guest blogger because it doesn’t allow the blog to get bored and the reader to be bored of the same information you the author area always posting. I had a guest blogger my self in my blog and I must say it was very fun reading her post and also becoming a guest blogger on her blog. It was very interesting writing on behalf of someone!
I never thought of guest blogging as something you can do with your blog. It’s an interesting concept to bring someone to create a post on your blog to help rake in more exposure. I can see the benefits but personally I just don’t like it. My blog is my blog, I’m really picky with it. I would worry too much about how that person sounded on my blog and what their post even looked like. If I didn’t like something they did I would want to change it or not even post it at all on my blog. My blog represents me and I’m very particular with that.
For this class we’ve done guest blog posts and I have to say even though I don’t like guest blog posting I like the posts I got from my guest bloggers. They’ve actually become a part of the more viewed posts that I have on my blog. One of my guests didn’t really know much about anime and that really excited me because I wanted to show her why I loved it so much. It almost makes me want to make a collaborative blog all about getting people addicted to anime. It would definitely work I tell ya. The other though already liked anime so I was also very interested to see what she would bring to my blog. Overall I was very pleased with both of them.