You’ve made it to our last post of our nine-post series on Guest Posting. (It’s a little amazing, isn’t it? Here’s what we covered in Day One to Day Eight:
Landing a Guest Post Gig
Stacking the Odds in Your Favor
Throwing Away Your Chances of Success
Feedback Red Flags to Watch Out For
Finding Motivation for Guest Posting
When Guest Posting Overtakes a Blog
Common Guest Posting FAQs
After You Get the Yes to Guest Post
Today’s focus is on whether you should accept guest posts for your blog and what to look for when deciding on submission approval.
Should I accept guest posts for my blog on a regular basis?
Accepting guest posts generally depends on how you feel about guest posting in general.
Guest posts can be a blessing to give you a break from blogging and offer your readers something new or interesting. Some bloggers have weekly or monthly guests, some accept guest posts for vacation time, and some blogs operate solely thanks to guest posting.
It’s an especially good idea to accept guest posts if you know that you won’t be able to maintain posting for some time. A long illness, a blogging burnout, family emergencies or other life obligations that get in the way are all great reasons to say yes to a good guest poster.
On the other hand, guest posts can be a lot of work. The screening process is never fun. You’ll need to read and edit every post. You may need to revise or reject posts. The consistency of tone, style, quality or value-for-reader your blog offers might suffer. People may not be interested in reading guest posts either – they want you.
Whether you accept guest posts or not depends on what you hope to achieve and what you will realistically receive. Analyze the pros and cons, and develop a strategy that works for you and your readership.
How do I choose guest posts for my blog?
The factors that determine which guest posts get a pass and which don’t depends very much on what your standards are and what you’re willing to tolerate. Here are some elements that might figure in your selection process:
- Proper approach: There’s a right and wrong way to ask.
- No arTEESTe attitude: This is about traffic and business, not art.
- Determination and motivation: How badly do you want this? And why?
- Initiative: If I have to think for you, then I don’t need you to write for me.
- Quality of writing: If you can’t write well, you have no business writing.
- Quality of content: Do you have clear ideas, concise advice and good thoughts?
- Relevancy to niche: Need I explain this one?
- Value for reader: Provide applicable tips, helpful advice and thought-provoking ideas.
- Credibility and reputation: No-name brand? No guest post.
- Transparent intentions: Don’t be sneaky. Be up front and honest.
- Manners and friendliness: If you’re rude, you’re refused.
- Going the distance: Manage and respond to comments for your post – or don’t come back.
Different blogs may have different standards for guest posters. Some don’t mind editing guest posts and others aren’t picky about responding to comments. It’s really all up to you.
How do I say no to people who would like to guest post on my blog?
Yeah, that’s tough, isn’t it. We hate saying no ourselves.
You do have to learn how to say no. It’s not necessary to justify your reasons – don’t go into details. “I’m not accepting guest posts right now, but thanks for thinking of my blog,” usually suffices.
There’s also no need to pick on people’s work, no matter how bad it is. “By the way, you may want to look at taking some grammar courses… I can see you really need some help.” Um, just no. You’re not the be-all and end-all of perfection. (Do some people really think they are? Damned straight. There will always be lofty know-it-alls out there.)
You could suggest another blog to the person. “I’m not accepting guest posts this week, but maybe you could try XYZ or ABC? They might like to have this.”
Every blog and blogger wants a guest post win-win situation. It’s all about enhancing credibility and reputation. Figure out why you want to accept guest posts, from whom, what you want to achieve and what ensures a mutually beneficial arrangement.
This concludes our nine-part series on guest posting. We hope that you’ve enjoyed the series (we enjoyed writing it and sharing our expertise). Thanks for both reading and commenting.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where Harry makes a return to blogging with a report on the Geek Squad.
