Guest blogging has its pros and cons. Many site owners enjoy accepting guest posts as it fills their blog with fresh information. The problem is that perhaps bloggers are leaning too much on the crutch known as guest blogging.
A crutch, you ask? Yes. This happens when a site is inundated with more posts published by guest bloggers than from the actual owner of the site. I have talked about this in the past in relation to brand purity. Your site should reflect your voice.
The other problem is that there are a lot of new blogs getting into the guest writing phase, and accepting posts by others who are no newer than they. This is called “the blind leading the blind” and does nothing but rehash the same information that every other site has out there. In fact, much of the content is similar… even the topic being beaten to death repeatedly, but in different words. This is no better than article re-writing.
We all wonder why Google penalizes sites. One of the biggest reasons is that there is no unique content being introduced or syndicated. Articles that are very similar in content are not much far from being dubbed duplicate content.
How can you avoid being penalized by Google or even prevent your site from a major fail while still accepting guest bloggers?
Screen your guest bloggers thoroughly. Ask about their previous writing experience… request examples.
Stay away from guest bloggers that have hidden agendas. They may be sharing spun articles or writing for a company that you may not want to give backlinks to.
Only accept real bloggers that are transparent and have some social network connection. Your guest bloggers are suppose to be building authority too. They SHOULD have a Facebook, or Twitter account at least.
These suggestions may be harsh, but the reason is that if you are the blog owner, your reputation is on the line. Do you want to be known as the site with a bunch of articles from people who could care less that they submitted to your site and more about the article they just successfully got paid to get published on your site? Do you want articles that may have been re-written or spun and might give no value to your site?
While you may be nice and welcoming, be a responsible blog owner and get rid of the guest blog crutch.
Are you guilty of this or have you seen sites that use guest blogging as a major crutch for their site?
Thanks Nile! I sometimes feel that just because my blog is still new, people think that they can just give me poor guest posts or I can just link back to them…
I should seriously consider making guidelines…
Thanks for the tips Nile, sometimes I do accept post from guest blogger. What I do before posting it is to check whether the content is unique, and is somewhat inclined to my niche.
I must say there are really a lot of issues regarding guest blogging. How do we prevent bad guest bloggers? Thanks a lot for sharing this info by the way.
-Darren
I recently had a guest blogger post a link to a website that was spam flagged – as you can imagine, google did not like that much.
Keep your eyes open guys. Sometimes your competition can use this method to decrease your PR.
Thanks again!
nathan j
When some people always discriminate the way you blog, prove to them what you really got. What are your advantages in your blog. This is the best way to show them that you are determined.
Yes – If you do decide to use guest Bloggers you should do proper research on them and the articles they write. There is a lot of gest bloggers that uses spined articles that can be very negative to your websites Search Engine rankings. I don’t use Gest bloggers on my website due to the management issues with time and content – It’s just easier to get the right message across to my readers by writing myself. That way I ensure the content that’s shared is viable and of high quality.
I’ve been accepting guest bloggers since my website earned more readers. Mainly because some readers are asking if I could feature their article. I was never hesitant about it as long as it is a good piece.
guest blogging is nowadays very common …and we need to find a solution to it ……..
above tips will definitely help
thanks for sharing
Taking into account the latest updates made by Google, guest posting has gained more weight. That is why, it seems that a fever has spread, making every blogger a potential guest poster. I really select the candidates with great care, as I don’t want to promote spun content or to link low quality sites.
Great tips Nile! When we are accepting guest blogger in our site, we should first ask them to have or to submit their blogs before posting it. In this way we can filter bad blogs.
Guest blogging is a great way to get new content, but, yeah, if you don’t do some screening you’re asking for trouble!
great info. like others mention guest blogging in very common. i myself have disabled comments on my blog/site for the time being.
Very interesting topic Niles and one I’ve been wrestling with for awhile. I held off considering guest posting for the first year of my blog but this year decided it would be nice to find a handful of contributors to work with on a regular basis … oh foolish me. There’s been no shortage of offers, but finding quality content is another story. I’m glad I held out though because recently I finally found a very talented writer who’s great to work with. Thanks for the informative tips.
I have enabled guest posting on my site but I make sure that I do thorough screening of any guest post before I accept it. One thing to be careful about guest posts is the links, some of them may be spammy and therefore great care should be taken.
Awesome! Very interesting topic. I really love it. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post to all of us. this is so resourceful and I like your writing skills; very detailed.
Hi Nile,
Funny how you wrote about Guest Blogging this week. I did my first guest post a few days ago. Of course I did it with someone I know very well.
With all the Google bots going around these days, tearing down sites, I am super careful about things. My guest blogger is someone I know for a long time that is not connected to any “bad neighborhood” sites nor spam ones.
I see a lot of guest posts these days and some I cannot comment on because it links to a sales site or has nothing to do with that person’s branding.
One must be careful when doing this and your suggestions are so not harsh my friend….but they are ones that people need to realize before they accept a guest.
Thanks so much for pointing this out.
Donna
Thanks Nile for good advice on guest posting that save blog owner from being panelized by Google just because of wrong guest posts. Actually, as you pointed out here guest blogging has its pros and cons….if one goes on right direction of guest posting then he/she will definitely achieve good result of guest blogging otherwise…
Hi Nile!
I couldn’t agree more with you! A lot of blogs emerging nowadays with most articles published coming from guest bloggers. Now, i have nothing against guest blogging but if this method is abused in such a way that guest bloggers publish poor pitched articles and blog owners are fine with it, then it wouldn’t be long for Google to find and penalize these blogs especially now that Penguin is up. Thanks for the tips on how to better screen guest bloggers. Looking forward to read more blogging tips.
Guest blogging has really become popular in the recent past. Most link building companies have picked on it as their preferred strategy. I believe many will abuse the concept to gain more business.
Do you think it might wave down in the near future?
Hi Nile,
Great tips about guest bloggers. I had no idea that guest blogging could be such a problem. This has been very helpful. Thank you for posting.
Have to say, thank god for penguin! Hopefully in near future google will stop crappy content from ranking..
Guest blogging can be very beneficial if blog owners properly screens the profile of the guest author as well as the article. There are too many guest bloggers these days all willing to get a piece of crappy content published just for the sake of backlinks, such guest writers should be completely avoided to preserve blog sanity…
I don’t have guest posts, well at least not yet, I will link to another post if I think it is relevant.. I understand the concept and think that it can be used right, but I haven’t gotten involved in that yet. Some sites I have been to do use guest posting and as you say, your brand is what it should be on your own blog.. I agree with that! Great points you make here!
Its a great informative and helpful post about guest blogging. Many new bloggers don’t know these huge information’s about guest blogging. So, this is an important post for them. Thanks.
Hi Nile! providing us this useful information about Guest blogging is really a big help, specially for a newbie, like me. I will surely follow all the advice that you’ve shared with us here. Thanks and i’m looking forward to read more from you.
nice post Nile, on a large scale guest blogging is widely welcomed by most of the bloggers, it apparently fills up theirs blog with fresh content, i do accept guest posts on my blog, but i always place the necessary terms n conditions before accepting the post, a few accept it while a few just walk out….
Love your straight forwardness when i comes to the topic of guest blogging. I think that it confuses the content of your site when all you do have is guess blogging and I never heard your voice. I think it is good if you are in the same niche or they is a good connection but I seem some site that only have others blogging and never the real site owner.
These are great tips about guest blogging, Nile, and they don’t sound harsh in the least to me. When you have a blog that is an authentic expression of how you run your business and your life, it makes a lot of sense to me to screen guest bloggers very carefully.
I have been a couple of lists where people pass around groups of blogs where people are actively seeking guest bloggers. Sometimes those sites are not anything I would want to put my name on. You know the kind, they look like they are all spun auto posts with adsense ads covering every single square inch of real estate on the page. No harm in adsense, but the blogs themselves leave a bit to be desired.
I have made some guest posts on blogs I am glad to be associated with, but it does take some bit of searching around to find a good match sometimes.
I really think setting up a submission guide helps, we are currently drafting one to combat the companies that just want free advertising.
I’m currently not accepting guest bloggers on my website but I also don’t know if I should accept them. Thank you for the information about this topic.
Nile,
I recently accepted my first guest post. Now I gotta research him and the post a little more. You got me thinking! Don’t know if I’ll use the article now.
Great info as usual on a topic that everyone is now talking about!
Thanks.
~ Jupiter Jim
Hi Nile,
I stopped accepting guest posts for this exact reason. The majority of guest post requests are from business blogs with no single person/name behind it.
What I do now is request guest posts from bloggers that I know and respect.
Guest posting has been one of the best opportunity to spread your content but it has risk. IT’s advisable to have standards, high standards and qualification before prior to guest posting. Prioritize quality content over quantity and its value to your niche.
I must say there are really a lot of issues regarding guest blogging. How do we prevent bad guest bloggers? Thanks a lot for sharing this info by the way.
Everything that can help you can also hurt you in some way. Dogs and Guest posters have that in common.
Do you want to point out any bad guest posts you have noticed?
I have so many issues from guest blogging
It’s becoming more and more difficult to write original content due to the increased number of bloggers out there. I totally agree with you that guest bloggers need to screened very carefully to make sure there’s no duplicate content elsewhere.
I never gave guest blogger posts much thought, but your article has got me thinking! Accepting guest blogger posts from people who I know a little about makes sense. I also like the idea of accepting a guest blog from someone who shares the same niche as I do and willing to write a quality post. Thank you for the informative post!
To make any guest blogging campaign successful we required 3 things :
1- Well Selected Blog
2- Well Crafted Post (With Catchy Headline And lede lines as you said in your post.)
3- Effort To Market Your Guest Post
If you’ve these 3 things then you can assume some good results from your guest blogging campaigns.
BTW, Awesome Post….
While there are some cons to guest blogging the pros far out-weight them. However i totally agree with you on the fact that 99% of all content written can be found somewhere else on the web (just written in different words). This is why it’s important to stay up-to-date in your niche and try to be the first writing about anything new that comes into it or changes an outcome. Great post Nile i really enjoyed it
It sounds to me like you recently had a bad experience with a guest blogger… I can see what you mean by watching out for a hidden agenda – thanks for the tips!
I believe guest blogging is both beneficial to the person who owns the blog and to the guest. Traffic can be created for the blog, and the guest blogger is getting their name known–not to mention their writing style.
However, it is crucial that the person who owns the blog screens each guest blogger and makes sure the things being written are actually quality, not just fluff. I guess there are pros and cons to it; it really depends on how you use it.
Nile, I never gave thought to allowing anyone to write an article. I have too many daily adventure to write about in my life. That is how I get all my titles and articles.
If you write only what you have a passion for. Then share it in a way that relates to business and personal growth. You never have a chance to run out of articles.
I have a group member that never believed he could write and never though about one article a week. Yet, now he is great and have unlimited experience in life. So, only writes about his adventures in life relating them to personal and business growth. It only took me lest than five minutes to get him in the right state of thinking. You can always find amazing stories within. Once you learn to reflect upon each day.
Thanks Nile for a great topic and wonderful responses within your site. I learn every change I get to visit. You have put a new level of service we find great to keep up with.
Great post, Nile! I think that one of the things that we look at in the world of blogging is whether or not it is helping others. I haven’t opened my site up yet to guest blogging (I had a guest poster in mind, but it fell through), but I posted a few, and I think it’s a good way of sharing, but you are right that it can definitely be overdone.
Guest Blog Posting is good but, It may sometimes helps in increasing spamming.
Awesome post Nile,
That the reason why I never accept post from guest blogger. most of them submit spun article and after the article has been posted they usually blast that post with spam bot
nice, I think you are you are right
Hey Nile,
Myself being an article writer for more than 5 years…I don’t allow anyone to post any article on my blog..I enjoy writing posts everyday for my blogs and thus haven’t felt any need for the guest posting…I used to write guest posts on a number of websites also promoting their products and services, but now i have focused all my attention on building my own brand…
thanks
Aditya
Honestly I never knew this stuff holds water
True Your blog should always reflect your voice
Thanks
Even as a small blog owner, I’m hesitant to even open up commenting. I leave commenting open for one day and I get robots spamming my posts constantly. I know that comments add an experience that just a plain article site offers but it’s so risky with the fear of Google slamming the ban hammer on my blog due to spam. I figure once I work up my pagerank and establish myself, I’ll open up commenting for other newbie bloggers to get their blogs improved in rankings.
Everything written here has come from experienced person for sure. Thanks for sharing info like this which is really helpful for newbies like me.
I think Guest Blogging has its place and I accept and write guest posts and have had some excellent content sent to me in the past. I do agree that some sites do rely too heavily on guest posts. For me personally I try to write 3 quality posts a week and then pepper 3 or 4 guest posts through the week too. I think its a case of balancing both.
After reading this post i have made my mind firm not to accept guest posts that link to a company’s website, i had accepted 2 of such and perhaps paid to google for that by loosing my traffic in panda 3.7. Thanks for the tips!
I find that if you keep the message of the blog consistent having multiple guest posts usually adds to the credibility of the blog.
I think guest blogging is important however only if it is used properly.I have seen many people who has succeeded in life because of guest blogging.
Guest blogging has its advantages and disadvantages. Numerous site owner’s benefit from accepting guest posts as it fill up their blog with clean information. The problem is that perhaps bloggers are tendency too much on the support known as guest blogging.
Guest blogging can be useful and I have seen many experts doing that in the past.
nice post Nile, on a large scale guest blogging is widely welcomed by most of the bloggers, it apparently fills up theirs blog with fresh content, i do accept guest posts on my blog, but i always place the necessary terms n conditions before accepting the post, a few accept it while a few just walk out….
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I have thought about accepting guest bloggers on our site, but just don’t think it will work for me. Our blog is still quite new so is still building an identity which takes time. It is something we are considering for the future.
Thanks Nile for the information. I agree with you that we should be careful about those who post and do blogs for our sites.
Nile,thanks for sharing the idea for blogging.Guest post in the way to get new contents but the content is the another question.
Guest blogging seems to be all the rage at the moment but I think you’re right to question it. Ok, so the quality of the guest blog can be judged and only put on your site if it passes your standards but will it create a laziness among certain blog owners?
I’ve recently allowed guest blogging on my site but I’m determined to continue writing my own stuff. Also, I like to put pictures and videos etc on my blogs but most guest bloggers don’t include this, which makes more work for yourself anyway.
Nile, I’m agree with the information as its worth more than something …. Exactly! But some of the guest like me never just start typing and drop some sentence for their own benefits..as i always read the over article and reply them on the basis with my personal experiences and suggestions…
No doubt that most of the guest blog commenting users are always showing prove to their site owner but its not the way to deal with your job…your job must be filled with honest and must be covered with both areas for whom we are posting and to whom we are posting for whom posting paying us sum of the money and to whom we post it gives us a path to share our thought to gain more experience and knowledge and to share our knowledge with others as well..hope you understand my length response 🙂
I agree with you, n my blog also dont accept guest blog, nice opinion share..
You’re quite right in drawing people’s attention that they have to pay a lot of attention to the bloggers who want write a guest post on your site, it’s your reputation as a writer in line.
Hi Nile,
My blog is fairly new and I don’t have a lot of content published, but I think it’s more important for a personal blog that all the posts are written by only one author. And if you want some fresh content you can curate content from other blogs but only within an article of your own.
Anyway this is my opinion on this matter.
I really enjoyed your post, thanks for sharing this information.
Enjoy your weekend Nile.
~Philip