Recently I received a guest post from a blogger and I thought it was well written. I was so close to publishing it, but something just did not seem right. I asked the guest blogger to fill out their profile, and they had not, which is a requirement here at Blondish.net, so I took a closer look at the entry.
Now I could have used Copyscape, but I did not have to. I put the certain sentences in Google search and was shocked to see the article elsewhere. Of course, some things were taken out, but the article was word for word. Of course, I deleted the pending submission. I am not sure if it is worth the time to confront the plagiarist about it.
So, with that said, if you are a site owner accepting guest posts, double check your submissions. In fact, you might need to go back through past submissions.
You may even want to go back and ask guest bloggers to make sure their profile is filled out and that they have some sort of Gravatar image. It is kind of difficult to believe a person is genuine if their bio is not complete.
Some of these guest bloggers are working for companies and that is okay at times, but it would look bad if the blogger working for them did not have their own work.
So, does this means that there should be certain guidelines set for guest bloggers? If a person is guest blogging about a company they represent, should they disclose it and also give in their bio a link to their own blog site?
What should be done?
Even a bio will not help much. Online bios can be faked in way too many ways. On a dead business blog that I used to write on, I don't accept guest posts unless certain prerequisites have been met;
1. I know the blogger personally, regardless as a friend or as a business associate and therefore, I know this blogger writes his/her own articles.
2. Even if I do not know the blogger personally, his/her own blog would have been a good gauge for assessment.
3. I don't really think disclosing bio is of much importance to individual bloggers, especially if they are already established and recognized ones. However, if it's a commercial blogger then I will expect to see full disclosure regarding the position and company he/she is working for. And in most cases, there will always be a disclaimer that the views are his/her own and not of her employer, past, present or future. That's dual protection on both ends.
4. Even the possibility of not allowing individuals to submit guest posts. I know it may sound counter-active but quality control is better with invitational-only modus operandi.
These days, a guest blogging host surely should be very careful since there are many people tend to abuse guest blogging.
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A Difficult one. You don't want to scare away potentially good guest bloggers, but you also do not want to open it up to chances.
Another difficult issue is to determine who is the original author. Many times there are multiple copies of the same article all over the internet. Time of posting does not always determine originality.
I think each blog will have different rules to follow, but you are correct in saying that some basics should be adhered to.
A bio: Yes, who are you.
Sample of Articles: If it is a completely new blogger, a sample of articles might be a good idea, either emailed or listed at their blog.
Gravatar images I think are neither here not there. It's an image and it can be anything including a magnified spec of dirt. Who cares.
I generally allow guest post of people I know, have followed for a while, read their own blogs and articles.
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This is just awful. I had the same experience too and had I not checked it first, I would have published a non original content in my blog. Unfortunately these things happen and the only right thing to do is to moderate guest post, just we do for comments. Actually, it is even more recommended to do so for post, becuase you can even get blamed for something you did not do.
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You are right, if I would have published that post… I would have eventually been told about it and probably for first time visitors, they would probably not come back.
Scary to think about that happening even if it is true.
A guest posting blog is just a free type blog comments person or bot its not a realistic once.
A Difficult one. You don't want to scare away potentially good guest bloggers, but you also do not want to open it up to chances.
It is also difficult one to determine who is the original author. There can be many copes of a particular article on the web. The date cannot always be used as a measure of originality.
I think each blog is different. But one needs to set up some rules.
My take:
A Bio, Yes, else who are you. IF you don't want people to know who you are then why should they read your post
Gravatar, Don't think its that important. A gravatar can be anything, even a magnified spec of dust.
I think if it is a new blogger, then some sort of sample needs to be given, either via email or a link to his/her blog. This so that you can get a sense of their writing style, subject matter, etc.
I generally only allow guest bloggers that I know, those who I follow, have read their blogs and posts.
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I think that is safe to say allowing those you do know.
Some of the people I have allowed to blog that were not shady characters are people I have read before or are well established guest bloggers (and established bloggers on their own websites too.)
I find that I need my guest writers to put Gravatar and you know… even if I allow people to sign up, I will make sure to get links to previous work. I am still kind of hesitant on that part. I just know for myself I need to re-tweak my own guest blog policy.
Funny that… Some "guest bloggers" are actually internet marketers that are looking for quick and dirty backlink to whatever niche site they are working on. I had one recently as well that sent his portfolio over (links to published guest posts) and they were published in different names – too dodgy for me!
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Thanks for the heads up on that. Even though at the moment I'm not accepting guest posts, this is a nice reminder that people are trying all kind of things just to get some quality backlinks. I never thought that some would copy and paste a whole article.
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Nile Flores i am running a guest posting and Adsense Revenue sharing blog techmaish.com. I am getting 4 to 5 articles per day. Only 2 or 3 get approved, because mostly articles are duplicate and copied from some where else.
I am using copyscape.com to check the articles. I strongly recommend all bloggers to twice check the articles before publishing.
Duplicate content can hrut your blog ranking.
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I would like to thank you for such great advice. You are rightly saying that guest blogger profile must be checked before going to publish the post written by him. Generally many are very curious for getting fresh and topical content but in some cases they (including me also) forget to take precaution and without taking any action, instantly publish guest post. You really opened my eyes by sharing such useful article.