I stumbled upon a blog post the other day which was describing all the reasons why you shouldn’t waste your time guest posting on other blogs.
A couple of the reasons that were mentioned were that – a) It’s not because you post on someone’s big blog that people will click on your link and land on your site, and – b) Your good content is giving the host blog all the juice while you’re getting nothing.
I thought that it would be interesting to take these points and analyze the pros and cons of guest posting.
In a recent article I was mentioning all the blogs that I guest posted on for the year 2011. I actually started guest posting in 2010, but I got busy doing other things and didn’t follow through with it. However, last year I decided to become a bit more active in this department and I am glad I did, because even though I did it in a rather leisure way starting in mid summer I still accumulated a small list.
So, what are the pros and cons of guest posting and is there any truth to what this blogger mentioned on his post?
Are you Getting Visitors From a Guest Post?
The answer to this question is not black or white but rather a various shades of grays. What I mean by this is that I can’t say that the blogger in question was 100% wrong when he said that people won’t click on your link just because you guest post on higher traffic blog. That’s true that some won’t. While some people might get curious to know more about who wrote that guest post, like me when I read a guest post, for some strange reasons, some people won’t do that at all.
This being said, however, that’s OK, because the reason why you guest post is not only about people clicking on your link. There are other very important reasons why you want to guest post, and we’ll see what they are a bit later.
Did I personally get visitors from my guest posts? Yes, I did, to a degree. However, this is not the best reward I’ve got from this; what I’ve got is being noticed by other bloggers who asked me to guest post on their blogs. So, for me it kind of snow balled more that way.
More invitations, mean less requesting to do, and more chance that your next guest post will be accepted fast. More invitations mean more exposure. More exposure is bound to lead to more traffic.
You see, what that guy forgot all about when he was seeing only the negative effect of guest posting is that the most important element, which is what pays off in the end, is the “amount” of posts you are going to do. The more guest posts the more positive results.
No true success happens over night. Guest posting is no different.
What More do you Get When you Guest Posts?
When you guest post, even if you had no one at all clicking on your link you still are spreading your wings with high quality content under YOUR name. Another thing that happens is that guest posting also helps you to polish your writing skills big time. Two biggies right there!
Then, you can even collect all your guest posts and create a new page on your blog featuring them and looking like an expert. Guest posting also gives you high value back-links to your blogs in the form of pingbacks all pointing to your site.
Are you Giving All the Juice of your Great Content to the Host Getting Nothing in Exchange?
As a matter of fact I’ve never read such statement from people who have actually written guest posts, and a lot of them at that. I have to wonder if this guy even ever wrote a guest post himself.
There is no doubt that guest posting is a lot of work, because you want to write your best piece and take your time to do so. However, there is great satisfaction in being featured on other blogs that may have way more popularity and traffic than your own. If you do that enough times you are going to be recognized, there is absolutely no doubt about it.
Ask Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing! This guy has made a point to guest post like a mad man, and it most definitely worked for him. But, don’t forget, he did the work, he did the writing and he left the negativity out of the picture. This is how you need to do it in order to succeed with guest posting.
All in all, guest posting gives a lot back to the ones who are willing to do the work first. But, if you do it right, there is no reason to find any negative points about guest posting, because pros beat the cons in the end. Every time!
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Thank you for a good explanation of pros and cons of guest blogging. There are a lot of doubts on this issue. You have convinced me that it brings a lot of benefits and its worth of doing this.
Hi Thomos,
I am glad if I could show you the positive side of guest blogging. Thank you for coming 🙂
Hi Sylviane, thank you so much for the kind mention. Yes, guest posting can definitely work, but only if it’s done with full intention and hard work behind it. Otherwise, just like any other strategy, it isn’t going to work. 🙂
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Hi Danny,
How nice to see you on my little blog 🙂 which will grow 🙂
I am honored that you’ve notice the pingback and came visit. I really appreciate what you’ve done with guest posting and all your blogging endeavors (and great recent ebook). You go man, I’m looking up to you 🙂
I totally agree. ever since the panda update last year, Guest posting has been one of my primary forms of marketing for my blogs and websites. However, guest posting is all about engagement. The people who fail at guest posting are usually going about it the wrong way.
It isn’t for everyone though. I know a lot of people who are trying to be fake experts in their particular niche, and if you are trying to fake it, guest posting will put a damper on your ability to make things work.
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Hi James,
I totally agree, guest posting is not for everyone and it’s really all about engagement. There is a right way and a wrong way to do something and if one handles guest posting the wrong way they can’t succeed at it, obviously. Thank you for passing by 🙂
Hi Sylviane!
I can’t but agree with you on the point that guest posting is really important for every blogger. It gives you a wonderful opportunity to get a link juice and adds to your online reputation as well)
Yes, indeed, Eugene blog post will give you great link juice and a reputation online. I was mentioning Danny Iny, because that’s really what happened with him.
I agree with Danny and the guy that said it was a waste of time probably only wrote a few and expected to receive a lot of traffic from those posts. You’ve also got to do the work to even share it so without that hard work you probably won’t see the desired results. Oh, and let’s talk about the time it takes to start getting recognized too.
What did I talk about in my video the other day? Oh yeah, I think this one fits the bill.
Thanks Sylviane, great post. I guess we’ll be seeing you around the web more this year.
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Hi Adrienne,
No, no one can expect miracles with only a handful of guest posts, it takes more than this. There is also a progression where you are going to start with smaller blogs and work your way up. It does take work like anything else 🙂
Hello Sylviane, guest posting is really worth it but it really needs time and effort. Guest posting to a one blog to another is the key to success but it needs effort. Thanks for the useful post I actually learn a lot.
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Hi Nicolle,
I am glad it could help!
Hi Sylviane,
I’ve not done too much guest posting. However, I’m of the mind that to comment on others Blogs gives you the same amout of leverage while being able to cover a lot more ground.
I’ve not seen too many websites that cover guest posting, but there are many sites that will index your comments that you make on other Blogs.
When you think of all the other forms of writing that a Blogger can take advantage of I would have to place forums at the top then guest posting then Blog directories.
So guest posting still is a powerful way to spread your message!
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Hi Jeff,
No doubts there many other ways to have you and your blog noticed. I agree that forums is a very, very powerful thing as well, because you build relationships there and that’s how people start paying attention to you. I have sold most of my product through forums.
As far as I am concern I will also get more into blog directories as time goes on as my blogs are improving in both content and design quality, but some directories are very tough, and they won’t publish just any blog.
Hi Sylviane,
Guest posting does work if you’re able to write decent posts that people will engage with. I’ve written 2 myself and would like to write some more but i’m not a natural writer and find writing quite time consuming and I finger type and always double/treble check everything.
I know for some it works really well, as it did when you wrote a guest post on my blog. As we discussed on Skype, that guest post on my blog has lead onto 7 more guest posts for you and you’ve made contact with lots of other people through it. Which of course is the result you were after and I’m pleased that you got it 😉
For people to just dismiss guest posting with comments like you’re just giving content to the host and getting nothing in return I would suggest they take a look at some of yours and see the results you’ve had from it.
If you can write good quality posts you can have fantastic results. Just as you’re having 😉
Have a great weekend Sylviane and I’ll speak to you Monday my friend 🙂
Barry
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Yes, Barry, I do understand that guest posting is not for everybody, just like blogging or affiliate marketing is not for everybody either.
Guest posting is a lot of work and if you are not a natural writer it’s a lot of effort. If one does persist, though, it becomes easier and easier. It’s like working out 🙂 the more you do it the easier it will become.
I really enjoyed guest posting on your blog, Barry, and it allowed my to meet, Sonia for LogAllot, where I already have a guest post and about to do another one very soon!
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Hi Sylviane:
I need to get started in guest blogging. I’m missing a lot of traffic in this department. Therefore, I’m looking at the blogs that you were able to guest blog for. Here is my goal – 15 guest submissions a week. Which, if I get lucky, I should at least get 2 guest posts published a week. I don’t know if this will work, but I’ll do everything I can.
I also looked at your stats! And, you’re right… it has increased over time. However, I’m still wary as it isn’t a lot – but then I have to remember… everything adds up! Right?
Hi Jonathan!
You looked at my stats? Yes, my stats have increased, and while it’s not great yet, what counts is the improvement. If you can submit 15 guest posts a week, that’s really great, that’s more than I can do right now. I think that guest posting is really a must do for any blogger at some point.
All the luck to you!
Frankly speaking, I don’t expect much traffic from guest postings. The main reason I guest post is to get quality backlinks and build good relationships with the respective blog owners. Nice post Sylviane.
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Hi Peter,
Somehow I missed you post, because I think that it never went on moderation. Sorry for that. I know that traffic is not the only thing you can expect from a blog post as you mentioned, relationships and of course the good old back-links are great too 🙂
this post will really help me out a lot as i just started my blog
Hi Sunil,
Somehow I’ve missed your comment. Thanks for coming and glad it helped.
Reading this post and others similar, I realize that I am using my blog the wrong way. I’ve been doing more advertising and not providing enough good content. This is a great post and am looking forward to reading more. Thank you for sharing the information on guest posting.
Hi Janis,
I am glad this post helped you that way. This is really why I am writing this type of posts and why I have this kind of blog 🙂 Thanks for coming 🙂
Guest blogging can truly work wonders, Sylviane. For my old blog, I got the good traffic for almost every guest post I wrote, but I wasn’t really consistent with that (I wasn’t consistent with my blog either). That’s why I started a new blog (now, I am more active with guest blogging at other sites to get my blog noticed). Yes, anyone who was ever guest posted won’t tell you that guest blogging was a bad idea.
Thanks for the post!
Jeevan Jacob John
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Jeevan,
Hi Jeevan,
Thanks for coming to my blog. You bet, guest blogging is really working, but like everything else, you can’t expect miracles just because you’ve written a couple of posts, and it’s hard work too. But, definitely worth it 🙂
No problem, Sylviane 🙂
Yes, of course. But, I can certainly see the power of guest blogging decreasing – in certain sites – because they have too many guest posts rehashing the same information (Yes, there are unique posts that gets published in between, but they don’t get much noticed). You see, your readers will get bored after some time of reading guest posts.
As we bloggers get better with blogging, we tend to spend less time on stuff that we used to do – like commenting, interacting with others. Sure, we do it. But, to a lesser extent. This applies to the audience too. The audience “become” educated, so they spend less time on reading those popular blogs (and yes, of course, there is new people coming to the field, so you “never run out of audience”).
So the more you wait to publish on a blog, the lesser the impact your post will have [generally, this is true].
And in the case of blogging, we have more “upcoming bloggers” than newbie bloggers – who just started blogging now (of course, the number of newbie bloggers increase dramatically over time).
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So, you better guest blog – at a popular site, right now than waiting some more time.
[The information above is based on my observation over 4-5 months with some popular blogs in our niche].
Hi Jeevan,
Wow, I’ve just found this reply of yours here. Sometimes the system’s got some glitches and some of my comments are not showing on my dashboard. So, unless I go back on the post page I do not see the comment.
Jeevan, I do not think that slowing down on blog commenting is a good thing, unless you are a blogger who doesn’t need a single potential customer anymore. And I don’t know a single blogger that doesn’t. Not even the ones way up there!
Why am I saying this? Because some bloggers have missed out on my business, just because they never thought of going to my blog and comment once in a while, while I was commenting on theirs 🙂
Thanks for commenting here and giving your insights 🙂 Have a great week end!
Hi Sylviane Nuccio,
I have started posting guest posts on some blogs recently and it helped me to drive lots of consistence traffic to my blog as well as high quality backlinks from them.
I think each and every bloggers in blogosphere should start guest posting so that they can have more quality backlinks.
Great article, thanks for sharing your views.
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Hi Bhavesh,
Thanks for your comment. Like you I certainly think that guest posting is worth it and can bring you tons of traffic. However, it needs to be done regularly and the right way.
Thanks for your insights and have a great Sunday!
Hi Sylviane,
Guest Blogging is becoming more and more popular for good reason. Posting guest blog posts on popular blogs is one of the fastest and least expensive ways to get highly targeted visitors to your website. With paid traffic sources drying up, for average marketers, guest blogging is an even more attractive and cost effective alternative for the little guy to get his message in front of a big audience. Here are some reasons you should consider starting to add guest blogging into your website.
Thanks for sharing nice article.
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Hi Bashir,
Yes, guest blogging is definitely in and as you are saying, paid traffic sources are not able to do the trick anymore and one has to find better and smarter ways to spread their wings.
Thanks for coming by 🙂