Use guest posts to add some new colour to your blog
You hear a lot about guest posting in the blogging world. Writing guest posts, as many will tell you, can help increase your visibility and the perception of your expertise. It could even make you a few dollars. But what if you’re a blog publisher?
As you may or may not know, I maintain two other blogs. One of them, which I run with my business partner, focuses on technical communication. A few weeks ago, the idea of approaching other tech comm bloggers to do posts for us entered my head and just wouldn’t leave.
So, I fired off an email to a handful of well-known bloggers in that niche inviting them to contribute posts to my company’s blog. The response was generally positive, to say the least. Of the people who responded (85% of them), most said yes. The rest said yes, but when they had the time. Two of the guest posts have already seen the light of the Web, and the response has been good.
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned from about guest blogging, from the perspective of a blog publisher.
What do guest bloggers do for you?
Besides adding some new content and a different perspective to your blog, the advantages of running guest posts include:
Increasing your traffic. The first two guest posts on my company’s blog brought in about 25% more hits than normal. For a niche blog, that’s better than just pretty good.
Expanding your reach. This goes with the previous point. Your guest poster will, you hope, promote his or her post on their blog. That will drive traffic to you. And if that person’s blog is listed on a site like AllTop, then your reach could expand further.
Hearing a different voice and viewpoint: A friend of mine is fond of saying controversy creates cash. Maybe, maybe not. But by mixing things up you can freshen up your blog a bit. Especially if your guest poster has a different idea about a subject than you do. If nothing else, your readers (and you) will be exposed to a new point of view and you might just learn something.
Building good relationships. In the writing business, you can never have too many contact or colleagues. Asking someone to do a guest post for you can show that you respect someone’s work enough to give up some space for their words. In my case, I’ve met or know some of the people I approached; others I’ve interacted with online; and others still had read our blog. A relationship and respect were there, in one form or another, which helped grease the wheels. Getting people to write for you could lead to others asking you to write for them. And who knows where that could lead.
Making the approach
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I sent an email off to a few tech comm bloggers whom I know and whose work I enjoy. The fact that I know those folks made it a bit easier. But whether or not you know the people you’re approaching, here are a few things you should lay out in your inquiry:
- Who you are (if they don’t already know you)
- Why you’re asking them to write a guest post for you
- What you expect from them if they say yes
- What’s in it for them
The latter can be important. In the email that I sent, I mentioned that I couldn’t offer guest posters fame or even fortune. But I did offer some nice incentives, which I’ll discuss in a moment.
Getting the most out of guest posts
There’s a lot more involved than approaching people and asking them to write for you. Or, even just scheduling a guest post
Work with your guest. In my experiment, I asked my first two sets of potential guest posters to write what they felt like writing. A couple pointed out that when they get ideas, they post them to their own blogs. Hadn’t thought of that when I prepared my approach email … So, I worked with to come up with topics. The first thing I did was look at a list of topics that I and my business partner maintain. Then, I took a closer look at the other blogs to see what subjects they’d done before. I was able to suggest some topics. With the second guest post, the writer passed me a great photo to use with her post.
Promote the post. If you have an account on a microblogging site like Twitter or identi.ca, then use that announce the post to the wider Web. Have your guest blogger do the same, and to announce it on their blog. I’m doing that with the guest posts on my company’s blog. My guests and I also taking advantage of a few other outlets that are specific to technical communicators: posting links on a site called Writer River, and at the EServer Technical Communication Library. Why not take it a little further, and ask other bloggers to promote the post as well?
Don’t be afraid of using incentives. Offering carrots (or chocolate or whatever your favourite bribe incentive is) works well. I offered prospective guest bloggers either a small cash payment, via PayPal, or a book. Many took the book. One took the cash. And a few didn’t want any payment at all.
Don’t let the guest posts languish. Chances are, the posts that your guest bloggers wrote are better than pretty good. It’s sad to let work like that fade away. Why not link to the guest posts in your own posts? As long as it’s a relevant link, of course. If you do regular lists of “Posts you may have missed”, which point to recent entries on your blog, why not include guest posts in those lists?
Do you regularly (or even occasionally) ask people to write guest posts for your blog? If so, what have your experiences been? Feel free to leave a comment.
Photo from http://sxc.hu
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