Some Guest Bloggers Just Don’t Get It!

Guest Blogging is and has been a great addition to blogging. This statement holds true only if it is done properly. By “properly” i imply, using proper channels. A host blogger should draft guest blogging guidelines for the blog. A guest blogger should read and study the blog before submitting an article. In the end, the host blogger should review the article and publish the article with credit to the author in the form of links and author byline.

It is a very simple process, right? But, somehow, guest bloggers break the chain of this process by making big mistakes which end up irritating the host bloggers. I have been host to many guest articles and I have experienced that some guest bloggers just don’t seem to get the concept of guest blogging. They overlook some really important details and submit atrocious guest articles. This happens mainly because they don’t read the guest blogging guidelines carefully.

They don’t realise that by submitting a bad guest article, they are ruining ruining two things. First, the opportunity of becoming a regular contributor to a blog which can help you gain authority as a blogger. Secondly, you are losing the opportunity of building a good relationship with an authority blogger. Remember, a connection with an authority blogger can be an asset to your network and will eventually help increase your influence.

I have seen many different types of mistakes made by guest bloggers and I would like to share some of them with you, so that you don’t repeat their mistakes.

don't annoy your hosts

1. Lack of Research

Most guest bloggers find host blogs using google search. They search for terms such as “write for us”, “guest blogging” etc. The next logical step for them should be to read the guest blogging guidelines. But, instead, they email the blog owner directly with certain blog ideas. These “blog ideas” can be anything, they can be related to blogging or payday loans or recipes. As a blog owner, I will accept Ideas which are related to my niche i.e. i will accept ideas related to blogging.

When I get an email from a guest blogger who intends to write on a topic which is completely unrelated to my blog niche, I get irritated. I expect guest bloggers to read the guidelines as well as thoroughly research about my blog. The research work should cover things such as blog niche and various different categories. Also, before submitting an idea, a guest blogger should make sure that the idea hasn’t been covered by the blog beforehand. You can’t expect me to publish two articles which are conveying the same exact thing!

2. Poor Quality Articles

Bloggers stress on quality rather than quantity when they are talking about blog content because quality content helps gain quality readership which would in turn mean more money and rapid rate of growth for the blog. When they allow guest blogging, they want all the articles to be of equal or better standard than that of the blog.

Bloggers who are new to the field of guest blogging, randomly submit any article.  These type of articles lack quality and relevance. To make it worse, most of these articles aren’t proofread before submission. If you are considering submitting these type of articles to a host blogger, think twice!

3. Excessive Self Promotion

A blogger ventures in the field of guest blogging in order to build authority as well as get plain simple traffic to their websites. The amount of traffic a guest blogger gets depends on two factors. 1. Blog’s traffic, 2. Engagement of the guest article. For a single blog, the first factor cannot be changed, but the second one can be changed by writing engaging articles. So, the easiest way to make the most of your article, you have to write articles which provide true advice and quality information which will be helpful to most of the readers.

4. Duplicate content

A guest article is not equivalent to submitting articles to Ezine. You can’t submit articles by spinning other articles (i.e. by restructuring old articles which are already published elsewhere) and you can’t publish the same article to multiple websites.

A guest article is supposed to be unique and original and it cannot be submitted anywhere else after being published once. If you think that host bloggers are stupid and they will be deceived by tricks such as the one i mentioned above, you are sadly mistaken.

Bloggers use tools such as copyscape and google to filter copied content from the guest blogging queue. And they ban contributors who don’t follow their guest blogging guidelines.

The Moral of this Article

I wrote this article to spread awareness about the major don’ts of guest blogging as well as to educate bloggers to implement better guest blogging techniques. If you want to leave a mark on you readers, focus on giving your best shot when it comes to guest blogging.

For better results take a look at the guest blogging checklist:

1. Importance of a Checklist

2. Article Creation and Further