Using Guest Bloggers

Hi Gini,

Your guidelines looks great. It's so much easier for someone that wants to write a guest post for you to first look at the guidelines, and then write the post. And, when you say no, the person will understand why. Not just, "the quality of the post wasn't good enough".

To me, it's been a different journey though. I guess that might be because my blog is a lot less popular, and it's just me, it's not several people blogging or a company blog. I don't have any guidelines really (but I will soon). I wanted people that I already know to write the guest posts. Not just someone who'd like the extra traffic or the backinks. In the end, I guess it's all about the quality of the post and if it's related to the topic of the blog.

Jens

Thanks for answering this question as it has been on my mind for awhile to really get a good understanding about this. I determine the guest blogger on what they are going to be offering to the community and how that is going to be different from what has already be written about or what they can add onto it. The guidelines is just so long that it will take up to much brain power but their are some guidelines that we ask that you follow just so everyone is on the same page and the process goes smoothly all the way up to editing. Thanks for answering this one Gini.

My guidelines: can you fog a mirror, and write? Of course, I have to disguise the request like it's from someone else's site (I always tell them it's for you) so that picks up a little more traffic.

I know, I know, if you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there? I think I'm there................just sayin'...............

I just recently offered up my place for GP's and actually had quite a few takers. I've done two and they have been successful so I was very pleased for my guests.

As if I didn't already have enough holes in my game, doing a GP is definitely one of them. It's pretty obvious I can just 'show up' pretty well; whadda mean I was supposed to bring some beer too.

Newsflash - I registered my domain name today: billdorman.me (a la DannyBrown ) and will be self hosted by next week.............I think. Also, our corporate website @LanierUpshaw will re-launch next week with a blog and people can check out my 'corporate' voice should they so desire. Oh wait, I'm not supposed to pimp myself on your site am I?..............Yikes...........

Thanks for the guidelines, I was thinking you probably had to write about real stuff to get an invite. Of course, you are professional like that.......................

Happy Friday, happy weekend.

My favorite part of ginidietrich 's blogs, (all be it the content is great) are the comments. I take a breather, get a cup of coffee (ahem, I mean fresh water in case my trainer sees this) and read through all the comments. Love my Spin Sucks quiet time! Happy Friday!

this is a relief I thought it was just like being selected by a publisher for a book deal.

Noooo, I don't think I am ready for that...think..brand spanking new first time mommy. Hmm. I guess I haven't figured out more than the basics, yet.

What would I require / want? It's funny, but I read a post a while ago (I'm sure someone on this page wrote it...) ~it was about grammar and spell check, or at least included it.Since reading that post, I have become so much more diligent about these two aspects, that are in my opinion- no brainers. I have a MAC and it is way smarter than I am, so I also fully understand and practice this religiously, and your dang computer will "fix" it when you aren't looking! But I've also read posts that were dirty with litter like that. Who is writing this, a cranky-pre-hormonal-teenage-boy? (Ok, having a few home school issues)? So that is one.

Another would be, what does a guest post author write about? Well, I am a pretty specialized niche, I guess, a post (with a real, feeling, human) on outdoor adventures, living the life...

What other important things should I keep in mind? (Oh..you're going to make me watch the video..I'm going, I'm going) ~Amber-Lee

On my politics blog I have an open door policy, I don't like the way other political blogs are pretty arrogant and self-insistive. I don't mind if a blog that is very well established has an invite only policy, but some are just being pretentious.

The open door policy I have allows people to submit articles which goes through myself as the site owner and the chief editor, if we're both happy the article goes up and it's our business to keep a relationship with that guest writer.

I generally go by an Invite-Only policy, where I'll ask folks if they're interested in guesting. I do this for two reasons:

1. I want to make sure that my readers are being given the best possible information they can get, across different spectrums, so I'll only invite folks I feel will bring another slant to a conversation (look at seanmcginnis recent post about Google+ and its search implications, for example, as opposed to the various "How to's" about the platform).

2. It needs to fit the audience reading the blog. I'd like to think there's a pretty diverse audience as is, since I don't really focus on one or two core topics, and I try and look at things from a bigger picture anyways. But, there (generally) is a business reason or takeaway behind each post, and how it helps your goals overall - so my guests need to be able to offer something that continues that.

I do occasionally accept guest pitches, but they need to fall within the two criteria above.