We’re great fans of guest bloggers / authors on blogs, having welcomed them and guest posted on other peoples blogs, but what is a guest author, what does being one involve and why is it good (for both sides)?
What is a guest blogger / author?
This bit’s easy 
A guest author is simply someone who writes a (guest) post on someone else’s blog. (You have to be invited or allowed to do this, you can’t just randomly start putting posts on other peoples blogs!)
Usually the blog will have some relation to your industry or speciality, but this isn’t necessarily always the case.
What is involved in being a guest author?
Usually you will have been invited to be a guest author, but it’s possible that you may have approached the blog owner and been accepted.
All that is expected of you is that you write a guest post that is suitable, informative and of interest to the usual readers of the blog.
It is a kind of unwritten rule that in return for the exposure and links back to your own site, you will point your own readers, contacts, twitter followers etc to the blog.
If I’m writing for someone else, what’s in it for them?
If you own a blog, having Guest authors can do wonders. Having a guest author can:
- Relieve you from having to post all the time
- Bring in new readers
- Increase traffic
- Show a balanced/varied viewpoint
- Increase links in to your site as your guest authors promote their participation.
In short, it’s a great way to keep a blog interesting and bring in extra, targeted trafic.
(Plus, if your guest author has any degree of « fame » in their industry or speciality, your « kudos » increases by osmosis!)
OK, So what’s in it for me?
So, why would you want to write great content, only to give it away ?
Writing for someone elses blog can:
- Give you backlinks to your own site/blog – these will send you trafic as well as possibly enhancing any SEO you have in place.
- Generate new readers/subscribers for your own blog/site.
- Help to flesh cut your « circle of credibility » – it’s another place that people can see you talking knowledgeably about your speciality.
- Reach people you may not ordinarily reach.
In summary, guest authoring on a blog is A Good Thing To Do.
We’ll shortly be launching a new site aimed at helping guest bloggers find blogs that want them, and people with blogs find guest authors to contribute – if you’d like to know more about this when it is launched, drop me a line at nikki@nikkipilkington.com
There are definitely lots of benefits on both sides – giving readers a new style and outlook to disseminate on a particular subject and above all else, keeping things fresh and encouraging community engagement.
And naturally, as a guest blogger – I’m available by arrangement!
– you get to expand your circle of contacts, re-inforce your expertise in given subject areas, and get some nice little backlinks too. Plus some of us enjoy writing anyway!
More people should use guest bloggers – perhaps not in “highly corporate” or “image related” circumstances, but still. It’s a good thing.
Being asked to become a guest blogger is great (some would say an honour). The trap that is easy to fall into is where you post only as a guest blogger on blogs that try to attract the same audience as yourself (your peers). Whilst there’s nothing wrong with this, bear in mind that if you’re the only guest blogger that covers your subject on a particular blog, your expertise stands out more, especially to the readers of that blog.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by NikkiPilkington: Resurrecting: Why being (or having) a Guest Blogger is A Good Thing http://ow.ly/Nim0…