Many blogs are not written just by the owner. There are others who come in as guests to give the readers a new face to watch now and again. But, be careful about how much guest blogging you do. It may be costing you more than you think.
Why do people use guest bloggers? For one, they are having a hard time keeping their blog up to date. A guest blogger fills in the gaps that are sometimes present. Your readers get fresh content and you get a break.
Also, guest bloggers can increase your reputation. If a popular blogger agrees to work with you, then you are moving up. Their readers will follow them to the ends of the earth and, in the beginning that may be your blog. No hard feelings though, because you are getting a chance to wow them with your website.
And that is the rub, guys and gals. The second point works in favor of the host blog not your blog necessarily. To be sure that they get what they want from you, the blog owner will give you a topic or a list of titles to write on. This is okay because they don’t want any surprises showing up on their blog on Monday morning.
But, blog owners aren’t going to ask someone who doesn’t know their way around words. Your writing skills are influencing their viewers. Too bad it isn’t an equal partnership.
What You Stand to Lose
Your words are filling in gaps but also driving traffic to their site. Sure, the readers may like your words but they will credit that to the host blog who gets the majority of the traffic. As a result of the increased traffic, their potential for more sales is increased. It would be surprising if a great guest blogger doesn’t increase their revenue.
If this is a new topic for you, your own blog might not be representative of it. This means that the only place that this type of terrific content is found is you guessed it, their website. Your website may not see that traffic even though you have put in the work.
And, you can’t profit as much as you’d like from the articles you post there. If they were featured on your blog, you could spin them and post on article sites and other sites you own. As it stands, you can link to them and send traffic to the other site.
Guest blogging has benefits but there is a downside. Consider that when you decide to accept or reject a request for your awesome writing services as a guest blogger.
I think the challenge is getting some one to act as a guest blogger. I often interview people and then quickly break their interview in to blog posts or articles. It’s like a partnership or networking at functions where more than one person is represented in the same industry. I don’t think a good blogger who maintains a clear editorial calendar will have a difficult time having a guest blogger siphon off sales . . . unless they stop posting their own original content and start relying more heavily on guest bloggers.
Guest blogging provide opportunity to interact with other authors and the users of that website. In fact it is a good marketing tactic to explore the sale. I do not see any reason which may cost Sales
I completely agree with your post, if you’re going to use guest bloggers I’ve found it’s actually best to pay them a fee so you retain the rights to the article so you don’t lose out by having external links etc…
I think the key is to find guest posting opportunities from web sites that believe in mutual benefit. These web sites are more flexible and even allow writers to submit category suggestions.