While listening to SiriusXM's Business Radio channel, I heard a really interesting program this morning…
Why Guest Bloggers Make Sense for Your Blog
In the past, I’ve worked with many of my clients to recruit guest bloggers for their blog. These are experts in various fields who we’ve felt truly added to the credibility of the client’s site and, of course, enhanced their reputation. However, I’ve also faced the hesitancy of some potential recruits who fizzled out because they felt that guest blogging was too self serving.
I think that you have to keep the blog professional and without a commercial for the guest blogger’s company, the blog it sits on or even the person. In my mind, readers are looking for expert opinions, not an infomercial.
I just saw a really good short article on this topic that detailed out three reasons why you would want guest bloggers and wanted to share it with you. Taken from this article by Heather Taylor on SocialMediaToday.com:
1) It Puts You on the Map. For guest blogging, this works in favor of both parties. The blogger in question gets their article, podcast or video featured and typically promoted out through the social media channels whether it’s their first time contributing or they’re a regular on the scene. For the company offering to feature the blogger, their blog is officially on the map and may even garner a new readership if the featured blogger promotes the post out enough through their own Facebook and Twitter platforms.
2) Credibility + Expertise = Established! There are a lot of people out there who believe that they are experts at what they do, but don’t have much physical (or virtual) proof to back them up and get their name out in the field. A guest post will typically include an author’s bio or a byline that tells you more about said person and what they do and where else they may have been featured at. They can also add in methods that they may be reached, whether through an email address or a Twitter account (or both, as you’ll note my own bio for this article does.) The more you keep guest posting with different blogging outlets, the more word of mouth will spread about you and your company!
3) Pulls You Out of Routine – Always a Good Thing. No blogger can legitimately ever tell me that they don’t run out of ideas or get bored after some time with the platform, no matter what field they work in. It’s hard to stay constantly on and creative at all times and rather than slack off or go rehash an old topic again, this is the time to get a guest post featured. You’ll be working outside of your routine box – helping brainstorm a topic, editing the post or video if it’s a vlog, offering tips on keywords and how to promote the piece out once it’s live – and beyond this, you’ll be building up a relationship with the blogger that may lead to bigger and better things in the future.
So, the next time you’re asked to either be a guest blogger or even find yourself recruiting bloggers for you or someone else’s site, keep these points in mind. I think they are very helpful.