Guest blogging is a big topic in the internet marketing community these days. Many have started to realize all of the benefits that can be obtained through guest blogging. And it’s not just about being a guest blogger posting on other websites; it’s also about letting others guest post on your blog.
Benefits of Accepting Guest Authors
Opening your blog up to guest authors can provide you with a range of benefits that include:
- Generating new content for your blog
- Giving your readers a fresh perspective
- Driving new traffic to your website
- Creating valuable relationships with other bloggers
- Positioning your blog as a trusted resource
- Expanding the scope of your blog
- Learning from other bloggers
- And so much more
Of course, there are two sides to every argument, and the fact is that not all bloggers agree that it’s beneficial to allow guest authors on your site. In fact, there are many bloggers who adamantly refuse guest posts.
Why don’t these bloggers want guest posts on their site?
What do they think are the drawbacks of allowing guest bloggers?
Why Bloggers Do Not Allow Guest Posts
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Readers might not like guest posts
Some bloggers would argue that their readers come to read their work…not the work of a guest author. And there’s certainly something to be said for this. There are millions of blogs out there, and we tend to follow the ones where we feel a connection with the writer. Over time, relationships form between the blogger and his or her readers. Readers get used to the writer’s style and perspective, and they expect to see that in every new post.
So, when you allow guest authors on your blog, it’s possible that your readers may not like these new posts. These guest posts might not click with the readers.
This is certainly an understandable worry for you to have, but I don’t think it should prevent you from at least testing out allowing guest authors on your site. Just make sure not to overdo it. Start small—publishing a guest post maybe once a week at the very most. See how your readers respond to the guest posts. If they’re turned off by them, stop accepting guest posts. But if the response is largely positive, you could continue to accept guest posts on your blog.
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Your blog’s quality might decline
Some bloggers worry that publishing the work of other writers could cause the quality of their blog to decline. Make no mistake—there are a lot of people out there who pitch low quality, poorly written guest blogs because they’re just trying to quickly build some backlinks. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept them.
There’s no reason that the quality of your blog should decline when you start accepting guest posts. You’re still in control of what gets published. Have quality standards that you follow. If you don’t feel a post meets that standard, don’t publish it. It’s that simple. You’re now the editor and content manager. You choose what makes the cut.
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You might lose control and authority over your own blog
Another fear is that by allowing guest bloggers to start posting on your site you’ll start to lose control over your blog. You might worry that your readers will respond more favorably to your guest authors than they do to you or that guest posts will start to overshadow your own content.
This is an understandable concern, but it’s one that’s easy to address. Just limit the number of guest posts you accept and publish. If you’re publishing only one guest post a week, for example, your own content will still make up the bulk of the blog.
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Dealing with spammers all day can get old
Once you start accepting guest posts, you can be sure that those spammers who are just interested in getting some links back to their sites will start pitching you their low quality posts. It’s inevitable, and it is annoying. It comes with the territory, but one of the things you can do to limit this is to publish a set of guidelines that guest authors must meet (e.g. word count, format, quality standards, etc.). This could drive away the bad guest bloggers who are looking to quickly crank out a low quality post for link building.
What do you think?
Do you think bloggers should accept guest posts?
Or are these good arguments against doing so?
Share your thoughts by commenting below.
“Do you think bloggers should accept guest posts?” I think yes, we hav just started a blog secton on our detailing forum and it would be nice for other members to comment on our blogs.