I haven’t been accepting guest articles for quite a while on this blog and I definitely have my reasons. There are so many advantages that comes with accepting guest posts and at the same time, there are disadvantages you’re not probably aware of. In the last couple of months, I’m pretty sure I’ve turned down nothing less than 30 guest posts offers or even more. If you’re wondering why I took this step, I’m going to explain that later in the article. The fact that I don’t accept guest posts that much right now doesn’t mean I won’t be accepting them anymore, I just might be more strict.
Things to consider before accepting guest article
If you’ve been getting lots of emails from content writers and other bloggers to get their articles featured on your blog, here are a few things you should consider before you go ahead and publish them:
1. Guest article or sponsored post?
One thing you probably don’t know is that some of these submitted guest posts should be labelled sponsored posts. Why? Content writers who submit these posts, in most cases, do get paid to do so. Most of the time, they’re only using bloggers to make money, submitting articles with paid links and getting paid for it.
2. Who are you linking to?
You should take time to visit sites you’re linking to in the author’s bio. Some of these sites may contain illegal materials or other things you shouldn’t probably link to. You readers will definitely hold you responsible for external links within your articles and extreme care should be taken while linking to other sites. Besides, these sites may already have bad reputation and even affect your ranking.
3. Does the content benefit your readers
Now, this is a major factor to consider before accepting guest posts. Some of the so-called guest posts are crap, I mean pure crap. Some are written for the the sole purpose of getting link juice from you, not to benefit readers.
4. Is it a spun article?
The fact that the article you’re posting is 100% Copyscape protected doesn’t mean it’s not a recycle article. This is one of the major reason I stopped accepting guest posts and so far, I have no regrets. These type of articles may get you in trouble with bloggers who wrote the original article and since it’s more or less a copied content, your search engine ranking may get hurt.
Disadvantages of accepting guest posts
I’ve been there and I definitely know there are negative sides to accepting these articles. Here are just few of them:
1. Your content get watered down
When you publish lots of crappy posts, your contents gets watered down and your blog gets filled with low quality contents. This is why you should only accept posts that really add value to your blog and not just any guest article.
2. You get articles with no search engine traffic
Some of these guest posts are not optimized for search engines, they’re just some bits and pieces of senseless sentences put together.
3. Your readers lose trust in you
When your readers can’t hear your voice any longer and they keep getting served low quality contents, they begin losing trust in your blog.
Why you should accept guest articles
There are certain benefits you get when you accept guest articles on your blog and they may even outweigh the disadvantages:
1. More contents to publish
With guest articles, you definitely have more contents to publish on your blog and you may never not run out of posts to read on your blog. Of course, you may even get to publish daily when your blog is very open to contributors.
2. Publishing topics you have no idea on
As a blogger, you definitely can’t know everything and guest articles can help in this regard. You get to publish posts you personally can’t write because you have no idea on those topics. Contributors can actually add to the value of your blog.
3. More time to do other things
When you have no time to write articles, contributors can help you out. You have time to work on other things both offline and online.
Now, should you accept these articles?
I’m not in a position to tell you how to run your blog but having shown you the pros and cons, you can surely make the right decision. Ever since I stopped accepting guest articles, I stopped being lazy and wrote more than I used to. I no longer relax and depend on submitted articles, I do my own thing almost everyday.
Also, I’ve managed to keep low quality contents to the barest minimum and even if I’m gonna open the door for contributors later, the rules must definitely change to maintain the standard I’m trying to keep.
Twitter: abrahamdudu
says:
You’re right about guest posts having low quality. The way out is by carrying out stringent review over the article before letting it go live.
We have been allowing guest posting at out forum for a while now, it works for us with anti-spam plugins. we allow bloggers to hook up a link to alternative news blogs, humor, paranormal, environment etc the list is vast. i invite anyone to pop on by and do the same at http://articlechase.com/beyondnews I’m not spamming the comments, this is a genuine way to get your message across with having to sign up.
Thats was without having to sign up duh me.
Twitter: Marketpro91
says:
I had a guest blogger send me an article and it was only 50% unique. I don’t think that I’ll be doing it again. It does help when you can guest blog on another site, but when I write, it’s all original.
Dylan recently posted..Aeon SWTOR Guide – Builds, Leveling, and PVP
I got sick of such crappy posts and decided to work on my content all alone for a while.
Twitter: facejar.com
says:
Some people are trying to post everywhere even on porn sites I really don’t know why they do that and are they really getting any backlinks or no.
Twitter: walshandj
says:
I allow guest posts, but accept a small percentage of them. I have a canned response in my gmail where I politely tell a guest post submitter that the content is not what my audience is looking for, and it tells them a little more about what they might want to do to find a better idea. It works pretty well, I still get good content to post, but most importantly, it doesn’t take up too much of my time.
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Twitter: daayur
says:
one should be careful because disadvantages or the effect is more severe than the advantages
Twitter: mavtrevor
says:
Most guest writers do not care about your blog, they simply want to gain backlinks and traffic, i have also turned down a lot of guest posts and will only accept any post that will add value to my blog, plagiarism is another factor to consider before accepting any guest post of course.
Nwosu Desmond recently posted..Free Plagiarism Checkers for bloggers
That’s another problem! Plagiarism! I once received a guest article and it was already published on another site, word for word.
Again, submitted guest posts can be re-submitted to another site by that same guest author.
Twitter: jide_ogunsanya
says:
Since the day I put up my GUEST POST guidelines, the mails have reduced tremendously. I made it clear that NO search engine traffic is guaranteed and anyone willing to send me ONE junk post just to get a link juice from my blog SHOULD stay off.
I think you should still accept guest posts but just be very strict with your rules.
Jide Ogunsanya recently posted..The Dangers of Cell Phone On Your Health And How to Overcome It
LOL. That’s a harsh one
I think accepting guest post is not a good idea. Maybe I will accept those guest posts if I find it very interesting and can benefit to my readers.
Twitter: Questechie
says:
Personally, I don’t buy the idea of guest posting. First, its against my own blog monetization policy, as smart I.M guys will definitely flood your mail with crappy articles in the name of guest post. What you are supposed to label sponsored post and got paid for.
Also, quality of article matters a lot. Most, if not all such post are low quality, as the writers are only after the link juice.
Even, in one instance an over smart dude forwarded to me a well crafted and maliciously coded article in the name of guest post. If not for my extensive knowledge of coding, guess I would have lost my entire Google account by now.
Perhaps it’s the reason I’ve been getting more sponsored posts of recent.
Twitter: nigeriaschools
says:
well, i don’t accept guest post on my websie, no, i don’t.
if you send one my way, i will gladly tell you that i only accept paid post. most never border to return.
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Twitter: guruscoded
says:
I just created a new blog, wanted to convert it to a forum but now you said something interesting about accepting guest post I think I should leave it.
Twitter: fitness123go
says:
Personally, I think the good benefits outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to guest posting. You just have to be smart in deciding what types of posts to accept on your blog or website.
Ryan Thorr recently posted..How To Get The Body Of A Fitness Model: Exercise
Twitter: SurveillanceTip
says:
Even 10 big eyes cannot be like your own eyes. We all have to learn to say No when we have to, especially now that Google seems to enjoy unleashing various animals from its zoo.
SurveillanceTips.Com recently posted..Best Ways GPS Tracking Devices Can Be Used Effectively
That’s just the truth. Who knows what the next one would be named? Google Vulture update? :p
Twitter: wanderargentina
says:
I don’t allow guest posts per se, but sometimes the money offered for sponsored posts is pretty good. What’s the final word on them for broke bloggers?
ande recently posted..Foto of the Week — Anti-K Protest in Buenos Aires
I do accept sponsored posts too, but carefully. I wrote an article on that you may want to check – http://www.doncaprio.com/2012/08/selling-links-on-your-blog-things-you-should-know.html
hi there..
this is interesting , i just thinking about it because i have starting my new blog and i thinking about it should i allow to every one comment or not
but now i think i will not allow to guest comment
i have one point about that it’s good or bad when you just starting your site and no one know your site yet, i think we should allow to every one comment temporary until your site be known and then make strict on comments
thank’s
Twitter: WorkAtHomeTruth
says:
Great points. I’ve also started shying away from guest posts for a while. Another thing I’ve been thinking about is Google authorship. In the past I’ve accepted many guest posts from authors that use pen names. I would think that with the rise of the importance of Google AuthorRank that should likely be a factor to consider when accepting guest posts.
Paul Schlegel recently posted..Working From Home? You May Be Able to Claim Your Car
Problem is that most of the content writers I know don’t even care about authorship, they just want that link for their client.
Twitter: facejar.com
says:
your right some blogger don’t care about blog they do their job to add link for Their client
Twitter: thescript102
says:
very nice article i either receive many guest post offers and i accept almost all of them thanks for sharing these useful tips now i’ll be more aware thanks a lot !
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Twitter: javamazon
says:
Would like to pass on another great website which accepts Guest article : http://www.javamazon.com/.
Please give a look.
Guest recently posted..WordPress Website for a Pet
Twitter: techpuffs
says:
Thanks Caprio for sharing your insight on guest posts and sponsored reviews. I am inspired from this article and now I am more inclined towards sponsored posts than allowing authors to post free guest posts.
Twitter: WeblifeNigeria
says:
It is good to invite experts to contribute quality content to your domain. Some of them already know and experience much more than ordinary bloggers. But it all depends on the type and goal of the blog/bloggers.
Twitter: wisestepp
says:
The best advantage for blog owner is free quality content. The guest bloggers typically take a lot of time and effort to craft useful posts. These are of much higher quality than the articles that are submitted for article marketing!!
Twitter: ho9jablog
says:
how do i create a guest post account?
henri recently posted..5 Powerful Catholic priests in Nigeria
Such useful facts to have.
You are right many guest bloggers do not have a idea about seo and will bring down your sites quality content its good to have guest posts but i think you can do a little research on the topics and write it on your own having your site with full of quality content.
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