April 16, 2008
Draconian Guest Blogger Requirements Or…
Have you noticed that guest blogging has kinda exploded lately? It’s not uncommon to see request or permanent invites for people to guest blog. I think it is great. In fact, in IM Blogging Bootcamp, we encourage guest blogging. It relieves you of the pressure to come up with unique content regularly. Plus, a little (relevant) deviation from just you, y ourself and your company can be good.
Yet, sometimes you see some pretty excessive rules for guest blog submissions. One such I recently came across required the guest blogger to write posts that are between 600 - 1000 words.
That’s practically an article. I’m not saying bloggers shouldn’t accept long article like posts. But seriously, as blog readers, don’t you think article length posts are a bit tiring to read? Yes, the quality of the article matters. But my guess is, most blog readers are not into long article like posts.
Furthermore, I think this is rather a turn off for guest bloggers. It is true that big, popular blogs can demand a lot and there would still be people who’d dive at the opportunity. Yet, I can’t help feeling a little irked over it. What do you think?
I absolutely agree. Especially if people expect exclusive rights to content and aren’t even paying for it.
I think if you get your point across, that’s what’s important. In fact, some of my shortest blog posts seem to generate the biggest response.
We like guest bloggers to and I promise, no crazy article lengths needed, lol
I agree Lynette! When you read a blog for the most part you want something quick and good. Sure a long post is good to read, if it filled with some juicy content, but it takes someone a bit of time to write 600 to 1000 words.
If you hit the main points and leave people thinking and talking, then, short is good!
Exactly folks. The asking for exclusive rights is something that completely turns me off.
You know the ‘guest’ in guest blogger has to mean something - at least for me. It is a two way exchange. Asking a mountain is like telling your house guests to clean your bathroom while they are in your home. If we treat guests to our home with respect such is the way we should treat guest bloggers.
I hear what you’re saying. But I don’t entirely agree. I do like a quick read. No need to use 600 words where 200 or less will do the trick.
But the lines between blogs and content sites are blurring. There are lots of highly read blogs where you see posts of 1000+ words on a regular basis and they get huge comments and link love.
I say if you’re going to Guest Blog you should make it a meaty post. And guest blogging shouldn’t equate to free reprint content so I understand and accept that many blog owners want exclusivity for the content they share with their readers.
I suppose it all depends on the opportunity. A high traffic blog that only accepts a few guest bloggers, I’ll be very pleased to write exclusive content for. If the opportunity is more common, I’m not as willing to work hard for it.
I think it depends what the guest blogger is getting out of the deal.
A longer post = more work but on a highly visible site could really give a guest blogger (especially a newer one) the exposure not received otherwise. A more established blogger might choose guest post assignments more judiciously.
As far as reading longer posts. Like Kelly stated, some “blogs” are content sites where people go expecting a certain type of post.
Honestly, if I think a post is too long, I’ll just skim it to see if there’s anything of interest first.
This was a great post. I am in the middle of finding guest bloggers for Mommy Hobby and I have really gotten alot out of this post.
Thank you.
Kelly,
I never looked at it like that. You are correct some blogs do function as content sites, so it sorta changes the picture some
Exclusivity is fine. But if they DEMAND article length on top of it, they better either have a huge reader base or pay for it.
I could easily take it to 100+ article directories and be “paid” on it for months or years to come.
From the blog owners point of view, and especially if they have a high traffic blog, I can see them wanting it to be a certain length so they don’t have to waste time with people submitting as little as possible just to get a link to their site.
I also actually prefer the longer posts on blogs. I don’t normally go to a blog for a quick note on something. If I’m going to read someone’s post I’m there to learn and if it takes 1000 words that’s just fine with me. Of course I read the quick posts too but longer or not it’s the topic and the content that matters to me as a blog reader.
Now that I think about it I actually spend almost NO time reading the ‘old style’ websites pretty much ever since I’ve started reading blogs. I know blogs are up on the latest info and treads and aren’t stale content that I have no clue how long has been sitting so I prefer to get my articles on blogs
I know not everyone is up to this yet but it would be interesting to poll where people are reading most of their content nowadays.
I didn’t even answer your question, sorry to post twice in a row.
So, I guess I think if the blogger has the right to be picky because they have high traffic and likely a lot of people asking to guest blog then I can’t really blame them.
On the other hand, if it’s a new blog and they’re looking to increase readership and get new content then you might want to decrease the demands and just ask for excellent quality, whatever form that comes in.
A
Dennis said “I could easily take it to 100+ article directories and be “paid” on it for months or years to come.”
I can’t argue with that, but I do wonder if one back link from a high authority website trumps hundreds of articles directories that pretty much only other article marketers frequent.
Definitely not slamming article marketing. I’m a huge fan! (http://www.easyarticlemarketing.com)
It’s all about weighing the benefits.