• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • The Famous Blog
    • Blogging
    • Social Media
    • SEO
    • Marketing
    • Design

Famous Bloggers

How To Blog and Start a Business

  • Contribute
    • Submit News
  • Login

Home » The Famous Blog » Three Annoying Reasons Why Guest Bloggers Waste Your Time

Three Annoying Reasons Why Guest Bloggers Waste Your Time

May 22, 2012 - Last Modified: March 29, 2014 by Zac Johnson

Be a Better Guest Blogger

It’s no surprise that the world of guest blogging is quickly expanding and becoming one of the most sought after ways to build links to blogs, but also a new way to make money as well. With Google Panda and Penguin updates wiping out all the garbage links and sites out there, it’s time for a new wave of link building to happen. As legitimate and beneficial as guest blogging might be, it can also be annoying and a time waster in the process.

This annoyance is usually contributed to people who simply don’t follow the rules, are just out there to make a quick buck.

It’s always a joy to see a new email in my inbox from someone requesting to write a guest post for a blog of mine. Not only will it save me time, but it will bring some new content and flavor to the blog. Running several blogs of my own, I know the joys and annoyances of offering guest blogging all too well. Let it be known, I greatly appreciate all of the quality writers that submit content to my sites, but there are an occasional few that just don’t make the cut.

With that said, enjoy this post on three annoyances that you may often come across when offering guest blogging through your web site or blog.

The Poorly Written Guest Blogger

One of the best ways to make sure that your content will never be accepted by a blog, is to have a poorly written article. This can be anything from poor grammar, to horrible formatting and various spelling errors. A few mistakes here and there is usually ok, as this can be corrected by the blog owner within a few seconds, but anything worse than that is just a waste of time and will almost always be denied.

Outsourced and Garbage Content

Sometimes people will guest post just to get some quick benefits for themselves, this is usually for a back link or just to get their name out there. In doing so, they also may not be providing any value and simply writing generic articles and content, just hoping some bloggers will publish it. There are plenty of web sites and services out there to order high end blog content, so if you can’t write for yourself, make sure you are ordering from someone who cane. Unfortunately, this not only doesn’t provide any value at all for the web site it is being submit to, but it’s also wasting the time of the blog owner.

Simply for the Link Blogger

As we continue to see more and more guest blog posts submissions come through, it’s obvious the link building business through guest blog posting is booming. Most guest post writers are getting anywhere from $40 to $200 for every guest post they writer. The higher the quality of blog, the more they get paid.

In any business where money is being made, there are sure to be those looking to make a quick buck and lack in quality. It’s always wonderful to see guest posts about “blogging tips” come through, only to see them loaded up with “debt consolidation” links in the article. Most bloggers will deny these submissions right away.

Bonus Annoyance: They Just Don’t Listen!

There are usually only a handful of guest writer submissions per week or month that really don’t follow the rules at all. When I created my guest posting guidelines on BloggingTips.com, I made sure that they were extremely simple to read and easy to follow. Since the blog is on “blogging”, most people would understand that the blog is focused on “blogging”… but I still get the occasional submissions which are completely irrelevant.

How to Be a Better Guest Blogger

The blogging world is one that you don’t want to have a bad reputation in. Top bloggers are always talking with other bloggers and word spreads quickly when content is poor and who is delivering bad guest posts. Take the time to make sure you are not only making a good name for yourself, but also providing meaningful and quality content that other people actually want to read. Doing so will not only help your business and blog in the long run, but it will also establish yourself as a top blogger and writer!

Image © indykb – Fotolia.com

ShareTweet

Filed Under: Guest Post

About Zac Johnson

Follow @moneyreign

Zac Johnson is a online marketer with 15 years of experience and also a blogger at BloggingTips.com and ZacJohnson.com, as well as the author of Blogging Tips: Confessions of a Six Figure Blogger on Amazon.com.

Reader Interactions

Related Posts

  • What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #15 with Marcie Hill
  • What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #14 with Kathryn Lang
  • What’s Up, Bloggers! Roundup #13 with Bill Busbice
  • Blogging Limiting Beliefs about Money5 Blogging Limiting Beliefs about Money that You Need to Release

{ 28 Responses }

  1. Nick Stamoulis says:
    Guest blog posting should be a tactic used to get noticed by target audience members. The link (if available) is only an added benefit. Guest posts take time to write, so you want them to be placed in high traffic areas that your target audience is actually visiting.
    • Andrew says:
      Couldn't have said it better ourselves! I'd like to note that just because it's outsourced, doesn't mean it's garbage, but typically it is, I'd agree. Once SEO's stop chasing the link, the SERPs will get cleaner and SEO will get away from it's shady reputation.
  2. Divas Chitkara says:
    Such a hilarious post this is. As I'm a newbie I will take this post and learn something from this. :D
    • Zac Johnson says:
      I'm glad you enjoyed it and got some laughs out of it... unfortunately it's all too true! haha
  3. Kimbery says:
    I\'ve stopped accepting content from PR reps. I\'m so sick of them wasting my time. The worst are the ones pretending to be bloggers. There are so many blogs out there, why would you waste a day lying to me when you could be making connections with others who might be happy to host your content? The worst are the ones who write to say what huge fans they are of _____ site, but have missed that the site was retired. I guess they\'ve been on vacation.I don\'t mind hosting quality content, but it\'s the back and forth and games that turn me off. Having clear guest posting guidelines helps; most don\'t read them, but at least I have a link that I can send back to them. I used the responses to clean up and clarify my guidelines and now the number of \"spam\" emails has decreased. Thanks for allowing me to vent. It\'s lovely to know that I\'m not the only one who is fed up with people using bloggers as a link parking lot.Kimberly
    • Zac Johnson says:
      Yea, definitely a lot of copy and paste email templates going around with these guest bloggers. I will accept a lot of posts, but I've played around with my guidelines to make them include internal links from the blog, so they actually have to put some work into the posts and also have a minimum of 500 words.
  4. Joseph says:
    Great Post Zac, I usually get guest posts with all sorts of links in the author bio until about some weeks ago when I changed my Guest posting guidelines and made it a bit Strict. I think bloggers need to be strict to some extent about guest posting on their blog.
    • Zac Johnson says:
      Putting restrictions on the footer / bio area and what they are allowed to do will definitely cut back on the requests. Good idea.
  5. Aasma says:
    Guest posts are certainly best way to acquire quality link backs from reputed blogs, that's why you should put extra effort to write an informational and effective article so that blog owners love to publish it on their blog.
  6. Joe Boyle says:
    My general experience with people who want to guest post on my blog is extremely positive. I can, though, recall a few situations that made my hair all but fall from the top of my head. One such example is the classical guest-poster who not only doesn't speak your language, but fails to grasp the idea that your blog is not meant for every niche under the planet. I had a guy who, after I translated his posts (from what ended up being Polish), tried pushing articles on how to fine-detail wooden chairs. My blog is about website management. Go figure. I've also had some run-ins with people who insisted that their article is the highest quality content on the planet. Ever. Some of the articles I've seen submitted for review are disgusting - grammar, spelling, structure, and all. In the end, I think there's only one way to counter it - disable sign ups and require visitors to email you and ask for an account. It's just way more efficient for the webmaster.
    • david says:
      I agree Joe. one of my blogs must have been on an article marketing list somewhere. It was interesting because even after I disabled signups and added a capture to sign in. there were still a number of articles getting posted to the site (but not approved :) ) anyway, after I kept deleting the articles of these last stragglers, I have reached a point where I don't get posts submitted any longer. Like you, I won't be posting anything until there is a nice discussion via my sites email or contact form. I also want to see the work ahead of time.
  7. mitz says:
    Hi Zac It is so annoying that people just don't know how to do guest posting in the first place!! But I guess we all have to start somewhere. I try and help some people and maybe edit their article for them (rarely now), but I wish they would not just give up.. Who cares if you get a few knock backs...Listen to what the webmaster is telling you and fix your mistakes.. Guest posting is important and they should stick with it! :)
    • Zac Johnson says:
      I usually edit or fix up guest posts if I see a few errors... but it really does waste time and is annoying when you look at how many requests come in.
  8. Brandon Yeager says:
    Zac, thanks for the timely info. Getting ready to add this to the arsenal very shortly. Thanks, Brandon
  9. Tantan says:
    Post-Penguin update, more and more people will enter into guest blogging. Bloggers who accept guest posts will get overwhelmed in selecting the articles (quality articles). :)
  10. Jeremy says:
    I've definitely been dealing with this kind of stuff as I get more and more guest post inquiries lately. Rather than letting them just send in a post for me to review, I first insist on seeing the url they will link to and a sample of their writing. If either is unsuitable I move on. With so many inquiries, there's no point in wasting time on people who can't deliver quality content.
    • Zac Johnson says:
      Good idea. I know a few high end blogs are going the paid route, where guest bloggers will need to pay a $25 fee or whatever, before making a guest post submission. This would definitely ramp up the quality!
  11. Dean Saliba says:
    This article could not come at a better time for me, I was talking about this only the other day via #backchat on Twitter. For months I have been accepting guest posts and allowing them to place a link to loan sites and anything else you'd care to mention. I also never got them coming back to reply to comments. Not anymore, now I will only accept posts that are decent AND link to a site related to my niche.
    • Zac Johnson says:
      It's unfortunate that guest writers are simply hit and run most of the time. I'm sure many people will be adding commenting to their guidelines and requirements soon.
  12. Dave Lucas says:
    Allow me one BIG one - I received TWO DMCA TAKEDOWN NOTICES because of posts by "guest bloggers" 'nuff said!
    • Zac Johnson says:
      Oh no, thats not good at all! That would really make me angry, I havent had that happen yet thankfully!
      • Dave Lucas says:
        One was for "stolen content" and the other for a photograph. My new guest-post policy: "All posts are subject to editing by ME... I reserve the right to substitute photos/images of my own choosing."
        • Zac Johnson says:
          Images are a whole other story... I've personally been using images from fotolia and depositphotos for most post. It costs money, but pays off in the long run and keeps you safe.
  13. Pubudu says:
    Nobody wants outsourced garbage contents and poorly written content. One should aware that if you are posting on others blog it’s not ethical to do like that.
  14. Mani Viswanathan says:
    Completely agree with all the three points made in this post Zac. Kinda pisses me off when I come across guest posts with too many grammatical errors. Some guest bloggers just submit a post for review for the sake of getting backlinks.
  15. Jack Sander says:
    Unfortunately, I have to turn down many bloggers who want to post articles on my blogs, as they come with poorly written posts. One thing that everyone should understand, is that guest blogging is a serious matter and is more than just getting a free backlink from an authority site. Therefore they should provide useful content written in a professional manner.
    • Zac Johnson says:
      It's never fun to have to look through submissions only to find they are horrible in quality and purpose.

Primary Sidebar

Our Newsletter

Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our blog.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Popular Articles

  1. Top 10 Sites Where You Can Get Paid to Write 115,646 views
  2. How to Get Targeted Twitter Followers Fast 92,035 views
  3. How to Set Half Rating Scale 1-5 (Poor to Excellent) by Words 86,581 views
  4. 66 Awesome Social Media Quotes 78,368 views
  5. 50 Traffic Sources You Should Milk Like Crazy 75,080 views
Schema Structured Data for wordPress
  • Blog
  • Contribute
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclosure Policy

Copyright ©2020 · FamousBloggers - All Rights Are Reserved · Powered by Genesis Framework

  • Login
Forgot Password?
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.
Go to mobile version