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Home » The Famous Blog » How Do You Handle Guest Bloggers?

How Do You Handle Guest Bloggers?

January 7, 2012 - Last Modified: January 7, 2012 by Hesham Zebida 2,072

Guest Bloggers

That was actually a question posted at the SME networking clubs that I’ve joined recently, I thought it’s useful if I put my answer on the blog as I already knew a few of you are actually running multi-authors blogs, and many are accepting guest posts, I had to expand my answer and add more details on how to handle guest bloggers. So, I will take you through three ways to manage guest bloggers, each way has its own difficulty level, pros and cons. You choose what’s way work best for you and fits your needs.

Ways to Handle Guest Bloggers

Before we start, I know many bloggers wants to get others to write for their blogs, I bet some of you are still wondering why guest blogging is not working for their blogs. Anyways, I just want to make sure that you know how hard work it takes to grow your blog, it’s not easy to manage a multi-authors blog unless you have a good plan, good design, great community around your blog, and most importantly is that you must be ready to spend  quite enough time to develop and manage your blog.

Here is a post I wrote a while ago that has useful recommendations on building and designing a multi-authors blog.

Just one more important thing..

In most cases, you will need to have a page on your blog for geust blogging information, guidelines and rules, you can take a look to our guest blogging page as an example.

Now, let’s talk about ways to handle guest bloggers.

Method #1 The Easy Way to Handle Guest Bloggers

I call it the easy way because it doesn’t require any technical work from your side, but from the other side it takes more communications work between you and your guest authors. This way is useful when you don’t want to have your guest bloggers register to the blog, or have any access to your dashboard, so basically all what you need to have is a simply way to communicate, for example: a simple contact form, or maybe just include your contact info somewhere so contributors can get in touch with you.

This way works simply like this: contributors email you and attach the article with their bio, and you publish it like any other blog post under your own account, of course you should include their bio and credentials manually in the post.

Pros – This way is easy! Technically speaking, there is no need for extra plugins and any type of special development.

Cons – Here are some things that I don’t like about this method:

  • You don’t keep any contact in your WP blog, all contacts are done via email.
  • There is no user profiles
  • You do all the work manually!

Method #2 User Registration Required

This time you want to register authors and allow them to have an account, this is useful when you want to display their bio and links somewhere on their posts, also have a page for each author on your blog, which I think is a good idea, by doing this you automate the process and makes it easy for yourself to manage guest bloggers.

If you are using Thesis Theme, then you may take a look to my BlogSkin for Thesis Theme, it has all the multi-authors functions that any blog needs.

Here are two posts that could help in this stage:

  1. Adding Custom Fields in WordPress User Profiles
  2. Customize WP Author Archive Page (Thesis Theme Tutorial)

Now that authors are registered, and by giving them the right capabilities, they can simply submit their guest posts.

Here are some notes:

  1. Allow registration (anyone can register), and set level to subscriber.
  2. Ask them to get in touch so you will get to know them (avoid spammers), then upgrade their account to contributors. (why contributors?)
  3. Contributors are allowed to submit posts as pending for review, yes they can see other posts and stuff inside WP dashboard, but they don’t have control over it, means they don’t have capability to edit, change or delete anything. (not a big deal if they can see other posts, however this will be solved only if you follow the method #3)
  4. Once you get a pending for review post, you can then check, edit and publish it on your blog.
  5. You can also install some useful plugins to assist you, for example:
    • (Role Manager by Thomas Schneider, which gives you control on who can do what, really useful plugin)
    • (WP Status Notifier, by iDope, sends notification by email to contributors about status of their posts)
    • (Peter’s Post Notes, by Peter Keung, allow editorial notes)
    • (Great pens widget, for Thesis) maybe consider is as some sort of promotion

P.S. Plugins mentioned above are tested and recommended, I personally use them on my blog for more than 2 years now, however you can find other useful plugins that dose the same job by searching the WP plugins directory.

Pros – This method is great for these reason:

  • More control over the blog while automating part of the publishing process.
  • Each contributor has a profile, they can edit it by themselves any time.
  • You can grab and display author bio and social profiles on posts.
  • You can mass email all users at once to send them updates and news. (check out Emu2 – Email Users 2 plugin)

Cons – This method is great, but needs adjustments, you will discover issues by time based on your niche and audiences:

  • Pay attention to spam if you are allowing anyone to register, (using some plugin like SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam is useful)
  • Users may have access to some part of your WordPress dashboard (will talk about this in method #3)
  • Still this method require a lot of work (one of my own problems).

Method #3 More Advanced Way to Handle Guest Bloggers

If you want to have more control of your blog, protect it from spammers, and disallow guest bloggers to get into your blog’s dashboard, but at the same time still having them as registered users, then this is probably the most way I can think of. However, it requires heavy work from your side to get everything to work together correctly.

The idea here is to use a plugin like “Gravity forms” and their nice “User Registration Add-On” plus the other plugins mention in method #2.

Not sure if I can explain the whole process with more details here, but it’s still useful if I can outline the main idea for you, so here you go:

  1. Make sure to implement Custom Fields in WordPress User Profiles
  2. Set your blog to “no one can register” (we will use Gravity Forms to do the job)
  3. Create a form to register members. (see example form on our blog)
  4. Create a form to submit posts; this form will actually work on the front end, so no one can access your WP dashboard. You can set post submission to be pending for review. (It’s more advanced setup) , but Gravity Forms has a really good support, I am sure they will help you out.
  5. Use some plugin to limit access to dashboard for contributors, for example:
    1. Adminimize (extremely useful plugin, full control on who  sees what!)

Pros – Simply this is the best way to handle guest bloggers in my opinion.

Cons – The only issue that I see is this method requires a huge amount of effort and time, it could take a couple of months (based on your needs) to develop a really easy to manage and fully automated multi-authors blog, oh! and be ready to spend some money on premium plugins, and get a good theme framework, in this case I would recommend either Thesis or Genesis, free stuff won’t help.

Bottom line

After two years of running a multi-authors blog and dealing a lot with guest bloggers I came up with a conclusion, the best way to handle guest bloggers is to actually have them registered to the blog, this is not only good for managing things, but it’s extremely useful to for building community, especially if you want your guest bloggers to contribute more often for your blog.

I am at still in the middle of creating a perfect multi-authors blog. One of my blogging goals is to make FamousBloggers.net a better blog.

I hope this help in any way.

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Filed Under: Guest Post, WP Multi-Authors

About Hesham Zebida

Follow @hishaman

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

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{ 48 Responses }

  1. Servando Silva says:
    Normally, I'm using the easy way but I make sure to let my guest bloggers know everything they need to send me. In fact, if possible, I'l ask for the HTML code, so that I can put it and just proof-read or check before publishing, without doing all the manual stuff by myself. Unless I think on taking more contributors on my blog, I think this method should be good enough on my side. Thanks for the tips!
  2. kimsea says:
    great, I am accept 100% to the tip. I so interest advising in the tip. but the most content in this was mention about the wordpress and how about handle guest blogging on blogger blog. anyways, thank for help.
  3. vicky says:
    hey i want to make a guest blog section but i am not able to find how?plz help me in this field
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      I wish I can tell it all in one comment! But, I just can't :) Please, search the blog, or go a head and check the guest blogging section for useful articles!
  4. Mike Storzieri says:
    Great post on how to handle guest posters, we use method 1 at the moment, but now looking into some ways to automate our guest posters similar to your third method.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Mike, more is coming in this topic indeed!
  5. Dean Saliba says:
    As most of my guest bloggers contact me via email I have tended to deal with those ones entirely by email but I have got 2 guest bloggers who have set up accounts on my blog and I allow them to publish their posts when they can. In my eyes it is all about making them happy. I make them happy, they produce good content which makes my readers happy which in turn makes me happy. :)
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      If making people happy will make you happy, then I am happy for you :) Good luck Dean, and thanks for stopping by my post and sharing these thoughtful insights.
  6. Stacy says:
    Hi Hesham, I've gone back and forth between method 1 and 2 and will probably stick with number two unless I end up getting a lot of spam registrations again. I prefer the guest authors to have the ability to fill out their bios and be notified by email when there is a new comment for them to reply to. About once a month I go through and delete the spam accounts, it's not a big deal. I'm curious to check out the plugins that you recommend, thank you for sharing! Stacy
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      hi Stacy, what I love about this is the interaction and workflow between the host bloggers + WordPress + guest blogger , it's really good thing. I am still having some people register for no reason, they never contact me to upgrade their accounts, they also never posted anything, let's say I get 200 every 3 months or so, maybe they think to get a link in the bio/archive page. The good thing is you can delete their accounts by a few clicks! However, I recommend you contact them one last time before you do so, maybe some of them were just lazy, email from you could remind them and bring them back to life :) The plugins I recommend in this post is really useful, it took me two years to discover the best combination! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!
  7. Ajnabii says:
    Really usefull post, actualy i'm using google blogger for my custom domain, but now i'm planing to convert my blog to wordpress. bcoz i have seen many bloggers are using wordpress and offering guest post on thier blogs. its really works and more perfect. i have bookmarked this post for my future when i setup my wordpress blog i will use your tricks and plugings :) Thank you so much.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Moving to WordPress is a good step! Do it as soon as you can.
  8. Jamie Northrup says:
    I do it the old fashion / lazy way for now, but am thinking of upgrading to method #2, maybe eventually #3, but really would like people to be able to submit the posts through WP and not have to copy / paste. I think I will be able to get more posts, and publish quicker also.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      One benefit of method #2 is the ability to save drafts and edit posts before submitting them as pending for reviews, all this happen without any work from my side, so it really save time! Good luck!
  9. Tushar says:
    i prefer publishing the guest post manually and then adding a link back to their profile. Allowing access to WP-dashboard is not the best idea i believe in this hacker prone days
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Well.. If someone wants to hack your blog will do it anyways! So I don't see this as a big issue!
  10. Pradeep says:
    I do the same on my blog (HellBound Bloggers), but sometimes I'll regret some actions. Notifying the guest author about the status of their guest post(s) is essential for making them understand that we respect them. Nice tips Hesham. :)
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Pradeep, I think we all regret some decisions, but the good thing is the ability to overcome regretting and change the fail into success! Thanks for stopping by.
  11. Raj says:
    I have a technical blog that I manage. I almost always get poor quality guest posts (they are there just for the links). I do approve some of them because I can link to some of my old content from these posts. But there were a couple of times where allowing guest bloggers connected me with potential advertisers. I guess it has its pros and cons. BTW, Hesham, I am taking a break from my online activities for a while and may not turn up in the near future. Wishing you and famous bloggers all the success in the years to come.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Raj, I mostly deal with guest post requests with deletion unless the blogger introduce her/him self in a good way, but you are right, everything has its cons and pros! Break is good, take care, and looking forward to your return.
  12. Brad says:
    I use to do send me a email but now it's register, so much easier.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Brad, Anything that reduce the amount of work you put in to it is great! Thanks for stopping by.
  13. Dan Keller says:
    I have been getting a decent amount of guest bloggers on my blogs and I have always used the method of them emailing me the post and bio and I publish it on the backend. When I had a regular contributor, I granted her access as an author and allowed her to publish on her own. This is only recommended if you really trust the person. I have not made the jump yet to a multi-author platform but I will keep note of your tips for if/when I do.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Thanks for sharing Dan, I am sure you will be more comfort with getting bloggers to register to your blog and take it from there! It's really nice that you've found a trusted blogger, something I am looking for in the future, grant access to trusted bloggers.
  14. rohit kothari says:
    In my view, the only safe and satisfactory way to handle guest bloggers is to manually post each submission after carefully editing it. i use manual method only always
  15. James says:
    this is really good and informative blog post, thanks for sharing, I accept guest post with and without registration, and I do it all manually.
  16. Gautham says:
    But all these ideas are targeted towards Wordpress blogs, any ideas for a Blogger Blog?
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      The only way for blogspot is manually publish posts!
  17. David says:
    I do it the simple way. Mostly because I am not looking for guest bloggers, and only use them if they have something truly original to say.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi David, this makes sense! No need to spend time developing something that you probably won't need!
  18. Ileane says:
    Hi Hesham, I learn so much from you each time you write a post. I feel like you are my own personal tutor even though I know you shared this for everyone's benefit. I'm using something very similar to #2. However, I don't let people register themselves. I do all of the registration after I have looked at writing samples from them. The biggest problem is that most people DO NOT follow instructions!! I have a lot of guest bloggers on Basic Blog Tips but I also turn away a lot of them because on my contact form I clearly state where to go for the instructions and requirements for guest blogging. When people bypass this, I get a pretty good idea that they are careless or some other undesirable characteristic and it's my first level of weeding out those bloggers. I know that someone mentioned that the quality of some guest posts might reflect badly against the blog owner. That's a shame that some people feel that way. I remember when I first started out and I was hungry to learn and find someone who would show me the ropes! Thank goodness for people like you, Lisa Irby, DiTesco, DragonBlogger and so many others that were willing to take a chance on a newbie. You have to reach out to people and take them under your wing if necessary. Of course you don't publish crap, but for me, I feel like it gives my blog a unique personality to have bloggers from different levels of expertise. It also gives the more experienced bloggers a chance to leave comments that can provide guidance for those who need it. btw - thanks for mentioning the SME club, sounds like a great place to hang out. Have a wonderful day my friend!
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Thanks Ileane, I hope I can provide more useful posts in the future, and thanks for the kind words. Yeah, not everyone will follow instructions, and the real problem I see is in the time you spend dealing and communicating with those who don't follow the instructions, many of them just waste your time and you end up with no success! So, I started to realize the benefits of automating the signup process, and it you see my signup form, you will find fields for social profiles that is required to complete the process, this helped me a lot to reduce communications, as people will be forced to follow the rules. With this has been said, I no longer respond to every email I receive regarding guest blogging, especially with those who haven't signup, and they are just contacting me to ask if I allow guest posts on my blog, it's kind of funny to get contacted for this reason while everything is leading to the fact that I accept guest posts! As I said in some other comment, I am planning to have a series of blog posts about managing, developing and even designing a multi-authors blog, and every single conversation here could lead to a fantastic post in my series, so thank you so very much Ileane, I always appreciate input from "an expert" like yourself. P.S. I keen to help bloggers who have the passion (like you) , this makes me feel good because I am sure I am not wasting my time :) and it also makes me happy when I see them succeeding, you have done amazing blog, good job!
      • Ileane says:
        Hesham, this post inspired me to be more proactive about explaining the guest posting rules to potential authors. I recorded an audio version of the requirements and this way, even if they don't READ the instructions, they can listen to them. I linked to the audio in CommentLuv and if you would like me to record something like this for you, I would be more than happy to do so, just let me know :)
  19. Bhupendra says:
    That’s just another great addition to an already great community, Hesham.you have show great way to Handle Guest Bloggers but can we avoid or do batter Registration process so we can protect blog from spam?
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Bhupendra, Using a plugin like Gravity Form to register users do kill spammers, also any captcha plugin that is added to the registration form will do the job! P.S. It's a little strange that you are on blogspot and asking this kind of questions, do you have a self hosted blog where you can actually install plugins?
  20. doug_eike says:
    In my view, the only safe and satisfactory way to handle guest bloggers is to manually post each submission after carefully editing it. I see far too many poorly written articles on reputedly good blogs, and I think posting such garbage seriously erodes the credibility of the blog owner. Thanks for your insights!
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Doug, Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. I agree that poorly written articles could hurt the owner/host, but maybe not all cases are really valid! For example, guest blogging for a personal blog is totally different than guest blogging for a community blog like FB where I think it will hurt more the author, not really the host or the blog (considering that people often forget about what they've read before). Anyways, no one can argue about poorly written content, it will hurt someone for sure, but I just I have a little different opinion here! By the way, every guest host should keep the "publish" rights! I never think to give this power to someone but me yet :) Also, something I would like to share with you, all posts (except mine) are edited before publishing, FamousBloggers has a pro editor. This happen after I got plenty of complains from our readers.
  21. Sally Brown says:
    Hi, Thanks for the info. I've been hoping to get some guest bloggers on my site as well as do more guest posting myself. Sally
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hey Sally, I hope to provide more information in the near future that could help. Good luck with guest bloggers
  22. Claire Boyles says:
    Hi Hesham, thanks for a great article of how to technical instruction for those using Word Press. I came to the blog post after reading the title "How Do You Handle Guest Bloggers?" I've just run my first guest blogger post series under the theme of "Successes & Failures of 2011" so I was really interested to hear someone else's perspective on how to handle it. for me "Handling guest bloggers" is about handling the people rather than the technical system where by people can post or not. This fascinates me- how can you get people wanting to guest blog for you? How best to communicate with people about what you expect from them, and what they can expect to get in return, how do you communicate deadlines. How to handle it when they miss deadlines.. What to do when they don't like the way you've tweeted about their post- how you've written their introductions etc etc. As well as issues like how do you make analytics data available to them ... for me "handling guest bloggers" is about the relationships that need to be nurtured in order to create the community that you mentioned briefly. If you'd like, I'd be happy to write a guest post for you answering these questions. :)
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Claire , I see your point, however still the technical side can help you with all that, I always think if I wasn't so good on maintaining the blog technically to attract bloggers, I won't be having almost 500 guest authors so far, to be specific there are 479 Contributors registered on this blog at the moment of writing this comment! I am having a new special category for Multi-Authors blogs, I started this because I feel that people need to know more about this topic, so this is only my second post in that category, and I will defiantly write more about it as it's a huge and wide topic! P.S. while I was reading your comment, I was telling myself, this is amazing stuff, I will write a blog post to answer every single question you've added above, but now I think you ... You are super, let's do this :) Get your account here, and I will upgrade it for you right away.
      • Claire Boyles says:
        excellent!! I look forward to writing it :) Yes, of course you're right- the technical side of blogging is absolutely critical, and it's got to be reliable too! Likewise, without appropriate people management and recruitment, you can build it all you like, but they won't necessarily come, or keep coming back :) So the relationship building and communication aspect is also critical- coming from a background in HR, Recruitment and coaching those things come naturally to me to write about. I can't wait!
        • Hesham Zebida says:
          Claire, that's an extremely valid point. Not everyone will necessarily post again, so relationship is the king here!
    • abhiz says:
      Hello Thanks, you are awesome. Me just started my blog i think its not much popular yet! i will consider your great words when me add guest posts
  23. Dave Lucas says:
    Being on blogspot, I handle guest posters manually. By the way, if anyone would care to contribute, I always welcome guest-articles! Bblog On!
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Dave, I see why you handle guest posters manually as you are on blogspot! P.S. I hope you can get a few guest posts soon :)
  24. Dave Doolin says:
    Hi Hesham, I'm using Method #2 now, and will be implementing bio boxes and full Google author attribution for guest authors in the future. Method #1 is too much work, as is Method #3 for now. And I enjoy crediting guest authors with their due. Ok, off to poke around here for a bit, see what's new.
    • Hesham Zebida says:
      Hi Dave, I am also using method #2, and working on #3, I hope one day to create a package that works for multi-authors blogs, too much work today to get some relaxation tomorrow!

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