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Top 3 Ways to Find Great Guest Contributors for Your Blog

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be my guest

I think everyone reading this blog will agree: famous bloggers are busy, actually most bloggers are very, very busy people. Writing interesting posts, networking and building connections with other bloggers, searching for post ideas – all this takes much time. And on top of all you need to be consistent and update your blog regularly, religiously and as often as you can to give your readers a good reason to follow you and check your blog feed daily.

But here’s the greatest advice you’ve ever heard: start accepting (and encouraging) guest contributions. Look at most powerful blogs: they all feature guest contributions for a reason (well, for many reasons to be more precise):

  • Guest contributors will provide your blog with good content for free. In exchange you will let your readers know who they are and share their blogs. Sounds like a win-win, doesn’t it? This way you will get some free time without interrupting your daily blogging;
  • A guest blogger will offer a new perspective and a fresh insight. We all have different unique styles (especially those who have blogged for a while). The style may be really good and catchy (that’s why you have loyal readers), but even very good writing may seem boring and even great tips may sound dull if the reader sees one and the same style every single day. A guest blogger will contribute something fresh and unique; you will likely even get inspired!
  • Guest bloggers will share and promote their content hosted on your blog (this means more traffic and readers for you as well). The beauty of the whole concept is that if your guest blogger’s post does very well, both you and the blogger win: you both will get more links, traffic and exposure. That’s why guest bloggers most often help promoting their content by sharing with friends and social contacts (this can also be discussed prior to the publication by the way).
  • Guest bloggers will introduce you to a new community. There’s no secret that bloggers network in hubs. The more hubs know about you, the more people you know (hence the more links, the more Tweets, the more votes, etc). Here’s a great post explaining why you should build relationship with bloggers by Edward Khoo.

So I guess it is pretty clear why you should look for guest posters, right? Now, let me share with you how. Top 3 most effective ways to find great guest bloggers:

1. Encourage guest contributions on the blog

Look at famous bloggers: they feature very evident “Write for us” badge on the site. And consequently they have plenty really great contributions from guests weekly: each one contains fresh ideas and unique opinions – that’s what makes the site so exciting.

The page inviting the guests should contain the following information (or look at this blog’s one as a sample):

  • The reasons why people might want to contribute (the blog stats and details);
  • Requirements for the post (don’t overdo this one);
  • How the posts should be delivered (via email, form or submitted directly to the blog admin panel).

my_blog_guest2. Join the community of guest bloggers: My Blog Guest

I am biased here because the community was started by me but here are the facts: MyBlogGuest is free, new and growing fast. Every day new bloggers join the site looking for blogs to guest post on. Creating a profile is easy: besides usual info (like username and email) you will need to provide:

  • Your account name at major social networks (like Twitter and Digg). This info will be used to calculate your “power” which reflects your ability to share the guest post and get more exposure for the contributor;
  • Your tags (or topics your blogs are about). These will be used to find you via the forum’s user search;
  • Your blogs: some basic info about the bogs that the forum members may want to contribute for.

3. Look within your post comments

All bloggers know that their most precious visitors are those that comment: only people who are really passionate / knowledgeable abut the topic will take time to share their opinion. Some of my best post ideas were found in my blog comments and my most valuable contacts are those who comment at my posts regularly.

So once you look through your blog comments daily, take some time to see if there are some really good ideas. Then contact the ones that you liked most of all and offer them to elaborate further on the topic. Here’s what you should look for:

  • People that sounded really professional / knowledgeable;
  • People that tackled some close but different topic / approach;
  • People that offered some different perspective / insight.

Of course, a good idea is to check the person’s site before offering him to guest blog.

Hopefully, you’ll feature more guest contributions after this post!

About

Ann Smarty is an experienced blogger, search geek and a social media enthusiast. If you are serious about blogging, be sure to join Ann's community of guest bloggers My Blog Guest: there you will find bloggers for your site as well as guest posting opportunities to promote yourself

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{ 36 Responses }

  1. Thejas Kamath says:
    I think guest post is a great idea. My blog is very new and I'm gonna implement guest posts soon!
  2. Pooja says:
    Guest posting done in good traffic grabbing blogs is beneficial not only to the "blog owners" but to the "writers" as well...The blog owners get good quality content to publish on their blogs through which they can increase the traffic & rankings both while the "writers" get dedicated traffic & back-link for their website... I've just started blog for my website and I'll start guest posting after 2-3 months when I will have some extra time...
  3. Bishwajeet says:
    Guest Blogging seems a great idea, will try to implement this on my tech blog comptalks and will see the results .-= Bishwajeet@Blogging Community´s last blog ..HootSuite Tutorial Video =-.
  4. Kiesha says:
    You're absolutely right about this double benefit of guest posts. At least once a week, I try to get a guest to post on my blog. It adds variety and so many more opportunities to grow my readership. I've also found ezinearticles.com to be helpful - I carefully select posts from authors who have a style that fits well with my blog and who have minimum to no extra links. A link to their website is fine, but I always check to make sure their content is in line with my own and that they aren't promoting any crazy items I don't want to be associated with. I also make a point to locate the author on Twitter or another social media site to let them know that I've re-published their article. Almost all of them have RT'ed the post and brought in a new stream of visitors that way as well. .-= Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog ..You don’t have to have a perfect marriage to have a happy marriage =-.
  5. thebondgurl says:
    This is great. My mom (msileane) guest contributed on a site or two and I thought it was awesome. Thanks for laying out the details in this post.
  6. Ching Ya says:
    Guest blogging has always bring mutual benefits for both author and writer. I've had a few pleasant experiences with guest posting too, results are very much favorable towards traffic and meeting new visitors, including connections on various social media sites. In 2010, I probably will try to put attention in this aspect as well. Have always enjoyed your SEO expertise, Anne. Fantastic to see you here. :-) @wchingya Social/Blogging Tracker .-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..How Blog Review Can Help to Improve Blog Traffic =-.
  7. Suresh Khanal says:
    Very inspiring article. Thank you Ann for the tips. I definitely want to join MyBlogGuest. I've started enjoying the whole lot of new friends of the society and would love to be included in groups. Let me sharpen my writing skills and improve the way I talk. I'll certainly follow your suggestions. .-= Suresh Khanal @ promote blogs´s last blog ..Do I need permission to link to other websites in my post? =-.
  8. Latief says:
    Well written and I agree with you sister. Especially about free promotions from the author :) This day I have more invitation to be guest blogger and one just published here : http://blogadmonkey.com/blog/how-to-encourage-comments-on-your-blog Thanks for this inspiring article.
  9. Annie says:
    this is great! i should really start thinking about guest contributors for my site! thanks for sharing =) .-= Annie´s last blog ..i miss the village green =-.
  10. Ari Herzog says:
    Indeed. If you visit my blog, I have an obvious tab in my top navigation bar soliciting one to contribute. Perhaps that word needs to be changed. The caveat to putting something in a nav bar is it will never capture RSS readers and email readers who lurk and don't comment. So, the occasional blog post asking for such, or including a request at the bottom of the post can't hurt. .-= Ari Herzog´s last blog ..Sharing the Love of 3 Bloggers: Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, and Danny Brown =-.
  11. Dana says:
    It seems that i should think about guest posting more seriously.BTW, I already try to send some guest post in some blog but none of it publish yet. .-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Robots.txt for WordPress Blog =-.
  12. Ileane says:
    Ann, I've done 2 guest posts so far and it's a fantastic networking tool. As a blogger you don't need to worry that you will be taking precious time away from your blog because you know you have one good post waiting in the wings that will be about your experience as a guest blogger. lol I see My Blog Guest growing at a fast and furious pace, and I've only been a member for a few days. Joining has been beneficial for me because I've run in to some old friends and made some new ones too. I highly recommend to any blogger looking to expand their audience that they should join My Blog Guest, or offer to guest blog for a friend. I'll continue to spread the word. Thanks! .-= Ileane´s last blog ..Blog Engagers That Make My Day! =-.
  13. lawmacs says:
    Brilliantly written Ann and you are rigt famousbloggers is growing and you know what i am happy to be a part of it and guest posting helps build authority i recently written a post about Guest Posting thanks for been here .-= lawmacs´s last blog ..5 Link Building Tips =-.