As a good guest writer there is a variety of actions required from you. It is a common sense when you enter other people’s territory you need to follow their rules. And as for the blog owners, they must have a set of rules that their guest writers must follow accordingly. Their expectations to what you are going to submit or produce must follow these rules besides gaining more readers for their blog. It is important that you keep a good guest blogger reputation by following these simple standard guest writers best practices – always.
Before Submitting Guest Article
Most blog owners are keeping a special page specifying guidelines and rules for their guest writers before allowing them to submit and publish the article. While they may vary from each blog, these are some of the standard rules that you need to lookout for.
1. Topics or titles:
Some blogs are really strict with their own niche and theme. Usually they will stick to almost same the topics and repeated group of targeted keywords. However there are many that differentiate their articles based or categories. There is more option to this and you may suggest suitable topics or ask them on what topics they are interested in.
2. Links:
For most guest writers, even the publisher himself thinks that links are one of the most important entities in an article. Not only they can refer or provide more understanding to what readers are reading, but also to gain backlinks and traffic – for the guest writers. Be sure if the publisher allows links in article and author bio, some only allow links in article and no links in author bio at all. Make sure that the links in article are related to the title and check if they’re implementing dofollow or nofollow so that you will not end up regretting after you submit your article.
3. Word count and formatting:
Many blogs enforcing strict rule of minimum lengths and some are quite tolerant. Also do not bother using various font styles, sizes and paragraph of formatting. This will confuse the editing process, because normally publisher will use same formatting for all their articles.
After Submitted Article is Published
When all these above are complies, follow up the published article by:
1. Check the live post:
Remember that even machine will make mistake and error, and we as guest writers may do the same. Check for any errors like misspell, whether you are using the right link and the suitable images if needed.
2. Thanking the Publisher:
After all they are the owner of the blog. Thank them as a word of keeping good relationship. It could lead to a great working partnership or recommendations in the future. You may do this by sending them an appreciation mail or even better, linking back to their site from your own site if you have one.
3. Commenting:
This is one of the most important parts of guest writing. Some guest writers who just intended to build backlinks and gain dofollow links alone, submitted their article once and then leave. If by some case, readers commented to the article asking some questions, usually the only person who can reply them the best answer is the guest writer himself. This is a losing situation if the comments are left un-replied. Good interaction with commenters will somehow gain your own loyal follower and popularity at whichever blog you write on. Moreover if you yourself are having your own blog, this may bring positive effect.
4. Spreading the News:
Generally both parties whether the guest writers or the publishers will spread the word about the recently published article. Social networks, article directories, newsletters etc. are some of the way to do this. Some time because of your gaining popularity, blog owners may even looked for you to be their guest writers because of the news.
It is important that you complies your guest posting duties fully, every time. If you’re a frequent guest blogger, it is good to maintain a professional, yet friendly relationship with all the editors and commenters you come in contact with. By following these basic rules of guest posting, you can be sure to get the best writing opportunities and even popularity too!