In yesterday’s post, 4 Benefits of Hosting a Guest Post Contest, I discussed the benefits I experienced when I held this blog’s first guest post contest in April.
Whether or not you’re interested in hosting a contest or just want to host more guest posts, you’ll still need to be prepared to contend with some of the drawbacks.
Of course, if conducted appropriately, the benefits still outweigh all of these drawbacks.
I’ve included some tips to make it easier for you.
Drawback #1: Time and effort spent promoting
Running a contest requires constant promotional efforts. Promotions can get to be time consuming, but it is necessary to get the word out about your contest.
Guest Post contest promotional Tips:
- Visit and comment on high traffic blogs – but not just any comments – post authentic comments. For a bigger impact, they need to be the first or the second comment to the post. That means you’ll have to catch those posts while they are still hot (i.e. early morning).
- Schedule varied tweets at intervals that will not totally annoy all of your followers.
- Post some announcements on a few forums. (Blog Engage; Problogger)
- Write an additional “refresher/update” blog post the following week to generate some additional buzz.
Drawback #2: Reviewing posts and adding pics
Towards the beginning of the contest, this part was easy, since there weren’t many posts. Then suddenly there came a rush of several posts at once. All of them had to be read thoroughly to ensure they vibe well with this blog. Some of them needed light editing. Some guest posters provided there own pics, but for the most part while others did not. This part doesn’t produce any more work than would be required for my own posts, but it still was an important part of the process.
Guest post reviewing tips:
- Create a guest post submission form that in addition to a text box for the entire post also includes a space for the poster’s brief bio, a place to upload a profile pic (try to stress that they include a picture of themselves and not a logo and use your good judgment for how you will handle those who are camera shy).
- Review submissions immediately and decide on a publish date. I realize this might not always be convenient. However, letting them pile up is far more overwhelming because you will be tempted to skim through when you really must read closely to ensure there are no errors or no information that conflicts with your blogging philosophy or with the style your readers have become accustomed to. You don’t want to risk turning your devoted readers off for one guest post. It’s not worth it.
Drawback #3: Verifying that a post is NOT duplicate content
I seriously hate this part the most, but it is necessary to maintain quality on your blog. Sometimes bloggers will do multiple submissions for the same post, but because one blog hasn’t responded, they’ll go ahead and forward the same post on to you. I experienced this issue last month. A few days after I published the post, the same post was published on another popular site. You must decide how you will handle this. If it’s a contest entry, it would be more than fair to revoke the entry. Depending on how you feel about the author, you could decide not to accept guest posts from them again. I think this is the drawback I hate the most.
Tips for verifying a post:
- Copy the first paragraph and then conduct a search on google to see if those exact sentences bring up an exact match. There is also some software you can use to do this as well. Article Checker is a quick and easy way to check duplicate content, too.
Drawback #4: Responding and Contacting the authors for additional info
It’s important to reply and communicate your publishing intentions as soon as possible. It’s a courtesy that I think is necessary to show that you genuinely care about what they are contributing to your site. I’ve done quite a few guest posts myself and I know people are anxious to hear the results of their submission and want to know when it will be published. Sometimes I get busy and I can’t respond right away and this can create problems and make things harder in the long run.
Sometimes a bio is missing or you may need clarification or more information. I don’t know about you, but I always have a time crunch issue, and small delays can really throw things off for me. This is another reason why it’s important to review the post as soon as possible to identify missing elements.
Tips:
- Once you’ve decided on what date to publish the post, contact the author and let them know about it. If you don’t have an exact date, give them a tentative date or at least a time frame so they’ll know when to expect it. This will give them time to create some buzz on their own blog about the upcoming post if they want.
- If there is an issue or missing information, contact guest posters immediately. Let them know about your tentative date and/or time frame and inform them that the post will not publish if you don’t receive the information by a certain date. Most guest posters are more than willing to quickly provide that information.
Drawback #5: Handling guest posters with suspicious-looking sites
I like the idea of helping others, but I also don’t want to put my readers at risk for being scammed by an unethical blogger. When they see the guest poster’s link back to their site, some readers will assume that since it’s published on your blog that you’re affiliated with the guest in some way. If they trust you, they’ll assume they can trust the guest author. This can backfire if you don’t take the time to review the blogs of your guests.
Tips:
- Take the time to review your guest’s blog to insure it’s one you want to be affiliated with and don’t be afraid to gently decline posts from people who you aren’t sure about.
- Always try to include a profile pic and a brief bio at the bottom of each guest post. This gives your readers a chance to make a more informed decision about visiting your guest poster’s site.
So have you hosted any guest posts on your site? Any contests? What was your experience? Do you have any drawbacks or tips to add?
Would you like to enter The Simplest Guest Post Contest II?
About Kiesha Easley
I love tips that come from experience. You explain it well and give us a clear picture. Though I don’t have a plan to host a guest post contest but as it’s very useful I just shared it in twitter.
.-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..PenyuLocker – A free folder locking software =-.
Content Duplicity is a major issue over the web. I often encounter with the situation when my original written content seems duplicate. Thanks for the link ,must be really helpful for checking out for the duplicity?
Hi kiesha, I’m back to read the drawbacks of guest blog contests :) Now I realize that this method really is very tedious in gaining recognition and traffic most importantly. I think it would be much easier if you have someone to help you manage half of the tasks needed to be sure that the contest will run according to plan.
By the way, regarding the duplicate checker, I’ve been using copyscape.com, you’ll just have to key in the post’s URL, and it will accurately search the web for possible copies of it.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Jason,
So glad you came back! I’ll have to check out copyscape as well. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t know why people would want to water down their content in the first place. It’s a guest post not an article submission. You want that particular post to be tops in search engines. Why would you compete with yourself? And risk losing the trust of the blog? Like this one?
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Tini!
Glad you understand – but you’d be surprised at how often this happens.
Great tips and advice, Kiesha! I love how you mentioned double checking the guest poster’s blog and making sure that it’s ethical. A lot of bloggers should be aware of who they are exposing their readers to. Thanks for sharing! Will keep these tips in mind.
.-= Jarrod@ Optimistic Journey´s last blog ..What’s Next? That Is The Question =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Jarrod!
Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you found this to be useful.
I am alittle weary of allowing guest post on my blog. By the way, I like that blue face picture you used. Funny!
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Doromaner!
It’s can be a little hectic, but you need to read yesterday’s post (http://weblogbetter.com/2010/05/27/host-a-guest-post-contest/) to really understand all of the benefits and understand why it’s so worth it.
wow,never knew there a lot of work involved in hosting one…the duplicate content issue is a big one.
but i think the work is worth it at the end…
.-= mk akan´s last blog ..Blog Post ideas 6- 10 =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Mk!
Yes, the work is definitely worth it – that’s why I’m doing it again and plan on having one at least every other month if I can find enough sponsors.
Hi Kiesha,
As usual, you are writing about stuff that I need! Not that I plan to have a contest any time soon. I will, however, be starting to have guest posts once or twice a month fairly soon & the duplicate content, or worse, the infringment problems have been on my mind.
Thanks for giving me a great starting point!
Have a great weekend!
.-= mark´s last blog ..This Week on The Web – 27th of May, 2010 =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Mark,
I’m always glad and honored to help!
I never would have thought of the duplicate content issue. It seems obvious to me that a guest poster wouldn’t do multiple submissions, but I’m pretty naive about a lot of things.
Some bloggers prefer that the guest poster supply their own images, so that’s something I might encourage. Mary from WTD and GoodLife Zen has people put three options up on a Flickr, and that seems to work well for her.
Your idea of a guest posting form is stellar, by the way!
I’ve only had one guest poster so far, but he offered to supply his own images, which made things easy for me.
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..How to Kick Your Blog into Summer Gear =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Jean,
Thanks for the compliment – I can’t take the credit for it, though. Brandon Cox, the original owner and designer of this blog created that form.
Checking for duplicate content is a good idea. But if the article is published on another site after yours, how will you ever know? You can’t spend time searching for every guest post you publish on a day-to-day basis.
That’s why I use CopyGator. If the article pops up, even months later, I’m going to know about it.
If having duplicates of guest posts is not something you can’t live with, this should be stipulated in the contest rules or in agreements made with individual guest posters. And consequences should be outlined, i.e. the post will be removed and/or the other site will be contacted and asked to remove the duplicate content.
It’s important that we set up clear exceptions right from the beginning. And this is one most of us might overlook.
Good call Kiesha!
.-= Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella´s last blog ..Speed Up Your Blog With ZLIB For WordPress Or Any PHP Based Blog =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Joella,
Thanks for the link! I just went to check it out and I think it’s something I’m going to have to use, at least during the contest period. Thanks alot!!
Joella I heard first time about copygator.Surely I’ll use it in my blog.Thanks a lot.
.-= Lakhyajyoti´s last blog ..$800 Contest At MyBlog2day =-.
Thank you for the link Joella, I’ll make sure to check it out. Thank you also Kiesha for your reply :)
.-= JohnT´s last blog ..Websites for accountants: where to go? =-.
I posted a comment on a blog yesterday that covered exactly your third point: how do you go about checking that an article is unique to you if you are the first one to publish it?
.-= JohnT´s last blog ..Websites for accountants: where to go? =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi JohnT,
You can still use the Article Checker. I just happened to be making my commenting rounds on other blogs when I discovered a post exactly like the one I’d posted a week before. I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose – he probably submitted the post to the other site first and since he didn’t get a reply, he probably assumed it had been declined, so he just submitted it to my site next.
I withdrew his entry from the contest.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
See Joella’s comment below for a link that can make this easier.