Networking Opportunities Made Possible by Guest Blogging

Just like in the offline world, sometimes it is “who you know” that counts. In online business, there are many ways to network with other business owners. One way is through guest blogging.

You are building your business and making your mark in cyberspace. As a complement to your business, you start a blog. It is a place where readers and customers can interact with you, find out about new product offerings and get business information.

Networking is important for business owners. You can find new partners for business ventures, resources for upcoming product launches and ways to increase your visibility. Those who you give a chance to may turn around and offer you a helping hand one day.

There are two facets to networking through guest blogging:

1. You as guest blogger
2. Guest bloggers on your blog

You as Guest Blogger

Through your work, you make contact with suppliers, clients and other business people. Everyone that they know is a potential new contact for you. One of your clients or those in your business circle may ask you to guest blog for them. If you know the person and their reputation, this may be a no-brainer.

With their influence, you are opening yourself up to a new audience of business owners and other readers who can be of use to you. Always bring your best work to a guest spot just as you would on your own site. You want to be remembered (in a good way).

• Interact with your audience. Ask questions in your posts that they can respond to via comments. Answer comments with advice and a friendly voice.
• Add a website or blog link to your bio box so interested readers can find you.
• Post links to the guest blog posts on your website to interest your readership. This builds trust and expert status.

Guest Bloggers on Your Blog

Finding the right guest blogger is not easy. Getting the cream of the crop is even harder, especially if you are not well-known. Even so, only extend the invitation to those that you trust and have read their work.

• Ask friends who have blogs or online businesses and clients with expertise to blog for you. They can give your readers a new insight into what you do. Besides, you are also bringing their readers to your place for a look see.
• Set down ground rules: No foul language in posts or comments. Stick to the topic assigned. All work is to be reviewed before publishing. A bad incident could get you labeled and cause the larger, more influential bloggers to shy away from you.

Networking is needed to get your name on everyone’s screen. Use both sides of guest blogging to make your own networking opportunities with those who can benefit from a reciprocal relationship.

Thank you!

Maximize Your Time with Guest Bloggers

This is post 26 in Connie Ragen’s 3o Days Blog Challenge.

When you operate a blog, with or without the online business to go with it, it takes up a lot of your time. Readers want fresh content on a regular basis. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with their voracious appetite unless you have help.

Blogging Help!

Seek out writers for your blog. Think of it as another writing project. If you are familiar with ghostwriting services, you can hire writers to write posts for you that you can then publish yourself. With this type of help, you are asking a writer or writing service, to provide you with content for your website or blog. The credit goes to you for the work.

Finding a guest blogger is different from outsourcing blog content. With guest bloggers, they are getting a chance to write for your blog but with the posts being credited to them. You’ve got a few options about how you approach a guest blogging situation.

1. You can look for an ongoing contributor who blogs on a regular basis for your blog. Some contributors will blog for free as long as you’re giving them credit and helping them with their own blog or website promotions.
2. You can hire a writer to write for your blog (this will require payment, especially if you’re looking to claim the content as your own). For a certain fee, you can assign them topics and ask that they write one or two blog posts per week. Usually one is enough unless you are truly busy and need more to fill the space.
3. You can ask other experts in your field to post occasionally to help relieve some stress from having to post yourself all the time. Most of these guest bloggers will oblige and do not require any more than a link or two to their site or products in their posts.

Benefits of Guest Bloggers

Now, you can breathe a little easier. You want to keep your blog fresh and new but there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day at times. A guest blogger can take that pressure off of you so that you can devote your time to other needs:

• Marketing
• Networking
• Administrative Duties

As long as your readers stay happy, you can rotate a guest writer in and out to provide them with interesting content. Guests can also respond to reader comments and build a relationship of trust with your audience. If they have their own traffic from their sites, you have a chance to impress their readership when they come to read the posts. They can also browse your work and take an interest.

At the beginning, you may have to review posts and schedule their publication just until you feel comfortable with the writers and their styles. Once you see they do a good job, let them publish their posts immediately or schedule them without your help. This will go a long way in saving you time.

The first time that you don’t have to write several blog posts over the weekend or in your wee spare time, you won’t want to go back. How long a writer will blog for you depends on your needs, but the extra time may lead you to make it an ongoing thing.

Besides the fact that you are benefiting, so is the guest writer. They gain a reputable forum for their work, possible networking opportunities and greater visibility.

Thank you!

Flex Your Writing Muscles through Guest Blogging

This is post 20 in Connie Ragens 30 Days Blog Challenge.

And my 5th post on Guest Blogging

Writing is one of those activities that really can get better with practice. Maybe you are a fair enough writer for your online content or blog, but you can always improve. Writing about a variety of topics for others is a kind of working out for those creative muscles. For me personally being from Denmark, I learn a so much from blogging, on my own blog as well as being a guest blogger for others.

Many writers have written on a number of topics and in a number of different medias before they decided on the one or ones they liked. If your business is writing, then in the interest of expanding your skills, guest blogging is a great way to do that.

What is Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging is when you write blog posts for others. Or if others write a post for your blog. It’s like being a guest on a late night talk show but with less name-calling and bad jokes. Blog owners won’t just choose anyone for their guest spots, so you must have done something right if they are asking you. Be proud, but still just say yes if the blog lives up to your “standards”.

If you agree to be a guest blogger, now it’s time for you to impress by writing what they need and want with your voice. If you are writing on a topic that you don’t have much experience with, you’ll need to start from scratch.

1. Do your homework. If you are running a general gardening website and another business owner asks you to blog for them on daffodils, you may have some work to do to become thoroughly familiar with that flower.

2. Follow any instructions to the letter. The blog owner may give you the blog post titles. Within their word count and the context of the title, deliver a product that will meet and, even better, exceed their expectations. If you have questions, ask them before you get started.

3. Read past blog posts on their blog for hints on style. Maybe you are a fan of the blog for which you are writing. You like the posts, but now you will reread them to see how they layout their information and get to the point in such a short piece. Do the same if you don’t know the blog well.

4. You can write a rough draft as a start. Perhaps you have written about the subject a while ago for your own website. Writing for someone else, you might want to add a different angle to the subject, and/or add some general definitions to words or concepts. Keep writing and editing until it is the way you want it to be.

If you are used to writing longer pieces of content or reports, a blog post is a nice change of pace. The tone is usually more conversational and fun but with an emphasis on the facts. It is a new style but one you may want to adopt to create your own blog for your business.

Enjoy!

Also read:
Damage Control – The Naughty Blogging Guest

Ressources:
Blog Ebooks

Damage Control: The Naughty Blogging Guest

This is post 19 in Connie Ragens 30 Days Blog Challenge.

And my 4th post in a series of posts about guest blogging.

It is relatively new to me to invite guest bloggers to write on my blog, and recently I have also started to be a guest blogger myself on others blogs. I choose my guest bloggers carefully, and read their posts before they get published, and I have not experienced any “bad things” like offended readers or mean comments.

Still as a blog owner you might fear that you will let the devil in the front door. So it might be a good idea to be ahead and think about some “what if” scenarios. Everyone who wants to blog for you is not right for your blog. And if the naughty blogger should come to visit, you’ll have to smooth things over with your audience.

There could be different reasons why you want to find guest bloggers. It could be because you need more time to attend to the other areas of your business. Or, you are looking for ways to increase your traffic. A new voice on the blog can stimulate growth and give faithful readers new reasons to love you. It can simply add some new dynamics to your blog.

Even if you use certain measures to choose your bloggers, there are chances that a bad apple will slip through the cracks. Actually, they may have a popular blog or have come to you on the recommendation of someone else. What may spurn the naughty behavior is not the post itself but the comments that go along with it.

All guest bloggers have a chance to interact with the audience. When comments are made, they can respond back. Now, everyone is not going to like your guests, but what you wish is an open mind.

Guests who post also have to watch their comments on the blog as well. These are your readers and new visitors who are posting comments. When the guest blogger gets out of line with their responses to irate comments or makes irate comments, there will be backlash for you.

What to Do?

When readers are angry, they will let you know in no uncertain terms. If you have a suggestion area on your website or blog, they will use it. While you monitor your blog as much as you can, something may slip through.

1. When you notice the incident, make an immediate post. Let your readers know that you are handling the situation and are sorry for any comments that may have offended them.
2. Pull any scheduled posts by that blogger. You don’t want readers to feel you don’t care by letting this person continue to post.
3. Talk with the naughty guest blogger. Were they having a bad day? As a business person, you are held to different standards. They may be personally offended by something someone says in a comment but can’t let it get the better of them. The guest also can’t use their posts as an open forum for stating disagreeable positions that may offend that blog’s readership.

You can plan for most outcomes, but in the event that a guest blogger irritates your readers, damage control is important. Be proactive and go to your readers instead of waiting for them to come to you.

Thank you!

Also read:
Choose the Right Guest Blogger
Guest Blogging A Powerful Way to Build Your Brand

Ebook Package:
Blogging for Profits & Creating and Writing Your Blog

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Create Quality Backlinks

Use Your Bio to Create Quality Backlinks when Guest Blogging

This is post 13 in Connie Ragen’s 30 Days Blog Challenge.

Search engines not only look at the keywords on your website and in your content but the types of links that are connecting you with others. Use your bio to help increase those quality links when you decide to guest blog for others.

Guest blogging gives you a chance to interact with other audiences. You have your own readership and they like your voice. But maybe others just haven’t found you because you are in a smaller niche market or you are more general and they are reading in a specific niche. Blogging for others can bring you both together.

When you blog for others, you will get a space for your bio. Now, they don’t want to draw traffic away from their website or blog so you may only be allowed to mention one website. Use that chance to the fullest.

Within that bio, what you say is just as important as the website link that you add. You have one chance to impress them enough to get them to click on the link and visit your website or blog. Mention facts about your business and yourself that will catch the reader’s attention.

What you are hoping to do is build backlinks. Backlinks are the inbound links coming into your website from other places. You don’t want just anyone linking back to you but someone who is interested in the same things.

Guest Blog for Whom?

Choose who you blog for very carefully. When you get the invitation or while looking for possible guest blogging spots don’t just do it for the money or because you are flattered to be asked. Check them out. If their website is reputable and based on a similar topic, you could have a winner.

Even money is not worth a bad association. Let’s say that you are asked to guest blog for a friend. They own a business in Internet marketing. Your blog talks about home-based Internet businesses. There is a commonality here that can work to your advantage.

When you include your website link in the bio, you know that those clicking on it are at least interested in Internet marketing. Some of them could be business owners, who visit your site and will trade links with you. Your readers who take advantage of the online business ideas will need the help of an Internet marketer to get their business growing.

Such quality backlinks help you in the networking arena and on the search engines. You are now being noticed by others who find your business worthy of their time and their name.

Also read:
Choose the Right Guest Blogger
Guest Blogging – A Powerful way To Build Your Brand

Ebook:
Blogging for Profits

Choose the Right Guest Blogger

Post 10 in Connie Ragens 30 Days Blog Challenge.

You have worked hard to build your blog audience. It may be an extension of your online business. The blog is where customers and other visitors can pick your brain and find out about products and so forth. Maybe it’s time to branch out and ask others to post to give your readers some variety.

Variety is the spice of life they say. If you have gained a following on your blog, the readers more than likely love your voice. But, other bloggers can add another dimension to your site. Here is an example.

Let’s say that you have an online craft business. You have expertise in the field, but maybe you want to expand your knowledge base into other aspects of crafting. Having followed other blogs, you have found sites that specialize in things like doll making, miniature building and the like. Asking them to blog for you can be just what you need.

You can gain the knowledge you seek from your guest blogger. Come up with a list of possible post topics for them to write on. Each one can cover a topic you wish to learn more about. If you don’t know what topics to choose, take a poll on your blog to see what devoted readers want to learn more about themselves.

With ideas in hand, the next thing to do is choose a guest blogger. You can decide on more than one if you like. However, if this is your first time, I suggest inviting just one to see how they work out and how your audience reacts to their posts. Here are a few tips for you to proceed:

Choose someone in a similar but non-competing position.
Be sure they run an honest blog or business (not the antagonistic type, always causing controversy).
Check to see if the potential guest has positive feedback from their own readers.
Find someone whose style you are familiar with and like.
If you’re giving them topics, they should agree to write about (and have some knowledge on) the topics you choose.

You don’t want any surprises here. Anyone blogging for you is attached to your reputation. They may be well-known in some circles, but not necessarily to your readership. By letting them post, you are telling your fans that they are okay. Remember your readers already trust you, don’t give them a reason to stop now.

Some people don’t think about that crucial point. Let’s say that your writer wants to write on their choice of topics. Something they say elicits negative comments from your readers. As a result, your readers may become leery of your judgement and leave the blog.

It won’t happen all at once like that, but it can happen. One way to head off such a potential problem is to let your guest writers upload their posts to have them published pending your administrative review. Don’t just give them free reign to go in and publish their posts immediately. Take the time to read over what they have written before you put it out there for the world to see.

Having others guest blog for you is a great way to give readers a treat. Just be sure the writers you choose are worthy of your audience.

Also read:  Guest Blogging – a Powerful Way to Build Your Brand
Ebook published by Claus D Jensen: Blogging for Profit

Guest Blogging – a Powerful Way to Build Your Brand

This is my post number 9 in Connie Ragen’ 30 days blog challenge.

Two days ago I had my friend Trapper Sherwood to write a guest blog on my blog, The Sleep Secret. It was a huge success. We recieved lots of kind comments, and I had the second highest number of visits to my blog ever that day!

This has inspired me to bring a series of blog post about guest blogging:

Build Your Brand through Guest Blogging

Blogging is such a big business these days. It is a great way to communicate and connect with other business people as well as customers or even just friends. As an online business owner or professional blogger, writing for others can get you noticed and build your reputation.

Your brand is your unique stamp. With big product companies like Coca-Cola or Nike, it is their trademark product and tag lines. But, they didn’t start that way. No one knew who either of them was or that they were solid products until they were marketed and that brand reinforced with endorsements and such from people we did know.

So, how can guest blogging help? Well, first of all you have to have a blog or website of your own. You can’t establish a brand unless you have a place to showcase it in the first place. It may take a while, but your blog can establish a loyal following you can count on to follow you other places.

Bloggers are smart people. They will know if you are just after them for their name. Before you approach them with your request (probably one of hundreds more popular bloggers get), get involved in their blog. Post comments on a daily or weekly basis. Pose thought-provoking questions. Show that you have something to offer!

All of this shows that you are attempting to understand what has made them such a valuable brand on the Internet. Also, they get to know your “face” as it were because you are always around. The only thing that works better for a new blogger trying to establish them self is nepotism (and it is always welcome!).

You will probably later want an endorsement for your brand and/or your product, so offer the blog owner a free product or a trial of your services. Doing so is a courtesy that will pay off for you in the end.

Writing for another blog gives you a chance to talk about other topics in front of a new audience. If you talk about the guest spot on your own blog, many of your loyal fans will pop on over for a look see. And, through your bio blurb, the existing audience on that blog will know where to find you. This is not to steal their readership but to share it since you are not necessarily in a competing market.

In an effort to put your stamp on the world of Internet business, try guest blogging. When done correctly, you can gain increased traffic and new business connections that will serve you well into the future.

Ressources:
Ebook published by Claus D Jensen: Blogging for Profits

Blog Content

I have joined a 30 days blog challenge created by Connie Ragen Green. A part of the challenge is to write a blog post every day!

So I thought it would be a good way to start with a post about Blog Content!

First I want to state that in my point of view there is no fixed scope that your blog should have, which means you can write about whatever you’re interested in.

However, the difference between a profitable blog and a non-profitable blog is the way the blog is written. Just imagine, would you prefer to read your university professor’s lecture notes or the latest novel by your favourite author?

You may prefer to read the novel because it appeals more to your interest, or because it is not as mind-numbing as the lecture notes by your professor. However, the most important point is people like to read “light” stuff most of the time. You see, when people log on to your blog, they are not only looking for information – they are also looking for information they can obtain easily, and better still in a relaxed manner.

So, to attract more visitors as well as to keep your current visitors coming back for more, it is very important to add a human touch to your blog posts. This can be done by simply imagining you’re talking about a certain topic with your personal friend. An extra bonus for your readers would be a great sense of humour, so try to add funny comments in your articles where they are suitable.

Another important key point is that you should write as if you’re having a conversation to a single person because this will make your visitor think of you more as a personal friend rather than a person of higher authority.

Besides that, it is also very useful to establish your own personality through your words. Human beings are very curious creatures, so naturally your visitors would want to know as much about you as the information you’re offering them.

Having a distinctive personality in your blog would make a world’s difference between your blog about gadgets and all the other blogs about gadgets out there. This is a lot like creating your own brand name, where people immediately remember your blog’s name when they need to find out information about gadgets, just like how people immediately think of McDonald’s for fastfood or Nike for sportswear.

So, the lesson in this post is to simply write as an equal friend to your visitors, write to them as if you’re talking to a single person and establish your own personality on your blog.

Thank you.

This blog post is inspired from the ebook:
Blogging for Profits

Google Keyword Tool

- How a comment from a reader inspired me to use Google Keyword Tool creating a blog post title

One of the great things (and there are many!) about getting comments from your readers to your blog posts, is when somebody adds valuable information to what you have written.

Someone did that to my post: Ten Tips on Writing a Blog Post.

The reader is Insightful Nana, and she has a great Blog, insightfulnana.com which I will highly recommend that you visit!

Tip number one in my post was about the Title of your blog post. It says:

”Each post must bear a title that demands a reader’s attention right away. The titles should be so chosen that they should captivate the reader’s interest and fulfill the vision by being potent in informative. Longer titles are better, since they offer a little more detail about the post, which offers a fairly good range of coverage.”

The comment inspired me to use Google Keyword Tool..

Insightful Nana added this comment:

”Another tip on the titles. I always do a key word search before I enter a title. You would be surprised. Sometimes the plural of your key word will make a great deal of difference. But.. you won’t know that unless you do a search.”

This is really a great Tip!

I actually used it myself when I created my post, Out of Nowhere.

One way of checking the keyword in your title is using Google Keyword Tool

Here you can enter your keywords and see the number of people searching for them in Google each month in average. You can also ask to get synonyms and ideas for other keywords.

I learned, that in March, 2009, 40,500 people searched in Google for ”out of nowhere”!! And in average each month almost 20,000 people search for these words!

Before I wrote the post I had my doubts about the title, but need I say that I chose Out of Nowhere…?

This is a great example how a comment from a reader can add value to your Blog, your other readers, and yourself!

I very often use Google Keyword Tool when I work with SEO, but;

I had never thought of using Google Keyword Tool for this!

So a big THANK YOU to Insightful Nana!

Ten Tips On Writing A Blog Post

Web presence is essential, especially if you plan to organize business of some sort via the wireless. It is very essential to make the first right move to ensure instant access and saving on time, effort and very importantly, money. There are millions of blogs on the Internet and all are vying for the numero uno place. Thousands are now created by the hour and with the increasing popularity and convenience of the Internet, the battle has only just begun. However, like any other market, on the Internet too there are time tried and tested tips that have helped the industry bigwigs.

Ten tips on writing a blog successfully are listed below:

1. The title: Each post must bear a title that demands a reader’s attention right away. The titles should be so chosen that they should captivate the reader’s interest and fulfill the vision by being potent in informative. Longer titles are better, since they offer a little more detail about the post, which offers a fairly good range of coverage.

2. Precise and potent sentences: The sentences used in the post should be short and complete with information. Not all your readers are going to sit down and try to simplify complex sentences or hunting for real value in your blog. Your post should ideally not be beyond 200-250 words, each.

3. Bullets and subs: Readers do not like to read posts with lengthy paragraphs. The text should be broken up into lists, bulleted points or small two and three-liners with suitable subheadings. This makes the post easy to scan. You need to allow the information you are trying to get across to strike the right chord.

4. Regular updates: Readers want current news. You need to ensure that your blog carries articles that are relevant and updated regularly. You need to research from newspapers, web references, suggested new keywords, business letters and reports etc.

5. Stand tall: You may be a faceless entity online, but still stand tall and bold in reality. Suggest, state and correct! Why shouldn’t you? Isn’t this true that you have a blog and maintain it in the first place? Timidity is anonymity. So do not be afraid!

6. Ensure accuracy: You must be dead sure about the content of the blog. All statements should have a good back up in place. Never misinform and always be as accurate as you can.

7. Contribute positively: When you choose to include links on your blog, ensure that there is ample scope for interaction between you and the thousands of end users, who may reach the site. Offer useful information always.

8. Stay focused on content: Always maintain focus on the theme of your blog. Deviance will only confuse the reader. It robs you of your virtual authority on the theme of the blog in little or no time.

9. Use Potential key words: The right key words capture the search engine’s potential of attracting more and more end users to your blog. Use effective and relevant keywords after a lot of key word research.

10. Be methodical: Consistency and diligence are the mantras for a successful blog. Spotlight your blog anywhere and everywhere. Be proud of it and flaunt it, as you would with a brand new shining car. A methodical approach will increase your potential of attracting new readers.

From the ebook: Creating and Writing Your Blog

Thank you!