So I was doing my daily blog reading routine when I encountered a certain post. In it, the author was complaining about receiving a lot of guest posts with clear “client links” in the bio boxes. In other words, guest posts where the author wanted to promote a third-party company or website instead of their own personal brand.
The blogger in question was kind of angry that these guest authors “would dare” to send such posts, instead of wanting to “share with the community naturally.”
So the main question is this: Is guest posting on your client’s behalf bad?
(Well, you can see my point of view in the headline, but I’m curious to learn yours, so feel free to comment.)
Anyway, I’m going to tell you exactly why guest posting for clients isn’t bad at all, and also, what you can do when dealing with bloggers declining your posts just because your link points to a client.
Reality of guest blogging
There’s a lot of guest blogging advice circulating around. Most of it portrays the whole practice as a fairy tale. The preachers use words like: “when you guest post, you get to add to the community, reach out to other people, be part of something bigger than yourself.”
True.
But it’s not the whole truth.
Guest blogging is always an exchange between the writer and the host.
The host gets a free post (unless they pay for guest posts, ekhm). The writer gets an audience to speak to, the possibility to spread their brand, and the chance to link some website of their choice. In a word, they get to grow just a tiny little bit thanks to the guest post.
Now here’s the kicker, I honestly believe that if there was some international law forbidding guest bloggers to link to their projects, we’d see at least a 90% drop (not that I’ve done any research) in the volume of guest posting done worldwide. And I’m not trying to judge whether it’s good or bad, that’s just what would likely happen.
Now, since the above pretty much explains that most of guest blogging is done to achieve the writer’s goals and pursuits (in other words, it’s a case of “me marketing”), let’s move on to the next thing.
Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/03/04/the-dirty-little-secret-about-guest-blogging/#muLSQhzkk9A4duHJ.99