Hi All,

I was wondering what your opinion was on accepting guest posts for your blog. I can see many pros and cons to both:

Accepting guest blogging:

Pros – Saves time + builds audience + more people promoting your website + new content + specialists

cons – Finding appropriate guest bloggers is time consuming + no longer is ‘your’ blog but a community space + editing time increases

Posting as the only professional

pro – Can change the direction of the blog quickly (if needs be) + not reliant on others posting + All content is your own

Cons - Time consuming + less content on blog + reliant on you staying completely up to date

Now that is a very bad summary of some of the pros and cons for each, but what are your thoughts?

Thanks!Sam

Hello @samscholfield 

I allow guest authors to contribute to my blog. So far, the experience has been fantastic. Having guest authors adds more life to my blog and a different voice. It also gives me time to focus on other tasks a couple of days out of the week.

Here is a little advice for you. I hope it is beneficial.

It is extremely important for you to set specific guidelines to sift out the junk. 

Remember, it is your blog and you are in control of EVERYTHING.

My suggestion is to try it out, start slow.

Before you do, be sure to set your guidelines first.

Here are a couple of resources for you to further research if having guest contributors is right for you:

http://myblogguest.com/blog/20-reasons-why-you-need-to-start-guest-blogging/ 

http://menwithpens.ca/how-to-create-guest-post-guidelines/ 

My experience is the same as Erik’s. I have people want to guest write but their content is just not up to standard and they cannot write with any knowledge about the topic of my blog and as you say Erik, they are just looking for a link back to their blog or website. I sometimes ask for a sample but have never allowed a post. They all seem like spammers.