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06.08.10 Rules To Follow When Writing Guest Blog Articles  By Savio RodriguesIf you're a blogger, you may have been asked to write a guest post by another blogger. Or, you might have offered a guest post yourself to a blogger you admire. Either way, writing a guest post opens you up to a whole new audience and can increase your own readership into the bargain. Blog readers that may never have heard of you otherwise now have their eyes on you. Add to that the credence that comes with someone else thinking enough of you to have you on their blog, and a guest post is a pretty big thing. So it's only fair that you follow the five unwritten rules when it comes to guest posting on other blogs. Make It Great This should pretty much go without saying, but the amount of guest posts I've read where you can see the author has basically just mailed it in is both surprising and disappointing. If someone has taken the time to give you real estate on their blog and put you in front of their audience, the very least you can do is make sure that the post you provide is top notch. Before you send the post, ask yourself the following questions: • Would I be happy posting this on my own blog? • Is this the best this post can possibly be on this topic? • Am I being relevant to the audience of the blog I'm posting on? Unless you can answer yes to at least two of these questions (the relevance factor may not come into play if the blog owner wants to mix things up a bit), then your guest post isn't ready. Research What's your guest post going to be about? Did you make the suggestion of the post, or did the blog owner ask you to guest? Either way, one thing you need to make sure of is that you do your research. This could be of the blog's archives, to get a feel for the topics that normally appear there. More than likely it's going to be about the topic you're writing about. Names, places, facts, statistics, references - all these and more need to be checked before you submit your post. Let's face it, you wouldn't write a load of bull on your own blog, would you? So why even think about doing it to another blogger? Quote your sources and link to external references and sites and make sure the blogger you're writing for doesn't end up looking an ass as he or she tries to cover your mistakes in the comments. This might seem a harsh view, but think of it as if it was your blog. Get the facts right; get the blog right. Format While content is often quoted as king when it comes to blog posts, the look and feel of a post can go a long way toward its readability. You can have the greatest blog post in the world, but if it looks like crap then readers will be put off from the start. When you guest post for someone, provide the format you want it to appear in. Think of how you'd want it to appear on your blog, and then make sure you provide that information with the post itself: Continue reading this article. About the Author: Savio Rodrigues is a product manager with IBM's WebSphere Software division. He envisions a day when open source and traditional software live in harmony. This site contains Savio's personal views. IBM does not necessarily agree with the views expressed here. |
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