The following guest post was written by Alice Elliott. The author’s views are entirely her own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.
For a long time writers have been waiting for Google to catch up with their predicament and realise their true value.
The onslaught of search engine optimisation and how it destroyed creative writing has been a blight on many a copywriter over the years. Being forced to research suitable and relevant keywords (or phrases) was bad enough, but to have to include them in sufficient quantities and appropriate places within our text was sometimes the last straw.
Often have I winced at optimised prose. It sticks out like a sore thumb, heavily punctuated with formulae and links to please the algorithms that dominate the search engine practices. The result is not only illegible, but excessively boring.
But now our cries of anguish have been heeded to. Google has created the Penguin to come to our aid. Relevance takes centre stage, along with the conversational style, which thrives within social networking. Writers are now able to express themselves freely with ordinary language, explore their vocabulary and use punctuation correctly. In other words, really start to write.
As I said, relevance is the key. Outgoing links that match destinations relative to the content and subject matter will result in brownie points and search engine recognition. Keywords can now be used sensitively, appropriately and with a frequency that now makes sense.
And the power of the story now shines through the mist, and this is where blogging comes to the fore. This should become a pleasure, an act of second nature, the opposite of a chore and something performed as a by-product of your everyday activities. Your blogging hat can be firmly pressed upon your brow rather than left covered in dust amongst the coats by the back door.
Blogging can now become the extension of your expression as it was meant to be. It should allow you to extend the contents of your website in a variety of ways that would appeal to a diverse number of potential customers. It will reveal the successes, stories and case studies that take up too much room elsewhere, and can be easily and enthusiastically fed to and read by hungry readers found in a myriad of social networking sites.
Now that we are freed from the tyranny of the optimised keyword, we can start to explore language again. We can research into which communication styles gain the best reaction from our customers, cunningly grooming them into understanding, liking, trusting and eventually contacting you to do business.
There is so much more potential for bloggers to really start to shine in 2013. So what are you waiting for?
About the author:
Alice Elliott, aka the Fairy Blog Mother, provides easy to understand blogging tuition and offers a design and build service for websites using WordPress. Advice and assistance is also given for website optimisation, digital marketing campaigns and content copywriting.
Ask any fiction, non-fiction writer or commercial copywriter about their journey to the top and they’ll tell you a whole raft of stories of rejection, self-doubt and the pig-headed determination they had to show to make it.
The same goes for guest blogging.
There is one thing that you must remember – just because you spent hours lovingly crafting and shaping your blog post doesn’t mean it will be instantly accepted by grateful open arms.
Common reasons for rejection
After you receive that dreaded email that says ‘thanks, but no thanks’, you have to work out why.
There are a number of common reasons for rejection, such as:
Poor spelling and grammar
Not sticking religiously to the submission guidelines
Writing about a subject that’s inappropriate for that blog
Sending an unsolicited post rather than pitching first
Writing in a style that doesn’t suit the blog
Your email landing in their inbox on a really, really bad day
OK, there’s nothing you can do about the last one, but the rest can be avoided easily enough.
Before you even start writing your pitch email with your ideas, make sure you research the blog well and read some of the previous guest posts that have been accepted.
Get a feel for their style and content to make sure yours will fit in.
Choose a subject that fits within the blog’s niche and make sure you proofread it within an inch of its life before you send it (assuming you’re asked to send in a post).
Coping with rejection
When you receive that dreaded email saying ‘nope’, it’s very tempting to sulk, file the post away in a dusty folder somewhere on your desktop and crawl away licking your wounds.
Don’t.
OK, so they didn’t like it – why didn’t they?
The first thing to do is ask for feedback (assuming they didn’t give a reason in their rejection email). Of course, no everyone will respond, but if they do, take it on board and learn from it. Plus, if they allow it, review and re-write your post in line with their comments and resubmit.
Just because they didn’t want your post doesn’t mean it should be thrown away and forgotten about. Try a different a blog and ask to guest blog for them – don’t let it go to waste.
If you want to prevent the rejection emails make sure you:
Pitch your ideas first
Show evidence that you’ve read their blog and understand what their readers want
Offer ideas that fit within the niche of the blog
Follow their guidelines to the letter
Don’t forget, the blog owner has the right to say yes or no – the content on their blog affects their reputation.
Guest blogging (posting) is a perfectly legitimate way of gaining more prominence online, but, as with most things in life, there are always people looking for a quick fix.
Most owners of good websites with high Page Rank and good amounts of traffic are inundated with requests from people looking to guest post in return for a link back to their site.
A recent post on Dailybloggr suggests that because the system is open to abuse, Google may consider changing its algorithm.
After all, as they rightly say, the mass posting of low quality content brought about the Panda update and Penguin was a result of link manipulation, so it’s not beyond the realms of our imagination to think that, before long, we could see an algorithm update that will affect guest posting.
But is it likely to happen?
Matt Cutts answers this question below:
Good guest blogs
How do you know if what you’re being offered as a guest post is any good?
A high quality post will inform the audience and benefit both the writer and publisher
Only accept high quality posts that offer something unique
Don’t accept short posts (300-500 words) especially if of low quality because it’s probably been spinned or duplicated elsewhere
The post will not be promotional and will add real value to your website and your readers
Over to you
What are your thoughts on guest posting?
If you have any tips to share, leave a comment below.
You see, although blogging appears to be a simple thing to do (and it is), it does require several elements if it is to work.
Despite what you might think, an ability to writewell, although important, isn’t the be all and end all. You see if you want to be a successful blogger there are a few traits that you must posses.
1. Determination
This one is right at the top of the list.
Without it you’ll probably not keep to your posting schedule and end up letting it drift away. Running a blog is something that has to be worked at and will only bring in the results you want if you’re determined to make it happen.
2. Patience
You won’t see instant results. Building a readership and reputation takes time, so don’t expect to set up a blog one day and have thousands of readers the next.
3. Personality
People will read your blog posts if they have personality.
Something that is dull and dry will turn of readers faster than a fast thing. But if you allow your own personality to seep through they will be able to get to know you and will find themselves immersed in your writing.
4. Consistency
This is both in terms of the quality of your posts, their subject range and frequency.
All your posts have to be of a high standard; if you let your game slip once you could risk losing readers. Also, your readers will come to your blog because you write for a certain niche, if you start adding random posts about anything and everything, your blog will lose its purpose and readers.
With regards to frequency, regular readers will get to know when you post and will be looking out for your next article, so when you decide on a posting frequency, stick to it.
5. Purpose
Every post you publish must have a purpose – usually to educate or provide your readers with great information.
A post without a purpose is a wasted one.
6. Honesty
If you add an affiliate link to a product within your post, tell your reader it’s an affiliated product.
Being open and honest about any potential earning power you may gain from your posts will show your honesty and integrity to your readers.
7. Communicative
The whole purpose of blogging is to communicate and interact with your readers. So when they comment on a post, respond to them and engage with them. Show them that there is a real person behind the blog.
As you can see becoming a blogger isn’t just about setting up a blog site and publishing any old thing. There’s a lot to think about, such as whom your audience is, what you want to achieve and what your audience want to see.
Blogging is for the long haul – if you’re prepared for that it can be very rewarding.
If you want your business to be noticed online, you must have a blog.
That’s probably something you’ve heard a lot of people say; well, they’re right.
The pros and cons of blogging
Pros
Google loves great quality content; the more you can produce the better. And if Google loves it that means you’ll be rewarded with great rankings in the search results.
Writing regularly on your blog will also position you as an expert in your field. It’s a great stage from which you can offer help and advice to others, widening your exposure on the Internet and driving traffic to your website.
Cons
If you’re going to start one you must be prepared for the commitment it needs. A blog isn’t just something that can be played with every now and then when you have time. A blog is something that must be used regularly.
All too often you see new websites launched with a blog that’s updated religiously for the first month or so, but then…nothing.
There’s nothing worse than landing on a website to see a blog that’s not been updated for months on end.
Warning: A blog won’t self-populate – you have to do that bit. And that takes time, commitment and creativity.
Keeping your blog on track
Once you’ve made the decision to start blogging and are confident that you have what it takes to cut it as a blogger, you have to decide what you’re going to write about.
If you’re using it as a way of promoting your business, it makes sense to pick a niche that complements your business activities. I am a copywriter, therefore my blog contains posts that relate to copywriting, marketing, social media and freelance businesses.
Once you’ve made that decision, stick to it.
Your readers will soon get to know what kind of information they can expect to find on your blog. If you suddenly change tact and throw in something completely unrelated you could lose them.
What type of posts to write?
The type of post you write should vary.
News articles are interesting, but people like variety, so try and mix it up a bit and write:
How to posts
Reviews
Comment on the latest industry news
Top 10 lists
Advice and tips
At the end of the day, what you write should be interesting and add value to your readers.
As you can see, blogging is a great way to improve your online visibility, elevate yourself to expert status and drive traffic to your website. But it takes time and commitment.
Over to you
Do you blog? If so, how do you manage to keep on top of it?
If you don’t blog, why don’t you? What’s stopping you from having a go?
