My experience with guest blog posting...

I joined MyBlogGuest.com Forums a while back. The first 'guest post' offer I wrote was for our game "Two Bites." I didn't get much response, but I also had a very short post, which was probably not a very good post. I also wasn't very active there.

A few months ago, I was invited into a group of marketers, where upon introduction, I mentioned that I would guest post on blogs. I got a few requests immediately, and it was just a couple of weeks ago that I decided I needed to go ahead and get that taken care of.

And so, I got started on one post for one person. When I started asking questions about linking policy, I wasn't very happy with the responses I was getting. This particular marketer didn't want to 'give' anything valuable in return for 'unique, fresh content' for 'their' site. The marketer wanted to give one link to my site on my avatar image and one link in the resource box.

After asking around a bit, a friend of mine got some intel from someone regarding links... and I was advised, "two in-content, in context links, or go home." And that was for 400 words. The longer the article, the more links... also, "resource box links- worthless."

I write pretty long articles. So when I brought this to the attention of the marketer I was to guest post for, we agreed that I would cut the article short, and get one in-content, in-context link, and one resource box link.

I tried to make the article only 400 words, but it wound up being closer to 500 words. I was already committed to writing the article, which is the only reason I agreed to these terms, but it did drive me to change my offer post on my guest blog.

Now, it's no secret that I don't really give a flying fig about SEO or Uncle Google's precious ranking policy. I want a targeted audience and the best click through rate I can get. If someone wants my 'unique' content for their own blog, they'll have to give more than a crappy resource box link, else I'm better off publishing to an article directory and getting the article syndicated to get it in front of more eyeballs.

One thing I can say, is that having a firm policy about what I expect in return certainly has helped to weed out the tire kickers, but it also seemed to have brought me into direct contact with the professionalism that I expect of other business owners.

And it seems that by stating my own policy on what I expect in return for my unique content, I have gotten more responses than before. From the right people, too.

Just yesterday, I had a guest article published on Paul Barr's site. And I have several more requests in the queue.

If you are posting as a guest author, don't settle for the crappy resource box link that you can get from any article directory. A directory will get your article syndicated, a guest post will only ever appear on the publishers blog, and for them, that's extremely valuable. Make sure that it's an even exchange of value.

If you are seeking guest authors, keep in mind that they are giving you unique, fresh content that will not be published anywhere else. If you want good writers, giving you good, unique content, you'll have to give more benefits than an article directory does.