Guest Posting - Does it actually work and how can I do it?

Yes, guest posting still works and is still effective. It does take a couple of days to weeks before webmasters reply to you. I just published a blog, no content yet but I am open to guest posts. If you are interested, just PM and I'll send you the link.

You can start with leave comments on blogs that you like, build relationship with the owner and also create good contents on your site that you can brag about to other blow owners. Let them see that you're capable of creating interesting content.

I prepared 3 articles for guest post, but none were accepted which put doubt in my mind for guest posting! Does it really make sense to write your own creative article for someone else? And on top of that, some guest bloggers don't give backlinks to your site!

You contact the owner of the blog and ask for a guest post. Write something useful/unique and they post that content on their site and reward you with a dofollow backlink.

It's not a method I use but it's very effective on high PR, high traffic blogs.

Yes. According to me, it's the best way to get a good and high quality backlink. Just type in Google your niche + blog or just look for similar ways to find a blog (also you could use site:blogspot.com or site:wordpress.com as a query!)

So generally concensous is that its good, but I can't get my head around the fact around webmasters allowing guest blogging, seems odd to me. I know offer something of value and I know if you did get a good PR2/3 link with a nice article it will be good for SEO and traffic but if someone messaged me wanting to post, unless it was an authority in the niche I would not let them post on my site.

Any links to guest blogging course/information very welcome.

There are plenty of sites that welcome guest posts, you just have to go look for it. I cant guarantee you that these sites are any good tho. a lot of webmasters these days look for guest bloggers coz they need content to publish in their blog. hence they'd welcome your piece of writing if it adds value and if its relevant.

myblogguest.com is always great to begin with. but for better success rate(in terms of seo) you must target blogs that are regarded as authorities in any niche. the usual writing an email, begging for guest blogging opportunity for a link wont work for these blogs. Just as you've mentioned in the OP, why should i accept someone's guest post? i dont even know the person, i dont know his writing skills!! i read this post in seomoz where rand said its important to make the owner of the blog feel that you're a regular reader of his/her blog. comment in a few of their posts maybe to begin with. follow him on twitter/facebook and appreciate his work by tweeting about his latest articles. have a little interaction with him/her wherever its possible(twitter or the blog itself). make him feel like okay this guy is a regular reader of my blog and he also adds value to the blog by commenting. thats when you can approach and tell him/her that you had written this brilliant piece of article that would add value to their blog.

Guest Posting is very effective, prefer to guest post on high pr sites and blogs. Guest post on popular sites is more effective in getting hight quality backlinks.

Guest posting is working and it is a more effective for getting other back links.

First search the blogs offer free guest posting if you want free guest posting. Then request him for adding the guest post in the blog by email. If he/she agree then share but share the quality content so he appreciate you.

I was just about to start a thread for guest blogging. There's some great tips in here I just need to put some effort in to find some one who's willing to have me!

Actually I am also a kind of newbie into guest blogging and this post has a lot of good information on how to get started on guest blogging. Thanks a lot Tombuck for raising this question for me

Guest posting is indeed an effective SEO technique, plus it drives targeted traffic to your site.
A few points to consider while contacting webmasters and asking for guest posts on their sites are: relevancy of the niche, overall popularity of the site, as well as its SEO metrics (Alexa, PR, ranking position for specified keywords). Also check social engagement of the site, because the more social signals it has - the more exposure you'll be getting with the guest post.