Concerning this trend, two practices are being used more and more in the blogosphere to nourish blogs with quality and original content: guest articles and sponsored articles.
These types of methods are proving to be much more useful for positioning and traffic purposes than the woeful keyword-laden posts that for years freelance writers have been forced to write at the behest of clients.
I’m talking about guest posts (when you write an article as a contributor to someone else’s blog) and sponsored posts (when you post an article about someone or something on your blog for a fee). I have been using both systems for a long time on my blog and I would like to share some thoughts on this.
Know how to submit a guest post article on our Whatiswhatis.
To begin with, I am going to explain a little better what both forms of collaboration consist of, the differences between a guest article and a sponsored article, and finally, I will give some tips to take advantage of them with your clients.
Guest articles or Guest Posting
As its name suggests, guest posting or guest blogging (the translation I like the most in Spanish is “guest article”) consists of writing and publishing an article of yours on the blog of another person or company. Its basic characteristics are:
It is an unpaid collaboration
If there is money to be made, then we are talking about a sponsored or advertising article. Normally, the consideration that you get as a guest blogger is either to make yourself known among the readers of a blog that you are interested in reaching or if you are the one who invites the blogger, to enrich your blog with quality content on topics that you do not master.
It is necessary to be a specialist in the subject
It doesn’t make much sense for you to offer to write on someone else’s blog on a topic that you are not proficient in or are not recognized as an expert on (and conversely: it is unwise to invite someone to blog about a topic that does not know). The result would also be of little interest to blog readers. In this sense, the figure of the guest blogger highlights the increasingly important reputation of the author on the Internet.
Learn more: 10 Best Methods to Make Money with Guest blogging
The article must be informative, not promotional
If the content of the post that you write for another blog is not interesting, the person in charge of the publication will not accept the collaboration and you will have lost the time spent and a good opportunity. Nobody who has a blog is willing to give a free “advertising” space to another author who only wants to promote himself; the guest post needs to add value to readers and the publication. That will also open up new opportunities for you to collaborate with other similarly-themed blogs in the future.
The article is signed
Usually, the post you publish as a guest blogger is signed and includes at the end a short biographical text about you, with a link to your blog or social networks. In this way, readers interested in what you have written can access your page to learn more about your work. In this sense, looking for opportunities to collaborate as a guest blogger is a good way to make yourself known and attract readers to your blog or page; although as a courtesy you should avoid putting many links to your site or invitations to visit it.
Guest posting is not the same as writing articles for free
I have seen pages that invite all kinds of bloggers to write on them. They even publish a list of topics that they are interested in dealing with. And the conditions for them to publish an article, as in this blog.
The “consideration” was offered to the invited author. In this case, is to make himself known in an online community of more than 300,000 users.
But in my opinion, asking for a system to send you articles ready to publish on your blog. Without offering payment in return looks suspiciously like the practices.
Read more: guest Posting is an Advantage for Internet Marketing. How and Why?
The step prior to the proposal must always be to know in depth the blog to which we are going to launch the proposal and follow its manager on social networks so that we know who we are talking to and what house we want to enter.
Normally, the first contact is made through email with the proposal of the guest post explaining the reasons why that blog lacks the content that you can contribute.
If, in addition, we launch some concise ideas, we not only make it easier for the blogger to read them, but we probably have a better chance of accepting the collaboration that we are proposing.
Sponsored articles: get paid to write about another on your blog
Sponsored articles are one of the monetization systems most used by bloggers today. The mechanics are simple a company or professional contacts you. Because they are interested in reaching the readers of your blog.
do this, he offers you to publish an article talking about his product. Or service in exchange for a financial consideration. This gives the company visibility and allows you to link building to improve your SEO. The characteristics of sponsored posts are:
Content is usually promotional
However, I advise you to keep a check on the text. So that it does not become a mere advertisement that discredits the quality of the content of your blog. Users tend to react negatively when they click on a link to read information and find advertising!
The article can be signed or not
There is a lot of debate in the blogging world about whether sponsored posts should be marked as such. I do not consider it essential and I do not do it like that in this blog, since I believe that if the content is interesting for the reader, it is not so important if someone has paid for it to be published.
See more: Reasons Why guest Posting is important in Inbound Marketing Strategy
Logically, I do not recommend publishing articles about products, services, pages, etc. that are not suitable for your audience or that are misleading, disappointing, etc. because then you risk your credibility. And that is priceless!
The article can come already written or you can write it
The payment of the sponsored post can include two aspects: the price that you put to appear in your publication (depending on the audience, impact, prestige, etc. that you have) and the cost of writing the content if the advertiser does not provide you with the text or it is necessary to adapt it.
From my experience, for a sponsored post to work, I recommend that you write it yourself, at least review it, to maintain the same editorial line; otherwise, it is very noticeable and the content is not usually too appealing.
How much to charge for a sponsored article?
The price depends on the importance and impact of your blog, but also on the quality of the audience you have managed to gather.
Sometimes I am contacted by companies who say they are interested in advertising on this blog of guest posting, but after reviewing my sponsored article rates they offer me half or less. I defend my price because building a community like this is not easy and it has expenses that are financed in part thanks to external advertisers.
How to take advantage of guest and sponsored articles?
Guest posting techniques and sponsored posts offer interesting business opportunities for freelancers.
On the one hand, inviting other bloggers to write on your blog or collaborating on the blogs of others are ways to increase your audience, make contacts and position yourself as an expert in your field. Of course, do not abuse it because one thing is to collaborate and the other to produce content without charging.
But there is also an aspect of business potential that should not be overlooked. For example: if you have a client with a blog for whom you write articles and who wants to expand their audience, you can offer them a service consisting of looking for opportunities to publish guest posting or sponsored articles in other publications in their sector.
Also Read: Reasons Why guest Posting Is A Plus?
The service would include locating the headlines, contacting those responsible, negotiating the collaboration, writing the article, and ensuring that it is published as agreed, in exchange for a fee.
I think it is a new and interesting offer for business customers, who do not have the time and knowledge to do so. In this sense, it would be a complement to the services offered by sponsored article platforms such as Publisuites, Getfluence, or Influence.
Why accept a guest post?
- It gives you quality content.
It is a great opportunity to get new, quality content. Ideal to feed the blog without requiring a great effort beyond editing the text and monitoring the content. - You expand your visibility.
The collaborator will surely share the post on their social networks, so you will be indirectly expanding your possibilities of reaching a wider audience. - You offer another type of content than usual.
Quality content is essential for your positioning but it is also a breath of fresh air for your readers who may find content different from what you usually publish.
Leave a comment