Building a Support System via Guest Blogging
One of the aspects that has been talked numerous times about guest blogging is obviously the exposure it gives your blog but I also look at this activity as one of the most important means of building a support system in the community. I have noticed majority of the times people ask for guest bloggers when they themselves are not able to post on a regular basis. Someone providing you the content and allowing you to continue to provide your readers what they expect from you, I think is the biggest support any blogger could ask for.
On the other hand, the opportunity to be able to write for someone who has proven their worth in the blogging community, is something every new blogger should actively seek out! I have been fortunate to have experienced both facets of this process and would like to share how it worked for me!
Inviting Guest Bloggers
If you look at my top posts or most recent posts at the bottom of the blog, you’d find that I have been finding it hard to focus and one of those days I asked RT Cunningham of untwistedvortex if he would agree to write for my blog and he was nice enough to agree to do so and wrote a mini tutorial Pings and Trackbacks. The article
was very well written and since I submitted his article to Darren’s 31 days to building a better blog to share with others, the article got so much exposure that my Alexa rank broke the top 100k mark! Of course I had never experienced this before so it didn’t even occur to me to check my traffic rank until RT wrote to me about it and even had to tell me how to check one day’s traffic ‘cuz I was still looking at the three months’ traffic displayed on the widget…:) Thanks RT!
Writing for Other Bloggers
When in just the second month of blogging, I ventured into guest posting, I had no idea about promoting the blog. My main purpose was to get to know some people and develop some relationships in the blogging community. I had been reading Freshblogger for quite some time and when Ray announced he was looking for guest bloggers I took a chance and asked him if he would accept my article. He did and I was pleasantly surprised to get positive feedback on writing tips for good blogging. Thank you Ray!
Guest posting on Freshblogger not only gave me more confidence to do better, I was also able to make new friends like Peter who liked what I had written. Peter continued to give me support by always writing encouraging comments on this blog, introduced me to Blogging To Fame, and even famed my blog to push it ahead!
Peter was kind enough to also suggest to me that I should write for Ilker’s the thinking blog when Ilker was busy during exams!! Of course, by this time I had gotten to know a whole lot of new bloggers and became good friends with them, exchanging regular emails and chatting up via IMs! So all this time I had been wondering how meeting our virtual friends in real life would be like! The comments and reactions to that article were fantastic with everyone talking about what they thought about virtual friends vs real life friends!! Check out the article if you haven’t and voice your opinions! Thank you Peter and Ilker!!
I know some bloggers have been lucky to be meeting at blog conferences and other meet ups and I am sure the experiences are great. I hope I get to meet some of the people I’ve gotten to know via blogging some day!
So, blogging (and guest blogging in particular) is not just about building links and driving traffic, its about making friends, building associations and a huge support system that extends beyond geography and time! So, if you have not yet participated in guest blogging, go ahead and either approach someone you always wanted to write for or invite them to write for you. You have everything to gain for in both of the scenarios!!
Technorati Tags: Guest Blogging, Writing, Community
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Pear, what you have written is so very true.
I do not have the courage to be other bloggers’ guest writer but I invite bloggers who are most experience than me to be my blog’s weekly guest writers.
And that started my blog’s weekly TechTalk by Kuanhoong who is the owner of the blog kuanhoong.com and Askken corner who is the owner of the blog http://blogs.mysites-advisor.com/.
We all need a little helping hand and a support system is so important be it real life or virtual life.
I remembered when I first relocated to America after marrying my American husband. I had no friend of my own but my husband has his close knit of Christian friends from his church and bible studies group friends.
When I had my baby in a foreign land, I received home cooked meal for 30days from our church friends. It is a wonderful feeling and we all need a support group. !!
Cheers !
Jamy at 12 mid night at Sunshine Florida, USA.
Great points mentioned here. Guest blogging is always good.
Agreed! Guest blogging is a good way to find new readers and subscribers for your blog. These readers will stay long since you have got them from the other blog(where you guest blogged) to your blog with your writing skill and content. These readers are really valuable and surely 80% of them will subscribe to your blog. I’m also thinking of writing a guest post in few blogs. In fact I have already said to a blogger that I will write a guest for him in his blog. It will be up in his blog in two to three days. Anyway good post.
@ Jamy……yeah you are right, thats the beauty of community building and helping each other out! I’m glad you have guest bloggers on your site, may be you should try writing an article and submitting to them ….my bests…
@ Nirmal…thanks for stopping by again!
@ Ramkarthik …..thats a really good point! the new readers and subscribers you gain with the exposure will stay as long as your content stays good… I’m glad your article is appearing in another blog, do let us know the link on your blog so we can check it out….my bests
Pearl, thanks. My guest post is live. You can see it at Shankar’s Blog
The one guest post I have done has been more useful to me than anything else to put me in close contact with other bloggers. My readership has increased but I agree that the support system that stemmed from it has been the most valuable aspect.
Having ‘contacts’ on social networking sites, where the occasional message may be exchanged, is no comparison to having people who you are in regular contact with. Not only can you discuss your passion for blogging (when others around you do not understand it) but you have people to bounce ideas of and boost motivation; which at times can be lacking.
Good one! I agree that guess post is more for relation building than link and traffic.
I haven’t had any serious guess blogging lately. I should become more active from now! :)
Thanks for your sharing. Nice to see your blog stats is rise like climbing mountain! :D
Cheers!
@Ramkarthik - I read the post and commented on it this morning and then went out - spent the day at the shore - just got back!! :)
@Sue - I agree with you Sue… the contact I have gained with guest blogging have been irreplaceable and the content on every blog does get richer with this approach with different viewpoints and that aspect of blogging is always going to have a positive outcome - for both parties involved!
I completely agree with you on the aspect of others not understanding your passion and addiction with blogging :) especially when in the beginning all this passion does is demand more and more of your time… support system that comes from contacts with other bloggers is almost necessary!
Oh Ken - thanks for stopping by again… hope you had fun at the beach ;)
and yes, I am tired of reading every other blogger saying you get a link and traffic. But it is really more than that…. links are there, and traffic will come too - but then you cannot and should not forget about the guest blogger or the one who let you guest blog!! the relationships you develop are more important than anything else - and of course links will keep coming with relationships :)
Guest blogging is a great idea Pearl !!!!!
and it does build quality communities……….perhaps someone should design a badge….eg “I am a guest blogger”…. :)
haha :) too many badges going around Kim :) Im so glad everyone agrees it builds communities…. more than a link really
just got home from being out all day and am catching up on replying to comments and emails - will be sending you an email!!
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
You know, I didn’t even think of the support system when it comes to guest blogging. I’m really going to have to try that out.
I was kind of wondering how your blog became so popular in such a short time, now I know. Besides good writing and content, you sure have reached out and are an active writer!
Thanks for the tips Pearl.
hey Scott.. :) I wasn’t sure my blog was popular and I am really glad if it is….:-)
but yeah, this is one aspect about blogging that keeps me going, people who understand blogging and their continuous support! guest blogging definitely adds to the flare!
I think that being in the top 100k on Alexa is a start :-)
Of course, being a stat freak, I eyeballed your Technorati stats too, looks a lot better then mine :-)
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
Hey there! Great post! and congrats on your rankings. I see you have been quite the busy one, but you are reaping the rewards.
I also experimented with guest authors and recieved positive feedback judging by the comments. I invite others to participate not because I have nothing to write about. I just want to bring more useful information to others while promoting the authors.
The self-esteem series was a success. I will be inviting other guests to write in the near future.
Well my dear, I hope this finds you well and happy. Hope we can catch up soon.
Blessings~
Hi Andrea - thank you so much for stopping by and finally taking the time to comment :) you are doing a wonderful job on your blog and yes, its always a pleasure to have someone agree to write for you!
stay well Andrea and keep in touch!! will chat with you soon!! tc
@Mike - yeah if Alexa ranks mean anything then I can agree to that!! and I can see you are churning out a lot of good articles so its just a matter of days when you’ll get there and farther :)
Now now Pearl..I’m always visiting, just a bit comment shy…haha
Looking forward to more laughter
Hey Pearl! It was my pleasure to have you as a guest on my blog. You wrote a great article and it was certainly well received by my readers. I’m hoping for a repeat performance some day soon, too. Keep the great articles coming!
Hi Ray… it was nice to write for your blog… I’d definitely like the opportunity to write for you again some day…..
thanks for stopping by and commenting!!
tc and kit
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I have been thinking about this ever since you and I chatted about it by IM a few weeks ago, and I hoped to get you to guest post on my poor little thing of a blog…but not until I could get back to regular posting myself…so you wouldn’t be so much “filling in” for me as much as adding your wisdom to my site.
Of course I hadn’t really considered it from the support aspect you write about here….brilliant, of course.
I’m pretty much back to a regular schedule now so I’ll be chasing you until you give in…be ready ;-)
@Tom… I have been struggling to come up with what I should write on here…..:)
but of course, you won’t have to chase me, you are added to my list … I have at least three blogs waiting for me to send them something… and I can’t tell you how honored I feel! thanks!! :)
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging [...]
[...] Building a Support System via Guest Blogging by Pearl [...]
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