Aug 13 2012

Seriously – Guest Blogging Sucks

In the post-Panda world of SEO, guest blog posting has emerged as one of the last ways to build decent quality links with any sort of scale. As a result, SEO’s are churning out guest blog posts at high volume. The thing is, guest blogging – for all of it’s benefits – is not fun. Not even a little bit. It’s hard work that requires creativity, organization, and persistence…and luck. In a word, guest blogging sucks.

Here’s why:

1. Writing is hard. Almost all of us passed high school English, but that doesn’t mean almost all of us can be guest bloggers. Writing well takes practice and skill. Can you communicate your message concisely? Can you deliver your key points in a manner that’s obvious without being boring? Most importantly (at least in a professional sense), can you generate a good quality blog post in less than an hour? Unless you’re a professional writer, the answer to one of these questions is no…and that means writing is really hard for you.

2. Bloggers are picky. Most bloggers have a personal connection to their site. They’ve worked countless hours to build their blog into something they can be proud of, and the last thing they want is to publish a guest post they don’t like. Even if you write a flawless post about a fascinating topic, that’s no guarantee you can get your post placed on the blog of your choice. You may find yourself approaching half a dozen bloggers – or the same blogger half a dozen times – before placing your post. Fun, right?

3. It’s hard to be interesting. The last thing the world needs is another blog post that rehashes the same old topic. This means that you won’t be able to place a post on a good blog unless you offer something that’s original, useful, funny, controversial, etc.

4. Sometimes, no one cares. The second biggest letdown in guest blogging comes after working really hard on a post, getting it placed on a great site, and then coming to the realization that no one cares. Despite all your hard work, no one gives two shakes about your post. It gets no comments, no RT’s, and no “likes.” Bummer.

5. You expose yourself to criticism. If writing a blog post that no one cares about is the second worst letdown in guest blogging, finding yourself the target of dozens of critical comments has got to be number one. While it’s never a failure to write a guest post that gets people talking, it’s hard not to feel a little depressed when dozens of people you’ve never met criticize you. Granted, all this criticism means that you’re going to get some links (which is nice), but still, who wants to be called an idiot?

The bottom line: guest blogging sucks. It’s not easy and it’s not fun…but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. For all the negatives, guest blogging is a great way to generate website traffic, build links, raise your company profile, and establish your credibility as an expert.

Still, it’s not a party. Good luck.

Author Jason Lancaster is a frequent guest blogger for clients of Spork Marketing, an Internet marketing company that offers guest blog posting services.