Image by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"
I recently submitted a guest post article over on TwiTip. This is the first time I’ve ever guest posted and TwiTip is a pretty major blog, so I was quite excited at the opportunity. But the question remains, what good is guest posting for my blog(s)? I just thought I would touch base and let you know what I’ve learned about guest posting so far.
Results
Now that the initial excitement has wound down, I’d have to say that the guest post was very positive for me. While I haven’t seen any increase in traffic to any of my blogs as a result of the post itself, I have found that several people followed me on Twitter after reading the article. I have gained some valuable network connections through this, including 2nd and even 3rd degree connections. With the information and contacts of those initial contacts, I now have a following of just under 400 and I’m following a little over 400 myself. Dealing with the firehose of information coming via that is another topic all together.
I have seen a slight increase in traffic to the blogs from Twitter so the increase in followers has helped there. The guest post has obviously had a 2nd degree effect on my traffic.
With the increase in Twitter, I’ve also made some progress brand-wise. More people know about LoneWolf (aka LoneWolfMuskoka) through this experience and most have seen that I have something of value to offer (or if they didn’t see that, at least they didn’t complain about it 8=). With my name associated to TwiTip I have an increase in credibility. I have been able to ride a little of the wave that Darren Rowse has created and I’m thankful that he has allowed so many of us to share and grow with him.
The article itself (The Twitter Numbers Game) had a good run of comments — 36 so far (8 of which were replies by me). It generated some good conversation in its own right and was tweeted several times on Twitter.
It was also a boost to me personally. I enjoyed the challenge of writing a post for another target audience and there is a lot of satisfaction in knowing that I did a pretty good job. It has helped me shape my writing and given me a good confidence boost.
Conclusion
I will definitely be doing more guest posting in the future. There are many opportunities out there that will help me to become a better writer and raise my credibility as a blogger at the same time.
I will also look into getting others to guest post in my blogs. I would like to get some high profile guest bloggers, but I would also like to have beginners as well. Hopefully my blogs will grow to the point where a beginner could see benefits similar to what I’ve experienced with TwiTip.
Thanks for sharing this journey with me. I hope that you are learning as much as I am!
Shalom
LoneWolf
Update
Check out a wonderful summary of guest posting over at Tumblemoose Writing Services. I really enjoyed his post (which is more of a parable).
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Tags: blogging, Guest Posts
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Hey Bill,
This is a great post. It pretty much mirrors my experience when I guested over at TwiTip. Your insight about the experience is fantastic.
I appreciate the shout out about the guest post article as well. If you’re ever scraping the bottom of the barrel for guest posters, feel free to scoop me up. I’d be glad to put something together for your blog – and you have to know that you’d be welcome over at tumblemoose, where the air smells of… oh, never mind. Love to have ya.
George
[…] Darren Rowse has also taken a low key approach to online marketing. He is the force behind ProBlogger and TwiTip. He has other blogs as well, but I have found these two to be very helpful to me in my adventures in blogging and on Twitter. Some of you many remember that I had a guest post published on TwiTip. That was a wonderful opportunity for me and I learned a lot from that experience. […]