Guest posting pet peeve
I have a personal pet peeve about the way some websites handle guest posting. They create guest post guidelines and lay out strict rules around pitching and content quality.
I read them, follow them to a tee and pitch (sometimes I’ll write the content because you have to write before pitching) and I’ll get a reply that says
“Our guest posting costs $150, what’s your budget?”
In my head I’m thinking “my budget is zero dick face because you didn’t say that in your guidelines.”
Not to mention their metrics are almost never worth the price they’re asking for. I silently delete the email and go about my day.
Now, this isn’t to say I’m against charging for placements. I’ve paid for content on other websites before. I’m against making it seems like you’re accepting guest posts for free them asking for payment.
Classic bait and switch.
Am I alone in getting annoyed by this?
My guess is that the websites offering guest posting like this in the first place probably aren’t worth posting on.
It’s a bit of a tricky change to navigate in the SEO world, but I’ve become confident that guest posting is becoming obsolete. Google pretty much knows which sites are there just for linking purposes. If the site is full of guest articles with links to wildly different URLs, like most “guest posting” type sites, there is a 95% chance it won’t pass good juice anyway.
If someone charges for guest posts, that means they can’t monetize in any other way. Don’t pay them for it. Your money is probably best spent elsewhere on more permanent growth tactics.
You could say that. Although, some larger websites do offer sponsored posts but they're clear about it from the beginning.
I'll have to disagree with you about guest posts being a thing of the past. While you have a valid point about those sites made purely for guest posting, there are legitimate sites like hbr, Copyblogger, Forbes, etc. which have built a business around accepting guest posts (of course, they have their own staff writers).
They have hundreds of "contributors" but no one will say you don't get link juice from them. At the same time, guest posting is more than just a link building opportunity. While that's there, it's more of a partnership thing.
I've been able to partner with a few million dollar companies because of guest posting so I'm still a bit gung ho about it.
I can also point you in the direction of websites that were built based on guest posting.
In one affiliate site, the guy went from zero to 100K+ visitors through guest posting and strategic partnerships. (it's in the blogging space and he's been able to rank things like "how to make money online") on the first page.
He did it this year and I passively watched it happen.
They don't talk about the fee because it clearly violates Google's policies. They are basically selling you a backlink, which can warrant your website a penalization.
This comment was deleted 6 years ago
Haha, If only.
It's like someone asking you to use your service for free indefinitely. That's the way you make your money and aren't in the business of giving it away.
With that being said, I have tried in the past. I never got a yes.
This comment was deleted 6 years ago
Good point, well made.