Rules for Managing Guest Bloggers

Guest blogging on larger blogs than your own is a great way to build credibility and attract an audience.  I’ve been guest writing occasionally on various blogs for the past 2 years and for the most part it’s been a great experience- that is after my posts have been published.

The frustrating thing about guest blogging is that there is always a period of being left in the dark.  The editor might take a long time to respond to your submission.  Even after you’re told that your article has been accepted, you’re still left wondering if and when it will actually be published.

Needless to say, this can be very frustrating.  You took valuable time away from your work, your business, and your own blog, to produce top quality content for someone else’s blog.  Since guest articles are to be published on an exclusive basis, you can’t simply submit and publish your article elsewhere or on your own blog.  You just need to sit tight, wait and keep your eye on your RSS feeds to see when your article hits the web.

This is not right.

Large blogs need to get their act together in regards to managing guest authors. Guest authors are giving up their time and expertise to contribute to large blogs.  They deserve to be treated with respect.  At the very least, guest authors should be kept informed.

I don’t accept the excuse “Oh we’re so big and so popular that we can’t handle the hundreds of requests we receive each day”.  These big blogs are big businesses.  There is no excuse for a lack of organization.  Can’t handle the workload?  Hire additional editors.

A few rules.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were some kind of code of conduct that every blog should abide by when it comes to managing guest authors?  Something to take the mystery out of the whole process.  Here’s what I propose:

1. State your guest blogging terms clearly on your website. That means, specify an approximate response time for new submissions.  If you pay for content, state how much.  If you don’t, then state that.  Tell writers how long of an author bio they’re allowed to attach and how many links can be included.
2. If you do accept a guest article, give the author advanced notice as to when it will be published. A simple, “we expect to publish it later next week” is fine (if it’s accurate).  Are you currently on a 3 month backlog?  Fine, but just let the author know.
3. If you’re running a blog network (several sites), be clear about which blog you’re accepting the article for. It’s unfair to lead a guest writer on.  In the past, I’ve been led to believe that my article would go up on a network’s main blog (200,000+ subscribers), only to find out later it would publish on a smaller sister blog (45,000 subscribers).

What do you think?

Do you share in the same frustrations?