In Consideration of Guest Blogging
I’ve had the opportunity to blog as a guest for a few blogs now, and I’ve been approached by other bloggers interested in guest posting on this here blog. It’s a weird subject for me. While it might be nice to put the reigns down every once in awhile and get a fresh take on some content, I also feel like people come here for my opinion. Perhaps that’s self centered of me. But allowing a rival gang member onto my turf makes me uncomfortable.
Perhaps it’s not about rivalry. Perhaps it’s about cooperation towards a shared goal.
When thinking about what to write for a blog that I could guest post on, for some reason I get nervous about that too. My education in writing started out from a very journalistic place, so I feel the need to really write a professional, newspaper quality article when writing for someone else. I don’t feel nearly that amount of pressure when writing for my own blog since this is my publication – I’m solely responsible for it and have no one else but myself to blame for it’s success or failures. So while the exposure of guest blogging for someone else would be a definite pro, the pressure I’d put on myself in crafting the “perfect” article might overwhelm that.
To return to cooperation, it’s always a shared goal when guest blogging. The blog owner gets the benefit of a fresh outlook and a lighter work load while the guest gets the benefit of more exposure of their name and style which might drive some readers to check out their blog as well. There’s always more room for another feed in your feed reader of choice. And as the blog owner, you have complete discretion over what gets posted on your blog – very much like the managing editor of a newspaper or magazine. If the article isn’t up to your own standards, you have the freedom to ask for changes or just reject it outright.
As someone who works full time and then blogs, it’s a bit difficult to consider guest blogging just from a work load standpoint. Working all day, then coming home to develop content for my own blogs AND guest articles is a lot of work. I guess my biggest question is, is it worth the amount of work put in?
So speak up… have you written guest posts for blogs? Do you accept guest articles for your own blog? What have your results been?
Read MoreChanges A-Foot
Frequent visitors here to TrishaLyn.com will notice that the design has changed, among other things. I haven’t updated in awhile because I’m trying to fix the issues first. This is all in an attempt to NOT corrupt my source feed.
As with all budding bloggers, I’ve screwed the pooch a bit and now having to fix what I broke. Apparently a combination of “Pretty Permalinks” structure and my old theme are killing my RSS feed for some reason. Whenever I change the permalink structure the source feed dies and I get an XML not well parsed message.
So I admit that I’m at a loss and don’t know how to fix this without going back to the ugly default permalink structure. And that also kills all the links that are out there & doesn’t sync previous Disqus comments to their posts, so I really do NEED to go back to the pretty permalinks… but how do I do that without losing the feed?
I’m working on it… if you have suggestions, throw them at me PLEASE. I’ll, of course, share the solution once I find it. I’m not giving up!
I’m getting some help from a heavy hitter in the blogosphere/affiliate marketing world… so let’s all hope this works out. By the by, I changed the design because I thought it was my old theme that was mucking things up, but I actually really like this new theme. Professional but still “me”. Meh anyway… HELP 😛
Read MoreA Thorn in My Side
By all accounts, I was certain that moving my blog over to WordPress and onto my own domain was the right thing to do. Many (if not all) online marketers lately are preaching the personal branding… so what better than to move it over, right?
I’ve noticed since the move that my RSS subscriber numbers have dramatically dropped. At first I thought that this was just FeedBurner asleep at the wheel again, but now I’m not so sure. Google Analytics shows a pretty significant drop in visitors as well, but I see today that it’s actually picking back up a bit. My Entrecard point price for an ad has gone from in the 50s range down to 18 today.
In the words of Grant Wilson, what the frig? I’m still writing the same content, if not better with the random addition of videos. Is this just a curve that will pick back up again once people get acclimated to the new site? I can’t imagine that the design is affecting subscribers since they never have to see the design, or visitors since they don’t see the design until they get here. The average time visitors spend on the site is slowing moving up, so I don’t think the design is a factor.
Am I missing the obvious? I’ve received good feedback from some people in the industry that I really respect. I respect their opinions based on my interactions with them via social media and also based on their reputations and the collection of work they’ve amassed in the blogosphere and online marketing. So what gives?
Read MoreQuote of the Day
If Thomas Edison invented the electric light today, it would be reported on the evening news that the candle making industry was threatened. Ralph Nader would announce a lawsuit on behalf of all the poor people who might get electrocuted. And the candle workers’ union would have at least two Senators introduce a bill to lock electricity on behalf of their industry.
-Newt Gingrich
Politics are getting me down…can’t it be time to vote and get it over with already?
Read MoreQuote of the Day
If at first you don’t succeed, well, so much for skydiving.
-Victor O’Reilly
Enjoy the last tidbits of your weekend!
Read MoreQuote of the Day
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need more men who can dream of things that never were.
-President John F. Kennedy
What are you dreaming of?
Read MoreSponsors
