In all my 7 years of blogging, I have never been invited to do a guest post before! However, thanks to this very resourceful mommy blogger, I now have my very first guest post floating around in the blogosphere.

Germaine from Kiddothings is a very resourceful blogger whose learning curve on blogging is amazing! In just a very short time, she has done incredible things for her blog. One of it was this idea to have 100 tipsy friends (as she calls it) guest posting on her blog with tips on just about anything in life that are close to their hearts.

I am proud to be her first tipsy friend. Naturally I wrote about blogging. 🙂 Here is my post on her blog: Top 3 Blogging Skills You Need. I am currently looking at preparing my second guest post which I will feature on this blog as soon as I have written and submitted it to the linkedin contact who invited me.

I am also looking at the idea of opening my Mothering Times blog for contributions from breastfeeding mothers to share their inspiring, insightful and sometimes funny stories. Reading stories from other breastfeeding mothers was what kept me going when it was so very hard. So since guest post is on my mind, I have decided to do a little more research about it.

So What is Guest Posting and How Do You Guest Post?

I like this infographic from MyBlogGuest Updates. It is self explanatory. A picture tells a thousand words.

Basically a guest post is a win-win situation for blogger and guest poster. The blogger gets a free (or sometimes paid) article on their blog in their niche from an expert they have invited or who invited themselves whereas the guest poster gets free traffic, promotion and more exposure.

Read this article too How to Guest Post to Promote Your Blog. It has some excellent tips on guest posting.

This one is an interesting read too  Guest Blogging To Pay or Not To Pay since many people do wonder whether there is a need to pay guest bloggers or otherwise.

To me, when you do a guest post, it is akin to writing an article. You must focus on the article and not on promoting yourself. You should write better than when you write on your own blog. After all, you would not go to your guest’s house dressed in shorts and slippers. You would dress in your Sunday best and put your best foot forward. It is the same with guest posting.

What about Accepting Guest Posts on Your blog?

Here is a good guide about accepting guest posts on your blog: The Ultimate Guide to Accepting Guest Posts On Your Blog.

However, you must be wary and not be fooled. Sometimes the term ‘guest post’ is used very loosely by some. I have received numerous emails with requests to do a guest post on my blog. One look at it and I know that they are free loaders. These are not genuine guest posters who will post a valuable article for your readers that is relevant to your blog.

These are companies or individuals who are merely trying to get a free ride on your google page rank or traffic. They often look like sponsored posts promoting a product or service. You should either ignore those spam emails or request for payment. It is your blog after all and you should control your content.

Recently I have submitted my first article to ezinearticles.com. I hope that it will get approved and published soon. I have also written and published a couple of my articles on Bright Hub. Besides these, I am busy creating my Squidoo lenses. I am slowly expanding my wings beyond blogging but blogging shall always be my first love.


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