John begged me to do a guest post on his little personal blog here, so I figured why not? The problem is, however, I don’t know anything about $1,000 meals, wacky foreign cars, or Vancouver. But I’m going to do my best to fill John’s giant green gloves and write about something I know and that I think you guys will appreciate - blogging!
It’s no secret that one of the most important requirements for a successful blog is that it be updated often, usually on a daily basis. John talked about it in 10 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid and in Creating Content. But what do you do if you go on vacation, attend an out of state (or out of country) conference, or have a family emergency? What if you get a new job or a promotion that demands much more of your time than before? What if you just want an extra set of hands to help you out? The solution is guest blogging.
Guest blogging is basically getting a friend to help you update your blog while you’re away or just to give you a little more time for other things. Just about every blog has had or will have at least one guest blogger in its lifetime. It’s a common practice. So why is guest blogging so delicious?
It Helps the Main Blogger
As I said earlier, guest blogging has a lot of benefits for the main blogger. Allowing a guest to post on your blog gives your readers fresh, new content without you having to write it yourself. Your readers get their daily article while you have time for other things. A ton of popular blogs utilize guest bloggers. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, for example, has a bunch of guest bloggers posting right now while he’s attending FOWA. The readers appreciate the consistent flow of content, and Arrington I’m sure appreciates not having to post it.
It Helps the Guest Blogger
While I’m busy writing this post John is probably sitting at home counting his money for his upcoming February recap. Does that bother me? No. Why? Because guest blogging isn’t just beneficial to the main blogger, it has a ton of perks for the guest blogger as well. For example, when guest blogging I have the opportunity to slyly sneak in a few sexy links back to my own blog. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this post and be interested in reading my other articles (which you’ll find via my sneaky links). I also get to expose myself to a wider audience within the industry. John has a lot of readers who may never have heard of me before. Well now you’ve heard of me. That adds to my personal branding (hopefully in a good way) - definite perk.
It Helps the Readers
At the end of the day, readers want good content to read. Guest bloggers give them new content when the main blogger doesn’t have time to. Rocket science, right?
Overall guest blogging helps everyone: the main blogger gets a break, the guest blogger gets some additional exposure, and the readers get their fill of content. So how about the next time you need a short break, have an emergancy, or are going out of town, why not try to find a guest blogger to take your spot and keep your readers happy?
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Are you sure he’s not involved in a rock fight?
Where the heck is John?
I have tried to get some of my friends to guest blog for me but they are all to busy - or so they say!
To much WoW *shakes head*
I try to have posts published a few days in advance, may two or three days worth waiting in the wings. I have two kids and a while and I don’t always get a change to site and write!
DAMN! That should read “I have two kids and a wife”
Last I heard he was training for his upcoming UFC fight next month… that’s the rumor on the streets.
Anyway, congrats. on making the guest spot and I look forward to your input over the next… well, however long you will be guest blogging
Matt,
When is John going to do a guest appearance on netbusinessblog?
Don’t look now!
heheheh
Great post Matt. The writing fits in very well to John’s blog. Great exposure for your blog too. Congrats on being John’s chosen guest writer.
I found John–he’s over at Matt’s blog!
You found my hiding spot! Damn!
Whew, that’s good to hear… and to think I was about to lob a rock over the huge fence… good thing I didn’t make that mistake.
Haha great idea - I’d be happy to guest write for John anytime
Good one guys.
Shine on,
Aaron
Amazing… A post with no major spelling or grammar errors!
Give him a break..
Yah. Your bing two tuf on Jon.
[...] is great. I checked my google reader account and there on my latest favorite blog (John Chow dot Com) is a guest post by Matt Coddington. It’s a good post about the virtues of guest blogging. While reading the post I followed [...]
I love this idea. Do you want to be a guest blogger on my site??
Hmmmmm.. Guest bloggers eh?
^ Best avatar ever.
Hey, I use that character for our Wed’s post called “The Tune-in.” Love the gesture…haha
Saw this avatar on MBL. Good stuff!
The Old Switcheroo - John Chow & Matt Coddington…
[…]This evening John Chow and Matt Coddington pulled the old “switcheroo” on the entire blogosphere. They guest blogged…on each others’ blogs.
It was great. And it really threw some people for a loop![…]
Shine on,
Aaron Cook
I’m curious, how would you persuade, bribe, blackmail someone into guest blogging for you. Aside from just asking, is there anything you can entice them with?
I think just asking should do well enough for the most part. They may ask you to explain the benefits (in which you could reference this post or John’s post on NBB). From the people I’ve talked to, most tend to understand the potential of guest blogging, so it doesn’t usually take all that much persuading.
Agreed, I doubt it would take much to persuade someone to be guest blogger. It would benefit both people!
Both benefit insofar that you each get a “free” backlink and some fresh content. Good work guys.
Matt, very nice post! I hope you know that you’re freaking lucky to be a guest blogger on this site. I’m sure you do!
Haha I love how you, as a guest blogger, wrote about guest blogging.. the blog generates its own traffic quite often.
Great to see you both changing things up a bit with the surprise visits. You both can do this on such high profile blogs because you have the credibility, and know the expectations of your readers and the ability for the guest blogger to deliver. Good post “feRos.”
thx Jane, and I expect to win that banner contest tomorrow btw! I went through hell and high water to come up with the perfect Office Space reference!
hahaha…i was laughing my butt off when i saw it! I love that movie!!
Also, with your help John, I went from having a Technorati rank of 68K, to now having a rank of 19,500. Thanks!!!
Nice jump, Jane. He caused mine to leap by like $200k. But that’s because I was like 594k. Since then, with the addition of more and more links, I’ve gone to about 119k (last I checked). My new goal is 67.9k.
hahaha. That’s a great goal only cuz I like the .9 you threw in there
Matt I went to your blog and found john there. Any way nice blog out there.
Soooo, Matt. What’s you schedule look like this week? Up for a guest blog on ol’ derrich.com?
hahaha…you wern’t kidding on NBB were you…
Love the “old switcheroo.” You and Matt switcherooed for sure. Great plan!
For more on the switcheroo, go here: http://homebusinesstoday.blogspot.com/2007/02/old-switcheroo-john-chow-matt.html
Shine on,
Aaron Cook
Guest bloggers. Not a bad idea.
Guest blogging is really cool. Its a nice little suprise.
I love the smiley’s
Hey, I just posted a top ten computer problems list if anyone wants to check it out or share it with someone that you know that is not so computer savy. I hope it can be useful. I also mentioned this on Matt’s blog on the post that John wrote.
Great post Matt…..Its was a nice surprise…
One important thing guest blogging does is to add a fresh perspective to a blog that has the same author.
If you had a close friend who was always talking with the same mentality and attitude and then for one day you switched that friend with someone new, you will probably realize the nice and important things your close friend said while learning new things from this new person at the same time.
Nice post Matt
Welcome Matt - I look forward to reading more of your posts here.
Some good points - but it certainly is much easier to get a guest blogger when you have a very popular blog, right?
One thing I felt like you left out - introducing yourself properly
If people don’t catch the “..by Matt Coddington” part they’ve no idea who you are - well, apart from the links to your blog.
so umm . . . do you have to be best friends with John to be a guest blogger?
cool idea. it’s like when Chris Douridas comes back to fill in for Nick Harcourt on kcrw (LA radio).
new trend in blogging?
great post btw
[...] me — Michael Kwan — to step in as a guest blogger for John Chow dot Com, just as he did Matt Coddington a couple days ago. This is in addition to my newfound duties as a hardware reviewer for [...]
[...] Coddington has written a guest post over at John Chow’s blog on the topic of guest blogging and makes the point that it’s [...]
[...] a couple days ago to deliver a guest post on, you guessed it, guest blogging. Be sure to check out my article on his blog covering the same [...]