What is the Best Guest Post System for your Blog

By Sanjeev Mohindra -
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Guest Posts are one of the prime way to promote a blog these days and many authors are using Guest post to get exposure for the blog. Blog owners also need to make sure that their guest post system is rewarding enough to encourage authors for sending posts.

If you are following the Makewebworld, you might be knowing that I am accepting guest post from the start of Makewebworld. Though I have tried many methods of setting up guest post system and now I think what I have is best for everyone.

I mainly tested two system here:

1. Asking your guest author to login and submit the post through WordPress backend

2. Taking articles in plain text or word format and doing the work by myself

I am going to talk about both the system and my experience with them.

Guest Post System 1: Asking your guest author to login

This was a good system and less work for me. Author can directly login into the backend and can draft the post. Once they will submit the post for review, I can publish it directly.

This system was working fine and has its own positive and negative points. But it was less flexible for my authors.

Positive Points

1. Less work for webmaster

This system does take out some work for webmaster, guest author will submit the post in the wordpress backend, they can utilize the SEO plugins like Seopressor to fine tune the post. In essence webmaster will get a proper formulated post to review.

2. Easy to Maintain

Once you have created an account for the authors, you can wait till the post come for review. If your authors are submitting multiple posts than one effort is what you need to give and they can submit all of their posts.

Guest Post System
By pedrosimoes7 from Flickr
Negative Points

1. Access to Backend

If you are accepting guest post than you would be knowing that how many spin article or low quality article you are receiving. Many people will have access to backend system which is an issue along with many accounts which has been created for profile links only.

2. Same links for each article

When you give links from an author bio this becomes an issue. Same author bio will be shown in each post, so if somebody comes back and do another posts, they will get the same links. I would prefer to give specific links to for each post.

Guest Post System 2: Taking article in Plain text or word format

This is another method, no login required from the authors, they can send the post in plain text or word format. I review the post and add it to WordPress backend, does the formatting and SEO changes before scheduling it.

Positive Points

1. Different links for each Post

This system reward authors with unique links for each post. So returning author will get different byline for each post and that will be preserved for that post.

I find it is good as they are entitled for backlinks per post rather than per account. Though they can get much more from the guest posts.

2. Easy to review the content

It is easy to review the content, there are lot of low quality post and they can be rejected before it reaches to your blog. I just review the word doc and if its needs refinement I inform the author to make certain changes before I can publish the post.

Negative points

1. More work for Webmaster

This system add an extra work for webmaster and if you accepts lot of guest post than it is a substantial amount of work. This may end up creating an position for an Editor on your blog.

2. No access to SEO tools

Authors can’t utilize the SEO tools on your blog and if they do not have an access to the tools you can get a poorly optimized post. Which means a lot of rework to optimize the post.

Final Guest Post System

After all the things I have started using a Guest Post system which is a mix of both.

Now on Makewebworld I am accepting posts in plain text and word format, which will take care of unwanted accounts and low quality posts. I review posts and schedule them based on the available time slots.

Many people would say that it is a pain to convert word format to the posts, but if you use offline writing tools like Windows Live writer then it is not much of an issue.

Authors can get the link in the byline which will be published in the content. I also offer other links in the content if it is highly relevant to the content. This rewards repeated users with the unique byline for each posts.

For the authors who already has a post on Makewebworld and want to post more articles, I do create accounts and share with them so they can use the SEO tools and plugins on this blog. This will give then author box for their additional link but they will still be entitled to the byline in the content.

This actually rewards repeated authors with the additional backlinks and give me comfort as I already know the work of those authors.

Which Guest Post System are you trying and what do you think is the strong point for it?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

39 COMMENTS

  1. Hello Sajeev,

    Thank for this article, it has really enlightened me on how to make the guest posting work a little bit easier for myself.

    How many guest posts do you get a week? DO you charge for links within content?

  2. Hmm, quite interesting read. I’ve tried both systems and even used a plugin sometime ago to receive the guest posts. But because of the work involved, I’m right now using the first option allowing guest bloggers to use wp login. Actually, I really did not want this because of the risk involved. But thus far, I think it is working.

    • Depending on the number of posts, it can be a work load to accept posts as word doc. I still prefer getting the first post as a word doc so I can get an idea about the quality, and create an user account if I am accepting that post..

  3. Depending on the number of submissions, manually creating the posts yourself seems to be the best option in terms of backlinks, quality control, security, and a tidy user list. If you’re accepting posts from a huge number of submitters (like Hubpages, for example), then accounts would be the way to go. As for me, a good guest post system looks like the best solution.

    • Yes, It depends on the amount of activity and submission we accept, taking guest post in the form of word doc does increase some security but also increase some work for webmaster…

  4. In guest posting, it is advisable to guest post frequently in 1 site? Would all your links in your different guest posts in 1 site considered backlinks?

    • Yes, it does considered as backlinks but backlinks from different domain are more valuable. You can still post multiple guest post on 1 site but you need to keep an eye on how much traffic you are getting back from there…

  5. Guest post is important for any blogger because it increase more traffic on blog and also keep updated blog. According to me, txt or Word file is good for guest post author because it is easy to share than any other system. If you think to give some authority for regularly guest authors then it is better.

    • I agree Brain, Accepting txt or word file is good for guest post author, it makes it easy for them. One of the main reason I started accepting guest post in this format. Thanks for liking the idea.

  6. I am looking for a plugin to add different author descriptions under same author name on different posts. I think you got it. If you know any plugin please let me know.

    Good luck.

  7. i am looking for the guest post system that can allow my guest posters to claim sum bucks automatically when the send articles.

  8. Hello Sanjeev,
    i too accept guest post on my blog and i accept by creating a account for the author and than wait him/her to submit the article for review but the major drawback of this is they are one time writer and after that the account is of no use so its better to accept guest articles in terms of document and than publish it and it will solve the problem of links also as you already mentioned about it.

    • Yes Jeet, and that’s the specific reason I decided to give liberty to the authors on how they want to submit the post. I also do accept guest posts in both ways, just that I do not allow them to create their account, I create it for them if required.

    • Hi Justin, I have started to use both methods. Now I am only creating accounts for my repeated authors otherwise I take it as a text or doc format. I think both methods has their positive points and it just a matter of making use of them.

      • I do accept some via attachment via email too, in the cases where the guest blogger doesn’t want to setup an account or a sponsored guest post or press release needs publishing. I also leverage sites like MyBlogGuest too to find guest articles.

  10. I know bloggers who set-up their sites where guest bloggers can create their accounts. It’s actually much better compared to other system because its much more organized compared to other guest post system. Many actually appreciate this kind of system.

    • Yes Stan, I also like the system but it does have its own disadvantages. I think it is good for the bloggers who is going do repeat guest posting or will be more engaging than a single post.

      • Yes! At least these bloggers would not experience any problem with regards of posting because they have their own account. Moreover, this technique could also help bloggers to eliminate some tedious steps in getting guest bloggers.

  11. That’s a nice compromise Sanjeev. I also accept both text submissions and registered contributors. I ask only experienced WordPress bloggers to create an account and experienced writers that are unfamiliar or new to WordPress to send guest posts by email. You are correct about the spammers registering as subscribers for the link, I have to delete those almost daily.

    • Yes Brian, I have closed this blog for open registration. Now I send the invite if somebody needs an account, a little extra work for me but it is fine, at least I don’t need to delete the many accounts.

  12. lucky me to be here on your blog 😀 as I’m looking to start having guest posts on my blog :D, your post have helped me to figure out that the first way gonna be the best for me.

    thanks a lot Sanjeev for sharing.

    • Hi Faissal, Both methods are good and I am using a mix of both of them. Its all about which one you can find suitable for your blog and make it work.

  13. Hey Sanjeev,

    As you know from being a guest author on my blog I like to use #1 so that my guests don’t email me posts and they use the SEOPressor plugin. I even recorded a YouTube video so that they will know how to use SEOPressor correctly. Guest authors can also use the Viper Video Quicktag plugin to embed their videos. I don’t like getting posts by email and when people email them to me I don’t even open the attachments 🙂
    Thanks for going over the good and the bad points for each system. Have a great day!

    • Hi Ileane, Yes I agree its a good option and I am also doing it for the repeated authors. For the first timer I am using txt/doc as many people just come for a link or will not come back and it will leave lot of account who has back-end access.
      You already have a nice blog with many guest authors so I can assume it will be really hard for you to take posts in txt/doc format.

  14. At our website, we have a special subscriber section of wordpress that they can register, and post their own posts.

    We find that it is the easiest and safest way to allow people to format the article exactly how they want it to look, without giving them access to the whole blog.

    • It can be another way to give them a separate section, I didn’t try it till now. I think If you have lot of guest post activities this can be a good way.

  15. Hello Sanjeev. I generally take text docs as submissions and later, when the blogger becomes consistent and familiar with my blogs system, I give them backend access as an author. Never give soemone admin access! Goes without saying, I know.

    • Hi Ivin, I am also using this system now and I think its good and also I don’t see a reason to give access to one timer authors. Repeated authors yes, though I give only contributor level access.

  16. Some bloggers are afraid to accept guest posts because it would lose the personality given to their blog, for which they worked so hard. Have you thought about it? Accepting guest posts could harm the personality you’re trying to give to makewebworld.com?

    • Yes it can and that’s the reason proper in place system is required for this. Once a webmaster start accepting guest post, they can get lot of post and many of them will be spin or low quality article. So we need to make sure that we are not putting everything out. I do reject lot of guest post for Makewebworld, sometime it doesn’t fit in the scheme of the blog or sometime I don’t like the article but aim is to give readers something new to read.

  17. Guest posting has been a very effective strategy for blogger to gain traffic for their blog as well as improved their rankings. Though, it is important to conduct or perform enough research so that articles to be produce is high quality and will really attract readers. Anyway, great article Sanjeev. Thanks for sharing the pros and cons of guest posting.

    • Hi Rick, Guest posting can really help the blog. At least it frees the webmaster to promote the blog in correct way but it is really important to make a balance between quality and amount of guest post we accept on the blog. I think the system which I have on Makewebworld is good, let’s see how it comes out..

    • Thanks Sai, You should try that. It does add extra spice as it is another point of view for your readers. Be little strict on quality at the start though.

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