Advice From A Blogger About How To Write Guest Articles That Get Noticed

Posted: 16 Jul 2012 10:57 AM PDT

First of all, I just want to say that – as a blogger – I truly respect the important work that SEO consultants do. I understand that you're under pressure to deliver results from clients that don't completely understand the work you do.

But lately, I've been getting a lot of guest writing pitches which are – for lack of a better word – pure garbage. About half of the guest writing inquiries I get these days are from people who don't understand my audience and simply don't care about creating good content.

These articles are usually pure filler. They have terrible grammar, awkward writing styles, vague content, a poor understanding of the subject matter, and absolutely no regard for the blog's audience. If you've ever wondered why some bloggers seem rude or difficult to work with, this is probably why. (Although I personally try to be nice to everyone who takes the time to write me)

Imagine if a high school teacher asked a student to write a book report about Huckleberry Finn. And the student hands in a paper that says:

"Huckleberry Finn was written by Mark Twain. It's 300 pages long. The book weighs 400 grams, and is made with acid-free pages which will ensure a long life. The book retails for $9.95. Etc…"

Of course, this would never be considered acceptable in school. But some SEOs think it's acceptable to write guest articles in this style. They believe it's ok to waste a blogger's time by forcing them to read 700 words of incoherent – probably computer generated – nonsense that does nothing more than fill up space on a page. (If English is not your first language, you should not be a writer)

Also, it's NEVER EVER acceptable to copy/paste plagiarized content and then pass it off as your own. This sort of thing is VERY easy to discover, and will get you blacklisted from many respectable blogging circles.

Another problem with low-quality content is that it gives your clients a bad reputation. It's very easy to end up distributing erroneous information about your client, or potentially making false claims that could even land your client in legal trouble.

This sort of behaviour seriously has to stop!

So how can we change this? First of all, you need to understand that it's not the SEO's job to be the subject matter expert on their client's industries. And this also needs to be communicated to clients.

One of the most common tips that I give to SEOs that want to guest-write on my site is to have their clients write the articles for them. The clients have many years of experience in their respective fields, and can provide a level of depth and insight that would be impossible to get from an SEO with only a superficial understanding of their client's business.

Also, you should stay away from over-worked topics. At least once a month, someone sends me a guest article about "What is cloud computing", "Why you should purchase a CRM" or something similar. Topics that are boring, generic, over-done, or too promotional never make good guest content.

However, I can give you a piece of advice on how to write exciting content that will attract readers. Take a piece of news that is very relevant to your blog's niche, and add a controversial opinion which goes against the accepted mainstream views of that blog's audience.

For example:

10 Reasons Why Linux Desktops Are Garbage, And Will Never be Good For Business
Microsoft Surface Crashed At The Demo, But It's Still Better Than iPad
Why CRM Will Be Obsolete In 5 Years
15 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Let Employees Work From Home
Why I Think The Patriot Act Is Good For The IT Industry
What The Cloud Computing Industry Can Learn From The ___________ Scandal

These are all examples of topics which would make very interesting themes for guest articles.<

Controversial opinions are scary to many people. And rightly so!

When you say controversial things, people will say nasty things about your opinion… and possibly about your company. Many people came out and said terrible things about Google when they announced that they would support the rights of gays.

But you know what? Controversy sells. It attracts eyeballs and gets people talking about you.

The internet is a hate machine. Get over it.

There will always be adult male virgins who get upset because you said Captain Picard is better than Captain Kirk. Dealing with criticism is the price of success.

What you need to understand is that certain types of criticism matter, but 90% of online criticism is completely harmless and will never hurt your business. (Apple gets trashed in the media every day, but customers still passionately love their products)

Life is too short to do generic things that don't matter. So take a risk and speak your mind.

But controversy alone is not enough to get your post noticed and published. It also has to be backed up by intelligent arguments and deep insight that can only come from having been involved in an industry for many years. And for most SEOs, this means getting input from your clients.

They need to be deeply involved in the guest article writing process in order to ensure that the end-result is worthy of publishing.

And don't just think about the blogger who will be publishing your article. Also think of your client. It's now common for customers to perform a Google search on a company before making a purchase. How will it look if that customer pulls up hundreds of poorly-written articles that make it look like your client is completely ignorant about their industry?

I really don't want to sound rude or jaded. I truly do appreciate the work that search engine marketers do, and I really do love getting relevant guest post enquiries from you on my site. It's my hope that the advice outlined in this piece will encourage some of the SEOs reading this to change the way they work.

I promise that this advice will help you gain much more success with your guest writing, and that your clients will be much happier with your work.

About The Author: Paul Rudo is the webmaster at Enterprise Features & IAAS Cloud Hosting Reviews, and has been blogging about topics relating to cloud computing and enterprise technology since 2010.