This is a guest contribution by .
Guest blog post can add a lot of value to your blog.
Guest posts not only give you a break from writing, they show you are connected and that you respect other experts' opinions and different perspectives. Guest posts can demonstrate how much you value quality information your readers find useful. In the long term, guest posts can bring you new audiences, more connections and better content.
But it's not always as easy as that. Before you accept and publish any guest blog post make sure you do these five steps so that only the best ends up on your blog.
1. Always check the posts for Plagiarism
Search engines, particularly Google, do not want duplicate content and plagiarism on web pages. Google's recent update, Panda, has made it harder for content stealers to continue their behavior without getting penalized.
If you don't want your blog to be penalized for duplicates, check any guest post submission for plagiarism There are a few easy to use plagiarism checking services where you can copy and paste the post and their unique algorithm will scan the content for duplicates, giving you a detailed plagiarism report with links to all the used sources. Some of them, like PlagTracker, are even free!
Google may not directly penalize duplicates, but such content will erode your website authority. You could even get lawsuits from other publishers for stealing their original work.
By checking your guest posts, and making sure the content you publish is always authentic and original, you can avoid such problems and guide your blog to success.
2. Proofread and Format the Guest Posts
It seems obvious but if you care about share high quality information with your readers, it's important that your guest posts are relevant to your blog's niche.
As with all online copywriting, make sure your guest post describes the benefits to your readers.
After all, your readers are interested in how their lives can be eased, so give them what they want!
Your proofreading should also check names, titles and genders, whether they are correctly written and consistent throughout the text.
3. Interlink the Guest Posts with Previously Published Content
You want to keep your readers on your blog for as long as possible. Linking new and old posts can help you minimize the bounce rate, keep the readers engaged and increase the number of page views.
In fact, it's a strategy that professional bloggers use to rank higher in the search engines results.
When interlinking your blog posts, it is very important to decide how much will you interlink because too many inbound links may turn out to be counter-productive.
4. Optimise Guest Post URLs and Meta Tags
In order for search engines to recommend your blog in their results, you must make it easy for them to read and understand what your blog is about.
That's what meta tags can help with.
Meta tags are information about information. If your title tags are optimized for the keywords you're focusing on, Google will be able to faster index and rank your blog or web pages. The description tags should be creative, interesting and provide enough quality information for the potential visitors to know what your page or website is about.
Additionally, base your posts URLs on the important keywords and consider using short URLs when sharing your blog posts because they are smaller and appear better than the long ones.
5. Add Intriguing Images to draw your Readers' Attention
As we all know one picture's worth a thousand words. Don't miss an opportunity to intrigue and keep your audience tuned into your message by including an image. You can always start with the free images available using Google Advanced Image Search, or Tumblr, FreeDigitalPhotos.net, PhotoPin.com, Foter.com, etc.
Do you accept guest posts on your blog? Can you add to this list?
Sandra Miller is a tech tips writer from Brooklyn. Loves writing about blogging, social media and SEM. You can reach her at Google+
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Warning: Don't Accept Guest Posts Until You've Done these 5 Steps
The workshop will be capped at 30 attendees (there are 12 tickets left) and will be run by Shayne Tilley (who runs all my marketing, including our email marketing) and myself.
