Guest blogging is a hot topic now. And plenty of people start doing that. But that’s what makes me feel worried about the concept.
The thing is that once a tactic gets popular enough, it gets so abused that acquires some negative connotation. That’s exactly what happened with “SEO” which now sounds as spam for most Internet users. That is what could happen to guest blogging – I really don’t want it to start sounding as “link dropping” or low-quality content distribution.
This is why I am going to repeat again and again what guest blogging is not and how to adopt a high-quality approach to make the most of the tactic.
So here’s a quiz for you to tell how well you understand the concept: please take it and share your score!
Image by eTirana
Joseph
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Gautam Hans @ Blog G
I got a lot of my queries answered through this quiz. Though i didn't get all the questions right but i still got to learn something new about guest blogging
Jeevanjacobjohn
Hi Ann,
I took the Guest Blogging Quiz and I got 89 (Missed one..Q #4)
Thanks
Jeevan
James Svoboda
Nice quiz! Although I must say that I feel differently about the following question.
>>What is the main aim of guest blogging?
I think there could be a couple of different answers that have merit other than just the one. Of course this is the 1 question I got wrong and thus there must be something wrong with it! π
Geoff
Very creative idea for your purposes – most impressed.
As a provider of content:
Personally, the main aim of guest blogging is to get links. We can't escape this. It is a reality.
A secondary aim is to target new audiences and get traffic.
As a receiver of content:
The aim is to get content.
This is how I see Guest blogging. I believe the quality should be high. Nobody wants useless content and as a Guest blogger linking back to your site, your reputation is on the line so you should provide rubbish content.
Consequently I disagree with the answer to question 1. I believe the aim is, and should be, to give quality content in exchange for links.
Geoff
I meant "shouldn't provide rubbish content" – Ooops
Josh
Seems #4 was the most missed, myself included. Wonder why.
Ann Smarty
@Josh, probably because it requires two answers and all the rest questions – just one. So it seems confusing
Gerald Weber
I missed a few. I think some of the questions could have had more than one correct answer. For example I guess it is ok to link to one of your previous post in the body of a guest post as long as it is relevant. However I already am going to have a couple of links in my byline and I think a post a link in the body may look like (to the blog owner) as if you are going link crazy.
Of course this is not a set rule, it's just my personal take on it.
It kind of like not wanting to over stay your welcome when you are a guest at someone else's house.
Ann Smarty
@Gerald, true and you are not expected to have 100% score (I mean, who does? LOL). I tried to clear up the most discussed questions about guest blogging – most of them have only one question "It depends" – but I wanted the quiz to reflect the general rule of thumb
Andy @ FirstFound
One mark away from a pass! I still think it's a bit cheeky linking to your own stuff from the body of the post – surely it's better to link to some of your host's posts?
Ann Smarty
@Andy, it is best to do both π Linking to your own posts is ONLY ok when they add value. If linking is done for the sake of linking, this is always a bad idea…
Jim
Nice little test, keep up the good work.
I do not fear that guest blogging will become as "negative" as the word SEO has become, guest blogging has been around since the very early days when it was forums on BBB's across the world, where people in your niche could share and develop ideas. The risk only lies within the danger of misusing guest blogging – but that will be up entirely to the bloggers of the world to make sure that when we have a guest blogger that they do not abuse the privilege they got.
Keep up the nice work with this site, I am often here looking around at what you guys are up to!
Nick LeRoy
Ann, Neat Quiz… I got 7 out of 9. However like you mentioned, a question may be misleading or could include many answers so im not too worried about. You have accepted my writings before so i must be doing something write! π
Re-tweeted!
BestofBlogger
Haha, I fail 33 %. Actually, you can prepare a better quiz. But it was good. I will be waiting better quizes.
Ileane @ Blogging
Hi Ann, neat quiz. I think it's a great way to educate people, or at least make the really think about their guest posting goals. I got #4 wrong and I know why. I don't consider myself an "expert" in my niche and I'm not really comfortable using that word when it comes to blogging.
David @ o-writer.com
That was fun. However, I should add my 2 cents (expanding on your "it depends" comment).
In some cases, there is more than one right answer. For instance, it is up to us as individuals to decide what is the main goal for anything we do; nobody can decide that for us, and it will differ from person to person.
In other cases, I did not find the answer I feel is right. For example, for how many links to include in the post, I personally feel that two is appropriate (seems to be a bit of an unspoken standard). But the real answer is that it is up to the host blogger, who might be happy to give 6 or 7 if they are relevant to the post. Again, I don't see how there can be a right or wrong answer to something that is up to an individual to decide.
When it comes to the main benefit of guest blogging (for both the guest and host), I think the biggest benefit is that you expose yourself to a bigger audience, which helps for whatever your guest blogging goal might be. So I would add that to the list.
A useful follow-up might be to compile a complete list of possible answers (well, "complete" might be impossible) and take a poll to see what people's goals are and what they see as benefits, etc. It would be interesting to see how attitudes change over the years.
Tola
Nice quiz Ann,
However I'm with Ileane on the question #4. I don't think I have the right to call myself an 'expert'. I guess I'm not really one for blowing my own trumpet, if I'm really that good then other people would do it for me, that's why I didn't select that option. But then again, maybe it's cos I'm still relatively new to the industry and that's why I feel that way, it might change in future, lol…
But apart from that I'm cool with it, got 78%, not bad I'll say all things considered π
Josh
Thanks for the insightful Quiz, had a fail but i guess it shows my knowledge on guest blogging.
Moosa Hemani
I still think that 3 links are too much for bio line 1 or t max two are ok!!
hideaheart
Looking forward to growing my expertise and learning from others. Thank you for the opportunity to participate. I answered two questions wrong but that's OK…I am enthusiastically looking forward to being part of the MyGuestBlog community.