MyBlogGuest hung out on Friday, May 31st for our May hangout.

Our participants for this hangout included (in order of Google layout): Ann Smarty, Brooke McDonald, Don Sturgill, Erin Walsh, Gerald Weber, Helen Hoefele, Min Min, Phil Turner, Shannon Hutcheson, and Deborah Anderson.

We created a takeaways version of the hangout in this short video:

• Ann Smarty joined us. She shared thoughts about pen names and the need to brand the pen name.
• Our favorite topic: Bylines (including advice from Ann)
• Ann shared “How To Talk To Clients” while providing quality service.
• We discussed “Ann’s Open Letter“
• Don shared about relationship building and educating the client.
• And… We discussed linking… and more linking!

You may also view the May 2013 MyBlogGuest Hangout Full Video.

More Resources from the MyBlogGuest Blog

Linking Terminology We Use at #MyBlogGuest Summary

Linking Etiquette : This Week on #MyBlogGuest

#MyBlogGuest Self-linking Rules Update

Guest Blogging for Co-citation: The Benefit of Linking Out #MyBlogGuest

Summing Up: #MyBlogGuest Linking Practices

Subscribe to the Podcast Versions!

Check out the MyBlogGuest Podcast and don’t miss an episode of the MBG hangouts!

Add June 2013 Hangout to Your Calendar

June Google+ Hangout

Looking forward to seeing you!

Deborah Anderson is the MBG social media strategist, as well as hosting the MyBlogGuest monthly hangouts. Join her (@SocialWebCafe) on the weekly #MyBlogGuest Twitter Chats, and of course, these Google+ monthly MBG hangouts. Also, watch for her upcoming curriculum on the topic of Google+ hangouts.

*Feel free to follow + participate in our Twitter chat on TwChat =>MyBlogGuest Twitter chat – It may be a bit slower but we are almost done making it fly!*

First, a huge announcement: Our partner site @ViralContentBuz is running a cool contest: Win $1000 by adding your highest quality article and generating shares to it.

This spring we started a major quality update that included:

• Fighting with lower quality and over-SEOed content and clarifying our linking rules
• Letting the community filter out lower quality blogs by anonymous rating process
• Giving more exposure to high-quality content through Elite gallery (and new Elite plan which we are giving away for free to higher-quality authors who care about improving their guest posts)
• And finally “Articles Requests” feature which we are going to talk about this and next week…

Today we are talking about the feature for publishers, i.e. blog owners who are looking for the free high-quality content.

First, please take two minutes to view the video:

Let’s take a look at how the feature works for blog owners now.

Articles Requests section aims at solving the biggest problem of guest blogging: Too many guest bloggers nowadays don’t care to read your guidelines. As a result, you get flooded with low quality submissions and at some point your just give up…

@sanaknightly I applaud the effort of @myblogguest to have a place where the quality can shine #MyBlogGuest

— Chris Countey (@chriscountey) June 13, 2013

MyBlogGuest Articles Requests feature solves this problem by moderating all articles that get sent your way and only passing articles through if they comply with your requirements.

@myblogguest I love the articles request feature! It allows me to create themes and series on my blog. #myblogguest

— Deborah (@socialwebcafe) June 13, 2013

Here are just a few steps away from accessing this feature (hire up now that it’s free!)

• Join MyBlogGuest.com
• Add and verify your blog
• Add your article request to “Articles Requests” section (Make sure to provide good detailed guidelines)
• Wait for guest post ideas to start coming and approve them if they sound interesting
• Wait for the author to write and for the editor to review your guest article and publish it on your site when it’s ready.
• Feel free to add that article to ViralContentBuzz.com for more benefits and traffic.

The new Articles Requests feature is going to keep the MBG moderators very busy. Will appreciate their efforts even more. #MyBlogGuest

— Helen Hoefele (@figmentations) June 13, 2013

{Note: Articles Requests is in the beta-testing mode, so we are currently in the process of filling in the database of the requests before promoting it to guest authors.}

Here’s a huge visual and interactive guide that will hopefully make the feature more fun for you.

Here’s a static version:

Next week we’ll clarify and start promoting this feature to authors: Stay tuned!

*Follow and participate in our Twitter chat on TwChat =>MyBlogGuest Twitter chat*

A couple of months ago we started spring cleaning on #MyBlogGuest (which is still underway) and we heard a lot of negative feedback from our users which I responded to in my open letter.

While trying to fight lower-quality linky content in the gallery that puts good bloggers off AND puts you under Google penalty risk, we are moving forward with another plan: Trying to collaborate with our users closer.

That’s how the Elite plan test was born.

Elite Plan for Authors (Premium Users)

The main objective behind this plan was, again, to allow closer collaboration between you and MyBlogGuest team. Our team is pre-moderating Elite content, suggests improvements as well as promotes it to more bloggers to make offers. When an Elite article goes live on your chosen blog, we also try share it.

We let all our PRO users volunteer to be our alpha-testers of the new plan that currently includes the following:

• Apart from their current PRO access, Elite authors get the ability to send any of their articles to “Elite” gallery
• Elite authors also get access to “Articles requests” section which we are going to talk more this month

**For an article to qualify to be an “elite” one, it needs to meet higher-quality standards (minimum 500 words, no SEOed anchor text, images, original perspective, etc.). All articles in the elite gallery are pre-moderated. All articles in this gallery will be promoted to relevant bloggers.

Elite gallery moderator @Roadturn has been discussing what makes a good elite article on #MyBlogGuest Google Plus community this week, so he has more to say: Just check the “Focus Topic” section of the group.

Elite Quality” means an article is grammatically sound (not perfect, but sound) and structurally intact. It should conduct an intelligent and clear discussion, from start to finish, and should include an introduction, body, and conclusion. The article should be supported with appropriate links to authority sites, and it should provide information of value to the reader.

More:

What makes the Elite Gallery “elite”? For me, it’s all about the author. Some are content to devote the bare minimum effort necessary to produce an article someone else will publish. Others are willing to exert that extra push to make an article shine. Elite articles come from the pens of Elite writers … writers who care about the craft.

Elite = the way we should all be writing anyway #myblogguest

— Don Sturgill (@Roadturn) June 6, 2013

Elite Gallery for Blog Owners / Publishers (Free!)

First thing first: ALL bloggers can apply to publish an Elite article for free; you don’t need any special access to make offers in the Elite Gallery.

We have already described how Elite articles are going to work for publishers:

In a word, if you make an offer for any guest article in the Elite gallery, you can be sure this article has been pre-moderated and edited to meet higher-quality standards we are preaching.

and inspiration? RT @Roadturn: The difference between mediocre and excellent is just a little more effort and concern. #myblogguest

— Viral Mom (@viralmomtweets) June 6, 2013

Future plans

For now, we’ll just keep testing and working with alpha testers (if you are our current PRO user who would like to apply for testing), please let us know. We’ll also keep pitching it to *real* bloggers outside MyBlogGuest. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions!

Next week, same time, we’ll talk about another feature that is meant to boost the quality of MyBlogGuest: Articles Requests!

Guest blogging is incredibly inspiring for us! We keep creating new features and options for authors and bloggers of our community. We’ll talk more about these features in June Twitter chats starting from this week. But today please share these guest posts published via the forum back in May.

1. How To Emulate Positive Female Role Models From TV (via health-talks.com): Though I’m not a fan of TV, reading this piece was a great pleasure for me. Laura Watson from bluebanana.com proves in her post that using stereotypes is far not always for worse, but can be for better as well.

2. The 5-Minute MBA – How Business Works (via careerflux.com): Easy and interesting tips by Evan Thomas of incorporator.com.au definitely worth 5 minutes of your time in case you are in business.

3. Chicken Nuggets And The Global Battle Over Salt (via remedytip.com): When in grocery do you usually read what’s stated on the labels? What would you choose: taste or health? Lane Goodberry of melaleucajournal.com asks you to be careful.

4. 10 Airports Every Pilot Should Fly to at Least Once (via listingthings.co.uk): I love airports, though I’m far not a pilot, as you may guess I just wonder why Frankfurt am Main is not in the list. But James Douglas of blog.pilotmall.com knows better.

5. How to Make Your New House Your New Home (via interiorway.com): Some really essential tips by Sam Wright from hgspaintinganddecorating.co.uk if you are a brand new lucky house owner.

6. Anti-Bullying Laws And The Developing “Poor Me” Mentality (via thelawinfo.com): Difficult and problematic subject brought to life by Damien S. Wilhelmi of philclarklaw.com.

7. 4 Ways To Create A Kitchen Garden Using Upcycled Materials (via diygadgets.blogspot.com): Absolutely amazing ideas by Chris Turberville-Tully from fabulous-store.co.uk! Check it and you will love them just as I did.

8. 5 Must Have Attributes To Land A Junior SEO Job (via andy-morley.co.uk): Searching for a junior SEO but hardly imagine what to ask at the interview as no experience? Just keep in mind these tips by Stacey Cavanagh of listingthings.co.uk and ease your life!

9. Simple Hacks That Help You Write Blog Posts Faster (via marketingchris.com): First thing I thought about after reading the title was: ‘Real deal!’. Saving your time without sacrificing the quality of your posts is more than possible thanks to Logan Strain from blog.instantcheckmate.com.

10. Divorce – What Are My Rights? (via thecompletelawyer.com): James Sheehan of instantlawline.co.uk claims it to be easier than you might have thought. So, if you happen to be in such a situation, follow these simple steps and the process will hopefully be less stressful.

11. Five Tools to Organize Your Research (via wittyonlineeditor.com): These are not just tools, but great helpers Michelle of manifestconnection.com offers you to try!

12. 5 Ways To Be A Safer Motorcyclist (via aamcocolorado.com): Driving a motorcycle means not just feeling freedom, enjoying breeze into your face and manoeuvring in-between cars while in jams, it’s far more dangerous than may seem. Jan Hill from danielrrosen.com suggests these 5 simple measures which may help you increasing the level of safety.

13. Top 10 Sexiest Tennis WAGS (via toptenfamous.com): I often remind of the phrase that a classic phrase which states that behind every great man, there’s an even greater woman, you may not believe, but the last time was today exactly before I came across this article by Michael Porter of tennisdrillshq.com. And you will find not just the list, but videos as well. Enjoy!

14. Why Blogging Is Still Alive And Kicking! (via aliensmoney.com): ‘What?!’ – this time I not just thought it but said that loud. Read this post by Carl Ashton from empowernetwork.com and smile will also come to your face at the end, I hope Happy blogging, guys and gals!

15. Why Videos Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Campaign (via 113tidbits.com): I share the opinion by Kelli Cooper from dvdcopycat.com and vote for videos with my both hands.

16. How To Say ‘No’ Like A Gentleman (via dangerouslee.biz): Hmm, do they say ‘No’ at all? Or do they say it in a way that it just doesn’t sound as ‘No’? Karsten from domainraccoon.com sheds some light upon the issue.

17. 5 Ways To Automate Your Home Appliances Using Your iPhone (via technews24h.com): Kirt Harrison of harrisonappliance.com proves that your smartphone can really be smart. And meanwhile, you may grab your iPhone and order a pizza, while reading this article

18. Dofollow Your Heart – The Five Sexiest Men Of SEO (via cyber-key.com): Wow! I was pretty sure that the list was compiled by a girl . My deep gratitude to Ricardo Casas of fahrenheitmarketing.com on behalf of SEO ladies.

19. Is It Cost Effective to Replace an iPhone Screen (via droidologist.com): Decision is up to you anyway, Louis Rossmann from rossmanngroup.com just shows you some options available.

20. iPhone Photography Reaches New Heights (via blog.pre-pay-as-you-go.co.uk): I’m absolutely in love with the camera of my last (can’t say ‘new’ as we are expecting the newest and latest one) iPhone. Never enjoyed taking pics with a phone, but now I’m really addicted. Milos B. from i-adapters.com explains how you can get even more from your iSight camera.

Today after one of our users had been very much offended because he had been asked to revise one of his articles, I got inspired to write this…

Listen, I know we are all frustrated that Google is fighting its own monster – links – and we have to suffer from that. But you still care about Google, right? So do we!

Here’s news for you: You are fighting the wrong guys here. We are on your side

At MyBlogGuest we started without editors. We thought publishers and authors would be able to sort this out themselves between each other. We thought the community would edit itself – as publishers are NEVER paid for publishing our glamorous articles, they are supposed to be picky right?

Wrong..

User-generated quality control never happened. We got flooded with low-quality articles that were scaring off good publishers by their overwhelming number (low quality is always easier to notice as it’s easy to produce!)

We’ve stepped in with our set of linking rules NOT because we wanted to somehow limit the freedom of our members but because we had to protect our name and keep our bloggers for YOU.

Some of you realize that:

…

Some of you think we are just making up new rules because we don’t have better things to do…

Now, I do realize that many of you will never understand our reasoning but this just needed to be said.

We are doing something good here: We build relationships with bloggers through great content we provide them with. Please don’t make it seem like we are breaking Google’s rules!

Currently we are working on something different to provide you with the playground of *real* blogs that care:

Stick around!

>>> Please follow our chat stream here<<<

This month we talked a lot about linking out. Today we have our traditional PUSH Thursday, but it is special! All posts we are featuring today were published via Elite Gallery. We are still testing it, but it already helps great articles find their great blog-homes.

We also launched a new feature recently that is called “Guest Article Requests”. This is how it works for authors and for blog owners. Next month we’ll talk about it more thoroughly, and now 10 guest posts for your to push!

• 10 Anime Photoshop Tutorials – No idea where the self-serving link is… All links were used as subheadings – wise move! Plus it’s a great list of tutorials.
• Top Ten Tips For Choosing A Stylish Pair Of Glasses – Easy to read, funny, and useful + good sample of linking from the byline.

• 6 Tips To Dealing With Your Child’s Temper Tantrums – Brand-name links used in author bylines look more natural than key-word links.
• Be Your Brand: 5 Tips To Help Your Brand Connect With Customers – Yeah, I know that might look weird, but it’s a great guest post! Brand topic is a good idea to write about + useful resource links + brand-name link in the byline. We are happy to publish such guest posts on our own blog
• How To Assemble A Patio Garden Using Upcycled Materials – DIY topics can easily fit to any blog niche if approached creatively, e.g. to home improvement, creativity, green, and may be some other niches as well.
• 10 Steps To Preparing For A Job Interview – First impressions do count! What do you think of linking out in this post? Seems like very practical tips for job seekers.
• Dining In Dubai – The Emirates’ Most Popular Dishes - Travel & food are too connected niches. And it’s a good chance to naturally insert a link.
• 6 Tips For The Pregnant Woman: Wardrobe Changes That Matter – All women want to look good, pregnant women – especially. Good topic for all seasons, and might feet well both to most European countries and the USA.
• 3 Lies You’ll Hear on a First Date – I would rather take these as instructions on how not to destroy your relationship on the 1st date
• Sellers Guide To Deciphering Domain Valuations – Topics like this have to be written by real experts in the field, and be well-researched.

*Follow and participate in our Twitter chat on TwChat =>MyBlogGuest Twitter chat*

Next week we are going to discuss linking practices on our monthly Google Plus Hangout: That will be your perfect chance to ask us your questions!

Today, in preparation for that talk, we sum up the previously discussed linking topics to create a all-in-one resource to make your life easier!

1. Number of Links

• You can have ONE link to your site or page (self-serving = anything that has relation to you; be it your site, your client, etc). Read on: Linking Terminology We Use At #MyBlogGuest
• You can link to your personal social media accounts. You are HIGHLY encouraged to link to your Google Plus account. See how to verify the authorship of your guest posts: Verify Authorship Using Google Plus Account (“Contributor to” Section)
• You are HIGHLY encouraged to link out to trusted pages that add additional information on what you mentioned. Read on: Guest Blogging for Co-Citation: the Benefit of Linking out #MyBlogGuest
• You are free to link to your other guest posts if it MAKES SENSE: We believe that benefits your previous publishers and builds your relationships with them. Read on: Make the Most of Guest Blogging: Second-Tier Link Building

#MyBlogGuest I like 1.4.Linking to other guest posts you’ve written is a great way share the love. #myblogguest

— Helen Hoefele (@figmentations) May 23, 2013

2. Placement of your links

• If you link to your page from the byline, make sure to sound neutral: Don’t promote your site, Don’t make it sound as an ad. Read on: Guest Post Bylines: Examples and Resources to Get Inspired
• If you link to your page from the body, feel free to link to your personal social profiles from the byline. Please don’t start your guest post with your link: It’s bad manners at the very least (and a good chance to ruin your relationships with bloggers). Please, use your link in the second half of the article. Make sure to surround it with other good links. Read on: See examples of links appearing naturally in the guest article

@robertekraus This is a good example (bottom) -> bit.ly/17W0Bbu #myblogguest

— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) May 23, 2013

My personal preference is no intro links at all. Why invite the reader to bounce off immediately? #myblogguest

— Don Sturgill (@Roadturn) May 23, 2013

3. Ten Commandments

1. Your own link should flow naturally (and NOT stand out) in a guest post

Amen to 3.1 … 10% more effort will move you from passable to excellent in this regard. #myblogguest

— Don Sturgill (@Roadturn) May 23, 2013

2. Your own link should be relevant to the surrounding context (kind of obvious after #1)

3. Your own link should be surrounded by other good trusted relevant links (think good signals and co-citation)

4. Your own link should NOT sound as an ad (even when placed in the byline): You are not promoting yourself; you are informing the reader of who you are!

5. Forget about anchor text: It always looks forced and unnatural (and will raise red flags at Google)

6. Linking out to others’ blog posts and articles is relationship building (and again good signal to Google)

7. {For publishers} Don’t be afraid to link OUT generously: This makes your article more useful (Google will love you for that as well!)

8. If your link is in the first paragraph of the guest post, the blogger will be turned off. DON’T DO THIS

9. If someone says they know what Google thinks about links, RUN!

10. To see if you are following the above rules, reread your article and answer the question: “Is it useful?”

Love the distinction between “informing” vs “promoting” in these 10 Commandments of #MyBlogGuest Best Linking Practices #myblogguest

— Helen Hoefele (@figmentations) May 23, 2013

To better memorize the above commandments, please download this graphic and take it with you; give each of your employees a copy!

Have I missed anything?

Next week we’ll be listing some examples of articles that adhere to the above commandments during our monthly PUSH Thursday! Don’t miss it!

Upcoming (5/31/13) MyBlogGuest Google+ Hangout On Air Are you ready for our May 2013 MyBlogGuest Google+ Hangout On Air? It is coming up, Friday, May 31, 2013.

MBG Hangout: 11am EDT Google+ Event Page

Google helps us out by providing the time in our own time zone. If you click on the event, above, you will see what time it is in YOUR time zone, based on your Internet Service Provider.

You may also manually check your time zone here.

MyBlogGuest Linking (again)

We will be talking about linking. We covered it extensively in Twitter Chats, but this will be an opportunity to cover it face to face. We will also talk about the *why* for guidelines within MyBlogGuest, as it relates to Google’s rules and algorithms. This would be a great time to ask questions, where you need more clarification on what is allowed and what is not allowed, why, and what the best practices are.

Here are some articles on MyBlogGuest.com to get you ready:

• Best Linking Practices = Summing up
• Linking Terminology We Use At #MyBlogGuest
• Linking Etiquette: This Week on #MyBlogGuest
• #MyBlogGuest Self-Linking Rules Update
• What is a Natural In-Body Link? #MyBlogGuest

The Vids

The Google+ hangout is recorded and we will snap a nice picture of you from the vid, for the intro. If you prefer not to be included, please let us know during the hangout.

The MyBlogGuest video will be available after the event, and a takeaway version will be available a couple days after the hangout. Here are some videos from past MyBlogGuest Hangouts:

Takeaways:

• April MBG Hangout (Takeaways)
• March MBG Hangout (Takeaways)
• February MBG Hangout (Takeaways)
• January MBG Hangout (Takeaways)

Full Videos:

• April MBG Hangout (Full)
• March MBG Hangout (Full)
• February MBG Hangout (Full)
• January MBG Hangout (Full)

Here is the takeaways video from the last hangout (April 2013):

Suggested Topics: May MBG Google+ Hangout

• SEO and Linking
• Revisiting the Bio. What are YOUR questions?
• Relationship building in a community
• Contest update: Winners from the MBG Spring Contest
• Q&A

MyBlogGuest Podcast

Not able to make the hangout, but want to listen in your car? Subscribe to the MyBlogGuest Podcast! Also, you will hear mid-month interviews of MBG users and moderators. You won’t want to miss an episode.

Listen to the most recent podcast, here:

Podcast: Download

Event Page and Information on Google

The Google+ event page is shown, below, and contains information regarding the May 31, 2013 MyBlogGuest Google+ Hangouts on Air. You may also leave questions there so we can add them to our list of topics for this hangout or the next. At the time that the hangout opens, we will post the invitation link so that you may join in. Remember, this is recorded, so you will become a part of MBG Community history, via video.

Another way to reach the event page is through the MyBlogGuest G+ community page. Click on “Events” and this event will show there. Not a part of the community yet? Comment below this article so we can invite you!

• Hangout: 11am EDT Google+ Event Page (60 min)

See you there!

Deborah Anderson, of SocialWebCafe.com, is the social media strategist at MyBlogGuest and she hosts the MyBlogGuest monthly hangouts. Join her (@SocialWebCafe) on the weekly #MyBlogGuest Twitter Chats, and of course, these Google+ monthly MBG hangouts. Also, watch for her upcoming book on the topic of Google+ hangouts.

*Join our Twitter chat on TwChat =>MyBlogGuest Twitter chat*

Even though it seems to be a hot trend now, co-citation is not a new topic in web marketing world. @jimboykin blogged about co-citation back in 2006, for example; but for some reason it seems so hard to believe that few people care to think about it (“What? Giving someone free links???” – that’s the philosophy we are fighting with!).

Co-citation is about analyzing your link neighbors. If we talk about a guest blogging in particular, here’s how it looks:

• If Google sees trusted URLs next to your backlink, they use it as a good signal
• On the other hand, if Google sees your site linking to trusted pages that help the user, they use it as a good signal
• In other words, it benefits BOTH the author and the publisher; THEREFORE we’ve been encouraging linking out more than just to yourself for ages.

Academics have been using co-citation since the dawn of the printing press. Much of the algorithm is academic in nature. #myblogguest

— Don Sturgill (@Roadturn) May 16, 2013

@jeremybenno I think they mean that co-citation allows both author and blogger to support eachother #myblogguest

— Givelify (@Givelify) May 16, 2013

If it’s just your link in an article, it looks weird and it reads less useful. But what if you are helping yourself as well as the reader and send positive signals to Google by simply linking out to someone except yourself?!

What is a “Trusted” Link?

Simply but, it’s whatever you feel useful for the reader of your article (and surely NOT competing with your own page). If you need specific tips, here are two:

• Any .gov, .edu, wiki page that explains what you have just mentioned (search on Google: “loans site:gov“). CNN, BBC, NYTimes articles are also trusted as well as official city sites, official stats sources, etc..
• Any authentic blogger you like reading: Blogs are powerful source of “social signals” and on top of that, by linking to them, you build your relationships with them – which is ALL we are about here!

And it’s great when the N.Y. Times links back — one of our My Blog Guest publishers discovered that this week! #myblogguest

— Don Sturgill (@Roadturn) May 16, 2013

Google has been offering a free public tool to check your common co-citation for ages; just search related:URL (example: related:http://myblogguest.com). Don’t expect that to be an exact science though: Google will never show you the actual picture but it does give you a good snapshot.

Basically, co-citation shows who Google associate your web page with; how Google categorizes your page.

Like I said, it’s really a simplified way to look at co-citation, but that’s all you need to know to write and publish killer guest articles that help both sides!

To get a deeper understanding of co-citation, watch Rand’s Whiteboard Friday – it’s not only about links: By simply mentioning influential brands and people, you may be sending signals to Google as well!

With lots of lower quality writers and link builders trying to ruin the concept of guest blogging (scaring away some bloggers), it is easy to fail to see the bigger picture: Guest blogging is the way to build contacts through great content.

You don’t disable comments simply because you get a lot of spam ones. Similarly, you don’t disallow guest posts simply because you got a couple of low quality pitches.

The benefits of guest blogging and accepting guest posts WAY outweigh the inconvenience of dealing with people who don’t get it: And one of our happy publishers has the proof today!

I’ve been contacted by our blogger Stacy Jackson who was sharing the following:

Just wanted to share with you a success for one of the My Blog Guest participants and my blog rabidofficemonkey.com.  I am sure other people have had bigger “wow” moments, but this is my first using your service.  

Crispin Jones is mentioned on one of the New York Times blogs with a link back to my site/his post!

Congrats to Stacy and to Crispin: Great job!