Guest Blogging Versus Blogging for Yourself
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 19:47
I hear this question weekly: what’s better – to publish your best content on your own blog or use it to guest post?
My obvious reply is “Do both” 
In reality, there are too many “It depends” to answer this question. It depends on how large your blog is; it depends on what your objectives are; it depends on your content; it depends on how well networked you are; etc.
Of course, you should have your own blog (which is your landing page and your personal loyal community home) an of course, to expand your reach, you should start guest blogging. There’s really nothing to compare…
But if you are looking for the clear explanation, here’s an awesome post by Wiep “Link Baiting versus Guest Blogging” which goes in-depth into the differences and (dis)advantages of both the content strategies.
And here are my takeaways:
| Content on your own site | Guest blogging | |
| Content is hosted… | On your own site (which adds to its quality) | On another person’s blog |
| Traffic (from bookmarks, social media shares and search engines)… | Goes directly to your site | Goes to your site from clicks on your guest post hosted externally |
| Links (from other people who re-blog and bookmark your article)… | Go directly to your site | Go to your site through the links you used when writing your guest post hosted externally |
| You get guaranteed external backlinks… | No (unless people find your content really awesome to mention and link back) | Yes (as long as your links do not break the editorial guidelines of the target blog) |
| You can control the anchor text of your external links… | No – People who will re-blog your content and mention it in the round-ups will use whatever anchor text they want. (You can only control internal links which means less power) | Yes – You have full control as to how to link back to your own blog from the guest post (as long as this doesn’t break the editorial guidelines) |
| You are talking to your existing audience | Yes (until and if your content goes viral and your audience is expanded by social media shares which not always happens) | No – You are exposing your content to a completely new audience (the size of the audience depends on which blog you choose to guest post for) – which, as a rule, means more powerful for branding |
The bottom line? Do both! And do your best!
Psst. See also see another post answering another popular question: Guest Blogging versus Article Marketing
cc licensed flickr photo shared by osde8info
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I really like the chart breakdown of this and agree that the answer is that you have to do both. I tend to do more on my site and less on others but know that I need to work more on the guest posts.
Question–How do you decide which sites you will do guest posts on? Will you do one for anyone who asks or do you evaluate their traffic, page rank, etc. before you decide whether to put a particular post on your site or someone else's?
Hey Tricia, good question!
Unfortunately I don't have the resources to do a guest post for everyone who invites me. But instead of evaluating traffic and PR, I'd rather look at how active the blog community is: are there comments, retweets and likes? How active the blog owner is on Twitter and Facebook?
After all, the community I am exposing my content to is the most important. If I talk to thousands of strangers who just randomly check the blog, I'll be unnoticed. If I talk to a bunch of friends who'll spread my word further – I'll get new contacts, new followers and new partners!
Ann:
The chart is helpful. I intend to do both. Then, I will have guest bloggers on my blog as well. That gets me the win/win/win.
Rob
OK, I have a question. Are you talking about a same article or just in general? Cause as far as I got it, ig you submit a guest post, the blog owner doesn't want you to publish it elsewhere, not even on your blog.
Hey Brankica , definitely in general NOT about one and the same post. You can't post one post to a couple of places!
Hi Ann,
I can’t say enough how important it is to guest post on some popular blogs. The opportunities it can present are infinite. Guest posting has made the greatest impact in my blogging, but of course you still have to make there’s some strong content on your blog as well. I say guest post as often as you can – to totally avoid it would be a huge mistake. My greatest blogging achievements came as a direct result of writing a quality guest post.
Hi Ann,
Guest posting is on my high priority list (couple of things to do before starting) This post has highlighted the fundamental differences. My plan is to guest post twice per week, but also have guest posts on my blog twice per week. Worth testing anyway.
Thanks
Pete
Hey Pete, our community should be great help with your plan! Good luck!
i think both is important, its still advisable to have a few posts on their own site before people start guest posting so that when intrigued people who come to the home site looking for more content are not disappointed. But as your previous post mentions ,it should be hones and not a link building tactic…
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Pete,
A really valuable article. I have often wondered if there was a real benefit to guest blogging,
Thanks for the clear explanation and differentiation.
DrErica
Guest Blogging is great way to build your link building network
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It is good information about guest blogging versus blogging for yourself but I think guest blogging is best technique to post our own blog. Because we choose those guest blog which is related to our blog and higher ranked. By use of higher ranked and popular guest blog we can easily generate traffic on our blog.
Your site is very informative and super fantastic. I'm learning a lot from your posts. Thanks so much.
I would like to go with "Guest Post" because it will give me fresh and unique content and after all content is the king. But before doing so i would like to be accurate about niche. Thanks guy and keep such posting continue.
I'd love to start guest posting for other travel blogs.
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