In a rather catastrophic, post-panda scenario, when a number of internet marketing techniques seem to be falling like nine pins, guest blogging continues to be a win-win-win situation for all parties involved.

Please note that the third ‘win’ in the above preposition is not a typo, because there are actually more than two beneficiaries in this proposition.

A good quality guest post ensures that the blog owner gets good quality content added to their blog, whereas guest author gets considerable exposure, readers get to read some valuable advice, and search engines get some fresh, good quality material to show in their results, because a big majority of guest posts are quality content because there’s a hard-hitting human editor making sure no substandard post gets the chance to go on web.

So far, so good … but recently, a rather off-putting trend is taking place i.e. more and more bloggers are now starting to charge money for publishing guest posts. There can be many reasons, they might be looking to earn some money (that was a no brainer), or maybe they are trying to wade off spammers, but whatever the reason is, even though bloggers are entitled to accept money for whatever they do with their blogs, this paid publishing can be quite detrimental for all parties involved … let’s discuss just some of these downsides.

It will commercialize, hence corrupt the entire proposition:

To be bluntly honest, the money will eventually induce some favor in the minds of editors or blog owners, and there will be instances when they’d let in some mundane content on their blog, just because they are getting paid for publishing it, who knows, we might even see some bidding, just like those bidding directories.

Harsh on small guys:

Already, the big companies having the big bucks for marketing are starting to gain an upper hand in internet marketing, which was supposed to be a relatively level playing field. Now, if this trend spreads, and payment becomes a requisite on the majority of blogs, it will tilt the balance further in favor of big guys, who’ll be able to just pay their way to all sorts of rewards.

Will give a bad name to the practice:

No matter how good is this paid content, the involvement of money will give this practice a bad reputation, for all the right reasons. More people will jump in, trying to imitate the entire model. We will start seeing a plethora of blogs that publish nothing but paid posts. There are some blogs doing exactly that, already, but at least there are some quality blogs that good writers can resort to.

That might lead to a new Panda like update targeting blogs?

Ok, that’s the worst case scenario, but we have seen it happening in the past, some money-spinning model getting success, and lots of people jumping in to misuse it, for example, paid directories, article directories, MFA websites, content scrapping, and all that … and almost all of these models got thwacked by an algorithm tweak. So when the guest blogging starts getting abused, we will see search engines finding a way around.

Not only they will start discarding the value of back links from such posts but they’d also start discarding the entire website (Hint: Site wide penalty by Google panda update, instead of pages with thin content, the entire websites have to take the toll.

Natasha is an internet marketing expert by profession. When she’s not working, she likes to work out, read, and even draw (though she shares her paintings with very few people who can contain their laughter). Currently, she’s working for New England Lifestyle that makes quality White Bedroom tables

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Alina Sofia

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14 Responses to “Why You Should not Charge for Publishing Guest Post on Your Blog – Ever!”

  1. Gabriele Maidecchi

    I honestly wasn't aware of this new "trend", I really don't know what to say, I am strongly against it as a guest post is supposed to bring advantages for both the blog owner and the guest poster anyway, independently from this "paid posting" thing. I don't think I'd ever charge for it nor be willing to pay myself.

    Reply
  2. Lou Barba

    Hi Natasha,

    I suppose this is an extension of the practice of some of the home parties, such as Pampered Chef. They induce someone to host a home party and invite all their friends by offering hosting incentives. And during the show, the marketer offers the same deal to anyone who comes. I don't really feel threatened by people charging to publish a guest post, but they would have to demonstrate an awful lot of traffic before I would agree to it.

    Lou Barba

    Reply
  3. jmpruitt75

    Right on. I totally agree with this. It boarders on buying links which is a big no no already with Google. It kills the whole spirit of the guest posting process.

    Reply
  4. Kristi Hines

    If you want to ward off guest post spammers without charging, the best way to do it is to including interaction with your commenters as a part of the requirements for the guest post. I recently implemented a no discussion, no link rule where if the guest blogger doesn't come to reply to comments, they lost their author bio link. Hence, if you have someone who is only guest posting to get links, they are either going to be motivated to join in the discussion or they won't submit a post at all.

    Reply
  5. Mary Jo Manzanares

    I think the "charging" comes not from a high quality, relevant to the audience, blog post, but from people trying to place sales copy (advertorial) on blogs.

    I gladly accept true guest posts and am happy to publish them on my blog according to some pretty retrictive guidelines. However, if someone wants to publish a post that is pure sales copy, I consider it advertorial and I forward my advertising rate sheet. There's a difference between the two.

    Reply
  6. Corey Freeman

    Honestly, this whole article is one big slippery slope fallacy. While the idea of paying to have your guest post published may be off-putting to some bloggers, it doesn't necessarily mean the host is just "out for money." And I certainly don't think this "trend" (haven't seen it myself) would lead to the downfall of the internet and it's unique content. The truth is, the blogs that matter will be quality checking, paid or not, and only accepting content that benefits everyone. It comes down to the human element, and people aren't always greedy money grubbing bastards. We have standards and loyalty.

    Reply
  7. Zach

    While your premise of 'not polluting' the guest blogging atmosphere does pose great points, it is inevitable that once X tactic works someone or some company will package and sell it. To be brutally honest I call it 'guest linking'. Would Natasha have even written this post if she didn't get that gorgeous white bedroom tables link? As if the audience reading a post on a site about guest posting is a place where people in the market for bedroom furniture might be, very doubtful. Any piece of content that is placed on a another site (that is not the content owners), containing links (specifically anchor text links), is for purposes of ranking better in search engines, period. As soon as the post's intent is the link and not solely the content, it opens up the door for charging.

    Reply
  8. Tyler

    I will typically charge authors who would like more flexibility with the location of links in the content. The free option includes up to two links in the author's bio. Some authors prefer to link at the top of content, so they can opt to pay for this service. However, the editorial process and standards for publishing do not change. Like a directory, if they pay for a crap submission, then they could stand to lose the money because we don't publish crap and the fee is non-refundable. This fee also applies to authors who would like us to review their submission right away. Most free submissions have an average wait time of two weeks.

    Reply
  9. alan

    i came to know about guest blogging after gazing through your website
    now will look forward for a guest post
    thanks for sharing…

    Reply
  10. Paul

    I just found this article after somebody offered to pay me “premium prices” to publish a guest post on my blog. I’d never charged anybody to publish a guest post and had never heard of doing that so I was a bit baffled. Now I see some bloggers are charging guest post “review” fees without guarantee of acceptance.

    Reply
  11. Chad Agrawal

    I just don’t see the difference between how Google will determine if a guest post is paid for or not. And if a guest blogger is paying for posts to some webmasters and not others, innocent webmasters could get caught in the cross fire. I’m sure Google has their ways though. I intend to play by their rules 100%

    Reply
  12. Sean

    This is an interesting post and I have to say I agree with it entirely. Guest postings should have high standards these days. Anyone who maintains a blog for the long term should always include high standards for their blog. Paying for posting on a blog/site for the purposes of guest posting is a down high battle. Imply strict policies to your blog if you do invite guest posting. It should be a win win situation for both parties, where each gets equal value. I am getting sick of all the blogs I am trying to offer value via guest posing, to be subjected to a feel. I hope it changes…

    Reply

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