Friday, January 9th, 2009...2:58 am

Guest blogging can help journalists who blog

Jump to Comments

I had the thrill today of guest posting at Yan Susanto’s Thou Shall Blog. I wrote about the basics of good writing that I culled from nearly 20 years as a newspaper reporter and editor. It was fun trying to appeal to a new audience, and his readers welcomed me warmly.

But the best part: It’s a perfect example of why guest blogging or guest posting (I’ve heard it called both) is a great idea for journalist bloggers.

Here’s why:

It helps you join the conversation.

If a blog is a party you’re hosting at your home, a guest post is sort of like running a block party on your street. You meet more people; you reach more people; you talk to more people. And the people you “meet” on another blog likely have some interest in your blog’s topic, or you wouldn’t have been invited to guest blog.

Plus, when you guest blog, the host blogger generally links to your blog. That alone makes it worth it.

Now guest blogging isn’t some secret recipe for driving traffic to your blog. Actually, that may not happen, but you still gain by meeting readers in a new audience.  Will they check out your blog? Maybe. Will you check out theirs? You definitely should.

You’ve also fostered a relationship with another blogger, which can only help you in the collaborative environment of the blogosphere.

This was my first guest blog since I started Save the Media. I’ve done several for my Family Life blog, including guest blogs featured on The Washington Post’s now-defunct On Balance blog and on Melting Pot Moms blog. In each case, the guest blog fostered a relationship. I checked their blogs; I linked to them; I got ideas from them.  (Or at least I did until On Balance author Leslie Morgan Steiner left to write a book.)

Now this idea can seem odd to traditional journalists, who have been trained to view the competition with caution.  Sure, you wouldn’t ask a reporter from an opposing newspaper to write a story for your paper, so why would you ask another blogger in your niche? Blogging is different. It’s not just a news story thrown up on the Web. It relies on the whole idea of conversing and connecting.

So how do you get a guest-blogging gig?

I was lucky. For Thou Shall Blog and Melting Pot Moms, the bloggers approached me.  Both offers came out of a budding connection with the blogger. Yan introduced himself “virtually” soon after I started Save the Media; I met Melting Post Moms on Facebook and then discovered the blog. For the Washington Post guest blog, I wrote it, submitted it and sweated it out for about three months until my post was picked.

My advice is to make connections with other bloggers first. Once you get to know these bloggers, you might offer to write a guest blog if that’s something they do on their blogs.  All someone can say is “no.”

– Gina

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

  • Share/Bookmark

11 Comments

Filed under Blogging, Interactive Web, Journalism, Newspapers, new media and tagged , , , , ,



11 Comments

Leave a Reply

Twitter links powered by Tweet This v1.6.1, a WordPress plugin for Twitter.