Are You Hiding The Fact That You Accept Guest Posts?

I had always been open to the thought of accepting guest posts from fellow bloggers on StandOutBlogger but surprisingly I never seemed to get than many offers.

This shocked me, because I saw newer blogs such as Famous Bloggers get a lot (and I mean a lot!) of guest posts on a regular basis.

The reason for my lack of guest post requests alluded me until the launch of my new blog design.

You see, in the header of my redesign I included a link in the navigation titled ‘Become An Author‘ (but hadn’t actually created the page to go with it).That was about a week ago – and already I have had 2 requests for guest posts!

Then I Realised…

I’d Never Said I Accepted Guest Posts

The reason I wasn’t getting people asking if they could write for my blog was because I never made it know that I wanted people to!

It is definitely a lesson learnt.

If you want your visitors to do something then you can’t expect them to be psychic – tell them what you want and you will get what you want (and make it easier for those who are looking.

So what do you want from your visitors but aren’t telling them?

Oh, and by the way, I’ve updated the ‘Become an Author‘ page, so if you are looking to guest post head over and check it out!

About Thomas Sinfield

Thomas run multiple blogs and is busy testing different strategies and systems to increase profitability and exposure. He is currently working on a new project (yes another blog) that is set to be his most profitable yet.

Tags: become an author, blogging, famous bloggers, Guest post

14 Stand Out Comments! »

Nabeel from Create Your First Website

Yup this is so true yet so simple.

It is amazing how many people assume that the visitor will know something. Never assume that your visitors will know something. Lay it out for them. If you want something to be done by the visitors (for example subscribe to your newsletter) then lay it out exactly for them and make it very easy for them do subscribe. Have your opt-in box prominently displayed.

In summary, remember the rule of:

KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid

Kindest,
Nabeel

[Reply]

Thomas Sinfield Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 6:17 am

You got it exactly right Nabeel! We can’t expect people to know what we want them to do, we have to lead them.

[Reply]

Onibalusi Bamidele

Exactly Thomas,

That is the power of a call to action, I also noticed the same on my blog, I rarely get guest posts on my blog but now that I have dedicated a page for that I am always getting contributors.

Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..Ethical Marketing VS Unethical Marketing

[Reply]

Thomas Sinfield Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 6:19 am

Great to hear you are getting contributors now! Having guest authors gives you time to focus on providing better content and more time to market your blog – plus it gives the authors access to your community (so a win-win situation).

[Reply]

Hesham Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 1:01 pm

Onibalusi by the way is a very dedicated to blogging, he have done great contributes for several blogs! and I must say he deserve it!
Hesham´s last blog ..The Biggest Blog Commenting Folder in the History of Blogging

[Reply]

Agent Deepak from Blogging, Marketing & Success

Hmm! you changed your theme. It look great. Plain and simple.

I do agree that you need to tell people that you are accepting guest post or there will be no guest post request. I am soon going to oficially allow guest posting on my blog too. I have been remodelling my blog theme for this.
Agent Deepak@Blogging, Marketing & Success´s last blog ..Blog Monetization – AD Space Revenue

[Reply]

Thomas Sinfield Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm

Thanks! I wanted something that focused on what was important and am still trialing a few different things, but it seems to have got a good response.

Looking forward to seeing your remodeled theme!

[Reply]

Hesham

Hi Thomas,

First of all I would love to say I like your design a lot! very nice!

I have seen a lot of blogs with a “Become An Author” or “Write for us” spreading allover the blog! but still not working!

Just want you to know that FamousBloggers.net was built as a multi-authors blog and Social Network platform since the beginning of it’s creation! and this is why we was concentrating on every possible way to grow it’s community and contributions as a main GOAL!! (this is so clear on our About us page)

Forgive me to add this link in the comment, but you may find some good information I wrote in this post Why Guest Blogging is NOT Working for my Awesome Blog?! I explained in this post a lot of things related to guest posting, why and how it’s working on FB! so it might be useful for those who are looking for such information!

So, I can not say it’s the design only who makes it work, but it’s a complicated mix of things like planning, organizing and dedicated work!

I still want a lot of thing from my blog visitors and readers, just didn’t find the chance to tell them! and I completely agree with you that we have to speak out about what we want and need from them!
Hesham´s last blog ..Why I am Still Feeling Like a Baby Blogger

[Reply]

Thomas Sinfield Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 9:49 pm

Thanks Hesham, I don’t think it comes close to yours though (I have always admired the FB design!).

Looking at your posts about guest blogging I can see why you have such an very active guest blogging culture. Thanks for sharing that link because I think a lot of my readers will find it extremely helpful.

[Reply]

iYingHang

Hey Tom, Good luck to you for getting my submission and I wonder if which plugin do you use for the Popup? Popup Domination?
iYingHang´s last blog ..One Site To Rule All File Sharing Sites