Mistakes are consistently happening every second of the day, we make mistakes on a regular basis, since owing to this peculiar famous notion that -“No man was born perfect”; it entails totally, that the world is full of mistakes – both those done intentionally and those done with extreme naivety. But they always seem to be a way out of many of these redundant wrongs.
These mistakes are also heavily found online – a world created by humans, controlled by machines and ran from diverse type of houses called “website” or “blog”.
Now, these houses or blogs are what keeps the internet abreast with recent happenings and with quality and stale information, in fact -without them, there will be no internet.
And since, the blogs and websites are the most important backbone of the internet; people are fascinated with it and clog together in their billions to share and learn more about it – which will inevitably make traffic to increase tenfold. Website’s owners upon seeing this massive traffic of people – will fight to get even a “fragment” of this traffic, since, where ever there is huge traffic of human gathering – there is a market.
Website owners or blog owners devise and strategize plans to keep ahead of their counterpart, they learn new tactics, new schemes – both legal and illegal, all in the name of getting ahead of themselves.
And during the fight to get to the top – guest blogging was invented. A fantastic way to build easy and no-sweating traffic alongside niche-targeted backlinks to their respective blogs.
A tactic that will soon become the next big thing in SEO, which makes it a very unique strategy to use for growing blogs.
But, since my point, right from the start of this article is -“Any invention of man accompanies mistakes as a toolkit”. This ultimately means that guest blogging will also be full of redundant wrongs, regardless of its wonderful benefits; since it was invented by “man” whose way is literally full of mistakes.
Having read the above, it will be very important to show you the entire mistake bloggers commit on a daily basis, in the course of guest posting on different blogs.
Below are 7 Guest posting mistakes bloggers commit, and how to avoid them:
1. Not Writing Fresh and Informative Guest post
This is the worst and most frequented mistake lot of bloggers do on daily basis. In order to get quality backlinks, your articles must also be good and of high standard. Which is to say – Any written guest post should be any bloggers’ best article because the guest post will be the very best thing that will draw clients to you; and traffic to your blog.
Similarly, when you’re writing a guest post, you should always strive to do your best, and considering the outstanding benefits guest blogging will accrue to your blog – it is what a try.
This short story will teach you a tangible lesson on doing your best at all times.
Years ago, the then-young ex-president Jimmy Carter had an encounter with Admiral Hyman Rickover, who at that time was the current head of the U.S Nuclear Navy. Jimmy Carter was a student under his tutelage during that time.
And for many years, everyone aboard any nuclear submarine was personally interviewed and approved by Rickover. Those that went through those interviews usually came out shaking in fear, anger, or total intimidation.
When it was Jimmy Carter’s turn to be interviewed, he sat in a large room with Rickover, and he was been fired with difficult questions from the subjects he chose by himself.
Nearing the end of the interview, Admiral Rickover asked him two tough questions which I am zealously asking you too as a blogger.
In Jimmy’s own words:
“He asked me, “How well did you stand in your class at the Navel Academy?” Since I had completed my sophomore (a SECOND YEAR STUDENT IN ANY COLLEGE OR HIGH SCHOOL) year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe (FIRST YEAR STUDENT IN A MILITARY SCHOOL), I had done very well, and I swelled my head with pride and answered, “Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820!”
I sat back to wait for congratulation – which never came. Instead, he fired the first tough question, “Did you do your best?”
I finally gulped and replied, “No Sir, I didn’t always do my best”.
Then to end the 2 hours long interview, Admiral Rickover asked me one final question, which I have never been able to forget – or to answer.
He said, “Why not?””
So, I am asking you these questions now:
The recent article or guest post you wrote, “Did you do your best?”
If you didn’t – “Why not?”
So, strive to always ask yourself these questions any time you finish writing any guest post, because it will make you conscious of the guest post quality, and it will drive you further into making it your best ever guest post.
Having read the fantastic story above – strive and persistently keep writing informative and quality blog posts because you may never know which prospective client would end up reading the guest posts you’ve already written – so write well.
Write as if you’re writing to impress a prospective client; and very soon – you’d get lots of them flocking around you.
2. Not Proofreading Guest post Before Submission
A lot of bloggers take this as the norm of their blogging career, they hardly cross-check their just-written article before sending them as guest post.
I have come to understand that there is no perfect article; every written article that has ever being written will surely have had numerous glitches or typographical error.
I’ve once written an article before, under so great an inspiration – which I could have vouched didn’t have a single typographical error. But how wrong was I?
When I started to proofread the article after sometime; I saw unimaginable blunders in my writing which any sensible man could not have scribbled down on a normal day.
At a time, I started laughing at some of the silly mistakes I was proofreading and consequently editing. Some were out rightly funny.
That event taught me 4 valuable lessons:
- There is no “Perfect article”.
- Proofread the article at least 3 times before you pitch it to the blog you want to guest post for.
III. “Proofread”.
- Do not proofread the article immediately after you finish writing. Even if you do, it shouldn’t be taken seriously, as lots of mistakes are omitted or not seen if you start proofreading the article at once.
And since writing is a brain-storming session, giving the brain some time to cool off will ensure that when next you decide to proofread the guest post – you will get to see more “hidden” errors, more than those you’ll see if you had proofread the article immediately after writing.
Always remember, pitching a guest post without proofreading is just like towelling before bathing. It is a good habit to proofread your works before you submit it.
So, stick to doing it at all times, and I can assure you that article rejection would be a thing of the past for you.
3. Sending Duplicate content
Copied content don’t do well in the guest blogging world. It is a nuisance that a lot of bloggers still commit to this day. Instead of finding a way to write out a solution to people problems, some bloggers are busy creating more problems of their own, plagiarising people’s content and posting it elsewhere.
Strive to come out with your own contents; copying someone else’s work is like not having any voice of your own – like you can only survive through what other people voice out or write.
If your problem is that you cannot write well or that your writing isn’t up to standard, below are 3 well-explained steps to follow if you want to get better in writing.
Writing Continuously –
Consistency is the master key. Writing can be likened to a very cold weather; you don’t put on light clothes and expect not to get very cold. So, when you keep writing – you’ll get better at it gradually; then, from a gradual pace, your writing will increase significantly.
Writing continually will make it stick to you; it automatically becomes your second nature, because words will keep flowing from you to the keypad with ease and comfort.
So, keep writing…. and keep writing.
- Read other blogs –
Every blogger has a different way of expressing their self through writing. The unique words that might end up as your style of writing, might have been gotten unknowingly from a combination of blogs you read on a regular level.
Constant reading of other blogs in your niche will help you stay abreast concerning the latest happenings around your niche – like what is hot, and what’s not hot. It will also help you increase your vocabulary and your writing -as you constantly read.
- Enter Writing Contests –
When you write on diverse settings of literature – like “Write an essay letter to Mr-A today” and, “Write a letter to your parent tomorrow” – the list is practically endless. But when you engage your brain in continuous writing for a period of 30 days, your brain will get more accustomed to writing, which will inevitably increase your writing pace drastically.
There are lot of writing challenge websites online, but I found this one to be the best. You can try it out and consistently stick to whatever instructions you get to see on the website.
Now, I guess improvement in your writing isn’t the only thing you need improvement in; since, writing requires ideas on what to write about and how to go on writing out the ideas on the screen.
Now, I guess improvement in your writing isn’t the only thing you need improvement in; since, writing requires ideas on what to write about and how to go on writing out the ideas on the screen.
It will be imperatively important to show where you can find blog post ideas or headlines from, when you’re dry of ideas.
Where to find blog post ideas:
Google Alert
This is the best errand machine I have come to know of- online. It delivers exactly any topic on any keywords you want, to your email. Any blog post written in that area will automatically be redirected to your mail. Use it to stay afloat and know everything happening in your niche – this will help you significantly to get writing ideas if you do it consistently.
- Solve a problem
Looking for a problem which your niche is in dire need of and providing a quality post on it – is another way to keep you from ever going dry of what to write about as a blogger. You can also find solution to problems your blog readers constantly tell you they have. This will definitely help you gain more readers altogether and make sure you are never out of ideas on what to write about.
- Social media
Social sites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc, are a huge source of getting blog post ideas on end. Since, every popular blogger or persons are using these platforms – you may pick up some vital blog post ideas from some of their constant status update, since, they normally talk about the things trending on their respective niches.
- Question and answer sites
Going through question and answer sites – will always keep you from lacking blog post ideas, because a lot of blog readers go there to ask questions which you can answer and incorporate in your blog as a blog post.
- Not Following the Blogs’ guest posting Guidelines
This particular mistake can single-handedly cost your brand to lose momentum.
The blogging world is full of guidelines of all types; from SEO guidelines, writing guidelines to traffic guidelines. In fact, they’re literally enormous online.
In the guest blogging world, guidelines also exist in high proportions; since, different blog owners have crafted their blog and written guest posting guidelines which all bloggers need to follow if they want them to accept and publish their guest posts.
And it is of topmost importance to follow the entire guest posting rules of a blog you want to guest post for.
Each blog has its own unique niche, and collects guest post exclusively on the topics relevant in their niche; not those irrelevant.
This means, you cannot send an off-topic guest post and expect a swift reply, as long as the article you pitched is off-topic to the blogs’ niche – they’ll never accept your guest post.
So, follow each and every of the blog guest posting guidelines before you pitch or even think of writing a guest post for them.
5. Inability to Pitch a Guest Post
This is one of the most frequented mistakes bloggers commit during the time to pitch a guest post. The inability to effectively contact another blogger (especially popular bloggers) the right way for guest posting, might likely make the blogger to reject your guest post.
Below is a unique way to pitch a guest post and still get another chance of writing for the blog –
Hello [name of blogger],
My name is [your name] and I am a freelance writer from [your country]. I am interested in writing a guest post for your blog.
Are you currently accepting guest posts on your blog?
If yes, I have written a guest post already for you to consider.
Guest post: [Guest post title]
[Guest post explanation]
This guest post is attached with this email.
If you can still spare a little time, I’d like to write more guest posts for your wonderful blog.
I have this guest post idea – which I’ve researched thoroughly on, that I know with a confidence that if anyone of them is written for your blog, they will inevitably go viral.
I’ve researched and thoroughly studied your blog – I’m assured your blog readers will find the post titles useful and informative if they are written for your blog.
Below are the guest post ideas in question:
[1st proposed blog post title]
[Explanation of the blog post]
[2nd proposed blog post title]
[Explanation of the blog post]
[3rd proposed blog post title]
[Explanation of blog post]
Also, you can see samples of my writing at:
[1st topic of article]
[Link to the article]
[2nd topic of article]
[Link to the article]
[3rd topic of article]
[Link to the article]
I look forward to hearing from you,
[Your Full name]
[Your website URL]
Following this above unique pitching style will reduce drastically, your guest post rejection rate on any blog.
6. Sending One Guest post to Several Blogger for Submission
A lot of bloggers, with help of software called (multiple submission tools) will single-handedly pitch a single guest post they wrote to many blogs – in the hope of increasing the guest post acceptance rate.
This is a mistake that can tarnish any blogger’s reputation within minutes. Imagine that a person ends up pitching a guest post to a popular blogger; and in the course of time – the popular blogger later finds out that the post is a duplicate one.
This discovery can push the blogger to delete your guest post and also tell his or her huge and active readers that they should desist from having anything to do with you.
And if the popular blogger’s blog averages a minimum of 50,000 visitors every day, then, your brand has being tarnished in front of 50,000 people just within a day.
So, the moral of this short story is for you to always send one unique guest post to one blog – and not one to several others.
