I just said NO to a Guest Post and I feel horrible

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Paid Guest Posting - Yes or No?

The problem with being a people pleaser is that it's really hard to say NO.

I just said NO to someone who sent me a guest post to publish and I feel like a really horrible person right now.

Saying No and Meaning It

This was the first time I've rejected a post.

But I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't hit that publish button.

Because...

  • The post wasn't targeted to my audience at all
  • It was blatantly promotional (more like a sponsored post)
  • It wasn't well written
  • It had keyword stuffing (and the keyword was a terrible choice - 300QSR)
  • The Author Bio seemed fake and she used a pseudonym
  • Her photo looked like a stock photo (and completely different to the photo of her on her site)

I first tried to rescue her post by writing a foreword for my audience to explain why I would agree to publish something so out of sync. But then I read her post again and realised she is not offering anything my audience is looking for.

I got a sinking feeling...

This post will TURN PEOPLE AWAY FROM my site rather than ATTRACT PEOPLE to it.

Oh, and by the way, this was not a PAID Post.

This Guest Poster could not afford to pay me. I had taken pity on her (as a young, new blogger) and agreed to publish the post in exchange for a link on one of her sites (which appeared legit).

That was my first Mistake.

And I got to thinking...

Am I selling myself out by accepting guest posts?

I've often wondered whether I'm selling myself SHORT because I know paid guest posting is temporary income rather than passive income. I know that focusing on Affiliate Marketing and creating my own products would be a better use of my time long-term.

But short term I'm making some cash.

Today was the first time I wondered whether I'm actually selling myself out by doing this.

Should I rethink my entire Strategy?

I have to say this experience almost made me re-think my entire strategy.

Except for the fact that I've published some really wonderful posts lately from my main Paid Post Contributor (who pays me WELL and almost instantly - minutes or hours after I publish).

They seem to have found the perfect match for me, a Content Writer who writes in a fun, conversational style very similar to my own.

I've been having fun publishing posts all week that came in at 1500 words. I've happily added another 500 words of my own - simply because the writing was so great it prompted me to join in on the conversation.

So yes... there are certainly Pros and Cons of Paid Guest Posting. Some posts I receive are brilliant, some are mediocre and some need heavy editing to make the grade.

Done properly, I believe paid guest posting can be very lucrative and very effective at building an online presence.

What do you think?

Would you accept paid guest posts on your site?

And if so, what would your minimum criteria be?

To Your Success


PS. I've been considering adding a Tutorial on Paid Guest Posting as I get a lot of questions about it. Who's interested?

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Recent Comments

132

Hi Lauren,

I agree with your decision to say no, in this situation, 100%.
You should always trust your gut and you did it!
I know it's easier said than done but I wouldn't feel bad about it, as you have a very good explanation as to why you had to say no.

I'm very interested in a tutorial on paid guest posting.

Giselle

Hi Giselle, Thanks a mill for your affirming comment.

I'll let you know if I get around to creating that Tutorial. There seems to be a good response.

I had a similar experience. A representative of an
establishment that deals with treatment for drug addiction/substance abuse contacted me and asked me if i would promote their website. I asked for more information on what they do, she sent me links to better aquaint myself and I simply could not do it based on some the methods they use which involves the use of certain ssri and antidepressant drugs.

Which goes against the type of audience i am targeting. My site is all about natural healing. So, this would be a violation of my code of ethics. Thus, i turned them down.

Brad

Aah, interesting Brad. Good on you in not publishing something that went against your code of ethics.

And I agree with you by the way...don't get me started on medication and especially the way it's overprescribed nowadays. Big Pharma scares me. I'm also all for natural healing.

Have you discovered EFT and The Work as well? Both really great tools for treating depression naturally.

No, i have not, Sounds very interesting . I need to learn more about these 2 modalities for addressing depression. I will certainly be looking into that and will look to update my posts/pages that are relevant to the topic with that information.

Thanks with gratitude, Brad

Awesome Brad.
EFT is Emotional Freedom Technique and helps clear emotions very quickly and effectively.
The Work is a process of questioning your stressful thoughts devised by Best Selling Author, Byron Katie.
I found both techniques life-changing.

You were absolutely right to reject a guest post if it didn’t meet your standards. Your first obligation, always, is to your readers. It’s wonderful that you want to help this new blogger out, but you cannot do it at the expense of your own business.

I hope I can also reassure you that you are not a horrible person for rejecting a post. As you become more successful, you can expect this to happen more frequently. You will find yourself saying no more often because you’re going to get more requests, and they’re not all going to be right for your blog.

If you’ve had success with guest posts and have connected to other bloggers who pay well and add value to your website, then there is no need to re-think your strategy. What might be helpful instead is to think about why you would reject a post (all the reasons you outlined) so that you can gently and clearly articulate them to the person whose post you are choosing not to publish. It will be an important learning experience for this new blogger that will hopefully point out areas where she needs to improve.

I commend you for trusting your gut on this one, even though it’s a painful experience. Again, you have your readers to consider. If you want them to keep coming back, then you must only publish the best content you can create or find through competent guest bloggers. You can only continue to build trust with your audience if your standards are high.

Good luck and remind yourself daily that you are a nice person :)

—Laura

Thanks for your detailed reply, Laura. Really sweet of you to take such an interest in my wellbeing. And yes, after everyone's wise counsel I feel much better about myself and my decision.

I do have Guest Posting Guidelines which outline what I expect and what I offer in return.

Of course, not everyone adheres to these guidelines and when you're dealing with different content writers all over the globe, you will experience different levels of competency as well as different writing styles.

I write in a very conversational way (as advised by Kyle).

Usually, when someone is starting out as a content writer they generally write in a very wooden way, and often in the third person rather than the first person. So it comes across like you're reading a textbook instead of a blog. That's why I ALWAYS add an opening and closing paragraph to my guest posts - to maintain my style on my blog.

Oh goodness, I seem to be starting to write my tutorial already... haha.

Thanks again for your lovely comment... you seem to have got me chatting.

You ask for my opinion, so you're going to get it. Accepting money for a post is ADVERTISING, it is not guest blogging. In guest blogging, you either pay the poster or they do it for free in exchange for being able to link to their site. Accepting money from another blogger is pure advertising and should ALWAYS be disclosed to your readers. Calling it 'guest blogging' is not only disingenuous, it demeans guest blogging in general.

I hear you. Interesting take. Mel.
This guest blogger who is not paying me a service fee to publish her post is being paid by her client for their backlink on my site. So I am the middleman in a sense. As far as I know, paid guest blogging is pretty common practice.
Thanks for expressing your opinion on the matter. Appreciate.

Haha Sarah. I'm used to Mel's style. He doesn't mince his words.

Hi Lauren,

Thank you for exposing me to the world of guest posting.
I am interested in a tutorial of that kind.

Yes, I would accept guest post on my site only if it syncs and the content resonates with what the site is looking for. The ultimate criteria is a high quality, conversational post what the audience will be looking for.

If some guest posts involve minimal or less time-consuming edit, I will accept it.

Anusuya

You are most welcome Anusuya. I'll certainly let you know if/when I get a tutorial published. Agree with you. I think I need to add "conversational" into my guest posting guidelines. Must go see whether they need an edit. :)

of course you should not accept a guest post that is not well written and gives your readers a poor experience, so no need to feel bad about that.

Personally, I would be very careful about selling guest posts depending on the situation. But if it is because people want to buy links from your site to gain authority it clearly goes against Google's guidelines. Know many people goes against these and do fine, but not something I want to mess with.

So whether you should rethink your strategy or not depends a lot on the situation, but no matter what should you never compromise on quality - that will be a poor long-term strategy.

All the best,
Mikael

Thanks Mikael. Does it go against Google's Guidelines? I've read up on this subject on some High Authority sites and they say seem to say there's no definitive Guideline on this. Hmm. Do you have any articles I should read on the subject?

You can check the official guidelines of Google.

I can for some reason not insert the direct link to it. But you can find it by googling "google link scheme guidelines", and then one of the first will be the official guidelines on Google Support's own website.

It among others says that it goes against the guidelines to:

"Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link"

When that is said I know many big agencies that does not follow these (have worked as a freelancer for some of them) and they managed to do it with great success. But we just need to be aware and then decide what risks we want to take ourselves.

Thanks again for the info Mikael.

Don't be hard on yourself. As hard as it is to say no to something like that, you have to think of your audience. Is my audience really going to benefit from this or is it something that could cause them to ignore it or hurt them in the long run? Could this ruin my reputation with my audience?

Keyword stuffing is basically a no-no anymore and if the person comes across like a car salesman and it is poorly written, then there is no reason something like that should go up on your site. As many have already said, you definitely did the right thing :)

Yes, that's exactly the way I saw it Brian. Thanks.
Agree with you on the keyword stuffing... actually on all your points. Thanks for validating my decision.

You did the right thing to say no to that post, I know how you might be feeling to say no to a person, but you're right to think on your blog and business first,
Sometimes by saying no you can help people, you need to keep the quality of your website to keep helping your audience.
I would also interested on a tutorial on paid guest posting.
Have a great day.

Thanks for your support in my decision, Alejandra. I'll certainly let you know if/when I publish that tutorial. There seems to be quite a demand for it.

Hi Alejandra, my tutorial is published. Here's the link:

Lauren, I think you make the right choice. It is your website, after all and you are the boss of it. You do not have to explain why you rejected it.

You may need some sort of guest post guidelines document where you explain a number of prerequisites (and mention in that, that the guidelines are a WIP based on experience). Make sure that one of the conditions is that you reserve the right to reject guest posts without explaining why.

You would have spent a lot of time and effort in building up your website to where it is at today.

PS I wrote this comment before reading the comments below. I see now that you already used this idea of a guest post guidelines document. And after reading those comments, you make the right choice in rejecting that post. No doubt about that whatsoever.

Thanks a mill, David. Yes, was about to mention I have guest posting guidelines. Sorry for not getting back to sooner. Been a bit swamped.

Hi Lauren, excellent and informative post, an area that can bring value if it is managed by the looks of things.

It can be hard to tranition to becoming a "bosspreneur" that mindset where we are making decisions based on best outcomes for our blog, business or online presence. At times we may upset folks, if it is handled right it creates mutual benefits for all involved. Perhaps that writer that is struggling to meet your criteria may become one of your best assets.
It can be hard to ride through it, so we are not reacting, but working towards managing situations and helping people to move onto the same page as us.
A tutorial on guest posting would be really good.

Aw, Thanks for your AMAZING comment, Alex! I almost missed it in the sea of comments. Will keep you posted on the Guest Post Tutorial. There seems to be quite a demand for it.

Hi Alex, oh goodness... can't remember if you left me a comment or not on my tutorial. In case you missed it, here ya go...

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