I get these offers all the time, especially for the Awin.com blog. We don't ever accept any offers for a guest post, no matter what they want to pay. Just say NO.

I would not do this as it can hurt your site.

Hey Mike,

Personally, I would completely ignore this.

Firstly, when someone approaches me for a guest post I immediately ask, "What's in it for me?"

I will say that the company who have emailed you have completely ignored this.

This is a bog standard email, which has probably been sent to 1000s of bloggers in your niche.

Plus, the entire message focuses on THEM and not on YOU.

I can guarantee that they have charged a client and told them that they will get them guet post oppotunities for backlink purposes.

Plus, the fact that they've mentioned "no sponsored post" means that they DON'T expect to be charged.

Imagine if all 1000+ bloggers like yourself replied and said, "Yes, I am willing to allow you to guest post at a cost of $100."

They simply wouldn't accept.

Furthermore, I wouldn't consider this a very good SEO company.

Granted, their website looks professional, but it appears that they have been going for around 5 years.

One of their main sources of business is SEO services, and yet after 5 years in business they only have a Domain Authority of 20.

That does not seem like a very successful SEO strategy to me.

I'm sure they do very well by charging their clients for this type of service, but if their own website isn't "successful" in SEO terms, I fail to see what advantages they can offer their clients.

Once you start getting traction in the search engines you'll typically receive lots of guest post offers.

And unfortunately, the "only thing in it for you" on most occasions is that you get ONE free article to add to your site. Wow, thanks very much, NOT!! Hahaha

Plus, as Diane has mentioned, they are only approaching you for a backlink opportunity, but as they are doing this for a client, you have no idea of the quality of the website they are linking to.

In effect, you could accept and then find that they link to a brand new or spammy site, which won't do your own SEO efforts much good, i.e. you don't want to be associated with these types of sites.

If I was to perform outreach in the hope of generating a backlink I would want to give the blogger something in return.

Plus, proper outreach will typically involve me knowing a lot about the blogger I am reaching out to.

Perhaps, I would talk about some of the articles you've written, and how I've found that they've really helped my business.

Also, maybe I've shared your articles with my own followers, and that I often link to your articles because I feel you are an authority in the niche.

Admittedly, this is about "buttering up" a potential backlink opportunity, but I guess this is how the world works.

As I say, the email you've received is all about THEM and offers you absolutely no advantages.

i would say that I receive 20-30 of these types of emails on a weekly basis.

I read, I chuckle, and I ignore.

Partha

Hi Mike,

I understand that a sponsored post has to be marked as "sponsored" only if you're paid to advertise products. Guest posts that those agents provide are almost 100% "how-to guides" so you're not required to mark it as sponsored by law - that's how I understand.

They ALL say that the content they provide will be "top quality", "authentic" and all. Then they send absolute s**t. That's because they hire cheap writers from Fiverr.

But I guess whether you're happy with the level of income you receive from them is up to you. I have a feeling that the particular PR company won't be able to afford $50 though... So here's my 2 cents:

(1) Tell them the minimum words that you require. Or, if they come back and suggest a lower price, then counter-suggest a longer content. (e.g. "If you can provide a 2,000-word article, I'll accept it for $30")

Having said that, they may not be able to provide a lengthy article because again, they often employ writers to write, say 500 words for $5.

(2) When you receive an article, check if the content is truly unique; not just use a plagiarism checker, but google the title and see if there's a similar article by someone else out there already. Check the headings one by one. If there's a very similar one, I'd reject it for providing duplicate content. Up to you.

(3) More importantly, tell them not to re-publish the same article elsewhere in the future. Tell them if a duplicate is found, you'll have to delete your post but will not refund money.

(4) Also only one link to their client is allowed!
>"High authority links to make the article look more natural."
Tell them that you have the right to decide whether the other links are high-authority or not.

I hope it helps a little...?
Ray

Hi - the client will be hoping to obtain backlinks from your website. He will have employed the company who sent the email to search for suitable websites.

If you were to agree, then the company would write a post for your site, and it would include links to their client's website.

There can be problems with this. You will not know the name of their client or details of their website until they send you the post ready to publish.

You may find that it doesn't align with your views or way of thinking, and you may not wish to be associated with that website. Or the post could be poorly written.

Or the website could be brand new and have a much lower domain authority than yours which could drag your site down.

Add to this, that Google frowns upon paid backlinks and may not look kindly on your site for allowing this.

All in all, you can guess I don't think you should do this!