You’ll normally be encouraged (even expected) to respond to comments on your guest post. It’s worth taking a look at how many comments each post tends to receive on the blog ahead of time, so you know how much time you’re likely to need to set aside for this on the day your post goes live.
When you’re replying to comments, keep in mind that to readers, you’re a representative of the blog. Don’t use salty language (unless that’s 100% okay on the blog in question), don’t get angry or defensive, and contact the host blogger if there are comments that you don’t know how to respond to yourself.
Even if your social media following is small, you should still share your guest post with your audience. As well as potentially sending a little bit of traffic to your host blog (which is a nice thing to do), getting your work published on a larger blog will often impress your existing followers.
Where possible, tag the host blog’s account when you share your post—they may end up retweeting you, and at the very least, they’ll be able to see that you made the effort to share your post. Just be sure you’re sharing on the social channels that make the most sense for your blog niche—like Twitter for startup-centric content or Instagram for travel blogging.
A few days after your post goes live, email the host blogger to thank them for letting you be a guest on their blog. Try to make this email very personal—you could mention how nice and welcoming their readers were, or tell them that you got a great boost in traffic to your blog.
This is also a great time to pitch your next guest post if the first one felt like a success. Once you’ve had one guest post go up on a blog (especially if it was well-received and you were easy to work with), it’s almost always easier to land a second one.
I’d love to write for you again! I wondered if you’d be interested in a post on [title/topic]? Happy to send you an outline or a full draft if this sounds like it could be a good fit for you.
Thanks so much for having me on [name of blog]! Your readers were so lovely and welcoming, and it was a real thrill to see my post live on your site. I’d love to write for you again—would you be open to another guest post pitch in a couple of months?
But once you’ve got a bit of guest blogging experience under your belt, there are a few things you can do to get even more out of each new guest post that goes live.
One very simple (but often overlooked) way to use your guest posts to your own advantage, is to link to other notable bloggers’ content. If you want to build a relationship with one, or if you just want to help out a blogger you love, this is an incredible way to do so.
Then, after you’ve reached out to the blogger who’s content you featured in your guest post, you can gauge their responsiveness and even pitch them on having you as a guest blogger—translating into even more high quality links (and traffic) back to your blog.
While it takes a lot of work, getting several guest posts (think ten or more) on lots of blogs in your niche all in a short period of time can be an amazing way to get your name and blog out there. Just listen to my interview with blogger Adam Enfroy about how he landed 20+ guest posts during his first month blogging and saw his traffic explode as a result.
If you write one guest post, people will probably forget about you almost as soon as they’ve read it. Once they’ve seen four or five posts from you in a single week though, they’re going to start paying attention—and likely subscribe for your email list if you’re putting out regular content.
Getting ten guest posts out there in the span of a week or two is likely to do much more for growing your blog than writing ten posts over the course of ten months.
This is a great place to list the blogs or publications you’ve written for–using their logos normally works well. Most blogs will be fine with using their logos for something like this as it also builds their own reputation, though you can always email and double-check if you’re concerned.
Once you’ve gathered a bit of guest blogging experience and have written for some larger blogs, including their names or logos on your site makes it clear to new readers that you’re credible and worth reading.
Hopefully, the host blogger will love your guest post draft immediately after receiving it, and they’ll get straight back to you with a “This is perfect! I’m going to publish it on Monday.”
It can take busy bloggers a while to assess your guest post, especially if they’re on the fence about whether or not to take it, or if they’re mulling over potential changes. Don’t be too quick to follow up (but equally, don’t simply wait for several weeks or months, in case it’s slipped their mind).
I wondered if you’ve had a chance to take a look at the draft of my guest post? (No worries if not – I know you’re really busy!) If you want any changes, or anything added, just let me know.
How To Do Guest PostingSometimes, the host blogger might make those changes; other times, they might ask you to rework your draft. It’s unusual to be asked to do extensive rewrites for a guest post (the blog will probably simply reject if they feel it needs that much work), but you might well be asked to add sources, change a paragraph or two, include more details and so on.
In most cases, it makes sense to simply accept the changes since you’re already invested in this guest blogging adventure—even if that means a bit of extra work for you. Once your post has gotten this far, it’s almost certain to be published if you take the final step of making edits.
If there are specific edits that you want to push back on though, that’s normally okay. If the host blog wants so many changes that you feel your guest post won’t be something you’re happy to have your name on afterward, you can withdraw it altogether.
This probably indicates you’ve gone a bit overboard in linking to your own content, and so long as at least one or two of your links remains in place, it usually makes sense to go ahead with the guest post anyway—as that’s still a meaningful benefit.
I noticed you took out the link to [page]. I know it’s my own content, but I thought it’d be really useful background material for your readers. Would it be okay for us to include it back into the article?
Be prepared for the answer to be “no,” but as long as the link isn’t directly competitive to a piece of content on your host blog’s site, then I recommend at least trying.
While you can certainly remove your guest post from consideration at this point in the process, doing so will likely harm your chances of ever landing a guest post on that blog in the future. If you’re ok with that, then no sweat—just move on.
Most bloggers will expect you to provide a guest post in return for a bio link (and maybe one more link in the body)—but generally without a guarantee of other links within the post.
Note: It’s normal not to use your own affiliate links in your post (and doing so will likely come across as clueless, presumptuous, or greedy). The host blog may well use affiliate links of their own if you mention specific products/services that have an affiliate program, so you need to be ok with that.
Guest blogging might be one of the best things you can do for the long-term growth of your blog… but it can also be a ton of fun, too. It’s one of the most successful blog promotion strategies I’ve ever employed—and I write even more about it in a couple of my free blogging books.
I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger. Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer. They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Next Web, Business Insider, and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).
An article on the Google Search Central Blog states: “Google does not discourage [guest posts] in the cases when they inform users, educate another site's audience, or bring awareness to your cause or company.”
Because Google may issue a “Google penalty” (or “manual action”) against a site that engages in manipulative linking practices. This can lead to the site ranking lower in search results. Or being omitted from search results altogether.
“Excessive” guest posting occurs when a brand is trying to get links on as many sites as possible. This leads to a lot of poor-quality content. Which is bad for the web and bad for Google.
Or if there are lots of unnatural links to the brand’s site. That have obviously been placed for SEO purposes. For example, multiple links to a gym page using the text “best gym in Austin.”
When you link to your site from a guest post, Google says the link should be set to nofollow (i.e., you instruct Google to ignore the link for SEO purposes).