Why All Newbie Authors Should Guest Post on Other Blogs

It’s understandable if writers don’t want to write for other people for free. After all, would a lawyer dole out legal advice for free? Or would a dentist provide free dental care? When you write for a living, it is not out of the norm to expect a fee for writing content. However, if you’re a newbie author, things could be different. There are a number of good reasons why you should give away free content by way of guest blog posts. Such as:

It builds your professional network

This is essentially one of the bigger benefits of guest blogging – it provides opportunities to expand your network, particularly because you’ll be doing all of those blog owners a big favor and you’re more likely to be on their list when they finally need to hire someone, or need to recommend someone to a paying client. Salespeople picture this situation not as giving away something for free, but providing content as the price to get your foot in the door.

It establishes your authority

If you guest blog on another person’s site, it establishes that the website owner in question considers you an authority on the topic you’re blogging about. After all, would you get some random person to talk about things they don’t understand and have it plastered on your website?

No. You pick someone who knows what he or she is writing about because having a poorly written guest blog post will reflect badly on the website owner, more than the author himself. So, if your name frequently comes up as a guest blogger on various sites, readers will recognize it as an indication that you’re an expert on the subject. Businesses pay thousands of dollars to marketing experts just to get their brands recognized as an authority – with guest blogging, you’ll be able to do the same, and all it will cost you is the amount of time writing the blog post.

It allows you to hone your skills

As a writer, your main marketable skill is writing. With guest blogging, you get to hone that skill outside of the context of what’s familiar. You’ll have to write a little bit differently due to the different environment and audience. It might not seem like much, but it’s an added way to fine tune your skills and it adds up over time.

It’s free exposure

Finally, we need to be honest here. If you’re a novice author, you’re getting more out of guest blogging than the website owner. The owner gets free content that he or she could have written on his or her own (or someone else could have provided) – what do you get? A chance to be read by a large group of people who would otherwise not know who you are. Basically, guest blogging is an exercise in mutual partnership. You give the website owner free content, you get free exposure via his or her website. Just make sure you are as discerning with the websites you pitch guest blogs to as the websites themselves are, when it comes to approving authors who guest post on their site.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in December 2014.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]