[ my thoughts on guest posts ]

GUEST POSTING is popular in blogland and it's a fun way to connect and discover other lovely blogs. However, not all guest posts are created equal.

Have you been bombarded lately with requests from companies to post guest posts on your blog? Well I have! And I just had to share my thoughts on this practise {please bear with me if this post gets long!}

To me, guest posts by companies are an entirely different ball game. They are like advertorials - those special advertising features you see in magazines - like when Scotties tissues runs a spread showing various bathroom decorating ideas, all the while, promoting their newest tissue box designs. And in magazines, placing those advertorials costs money.

While some people may feel flattered that they've been approached by a company wanting to post a guest post on their blog (their emails gush with compliments on how great your blog is), I feel differently. These companies should be paying you to do so. These posts are exactly like magazine advertorials but in blogland. Why should they be allowed to target your blog readers for free? They're YOUR blog readers - people kind enough to tune in regularly to read what YOU have to say, not to read what is essentially an "ad" by some company. {Unless of course they want to offer a fabulous giveaway - then that's a different story}.

I've been approached by lighting companies, real estate companies, vacation rental companies, design companies, clothing companies... all wanting to put up a post on my blog with no benefit to me or my lovely blog readers. No giveaway. No discount. All of them wanting links back to their company website. One company even said they'd do it at NO COST TO ME! Gosh, really?

Rather than purchase a sponsor ad in your sidebar, they take the approach of offering up some original content for your blog ~ they'll do all the work and all you have to do is post it. To me, it's sneaky and a free way for them to get traffic to their websites through you, if you fall for it.

What are your thoughts on these types of guest posts?

lisa