Guess where I am?

Well, physically I'm in Utah at my grandma's for the holiday. Yay! I haven't had Thanksgiving here in more than a decade.

But online, I'm over at Mindy McGinnis's blog, Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire, doing a guest interview. Isn't that the coolest? Head on over and check out my querying story.

And have a great Thanksgiving!

G is for Guest

Several months ago I talked about the Marketing Benefits of Guests and how to Gather Guests for your blog.  Since then I've wanted to focus on the Marketing Benefit of Being a Guest and just haven't gotten around to it.

So let's talk a little bit about it today.

Being a guest on other people's blogs is a great marketing move. This is why so many people do blog tours. It makes obvious sense - you expose yourself to potentially new customers/followers. That's exactly what marketing/advertising is supposed to do. And guest posts are free!

Much like the way you gather guests to be on your blog, you can gather blogs to guest on by:

• Putting out a call on your own blog for guest spots
• Asking other bloggers if you can do a guest post
• Ask reviewers to review your book (if you have one)
• Ask people who have done guest spots on your blog if you can return the favor

When you are a guest, make sure you are a polite and gracious guest. This may seem unnecessary to spell out, but in my experience it needs to be said.

1. Tell your followers where you're going to be. This is not only courteous to your own followers, but the blog you are visiting should get the benefit of new followers coming to his or her site.
2. Tweet and/or Facebook about your guest spot. Again, it is courteous to spread the word.
3. Stop by early on and leave a comment when your post is up. If you can't, try to tell your host that you'll be there late.
4. Ask your host if you can reply to comments. He or she will say yes, but it's nice to ask.
5. Reply to comments. Well, duh.
6. Stop by later in the week in case people responded late to your guest post.
7. Thank your host on his or her site, your site, and personally by email for having you as a guest.

Now, in general, I would say both being a guest and having guests are worth the same in marketing terms. But, that's not exactly true. 

If you are trying to earn new followers, bringing in new guests will do the trick, provided that they advertise that they will be on your site. See, the reason is that their followers will follow them over to your blog and then sign up to follow you while they are there.

If you are trying to sell your book, then guesting on other blogs is the better choice. Just make sure you bring pics of your latest book and links to where to buy as well as a little blurb.  

I know that many of us - I include myself because I am one of these people - don't want to see guests on our favorite blogs. We want to see our favorite blogger, that's why we read the blog, right? This is true. But it's also true that we have all probably been introduced to a new amazing blogger from a guest post by or on another blogger's site. The key, as always, is moderation. Make sure you are on your own blog more than you are on other people's blogs. Make sure you are on your own blog more than other people are on your blog. And if your page views are consistently going down and not bouncing back up, cut down even further.

What are your thoughts on guest blogging? Have you been a guest? Had a guest? Why or why not? 

I'm Being Interviewed!

Do you want to read about my thoughts on social media and writers? Then head on over to Gennifer Albin's site where I'm being interviewed today.

If you haven't had an opportunity to meet Gen yet, I'm telling you, you'll know her name before the year is out. Her debut novel, Crewel, is the first part in a trilogy that comes out in November of this year.  The book landed her an agent and publishing deal in record time -  like, a month - that's how good it is. Go to her Facebook page to check out her prologue. Makes me super excited for the book, how about you?

Oh, and right now, Gen is running an AWESOME blog contest - one that will get you artistic types excited. So make sure you check it out too.

Gathering Guests

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the marketing benefits of guest bloggers. Remember that?

In that conversation a great question came up: How do you get guest bloggers? 

Some of the answers are rather obvious, but there may be some you haven't thought of. And when you are grabbing guests for the purpose of marketing, there are some guests that will benefit you more than others. Let's talk about it:

• Invitation:  Email other bloggers and ask them to guest blog. Most will say yes. You can also ask people who are not bloggers but if they themselves don't have an internet presence, it won't build your readership. (Though that isn't the only reason to have guests, just the reason we're talking about here.)The people who will benefit you most are people who:
• have their own following
• blog about things your readers will be interested in
• are willing to promote you the day they are on your site
• and are in some way an authority on the topic they are going to speak on
• Call for guests: Put a badge in your sidebar asking for guest bloggers. Many readers will step up. Give them a topic to blog on and they will step up even quicker. 
• Interview: Interviewing another blogger counts as a guest. These are easier for bloggers to commit to because they only have to answer questions.
• Offer critiques: I'm not going to lie - critiquing other people's blogs is just as good for me as it is for you. Those people drive others to read my reviews. Matt MacNish increased my readers by thirty people with one critique!
• Host sharing:  Invite people to share queries, loglines, jokes, etc. Make it a contest where other people have to vote on their favorites and you'll drive even more people to your blog.
• Write reviews: Writing book reviews can get you followers but make sure you -
• use the author's full name and title of book in your post title so search engines can find you
• email the author and let them know you are reviewing their work
• Offer to guest on other people's blogs: People like to return the favor. You do a post for them and then they kind of owe you :)

Your turn: what do you do to gather guests? I've seen some great techniques on other blogs so I know you have wisdom to share!

The Marketing Benefits of Guests

This may be obvious to some of you already, but I'm gonna say it anyway: Having guests on your blog is good for you.


When I say guests I mean guest bloggers, interviews, contests, book reviews, anything. Just guests in general. Here's why:

1. Guests drive traffic from their blog/Facebook/contact book to your blog. Well, duh. But the important part of that is that sometimes those readers will become your readers. Especially if you respond to any of their comments and go visit their blogs.

2. Guests make your blog more well-rounded. Readers get bored. Guests bring new ideas and freshness to your site. Not that you're boring, but really, who isn't after awhile.

3. Guests give you a break. Which can often help with writer's block or blog burnout.

4. Guests build community. I don't know about you, but I always feel more connected to another blogger after I've been on their blog. It creates a bond. And isn't community what it's about for many of us?

A word of caution: too many guests may drive some readers away, unless that's what your blog is about. If your readers love you more for your personality than your content then you may be risking losing your own followers.

And your guests should probably be over the age of 1, unlike the picture above.

What other benefits do you get from having guest bloggers? Do you like guest posts? Do they turn you away? Please share your thoughts!

I'm Doing a Top Ten At Bird's Eye View.

Yep, I'm over at Michelle Fayard's Blog, Bird's-Eye View, giving my top ten social media tools for authors.

And it's AWESOME.

Some of them I haven't even talked about here yet, 'cause I get distracted and stuff and just haven't gotten to them.  So get over and learn some cool tools.

Gone Travelin'

Today I've ventured over to Emily R King's blog, Get Busy Writing to be part of her Mentor Monday. So get busy getting over there and checking us out!